The Need for Knowledge: Customer Service Is Lip Service Unless You Train Your People
1996; American Bankers Association; Volume: 88; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0194-5947
Autores Tópico(s)Leadership and Management in Organizations
ResumoDoyle Lee, president of Citizens National Bank, a $54-million-assets bank in Weatherford, Tex., has a vision. He has a vision of his 71-year-old mother walking into a bank and being greeted by a 23-year-old employee. His mother says, I would like to buy a CD, and the young employee says, Hey, that's cool. Now that's a cultural difference, says Lee. Bridging the cultural divide between young employees and older customers is just one of Lee's concerns as a bank president. In addition, he is intent on giving employees the knowledge to respond intelligently to customers' queries, offering them the opportunity to learn about coworkers' departments, and providing thorough explanations to their questions. If you ask them, employees will tell you they want to be trained on things they feel uncomfortable with, says Lee. They are just starved for knowledge. Before joining Citizens National Bank last year, Lee served as president of $172-million-assets Equitable Bank, Dallas, Tex., for 12 years. (Equitable is currently being acquired by Dallas's Compass Bank.) After almost a decade of sporadic training sessions taught by various bank employees, a separate department was created for training. Beverly Gordon, Lee's secretary and a former teacher, was named supervisor of the department. Together, Gordon and Lee created a bank-wide training program at a minimal cost and minimal time-commitment. Although Lee has since left the bank, Gordon remains to run the program. Food for thought? Some banks require employees to arrive at the bank an hour earlier or remain an extra hour in order to squeeze in training sessions. Employees naturally balk, however, when an employer infringes upon time normally allocated to sleep or family. Gordon decided to sidestep the issue by holding a monthly Lunch & Learn. Each month the bank's 100 employees attend one of three sessions held between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., or 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. During that hour all employees--tellers and upper management--eat a lunch provided by the bank and listen to a training session led by Gordon. Sessions can cover main-stream subjects such as check fraud, telephone protocol, security training, regulation review, FDIC insurance, sales training, and an overview of various departments. Some sessions, however, are anything but run-of-the-mill banking topics. We try to intersperse sessions with fun things, too, says Gordon. I gave a personality-profile test during one session, and employees were able to find out what type of person they were--aggressive or passive. It helped employees discover the differences in the personality types of their coworkers and helped them get along with each other--this in turn helped with customer service. Gordon spends 40 hours each month researching each topic she covers during the session. She works closely with department heads to benefit from their expertise. For small banks hesitant to devote money to training, Gordon assures the cost is minimal: a meal runs about $5 per employee; videos can be rented at $100 per month; and training prizes, in the form of movie tickets and dinner certificates, total $20 each month. Based on 100 employees, Equitable Bank spent approximately $6,000 last year on the Lunch & Learn sessions, or only $60 per employee. minute training In an effort to encourage all department supervisors to hold monthly meetings with their employees, Gordon requires supervisors to set aside minutes for discussion each month. In addition to airing any concerns they might have, employees and supervisors cover training material prepared by Gordon. These 20 Minute Training sessions are designed to educate all employees, including the department supervisor, on various topics ranging from bank-related information to self-improvement. Gordon spends about eight hours each month researching the topics and photocopying materials for the sessions. …
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