Shane Miller reached a turning point when he realized that WP Wealth’s client management dashboard was more useful as a GPS than as a rear-view mirror.

If each lead advisor had a customized report that illustrated the growth of the clients they worked with, they could develop a personal strategy for sharpening service, productivity and contributing to overall firm goals. “The dashboards let each person monitor their own growth, and we empower us to say, ‘Here’s what we think you’re capable of doing and here’s how you measure it,’” said Miller, a partner with the firm.

Armed with each lead advisor’s self-directed goals, the firm could then “forecast where our new hiring needs to be and with what levels of expertise,” Miller said. “At most workplaces, the only reward you get for hard work is more hard work. We designed a framework so that people with more experience are working on complex things that keep them engaged, and people new to the business work on deepening client relationships, which doesn’t require as much technical knowledge.”

Those pairings had a happy, if unintended, side effect: Senior staffers now have an established mode of handing some clients off to junior staff, supporting firm growth while building young professionals’ books of business.

— Joanne Cleaver