Management and Management Systems at an Ameriprise Financial Services’ Branch

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Management and Management Systems at an Ameriprise Financial Services’ Branch

My father taught me about the stock market when I was very young and growing up I always had had an interest in investing and the markets in general. After high school, developing a career as a financial consultant seemed very appealing. I found a company, which I will refer to as “XYZ Financial Advisors,” that would sponsor me so that I could get the necessary licenses to register as a financial advisor with the plethora of agencies that require it. After a month of study, I easily passed the exams that would allow me to practice as a professional financial advisor.

About six months later, I realized that the management of the advisory firm I was working for just didn’t support the staff underneath them and I made a decision to leave the company. I knew I had found the right field – I loved, and still love working in the industry – but I needed to find a system that would help me succeed.

The next month I had an offer to join the ranks of Ameriprise Financial Services, a Fortune 300 Advisory firm, provided that I got a different set of more specialized licenses. This meant more intensive study and a prolonged unemployment, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. It was at this point that I decided to go back to school as well. I figured as long as I was going to be at home studying, I could kill two birds with one stone. Today, I am in pre-appointment (training) program at Ameriprise’s Redwood Shores, California Branch.

I didn’t realize it at the time I joined, but the differences in management styles and systems at Ameriprise made a huge difference in not only the efficiency in which business was done but also in the morale of the advisors in their day-to-day work. Management systems at the branch office of Ameriprise Financial Services in Redwood Shores, California are well constructed and supervisors there are well versed in good management techniques. Those same ideas may have been either inadequate or missing at “XYZ Financial Advisors.”

Functional and Dysfunctional Control Systems

When I worked at “XYZ,” I noticed immediately that everyone was essentially working for themselves. Managers were forced to maintain their own client book because even they didn’t receive a salary.

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