On Teamwork

This past Saturday, our team enjoyed dinner together at The Heritage Gathering in Kidron. It was a lovely brisk evening filled with tasty delights, good conversation, elegant bouquets, and a touch of campfire.  Magic.

It was intended to be a cap-off celebration for a time-intensive, high-stress project we concluded as a company.  But, here’s the thing….

We’re not done with the time-intensive, high-stress project.

…

“What project?” You may ask.

You may or may not know that we recently changed with whom we are registered (shout out to Kestra Financial, the parent company of our new Broker Dealer & Registered Investment Advisor).

Our industry is unique in that when you change your Broker Dealer & Registered Investment Advisory, your clients do not automatically move with you. Everyone must re-sign up with you as their advisor – and with every single one of their accounts.

So imagine generating (COPIOUS) paperwork and managing transitions of thousands of accounts. Wanting to ensure that each transition moves smoothly, but also recognizing that you have a firehose of paperwork going through a funnel of the team’s process.

…

The process has been  A L L   H A N D S   O N   D E C K.

It has been  O L D   D O G   L E A R N S   M A N Y   N E W   T R I C K S   (QUICKLY).

It has been  T R U S T    B U T    V E R I F Y.

Put simply — It hasn’t been easy on any of us, spouses included.

 

As we sat in a circle on Saturday, discussing the progress we have made thus far, I couldn’t help but be incredibly proud of our team’s ability to hold tightly to the values of our company:

 

CANDOR – creating a safe space for relaxed, yet authentic conversations around topics that matter

STEWARDSHIP – carefully managing all resources that are entrusted to us

COMPETENCE – staying abreast of the industry, and seeking out training and education that allows us to perform our jobs with excellence

CONSISTENCY – taking a long-term approach amidst short-term ups and downs

FORESIGHT – partnering with our clients to think through all aspects of life through the lens of money

 

A transition like we are making can easily tear apart a team – to cause blaming, territory staking, and unretractable, cutting words. Especially in the midst of inevitable setbacks.

But that hasn’t been the vibes in this office of ours – we’ve remained true to our name – Pleasant.

 

Cheers to our team:  Ellis the Reframer, Clinton the Actualizer, John the Analyzer, Evelyn the Detective, Rachel the Assembler, Delilah the Adaptable, and to family and friends that support us…

…maybe even to me, Liz the Orchestrator.