Shaping the unique character of any business depends very much on the values which are deemed most important. David Pugh, our Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer, shares his thoughts on the values we choose to uphold, and how they weave into the way we work.
If you’re a client of The Fry Group, or if you have dealings with us of some other kind, you might not have given much thought to our values.
Values are an important part of the make-up of any individual, and, I believe, also of any business – and of course most of all, of a “people business” like ours. Up to a point, it’s why and what we do that makes a difference. I hope you’ve got the message in recent months that we’ve created a clear, succinct and I think powerful way to express our purpose: we’re here to help our clients achieve financial freedom.
But that’s not the whole story. What matters almost as much is how we do it – and that depends on our values. One of the most important parts of my own job description is to help our team here at The Fry Group fully understand and live up to the values to which we’re committed – to make sure everyone is ready, willing and able to put them into practice, in every aspect of the job they do.
Which isn’t to say that we always match the standards we set ourselves. Values define an aspiration – they tell us what we should be striving for. But as with any aspiration, we’ll sometimes fall short. What happens then? We’ll try even harder next time.
So, what are these values, I hear you say. There are four – and that’s plenty.
The first is that we are One Team. Very little of what we do can be accomplished by a single individual. Almost always, our work for our clients requires numbers of people with different skills to combine and work together to create the solution. The quality of the work will depend more than anything on the quality of the teamwork. We have no use for lone wolves. This is a place for team players.
The second is our commitment to Delighting Clients. That may sound a bit excessive – wouldn’t just Pleasing Clients be OK? – and I know we don’t always achieve it. But it is a serious intention. No matter how high a client’s expectation may be, we will always do our utmost to exceed it.
The third is simply Passion, which is another word that may sound a little intense. But, again, we mean it. We’re in no doubt at all that the work we do here really matters; we’re making a tangible difference to the lives of our clients and their families. Sometimes it can be a really big difference, with huge implications for the quality of people’s lives: sometimes it’s a small difference, just crossing another small task off the to-do list. All of it matters, and all of it demands all our energy, ability and determination. That’s something that’s worth feeling passionate about.
And finally, the fourth is Excellence. Much of what we do in making and implementing financial plans for our clients is difficult and complicated – and of course mission-critical to the client’s financial wellbeing. It has to be done outstandingly well. That’s why we’ve built a team of people with an exceptional breadth and depth of technical knowledge, fully capable of responding to the challenge: and we’re building an environment where everyone comes to work every day committed to doing their very best work.
I’d very much hope that if you asked anyone here to tell you our four values, they could answer without hesitation, deviation or repetition and, perhaps more importantly, give you some specific examples of how they put the values into practice in the way they do their particular job.
But that’s not really the point. In businesses just as in individuals, values matter most when they’re invisible – acting as a silent tool guiding how people behave, conduct themselves and support one another as they get on with their work and their lives. So, you’ll very likely hear no more about them – but I hope you will continue to benefit from their existence, in the quality of the work we do for you.
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