Integrity Boosts Returns

It studied 12 emotional and moral competencies, such as client service and self-confidence.

The results showed that the adviser's level of integrity played the biggest part in posting strong investment returns.

"Most people we deal with are high performers," said Rick Aberman, a founding partner of consulting firm Lennick Aberman Group, which like Ameriprise is based in Minneapolis and assisted with the survey. "We wanted to look at what differentiated those who are successful from those who are really successful."

Ameriprise paid for the study. It sought to find out whether emotional competency and integrity led to better performance, says Kris Petersen, the firm's general manager of financial planning and advice.

"I assumed the results would be better (for those who had more integrity), but not by as much as it was," she said.

Integrity showed up in advisers' ability to act the way they believe and to do what they say they will, Aberman says.

"It's walking the talk," he said.

Chuck Wachendorfer, Lennick Aberman's chief operating officer, said, "All of the advisers in our research believed they were honest and had integrity."

But not all stuck to their beliefs so strongly that they'd let a client walk away.

The ways advisers and companies can improve their level of integrity include:

Know yourself. Advisers must understand their emotional makeup and that of their clients, Petersen says.

Clients tend to base decisions on emotion, so advisers have to be able to rein them in.

"You have to understand it and reframe it," she said. "You can't do that unless you can identify where you're at emotionally."

Focus on the goal. Competing emotions will get involved. So the adviser has to stay focused on the goal of building a portfolio that beats the market.

That helps avoid stress, Aberman says.

"If something conflicts with our values, that's when we experience more stress, and that's when we underperform," he said.

Get some training. Companies are embracing the value of integrity more these days.

"They're seeing that what used to be seen as soft skills show up in the results," Aberman said.

Ameriprise launched a one-year training program last month with a group of advisers, Petersen says. If it works, the firm will train all advisers across its chain.

The program matches up with one of Ameriprise's key values: integrity always, Petersen says.

"Part of comprehensive financial planning is to do what's in the client's best interest," she said. "You can only do that with integrity."