Building Resilient Teams: Recruiting for Adaptability in Financial Services

The financial services industry is in a period of rapid transformation with regulatory changes and the increased use of FinTech putting the cat amongst the pigeons.  Not everyone embraces change and navigating it can be challenging for even the best team, but it’s no secret that resilient teams are better equipped to adapt and succeed. What do you need to consider in order to strengthen the resilience and adaptability within your team?

You have your existing team, who hopefully work well together, so adding to this team can be tough.  Its really important to ensure that new hires fit seamlessly, but also to match their soft skills and intelligence to those currently excelling in your business. How can you do this?

This can be a great method of assessing a person’s skills in an evidence-based way. Here are a few ways in which you can do this….

• STAR Method: By asking candidates to describe specific situations, tasks, actions, and results related to their soft skills, you gain valuable insights into their problem-solving abilities, decision-making, and teamwork. This competency-based interview style is a great way for people to explain how they have achieved and learned
• Hypothetical Role-Playing Scenarios: Presenting candidates with hypothetical real-world challenges that require them to demonstrate their emotional intelligence, such as handling difficult conversations or dealing with conflict, can really help to assess judgement, adaptability and problem-solving skills
• Group Activities: Observing candidates’ interactions in group settings is a very useful way to see how they work together and collaborate with others, whether they are a leader or a follower and also provides a great overall indication of their personality

Wanting to get to the crux of what is important to you and your company? This way of questioning can dig deep into key areas of interest…

• Targeted Questions: Asking about the things that really matter to your company and team can help to assess whether a candidate’s interpersonal skills, communication abilities, and mentality match those of your existing team
• Specific Examples: Requesting concrete examples of how the candidate has demonstrated these qualities in past roles will not only provide further understanding of how they work and think, but also indicate if they will

As in all communication, visual and audial is key. Its not just about what things people say, but how they say them; their tone and body language will also show you a lot about them as people…

• Personality Assessments: Using validated personality assessments can offer insights into a candidate’s emotional and academic intelligence, communication style, and interpersonal skills. Considering the results of these assessments in conjunction with other assessment methods can provide a more comprehensive all-round picture
• Body Language: A candidate’s body language during the interview, such as eye contact, posture, and gestures is important as it can provide valuable information about a person
• Communication Style: Evaluating a candidate’s verbal and nonverbal communication skills, including their ability to articulate thoughts clearly and effectively, together with their active listening skills is invaluable in assessing how the candidate will be with colleagues and clients

Where do you go from here?

Once you have hand selected key people to join your team, the next step of empowering and engaging everyone is vitally important…

While your existing team and any new hires, may already be working happily and effectively, a strong workplace culture of support, learning and growth can ensure that adapting to a rapidly changing business landscape comes naturally. In financial services especially, there is always so much to learn and exams to pass.

Encouraging learning through leading by example is a powerful way to influence and support your team’s engagement with learning…

• Champion Learning: Leaders who model the behaviour that they expect from their employees, and show by example how they actively engage in learning and development, really highlight the benefits that knowledge brings
• Fostering a Learning Environment: Allocating time and resources for learning, and creating a supportive environment where employees feel comfortable seeking out new knowledge will actively promote a culture of learning and growth
• Open Communication: Encouraging open and honest communication among team members really helps to identify potential challenges early on and builds a sense of trust and collaboration, which can only serve to build resilience and strengthen the team

Afterall, “through studying what the best managers do differently – that great managing is an act of coaching, not one of directing and administrating” Gallup

• Continuous Learning: Promoting a culture of continuous learning encourages your team to acquire new skills and knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. Additionally offering a variety of formal training programs, including workshops, seminars, and online courses, increases employee engagement
• Mentorship Programs: Pairing or buddying up employees with mentors can help to strengthen and bond the team and provides guidance, support, and knowledge and best practice sharing amongst colleagues
• Job Rotation: Implementing job rotation programs to expose employees to different roles and departments can provide valuable insight into the different challenges colleagues have, and promotes a communal empathy
• Make Learning Fun: Who says learning has to be boring? Consider different ways to engage people, after all different people have different learning and engagement styles. Fostering a sense of camaraderie and teamwork through fun and engaging activities helps strengthen bonds and builds resilience
• Emotional Intelligence: Helping your team develop their emotional intelligence will enable them to better manage stress, understand their own emotions, and empathize with others, which all serves to build resilience

Giving people the feeling of ownership over their own development is very powerful and there are different ways to do this…

• Learning Budgets: Providing employees with learning budgets to pursue their own professional development goals will empower them to take control of their own learning
• Learning Communities: Encouraging employees to form learning communities or interest groups to share knowledge and work together, will encourage more collaboration and decrease the silo or fiefdom mentality
• Encouraging Feedback: Creating a safe space for regular feedback and coaching, where everyone can share their thoughts and ideas and identify areas for improvement and growth without fear of judgement, will help everyone learn and grow together
• Problem-Solving Skills: Developing your team’s problem-solving skills will provide them with opportunities to practice critical thinking and creative problem-solving

It’s so important to get employee engagement, as without this it makes “it more difficult to improve business outcomes”. Gallup

The power of positivity cannot be overstated!

• Celebrate Achievements: Recognising and rewarding employees for their learning accomplishments and contributions to the organization, is a great way to make people feel that they are valued. Celebrate success and inspire others to do the same, to truly boost morale and motivation
• Promote a Growth Mindset: Encouraging a growth mindset emphasises the effectiveness of learning from failures and viewing challenges as opportunities for growth

There is a power in being seen, valued and heard. Gallup stated that: “People want purpose and meaning from their work. They want to be known for what they’re good at.”

• Developmental Goals: Incorporating learning and development goals into performance reviews ensures that these are monitored and performed. Most people love rising to a challenge, especially when success is acknowledged
• Feedback and Coaching: Providing coaching, monitoring progress and providing regular feedback helps employees identify areas for improvement and growth
• Be Patient: Learning takes time. Be patient with your team and encourage them to keep going, even when it’s tough. With your guidance and support, they will get there!

Ultimately, creating a culture of thriving, empowered, engaged and actively learning employees can only be a truly great thing…

• Innovation: Encouraging a culture that adopts innovation means that the team learns from each other, embracing new technology and is more comfortable with the idea of change, and thereby strengthening their adaptability
• Failure as Learning: Creating a safe environment where employees are not afraid to fail enables the view that failures are just opportunities for learning. Adapting following failure, builds resilience
• Adaptability and Flexibility: Encouraging a mindset of adaptability and flexibility, helps your team understand that change is a natural part of business, and that they can learn and grow from it

Remember, a culture of  learning and growth is a journey, not a destination.

Building a resilient team takes time and effort, but by implementing these key strategies, you can create a positive workplace where learning and growth are valued, and employees are motivated to continually develop their skills and knowledge.