Implementation is the key to excellence
We recently came across a very good article about the excellence of Mike Krzyzewski and Steve Jobs. While many people like reading about the excellence and uniqueness of successful people, most just stop short of actually bringing that same type of excellence to their workplace. We can’t all be Apple, but we can certainly operate with the same mentality and attention to detail. Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort and commitment to achieve success.
On your path to excellence, don’t be shocked when a group of employees resist the changes you begin to implement. Resistance means the bank is actually making real progress and positive change. The status quo protectors are going to complain about the new standards, and if they aren’t complaining, then you really haven’t begun the process of implementing any type of positive change. Pushback is real, it’s challenging, and it has to be confronted. If you compromise your standards or allow some to opt-out, it will be the end of your culture shift.
The Culture Contract
Call it what you want… A culture contract, non-negotiables, employment agreement, etc. This contract needs to address the following.
- Attitude – Negative attitudes are not allowed
- Communication – Gossip is a firable offense
- Compliance – Banking regulations must be followed, no exceptions
The contract cannot be a 5-page list of rules. It should fit on one page, outlining the boundaries that cannot be crossed in order to work at your bank. Each employee should sign a contract.
Minimum Bank-Wide Standards
These are standards that must be met by any employee in order to work at your bank. They should be provided to your employees with the understanding that if you can’t do these things then you can’t work here. Sadly, you’ll more than likely need to include, showing up to work on time. Other standards could be answering the phone within 3 rings, personal appearance, a clean work area, etc. Again, stay away from the 5-page list of things.
Standards of Excellence by Position
In order to take your bank to the Duke and Apple level of excellence, this third area will need to be implemented. This is where you outline what you expect your employees to do or strive towards. When we say strive, if an employee strives for six months and still can’t quite get there, then change should be made. Keep in mind, the first two areas of non-negotiables and minimum standards will allow an employee in the door. Meeting standards of Excellence will keep him in the building. Here are a few examples of these standards.
- Managers – Have a high “level-of-awareness” as it relates to your team’s pipeline and production.
- Loan Officers – Introduce the concept of financial integration at the beginning of the application process.
- New Account Reps – Introduce new customers around the branch.
- Tellers – Review your transactions at the end of the day in order to find potential cross-sells.
Avoid setting 50 plus standards for each position, but 10 to 15 standards of excellence per position will move each area to a level of excellence not currently experienced at most banks or businesses in your market.
Create a Culture not Robots
Stay away from the temptation of enforcing so many rules that you end up creating a team of robots with no personality or innovative ideas. You should build a team that works within the spirit of the standards instead of looking for ways to get around each standard with an excuse as to why it’s different at my branch or in my situation. Your best people will embrace the standards and may even help you improve them. Your weak links will complain about them and they will, without question, test you on enforcing these standards to see if you’ll actually stand by your words. Once your actions back the standards, you’ll be on the fast-track to excellence.
