Attracting and Retaining Great People

Chris Siepman is the Chief Executive of Liquid Capital Markets, a specialist firm trading in financial derivatives. He brought in The Values Partnership to support the management team in creating a team-oriented culture that attracts and retains the best traders and sales people. "I realised we're far too busy doing things to bring about the change we desired. Having consultants with experience working with 30 or 40 companies and knowledge of what works and what doesn't was important for us to understand the real issues.

We've been able to perform some self-analysis, which has led to decisions to force change. It would have been difficult to do without that external help. The follow up work is really important to maintain the momentum of change. You can have a big bang of realisation at a one-off event, but it's another thing to fill in the gaps over the long haul.

We are astonished at how effective it has been to bring in The Values Partnership. I was sceptical at the beginning. Deciding to have them analyse and assess our business was easy, but the follow up work seemed too intangible at that point. We are convinced now, however. The biggest impact so far has been the creation of a more cohesive, engaged management team. We are taking the time to discuss their issues and concerns, and value each other's opinions. Our challenge going forward is to develop leadership capabilities at the next level of management.

We're sober about change being a process and content that this process has begun. We are getting more efficient in our decision-making, but still have a big back-log of work.

I have had a chance to examine my own management successes and failures and the need to develop myself as a leader. I now find myself serving the company much more, spending more time on building up the business long term, rather than going for the short term, quick shot."