How To Keep Board, Management, Staff On Same Page

Michael Bartlett, Reporter
December 8, 2006
Credit Union Journal

Following are excerpts taken from the December 8, 2006 edition of Credit Union Journal.

When the board, management and staff are all working off the same sheet, they can make beautiful music together.

The key, several experts suggest, is in the composers (senior management and board), the conductors (middle management) and the musicians who play the music (staff).

Keith Von Seggern, managing principal of Carreker Corporation, a Dallas, Texas-based financial institution consultancy, said many financial institutions have good customer service strategies, but a problem exists between strategy and execution.

"Pressures are mounting on financial services," he said. "Customer expectations are up, but employee loyalty and commitment are overwhelmed by change. The retirement of baby boomers is causing increasing activity in the industry."

As the pressure builds, it "rolls downhill" to the front-line staff, Von Seggern said, adding "Some believe if there is a problem with the music, it must be the musicians. We're saying, 'probably not.' It is the language of conducting."

The "new" middle manager is akin to a good conductor, who takes a composition, interprets it to the talents and skills of an orchestra's musicians, and extracts a superior performance from them, said Von Seggern.

Von Seggern was joined by two representatives of Australian bank giant Westpac: Tim Harrington, general manager of products and marketing, and Peter Dennis, head of customer experience. Both continued the musical theme with the introduction of "VIBE," "TONE," "PACE," and "NOTE."

According to Dennis, financial institution executives create a customer-focused culture through VIBE: Vision, Integration, Behaviors and Expectations. Middle managers are responsible for TONE: Targets for today, One-on-one coaching, Numbers familiarity and Environment improvement. Relationship managers PACE: Planning of Activities and Conversations followed by Evaluation to leverage learning.

NOTE, on the other hand, refers to customers: Need-focused, Organized, Topical (or Timely), and Energized.

"The leap from the strategic intent to the customer experience requires several steps, involving all levels of the organization," he said. "The system relies heavily on feedback and connectivity between the levels. It is not about information flowing down. The people on the front line are hearing the customer feedback."

Harrington said the musical system has helped Westpac create a "single, integrated sales and service culture with an appetite for accountability and a bias for action."

"We needed to make a sales transformation due to a drop in home loans. We have seen better product penetration, and more deals per branch per month," he reported.

Harrington said financial institutions should emphasize the role of coaches to support implementation of the system. While some customization is expected, he said to have a consistent and aligned process, upper management should refrain from constant "fiddling."

Added Von Seggern: "The language matters. Management should use language that appreciates the middle managers."