How Can Team Culture Maximize Advisory Firm Success?

Sharpen your understanding of social norms to improve your organization’s culture and results.

Gail Berger, Ph.D., is a Clinical Professor at Northwestern University in the Kellogg School of Management, the McCormick School of Engineering, and the School of Communication. Dr. Berger is also the Deputy Director of the Center for Executive Women at Kellogg. An experienced executive coach and leadership development expert, she is passionate about helping leaders and teams achieve their goals and improve their performance and effectiveness. Dr. Berger has blended her background in education, business, and psychology to create a powerful approach to talent development and assessment, conflict resolution, and team dynamics.

Each year, our SPDR® MasterClass program draws on the knowledge of specialists like Dr. Berger to help advisors grow their businesses, keep pace with change, and better satisfy clients’ evolving needs.

The culture of a wealth management firm impacts motivation, engagement, and productivity. Leaders must pay close attention to culture — a critical organizational dimension — to ensure alignment with their vision and mission. During a recent MasterClass, leadership expert Gail Berger helped advisors develop a deeper understanding of core values and sharpen their culture-building skills. Here we share key takeaways and strategies.

What Is Culture and Why Does It Matter?

Culture is a common way of thinking that motivates a common way of doing; it is a pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by an organization’s members. These beliefs and expectations produce norms that powerfully shape the behaviors of individuals and groups. Culture specifies the informal rules of appropriate behavior, e.g., what is right and wrong, what is important and unimportant.

In simple terms, culture is “the way we do things around here.” It’s unwritten, unspoken, and permeates everything in an organization. Culture eats strategy for breakfast — and probably eats it for lunch and dinner, too.

Culture matters, and is worth investing in, because:

• Culture facilitates commitment, engagement, and loyalty. It encourages people to go the extra mile.
• Culture enables cooperation. It fosters shared goals.
• Culture is important for sensemaking. It helps people solve novel problems and make decisions.
• Culture serves as an immune system. It protects the organization from undesirable behaviors.
• Culture complements formal controls. It acts as an intrinsic motivator.

You Have the Power to Shape Culture

As you develop a picture of the current culture at your firm and the desired culture, you’ll likely notice a gap between the two — and that gap will always exist. To move closer to the ideal, think about norms. Norms are socially created standards that help us interpret and evaluate behaviors and attitudes. Which norms are positively impacting the culture, and which are negatively impacting the culture?

Try categorizing your firm’s norms into three buckets:

• Stop – What are the normative behaviors that must be stopped? If, for example, we have a culture of collaboration, is there an existing norm that inhibits collaborative behavior?
• Start – What are the norms we want to implement? What should we add to our repertoire of behaviors to build a better culture?
• Continue – What current norms support and facilitate our desired culture? What behaviors do we want to keep?

It can also be helpful to think of culture as an iceberg. Artifacts are the visible, observable products of culture — the tip and visible part of the iceberg. They include symbols, routines, language, stories, ceremonies, rituals, and uniforms. Values are below the surface. They specify rules of appropriate behavior, representing norms about what is right and wrong, important and unimportant. Cultural assumptions are even deeper below the surface. These taken-for-granted beliefs are hidden and must be inferred.

Use the iceberg framework as a tool to build culture. Consider your organization’s desired values and norms, then work to understand what underpins the desire to have the specified norms, and identify ways to put the norms into action.

Every interaction is a potential opportunity to build the desired culture. Levers include:

• Vision – Keep it simple and compelling.
• Values – Aim for clarity and authenticity.
• Practices – Focus on reward systems.
• People – Implement rigorous hiring and onboarding processes.
• Stories – Reinforce values with stories.

By paying attention to the norms and values within your team, you’ll be empowered to not only understand the culture but strengthen it, align it with your team’s mission — and ultimately achieve greater success.

For more articles like this, explore our Practice Management content.