CAREERS
WE CAN’T DO IT ALONE
Leaders at Trust Point Inc. share the importance of teamwork to their company culture. BY SARAH ARENDT-BEYER | CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
A
I sat down and talked with the committee that t Trust Point Inc., a wealth management firm interviewed me (at Trust Point), it was a completely headquartered in La Crosse, no man is an island. different feeling,” she says. “The questions, the No woman is, either. engagement level, the positive discussion about the “Everything I do is part of a team. I can’t do it on my culture from every employee that I talked to was own, or I wouldn’t have this role,” says Regina Siegel, a huge difference. I decided it was a winner, and vice president of organizational development. I was right!” Krause now serves as the managing Yet, Siegel didn’t always value teamwork as much as director of the retirement plan services division, she does today. “If you would have asked me in middle working with business owners in the community on school, high school, if I was a team player? I would have managing their 401K plans and providing financial said no because I was the one who was a little type A.” education for their employees. Those with type A personalities tend to be driven, Erica Rytilahti has been with Trust Point for 11 hardworking and goal-oriented. The downside? It can Regina Siegel, vice president of years and currently serves as the managing director mean tending toward perfectionism, sometimes with an organizational development of wealth management in La Crosse. She spends “if you want it done right, do it yourself” mentality. “I her time giving direction to and mentoring staff preferred to do things on my own,” Siegel reflects. “But how foolish of me because now I know—and it only took a few times—I members, working directly with clients, and guiding long-range planning and process improvements. “We have a robust training learned quickly that things are always better when done together.” program here with new staff members,” she notes, “and we talk about teamwork from day one.” IT STARTS ON DAY ONE Siegel agrees. “I was told by our CEO my first week, ‘If you don’t Now, Siegel is a champion for teamwork, helping create a culture offer any suggestions or challenge any pieces, or share, you don’t belong of collaboration that permeates the organization. Culture is what attracted Allyson Krause to the company. in this company because we need you—we need every person—to “I had interviewed at a few different companies, and the instant help us grow from day one.’ And I feel like we really live that.”
www.crwmagazine.com APRIL/MAY 2022 15
