Culture, Growth, and the Power of Partnership with Kirstie Eustace

[00:00:19] Doug Heikkinen: Steward Partners has grown significantly over the past number of years.

How would you describe the evolution of the firm's culture since its founding and what core values have remained constant?

[00:00:32] Kirstie Eustace: So this is actually an easy question to answer because the culture really hasn't changed. And I think that's because we've had such a focus on maintaining the culture, because it is so special, it is unique, it is characterized with some really core values that run deep and true to the whole firm. and those are really embedded in the concept of partnership. And in actual fact, in the recent years, probably in the last sort of 12 to 18 months or so, we took that little step further and across our management team, we actually went to the end of actually defining what those values were.

And we did a cool, fun thing that we actually tied it to the Steward name. So we think about, s, which is share, which is about knowledge, resources, expertise, successes, t which is knowing that the team is the most important thing. And, team first and we all work together.

E is for excellence. The standard that we seek to maintain and continuously seek to improve is critical. And we know that words matter. And we also make sure that we hold people accountable for both their behaviors towards one another, to their clients, to their communities.

And then respect is critical for one another. We are partners here. We, work together and we have to have respect for what each, and what every one of us are doing. And then development, which we really want to lift everybody up. We want to make sure that people have the experience of realizing their true potential, and achieving great things together.

So I think the values that we have always been there. And it's really embedded around partnership, and the culture is really holding strong and solid. And frankly, it's a day-to-day responsibility that myself and so many others hold dear to, make sure that we keep that, culture in place.

[00:02:22] Doug Heikkinen: What organizational development strategies have you found most effective in supporting the Steward's expansion while maintaining a cohesive company culture? Because you're in so many locations now.

[00:02:35] Kirstie Eustace: Yeah, and I think about really talent management being that core driver there. You said it yourself, we've expanded tremendously over the last few years, and part of that expansion has been in a multitude of different states. So we have teams now, across our management team and others, that are multi-state teams, that some people, they come together at this annual event that we are here, now in Orlando celebrating, and it's the first time they may have seen people. There's a gentleman here that I recruited last year, and this is the first time I'm actually seeing him in person.

Talent management is critical because we have to make sure that we're hiring the right people, we're bringing the right people in, and that we are providing really strong direction to people. We are helping them understand what the goals and the objectives of the organization are, how they're aligned to that, and making sure that we give really strong feedback to people to make sure that they continue to stay in alignment with that.

And listen, there's tremendous number of things that we can do. We do things formally and informally. But I would say talent management has been core, certainly for the last several years to helping us maintain that growth trajectory.

[00:03:47] Doug Heikkinen: What have been the biggest challenges in ensuring consistency in HR practices, and the employee experience across all the locations?

[00:03:56] Kirstie Eustace: And that's interesting because we have so many states that we're in now. I think when I joined the firm we may have been in half a dozen states and we're now in over 30. And that comes with some complexities. Certainly when you think about the employees. There are different regulations and state laws and so on and so forth. But what we try to do is we try to make sure that we are consistent and cohesive in terms of how we treat people, which is, individuals, people first. And we really look to make sure that we are treating people as they would want to be treated as partners, as colleagues. And we do so within the appropriate confines and parameters of what we must do. But that's really, I think the most important thing, to making sure that people feel that they're part of this one organization is to treat them as individuals, but do so in a way that is fair and consistent across the entire organization.

[00:04:51] Doug Heikkinen: So how do you foster a sense of unity and shared purpose among employees and advisors who are so geographically dispersed?

[00:05:00] Kirstie Eustace: So communication is really, really key. Because of that, there isn't as many natural sort of, come together, touch points that we would have. This annual event is one of them, and it's phenomenal.

It's really great. People greet each other in the hallways and throughout the session, like they're old friends and they're they're happy to see each other again. But in terms of fostering overall kind of cohesiveness is, it comes down to communication.

So the communication isn't just about the cadence and the consistency, but it's also about making sure that we are really clear about what the messages are and we deliver it at the sort of, organizational level. Then at the divisional level and the individual level. So we have a tremendous team of people across the organization through our divisional leadership, and they really are focused on speaking with advisors, with their teams, really trying to make sure that these folks get the messages that they need to get, they have that opportunity to be able to talk about things that are on their mind, get questions answered.

