Teaming Is the Future. How One Advisory Firm Built a Dream Team.

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This is Greg Bartolis for Barron's The Way Forward. My guest today is Kimberly Orth. Kimberly is a private wealth advisor and founder of Ameriprise Financial's Orth Financial Group in Wilmington, Delaware. Kim was inducted into the Barron's Hall of Fame in 2021, and she was ranked number 1 on the Barron's Top 100 Women Financial Advisors list in 2016 and 2020. Welcome to the program.

Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Excellent. Well, I would love to learn more about the best ways to foster team synergies, how to make— optimize everyone's contributions.

Yep, sounds good. Let's do it.

All right. So let's jump right in. What are some of the most important things advisors need to know?

So in terms of creating team synergy, effective teams create synergy in every area of the practice. How we think about value proposition, pricing, financial planning philosophy, how we serve clients, how we grow and acquire new clients, how we view, build, and protect the culture of the organization. This all starts at the level of vision, mission, code of behavior, values. At Orth Financial Group, we work very hard on, on all of that. I mean, I'm constantly, as the leader of the team, I'm constantly working on culture. And of course, COVID has been a little bit of a challenge with some of that. We've risen to meet the challenge. We're doing what we need to do. We could always do more.

And tell me about the team and the structure and maybe what's changed since COVID if at all.

We are a team of 23 people. I've been in the business for 35 years, almost 36 years, and I lead the team. I have 11 financial advisors and 12 staff members, including a chief operating officer, a practice operations manager, and a marketing manager. I have an advisor in charge of investments, and one that is responsible for the finances of the firm, and a third one that's responsible for client service delivery. We meet weekly and monthly as a group to track our progress. We have a very diverse group. I have the best team I've ever had. I mean, we have fun together, we play hard, we work hard. We're serving clients, we're living our mission, which is, you know, that we help clients make good choices for their lives. And we are, we're always trying to improve our client service. We're trying to make the client experience as excellent as it can be.

And with a team, what makes a team with a capital T the difference? Because it's obvious it's not just filling positions. You could have warm bodies in the office. That constitutes a team technically, but not perhaps in the spirit that you ideally want.

Right. So to me, a team that is a true team, it's a collection of humans, I say, that is working towards a common purpose, a common goal, where the goals of the individual and the goals of the team are aligned and treated with importance. You know, it's very important that everyone on the team understands the purpose of why they're there. Today in COVID world, people can work anywhere. They can choose to work anywhere, either in person or virtually. And so why would they choose to work at Worth Financial Group? That's what you have to differentiate for the team members so that they understand, you know, why it's, this is the greatest place to work, where you're valued, where your opinions matter, where you are respected, where you're appreciated, where the quirkiness of you or the diversity of you is not only embraced but loved.

In the interview process, when you're talking to someone, in the back of your mind, you have that little wheel turning saying, "Hmm, wondering if this person is going to fit in." In that inner monologue, dialogue, is it more instinct or are there particular things you're hoping to hear or how does that all work out?

Yeah, we have a very rigorous interviewing process at Worth Financial Group. It's probably the most stringent interview you've ever been through in your life. It's a series of interviews because I myself, as the leader of the team, I'm very protective of my culture. I'm very protective of my team members. And I'm also very mindful that one person can change the entire complexion of the team. It's for the good or the bad. And I really have to be very careful who I bring in. I'm careful with clients, too, frankly. It's not just team members. It's also which clients we— that we agree to work with and accept into the firm. It's It's really important to hire the right people. There's no amount of culture, structure, synergy, or effort that's going to convert someone who's not a good fit for your organization. Be thorough. We probably go through a series of at least 4 to 6 interviews before we make you a job offer. And, you know, it's— if the person has the right character, if the person has is a good cultural fit, it's more important than technical know-how. We can teach you the tasks of your job, but I can't teach you to be ethical. I can't teach you to have integrity. I can't teach you to care. It's harder to teach that.

Sure, exactly. And has it ever happened that you have good people, but you observe that certain people might not be in the best roles and that they might excel. And is there any, you know, changing, moving one person to another and seeing them hopefully blossom?

Yeah, that, that, that has happened, does happen. And it's not just that they weren't right for that role, but sometimes a person evolves into something else. In other words, they grow. They, they decide that they want to do more financial planning or they want to do more technical work or they want to do portfolio construction. And so I, if I have good people working for me, I want them to be fulfilled. I want them to be the best version of themselves. I want them to have, to be very satisfied in their work because I think they help clients more when they are satisfied. When they, when the team is happy with their work, they understand the value of it and how important it is that we meet clients where they are. For example, in a market like we're in right now, it's very important to have team members that appreciate where clients are in the continuum. Some clients are extremely fragile right now. Other clients just want to hear, I need to stay the course. Is that right, Kim? And so you've got a wide— you've got people that are melting down, and then you have people that are just like, I just want to check in and make sure that I'm thinking that this— it's not a perfect time to panic, you know. Yeah, it is not a perfect time to panic. So it's, it's best when the, the team— I can't make every phone call on the, you know, that comes into the office or take every phone call. So it's important that my team is, um, is well trained and that they're, they're, um, compassionate with clients and that they, um, they have the same desire to help clients that I have. I really, I really try to instill that in my team.

