Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

“How can I demonstrate my appreciation for you?” I asked. It was a simple question to a mixed project team a few years ago. I had no idea the responses I heard would literally change the way I approached sharing appreciation for the rest of my career.

At HORNE, we know team member engagement is the only way we make progress on our journey of building the Wise Firm. Dr. Paul White helps us take a deeper look into improving team member engagement through authentic appreciation. 

When you walk around HORNE on a Friday afternoon in the fall it is evident that most of our team members, including myself, love college football. As the season gears up, the number of team colors worn around the office increases as team members partake in friendly banter over their team of choice. I can only imagine the confidence each quarterback must have knowing they have a stadium full of fans and teammates all in their corner, cheering them on to victory. That has to be the most incredible feeling—knowing no matter the outcome, your true supporters will always have your back.

Growing leaders faster is a key need for most companies. With the changing workplace demographics—including the mass exodus of Baby Boomers and inept succession planning—organizations are scrambling to grow high potentials into leaders who can lead faster.

“Andra Lewis was so loud at lunch today!”

Depending on who you say this to, you’re most likely to be met with stares of confusion or praised for your comedic gold. The reason is quite simple. I am not the greatest conversationalist nor very loud. Though it is something I am working on, in most cases, I’m pretty reserved. But, there is one area where I don’t mind standing out—my style choices.

After completing my first busy season in the Ridgeland office, I moved to HORNE’s Hattiesburg office as the only team member in my department.  I had a plan set in place to tackle some of the obstacles I may face, but ultimately knew that most things never go as planned. Luckily, I had a team standing behind me that was ready to take on those challenges as well. I have heard the words “flexibility, feedback, and full potential” a dozen times before, but soon they applied to me in a very real and transforming way. I found meaning in them, and it was due to the support of the people around me.

Despite the light-hearted approach to last week's blog, 5 Foolproof Ways to Fail as a Performance Advisor, I believe the point was still clear—being a good performance advisor actually is hard work. But, it's without a doubt one of my most rewarding and fulfilling responsibilities. Creating a rising tide is something that has always been incredibly important to me and being a performance advisor gives me a fantastic opportunity to do that. I think Seth Godin sums it up in a recent blog by saying, "We get what we invest in. The time we spend comes back, with interest."  

Being a good performance advisor is hard work. It can be time consuming, it takes vulnerability and real collaboration, and at times, it requires difficult, uncomfortable conversations. We all have overflowing plates between client service, other firm initiatives and our personal lives. Who really wants to add something else on top of that? Shouldn’t team members be responsible for finding their own potential and direction anyway?  

I’ll never forget the team-wide meeting in 2011 when Executive Partner Joey Havens committed to all of us that he would make culture our number one priority. We’ve made great progress and great mistakes, too, learning many things along the way. And while new strategies have emerged and new team members joined our journey, our vision has not changed. We are definitely still on our journey, and while we are making lots of forward progress, it’s important to take time to gauge the progress anytime you’re working on something of such importance.