And it's a job that we take very seriously to make sure, just because we talk about something in one setting, are we getting that message out appropriately and in the right way, and in the right time in timeliness. So we work really hard on communication. It's something that anyone in any organization's always going to tell you could be better. And that's fine by me because I think that's something we should always strive for, which is more communication. But it's making sure that we really are not hiding behind anything, that we're really out front, and talking about things proactively so we can get engagement.

And this is a two-way street because then we get the opportunity to not only get that message out, but we hear it back. We hear how that message lands, we hear how it resonates, and we get that direct feedback that comes all the way back and into the system and gives us that chance to pivot, change, take that feedback and reshape and go back out again.

[00:07:01] Doug Heikkinen: When you're evaluating new potential advisors to get on the boat, what qualities, traits, do you look for to ensure they'll thrive within your culture?

[00:07:12] Kirstie Eustace: They have to be willing to be partners. They have to be willing to be coming into something where they're standing shoulder to shoulder, they're not necessarily saying, Hey, listen, what are you going to do for me?

So much as they're saying, Hey, what can I do for this partnership as a whole? So we want people with this ownership mentality, people that are here, ready to share a voice, ready to share an opinion, and ready to get involved in the solutions. I think that's something that we've seen being tremendously successful over the past few years, which is, hey, listen, we understand that there are challenges, particularly the transformation that we've gone through, the growth, the evolution, and that comes with some bumps. And it's great to tell us what maybe not is going so well, but be part of the solution.

Tell us how that works better going forward. What can we do differently? And so that is really critical for sort of their success and for those partners to come in and understand what they are joining, which is you're not just here to show up and take. You're going to be asked to give back as well.

[00:08:19] Doug Heikkinen: You've been here a while. So the onboarding process that you started with when you came here is very different from the onboarding process you have now. What does that look like and how do you help new advisors integrate into the community?

[00:08:32] Kirstie Eustace: The onboarding experience can be somewhat different depending on what role you're joining in the firm.

But with respect to our advisors. Their onboarding starts so well before day one. Day one, which is just the day that they actually get here and they get their logins is part of a journey that they've already been on for several weeks before. So they've been going through a process all the way through to that sort of join day where they've been interacting with, liaising with, being supported by a huge number of people at the firm that are all interested and invested in their transition and their success of the transition. So anybody that they've spoken to within marketing or within our risk department, or our transitions team, they're all understanding who their colleagues are, who their partners are, who that they can turn to for support as they go through this critical phase of their career, which is this transition. And then really our divisional teams do a phenomenal job in making sure that they're really accessible to those advisors. And they're making those connections. They're making that connectivity, they're getting them plugged into the right places, they're getting their questions answered, and they're moving the needle in terms of making sure these advisors have what they want.

And when they're settled, because it takes some time, these advisors are absolutely laser focused on transitioning their business since the first sort of 60 to 90 days. And we want to give them that opportunity to do that. Once they pour their heads back up and they say, Hey listen, this is, great. I'm here at Steward Partners, I want to make more connections and more connectivity. We are ready for them. We are ready to engage them with our advisor councils. We have several advisor councils that everything from technology to marketing and so on. So we get them connected in that way. There's regional events. There's this huge obviously, national event.

And there's some really nice sort of strategic partnering opportunities that we see going on across the organization as well. We try to make sure that they feel part of something, but we also are patient and wait for them to be ready to be further engaged. And then when they do, most of the advisors that I speak to are just so ready and willing to share their story and to share the benefit of their hindsight or their experience with the next advisor. It's a wonderful thing to see. Honestly, it gives you that little skip because you think, wow, here's somebody that sort of went through this and really wants to help the next person. And that's what Steward Partners is about.

[00:11:05] Doug Heikkinen: As the industry evolves, what's the firm doing to attract the next generation of advisors and develop them?