Certainly important, right? You have to be empathetic and understand what people are going through in a down market like this, especially retirees or whatnot. Yeah.

All of them, even people with, with more money than they will ever spend, can also melt a little bit in a market like this. You know, it's just, it's, it's human nature. It's okay. We— that's what we get paid for. Is to help clients stay the course when they should stay the course and to make course corrections when that's necessary as well.

Getting back to team synergies, what are some areas, you know, that are particularly appealing or common that a listener's firm might be able to benefit from?

We have a lot of processes at Orth Financial Group, and we find that having processes helps create some team synergy because if we're training a group of new up-and-coming advisors, so they start as concierges in my practice and they shadow me in my meetings, they take notes, they do the trades, they make a summary letter, they make sure I do what I say I'm going to do, they make sure you do what you say you're going to do. And so they're the accountability partners. And we have a process for training them. But we have processes for everything, which if you're a process-driven person, this is all music to your ears. If you like to wing it, it's probably not. But I don't like to wing things. I like a process for things because I think, I think the team, the team functions better when we know what we're supposed to do, in what order we're supposed to do it, and and the best way that we've developed that helps a client.

Right. Just takes a lot of the guesswork out of the equation.

Exactly.

Yeah. Paint a picture.

What is it?

What would a team that's really, you know, fully operating at the level where the synergies really being, you know, in full force, what does that look like?

It's a team that encompasses a lot of trust. It's where the culture is very deep. Our team members know who they can leverage on the team for certain skill sets or knowledge. We communicate, communicate, communicate, communicate. I mean, that's probably one of the biggest challenges. You didn't ask me what's a challenge, but you said how to foster the best possible synergy. But I think one of the things that I do with my team is I expose them to to leadership. I expose them to all kinds of training and courses and information that makes them a better person, a better worker. They all do a Kolbe, they all do a DiSC, they all do Strength Finders. We do situational leadership. We also use 4DX. The Four Disciplines of Execution in our practice, in our meetings every week. So we hold each other accountable for things. And we, we know that we can ask each other for help. And we can, we offer help when needed. And so my team is a very tight team. They really truly like each other. Some of them love each other. You know, it's, I like it that way. It's a, it feels like a small family business. Where even though some of the team members are not physically related, they are mentally and emotionally related.

And I guess back to the interview process, what are you most looking for? Is there anything that especially you look for? Quality? Is it enthusiasm, knowledge of the firm, etc.?

I, I think what we look for mostly is, will you be a good cultural fit for us? If you, um, And it comes out in our interview process. If it's 4 to 6 interviews, we're going to learn, are you a glass half full person or glass half empty? Do you tend to criticize? Like, if you come in to the interview with me and I don't know, I ask you a question about one of your previous employers and you go on a 5 to 7 minute rant about the former employer, that's going to tell me something. Yeah. And I— there's enough to complain about in, in the world. And it's not that I'm a Pollyanna, although I am a little bit of a Pollyanna. I, I tend to be more, more positive than negative in my life in general. And, and we, we could sit here and complain all day long, and it's not gonna— it's not gonna get the problem solved, and it won't be the solution. The solution is when we're working together.

Yeah. I mean, there's a time and place for everything. You don't want to spend All that time doing that in an interview, not very tactful.

And right, if you do it in the interview, you're going to definitely do it at work.

Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so we're getting near the end. I typically ask for an actionable idea, and I guess we could maybe wrap that up in the context of perhaps a final piece of advice for advisors about what they can do to help facilitate synergy. On a team?

Okay, so one piece of advice that I would have, one suggestion for those that are listening to this podcast, I would encourage all advisors to document their mission statement for their practice. Many advisors overlook this step. As we've talked about today, everything my team does, all my personal success has come from remaining focused on our mission, We strive to make a positive impact on clients' lives, and I'm honored every day that they choose to trust us.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And yeah, it's been a pleasure.

Thank you very much. It's been great having this, this good conversation. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Fantastic. Fantastic. My guest was Kimberly Orth. For more advisor-specific podcasts, please check out barons.com/podcast. For The Way Forward, I'm Greg Bartalus.

This podcast was brought to you by Wells Fargo Advisors. Looking for a firm your clients can't outgrow? Wells Fargo Advisors offers financial advisors full balance sheet solutions with wealth planning, investment products, banking, and lending that meet the needs of affluent to ultra-high net worth clients. Build your practice your way and on your schedule with independent and employee model options designed to meet your needs today and tomorrow. Learn more at joinwfadvisors.com.