Management
A good manager ensures his team members understand the goals they are trying to achieve and then lets the team members work together to accomplish the goals. The manager does not just walk away, though. If you were in the Army, you might remember the saying, “Inspect what you expect.” A manager needs to ensure the steps to accomplish the goals are being taken and take corrective action if needed.
Another comment stolen from the Army is that your battle group is as strong as your NCO core. In bank terms, your bank is as strong as your supervisors and managers. Notice I did not mention “senior” managers, although that does help.
Operations
Operations are not something you wake up in the morning thinking about. We all take it for granted that everything will work well. If we fail in operations, we will not be in business for very long.
The daily functions in operations of a bank have changed little in my 40+ years in banking, but how we perform those functions has changed dramatically. We no longer have dozens of people working in “bookkeeping.” We do not have people working in “proof and transit.” Most of those functions are done electronically today.
We still have return items and overdrafts. They are just now managed using a computer.
Debit cards are a newcomer in the operations area. Fraud related to debit card activity and checking accounts now soaks up about one-third of our staff’s attention in operations.
Ideally, we will continue refining our bank’s “operations” area to reflect how our clients want to interact with us. Unbelievably, this would not have been a discussion topic in banks not too long ago. With fintechs now going after our clients, we must think about how our clients want to interact with us, or we will become extinct.
With labor costs rising quickly and availability questionable, automation is becoming more critical as we look at how we provide services. Many of us struggle with this as community bankers. We have prided ourselves on providing “personal” service. In general terms, do you think the younger generations are looking for something different than those of us older folks who value “relationship banking”?
Looking backward, we have all made tremendous strides to improve productivity and provide more user-friendly experiences. Our bank has grown by more than $300 million (244%) organically in the last dozen years without adding any staff. This has been possible by using online account opening, mobile deposit, remote deposit, teller capture, teller recyclers, automating some of the account opening processes, etc. The only area where we have added staff is in our trust department.
Pre-Convention
Our annual convention is rapidly approaching. Please consider attending and consider sending some of your younger associates.
Meeting bankers across our state and discussing their challenges and successes is a motivating experience. The convention also gives all of us a chance to see many vendors in one place. Unless you explore what is available to us, you will not know if there is a product or service available that will make your bank more profitable.
