Turning Values Into Culture: Veris Wealth Partners, a Client Feature
"Sharing leadership means every team member is focused on the greater good of the whole – and we share responsibility in the successes, failures, and risks of the company."
– Stephanie Cohn Rupp, Partner & CEO, Veris Wealth Partners
More and more organizations are becoming mission-driven, galvanizing their teams in their work together by striving towards a shared goal that is bigger than just the company's bottom line. Many have also created values statements, the code of ethics that informs how that team moves toward their goal. Yet very few organizations have institutionalized them—that is, built the actual systems and structures that turn those values into a healthy, positive, and sustainable work culture—and that's why Veris Wealth Partners (VWP) reached out to us.
Mission-Oriented From the Start
A fellow B Corp, Veris Wealth Partners, was founded in 2007 by five courageous leaders who envisioned a values-driven wealth management firm devoted to impact investing. We spoke with team members about how their Shared Leadership Journey™ has impacted their business, from communication to innovation and even through a management transition.
"Everyone who started Veris Wealth Partners came to investing from a social, environmental, and climate justice point of view. So there was never any question about being a mission-oriented firm," says Patricia Farrar-Rivas, a Founding Partner at VWP. "We're here to use the financial services industry as a vehicle for our clients to think about their wealth differently and utilize it to make positive change."
Some of the qualities of sharing leadership were already embedded within Veris's organizational culture. They recently committed to integrating an equity, diversity, and inclusion lens across the company, including everything from how they hire new managers to their compensation & benefits offerings.
Yet, as the company matured and new employees stepped into the team, they were ready to evolve their culture to be in deeper alignment with their mission—and they sought coaching and mentoring to help them get there. They wanted to practice - to support their behaviors and mindsets matching their ideals and commitment.
"The Shared Leadership Journey™ helped guide us in determining how to make decisions with more of a unified, community approach versus the top-down, hierarchical approach," says Casey Verbeck, Partner & Managing Director of Marketing and Business Development at Veris Wealth Partners.
Every Voice Plays a Role
A central practice of the Shared Leadership Framework™ is leading from our humanity, relating first as humans rather than from our roles, status, or expertise. Establishing an atmosphere of collective decision-making rather than having a single individual be responsible for issuing directives creates the opportunity for diverse perspectives to inform decisions and group ownership of the outcomes, which drives more innovative thinking, allowing new or even better ideas to come to light.
"Sharing leadership has helped us build more confidence amongst the Partnership. Namely, each of us is also responsible for the whole company's fate. As a result, I can already see greater maturity and engagement amongst my fellow Partners," says Stephanie Cohn Rupp, Partner & CEO.
"Team development work grounds us in cultivating a deeper appreciation for where a colleague may be coming from so that we're more equipped as a team to trust each other," Casey adds.
As Veris Wealth Partners continues their Shared Leadership Journey™, they're already experiencing fresher, more original visioning and brainstorming sessions, better information gathering, and more creative problem-solving strategies. They are also having more complex and honest conversations while staying in respect and empathy with each other - another practice that is taking their trust and cohesiveness to another level.
Your People ARE Your Business - Cohesiveness in Action
A strong group connection and a true sense of presence from all team members inevitably lead to more cohesive work culture and better business results—and Veris Wealth Partners is no exception.
"People feel like they are the business, versus just working at the business," Patricia says. "Co-created solutions and strategies are easier to implement and more successful because there's buy-in at every level of the organization."
Casey agrees, adding that the Shared Leadership Journey™ has laid the groundwork for more impactful & meaningful relationships with their clients.
"It keeps us grounded and makes us easier to work with—we're more efficient because we're more empowered," he says.
With offices in New York City, San Francisco, Boulder, CO, and Portsmouth, NH, departments and offices are less siloed due to shared leadership—crucial in today's remote work lifestyle, where individuals can quickly feel isolated. So as Stephanie and the next generation of Partners lead the team into the future, the company's growth feels steady, solid, and rooted in the values that brought Veris Wealth Partners to life in the first place.
"I'm the CEO of a Partnership—not a C- or S-Corp. The most effective thing we can do at this juncture, and for years to come, is to build an effective and clear system of governance with clear accountability lines. The best thing I can personally do --- in addition to creating a more sophisticated and clear governance system --is to create a participatory management team so that every voice is heard during debates. We've also learned to balance this with a culture of performance and specialization. Not everyone is skilled at every area of our business – so we trust our colleagues and let them lead when it is their expertise," Stephanie shares.
It is our privilege to support the continued cultural transformation of Veris Wealth Partners. And it would be an honor to guide yours, too. Whether your team is taking the first step to creating organizational values or stumped on how to turn those values into a healthy culture, our leadership training program can guide you. So get in touch to start your own Shared Leadership Journey™ – or ask us about it on LinkedIn