Empower employees
Repetition alone won’t make the vision sink in, even as you explain it in details and definitions. You need to personalize the message, showing employees examples of those concepts in action.
Vincent starts by giving employees self-assessments to help them realize their strengths. Then they know what tools they’re best suited to use when they begin practicing the principles.
“You tell folks that you have to utilize your strengths and maximize those strengths because everybody approaches people in a different way,” he says. “What works for you may not work for me, and vice versa. So it’s really knowing who you are, what strengths you bring to the table and how you can deliver those strengths to somebody.”
The next step is showing a path to success by letting new hires observe employees who use a variety of approaches to put the principles in action. You want employees to see that whether they are out entertaining clients or just researching intensely — or anything in between — there are others like them in the firm who have been successful.
Vincent assigns new employees to mentors based on similar traits, interests and even backgrounds, such as where they went to school. But finding a perfect personality match isn’t crucial, because the mentorships are revolving rather than long term.
“We try and make sure that the associates are not assigned to just one partner, that they’re interacting with multiple partners and seeing different ways to do the same thing,” Vincent says. “The message is, ‘Look at what other people are doing. Take the things that work and understand the things that don’t work so well.’”
The goal is to show employees that underneath the umbrella of core principles, they do have several options to exercise their freedom. Once they see there’s not a right or wrong way to do things, you begin empowering them to take their career into their own hands.
“You’ve got to get people to think outside of the moment,” Vincent says. “A lot of folks don’t think that way. You’ve got to help them to see, ‘I’m not just an employee. I’m building a career that’s going to pay dividends, not just for the firm but for me, as well.’ You want people to personalize the success of the firm.”
Letting them observe other employees’ personal successes will encourage that mindset.
Vincent has already seen the benefits of the leadership academy as new employees develop more consistent perceptions of his expectations.
“It helps people to understand expectations in a much more concrete way, as opposed to having someone in the office take you aside and say, ‘You need to be doing the following three things,’” he says. “People hear a common message from different people, which is a good thing.”