[00:11:13] Kirstie Eustace: So I think there's a couple of ways in which I think about that in the context of Steward Partners. And the first thing I would say is we have really seen a tremendous uptick in our advisor teams actually taking talent from within their own team, maybe from their sort of administrative support, and actually developing those individuals into advisors. So you typically see some of these are next generation level career professionals. And the advisors are investing time, energy, resources, their own compensation, they're sharing revenue, to get these folks into that, that next seat. We're seeing that tremendously, powerfully coming across our existing teams. A lot of those are generational teams as well. We've got parents bringing children into the business, which is great to see.

But then I also think about the new channel that we have, which is our legacy division. And what I'm so excited to see there is we are bringing multi-generational teams into the organization. And what we're able to really see is that we can be that platform, we can provide that opportunity for those next gen advisors to be able to build out their practices and what they're doing within the sort of the safety, and the constraint, and the environment of Steward Partners. So they are supported to be able to move into that sort of first generation advisor seat because they know they've got the backing, the resources, the support of Steward Partners. So we're seeing it organically through our advisors developing their own teams and we're seeing it externally.

I will actually say as well, we are having some tremendous success in actually recruiting in, just cold recruiting in, talent that is at a very junior stage in their career. And typically what we are seeing advisors doing is that they want those individuals to experience what it means to be part of an advisor team.

So they're moving them with intention through the whole track, which is, understand operationally what is important to being successful with clients, with managing a team. And then moving them through with intention and with some level of pace, in fact, getting them ready, to being advisors.

[00:13:27] Doug Heikkinen: I want to ask if the expectations and needs of younger advisors are differing from previous generations, but do they have any expectations?

[00:13:38] Kirstie Eustace: Yeah, I mean, for sure. I certainly don't know that we need to get into the generational discussion. That's been much covered and debated.

But what I think is absolutely evident now is the next generation of advisors aren't looking to be sole practitioners. They want to be part of a team. And our sort of first generation advisors, those that are more established, recognize and see that as well. They're understanding that it takes literally a village.

And so they're understanding that they may now need marketing expertise, somebody that's really strong on the technology side, they might need something that's social media related. So I would say the expectations of our younger advisors are that they're not coming in to be the, rainmaker, the relationship manager, the everything. They are looking to be part of a multi-disciplined team that has many bases covered, so that they can move forward together.

[00:14:34] Doug Heikkinen: So looking ahead and last question for you. What are your top priorities for organizational development and culture to ensure Steward Partners continues to be a destination for top industry talent?

[00:14:46] Kirstie Eustace: So my priorities haven't really changed from what they've been for many years now, which is to make sure that we protect that culture. And that is about making sure that we have a clear vision that we articulate and we communicate.

We pride ourselves with high levels of transparency at the organization. We want to make sure that people know what we're doing, why are we doing it, why is it important? Why are we doing it for the advisors yet to be partners and for the partners that are already here. So it's really ensuring that there is that clear, clear vision that is articulated and communicated.

It is going to continue to be about talent. It's always going to be about the right people in the right roles pulling together in the right direction. That's advisors, that's their team members, that's everybody that supports those folks in a sort of multi-discipline, kind of cross-function department approach.

So it's really making sure that we continue to have that talent in the right place. And we talk about, people are very concerned about Steward partners maintaining its culture. And I think that's actually a great thing to hear because they like it and they're not concerned about the fact that our culture is broken or it's gone the wrong direction.

It's how do we keep it the same? So the fact that is something that people are thinking about, it actually gives us the opportunity to say, hey, right back at you. What are you doing to maintain the culture? And that's something that we all share as a responsibility together. It's not one individual, it's not, Jim and Hy as CEO, COO, it's every one of ours responsibilities.

So what we have to do is continue to walk the walk. We have to make sure that we continue to lead from out front and articulate that culture and make sure that we're living it. And I think those are the things that are our real priorities as we go forward.

[00:16:34] Doug Heikkinen: It's a fantastic event.

Thank you so much for having us, and thank you for joining us.

[00:16:38] Kirstie Eustace: Thank you, Doug.

[00:16:39] Doug Heikkinen: To learn more about Steward Partners, please visit Stewardpartners.com. We are on all social media platforms @Advisorpedia. Please give us a follow. For our producer Tory Miller and everyone at Advisorpedia, thank you for listening.