By: Sean Gallagher, CFP®
Taking ownership sounds simple, but it often proves more difficult in practice. It is noticing what needs to be done and following through without waiting to be asked. Over time, those everyday choices become habits, and those habits help shape a team's culture.
One of our three core values at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors is “Own It: A Culture of Discipline and Extreme Entrepreneurship.”
The idea behind it is simple:
Take responsibility.
Follow through on what you say you are going to do.
Have the discipline to do things the right way.
When something needs to get done, do not wait for someone else to tell you to do it.
Each year, we see that value play out in a very different environment during HIGHLAND Financial Advisor’s Annual Day of Service with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity.
Owning It: Our Annual Day of Service
Our team recently spent our annual Day of Service with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity, closing the office for the day and heading to a build site in Paterson. For one day, emails, meetings, and financial plans take a back seat as our team trades the office for hard hats, tools, and hands-on construction work.
The work changes from year to year - we may be framing, painting, installing flooring, landscaping, or tackling another project that moves a home closer to completion. None of us are professional builders, which is part of what makes the experience so meaningful.
Everyone contributes.
There is something powerful about watching colleagues take on unfamiliar work, learn from Habitat’s construction professionals, help one another, and stay committed until the job is done. Office titles do not matter on a construction site. What matters is showing up ready to work and taking responsibility for the task in front of you.
The work also has a purpose far beyond our day on the construction site. Passaic County Habitat for Humanity has served Paterson and Passaic County since 1984, working to expand access to safe and affordable homeownership. Future homeowners are active participants in the process, contributing their time and effort as they work toward purchasing a home.
We have written before about HIGHLAND Financial Advisor’s partnership with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity and the parallels between building a home and building a financial plan. Both require a strong foundation, consistent effort, and the discipline to make progress over time.
Discipline Is What Turns Intentions Into Results
The Habitat Build Day may look very different from a normal day at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors, but the mindset behind it is remarkably similar.
Our clients trust us with some of the most important decisions in their lives. That requires more than technical knowledge. It requires accountability and follow-through.
When a team member says they will research a planning question, they own it. When someone notices an opportunity to improve a client’s experience, they do not wait to be asked. When a colleague needs help, the team steps in.
That discipline is especially important in financial planning because good outcomes rarely come from one great decision. Building wealth, preparing for retirement, navigating taxes, or planning for another major life transition requires thoughtful decisions followed by consistent action.
For our team, Own It means recognizing that a recommendation creates a responsibility. It is not enough to identify what should happen next. We have a duty to help our clients move forward and make sure the important details do not fall through the cracks.
Over time, that is how trust is built: doing what you said you would do and taking responsibility for moving forward.
Building Homes, Financial Plans, and a Culture
There is a lesson in Habitat’s work that extends beyond a construction site.
A house is built one piece at a time. Each person has a role, and the quality of the finished home depends on people consistently doing their part.
Financial planning works much the same way. Long-term financial success rarely comes from one brilliant decision. It comes from having a plan and the discipline to continue making thoughtful decisions as life changes.
That is how we think about culture at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors, too.
Our Annual Day of Service allows us to see our “Own It” value in tangible ways. At the end of Build Day, we may leave tired and dirty, with a few newly discovered muscles aching. But we also leave knowing that our team showed up, worked together, and contributed to something that will last.
The next day, we are back at our desks. The tools are different, but the expectation is the same.
Own the responsibility. Have the discipline to follow through. Look for opportunities to make things better.
Whether we are helping build a home, creating a financial plan, or simply doing what we said we would do for a client or colleague, that is the culture we are working to build at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors.
Sean Gallagher is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors, a Fee-Only financial planning firm that offers comprehensive financial planning, retirement planning, and investment management. Sean graduated from Virginia Tech’s financial planning program in 2018 and successfully passed the CFP® national exam in 2019. As a Financial Planner at HIGHLAND Financial Advisors, Sean works on developing comprehensive financial plans and investment management for all clients.
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The above article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI).