Merit Enrolls 28 Advisors in Yearlong Leadership Program

Merit Financial Advisors has enrolled 28 employees in a 12-month leadership development program run by advisor coaching firm ClientWise. Merit said the program will train advisors for supervisory roles and support succession planning across the firm.

Merit announced the cohort will follow a yearlong curriculum that combines technical management training with instruction on interpersonal leadership. The program includes exercises in conflict resolution, conducting skilled conversations and long-term goal planning.

ClientWise designed the program to move participants beyond basic manager training and toward sustained leadership capability within the firm. The company framed the course as a way to develop a consistent leadership approach across Merit’s teams.

A recent study from BambooHR found nearly six in 10 workers who quit cited their boss’s management style as a reason. Common complaints listed in the study included poor communication, favoritism and managers taking credit for others’ ideas. Wealth management firms have increasingly funded leadership training to address management-related turnover.

Ray Sclafani, founder of ClientWise, noted that moving from peer to manager can be difficult for employees who excelled in previous roles but received little preparation for leadership. “You can’t throw people who are good at their job into a leadership role,” he said, describing an end goal of what he called “total team leadership interdependence,” where leaders work together toward shared outcomes.

Alex Hansen, Merit’s chief advisor success officer, observed that advisors typically receive technical training early in their careers but often lack formal leadership development as they advance. “A lot of times, once you get out of the beginning of your career, you’ve got your licenses [and] mentorship programs, and then all of a sudden you become a manager, and there might be some cursory manager training,” Hansen said, adding that further professional development is frequently left to the individual.

Sclafani noted Merit’s leaders view the program as part of long-term planning for growth, saying senior executives cannot retain all operational responsibilities as the firm expands. The 28-person cohort will complete the yearlong program with the intent of creating a pipeline of trained managers who can take on expanded responsibilities and support the firm’s succession plans.