International School of Management
Employee Training/Programs
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- Employee Development Leadership Planning
- Employee Satisfaction and Recognition
- Organizational Goals and Employee Expectations
- Communicating with Employees
Employee Training/Programs Employee training and formal training programs are an area that Maine Savings has improved upon drastically in the past three years. Prior to 2004, the company had no formalized training program and offered training to its employees in a sporadic and diffused manner. Because there was no formal process or procedure in place, many employees were trained differently and to different standards, based on what branch they were working in at the time they were hired. In January of 2004 however, the CEO John Reed, hired Brigadier General Robert G. Carmichael as the Vice President of Human Resources & Training, a newly created position. Rob quickly put his many years of professional training and development experience to work by formalizing a company-wide training program and creating a mini “Maine Savings University.” In addition to creating formalized training programs, Rob completed an analysis of every position at the company and ascertained the job requirements and knowledge required for each position. In addition to creating targeted training for specific jobs, Rob also created a “wow-service” training program for every employee at the organization. In the past three years, under the direct guidance of Rob Carmichael, the institution has created a myriad of formal training programs, much along the lines of what Jack Welch created at General Electric. When an employee starts at Maine Savings, no matter their position within the company, they are introduced to a “WOW” service training as part of their in processing. Each employee watches the “Give ‘em the Pickle” video about catering to customers, watches a video about the “Phish” philosophy that was cultivated at Pike Place Fish market, and is given reading material about “Knock your socks off service.” By doing this, every employee receives a uniform induction into the customer-centric methods and ideas of the organization. This helps the employee to understand the importance of customer service at Maine Savings, and that the company puts top priority on delivering world-class customer service. This initial training is followed up on regularly throughout the year when employees attend refresher training on customer service, by attending seminars at the main office. These seminars are designed by the Vice President of Human Resources & Training and are conducted by him and the CEO, John Reed. By doing this the company is sending the powerful message that this is an important consideration, and also that the very highest of management believes in the philosophy and expects that great customer service will be delivered. Above and beyond the initial customer service training that every employee receives, formal training programs have been designed for each functional area of the company. For example, an employee hired as a Teller would go through the “WOW” customer service training, then receive one-on-one teller training (in a training environment) from an experienced & knowledgeable trainer, then be put into a live training environment with a training coach by their side, and finally, they would be assigned to their work station with a name tag delineating them as a Trainee, until such time that they could perform the job with adequate and acceptable competence. By doing this, the organization has been able to standardize the performance of many of its employees, and as a consequence, improve organizational performance. Before the company had any formal training or hiring, the task of hiring and training was a decentralized process that led to a diffusion of standardization, as well as many different practices being done for the same task on a company-wide basis. In the past, an employee was hired into one of the branches and subsequently trained by that branch. This resulted in a lack of best practices and the main office having to deal with and understand the many different methods being deployed on an issue by the many outlying branches. During this time, there were no standardized training standards, no formal training procedures, and no verifiable documentation of training on a company-wide basis. This proved to cause problems when employees needed to work in other branches for one reason or another. In many cases, it was soon learned that certain procedures were totally different from one branch to another, albeit within the same company. A formalized training program, with regular feedback and documentation has been a welcomed solution to this former problem. Any important and worthwhile endeavor in an organization must be both publicly supported by the executive management team and be adequately funded in order to have the slightest chance of success. At Maine Savings, HR & Training now has a robust and ample budget that is used to continue to improve training and development issues at the company. As proof of this, in order to show a commitment to continued training and feedback to employees, one of the largest single organizational expenses in the budget is for training. It is a large five-figure budget expense for the “service shopping” program. This initiative is very much like the standard “mystery shopping” programs that take place at many retailers, with the exception that Maine Savings’ management sets the scoring criteria. This program provides a good, objective critique of how the training at Maine Savings is being manifest in its employees when they actually interact with a customer. This is only one concrete example of the financial commitment that the organization has made in order to ensure the success of its training programs. Maine Savings’ training programs have recently been put to the test, as it prepares to open two new branches that require approximately twenty new employees. Because of the processes and procedures that have been established, the training of all new employees was an overwhelming success. After these new employees made their way to a Training Coach at an established branch and had the opportunity to perform for a short period of time, the resultant feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In the words of the Milo Branch Manager Jeff Gahagan (a 30 year industry professional), “I cannot believe how well prepared and informed the new employees are to do their jobs well and provide top notch customer service.” This feedback is one of many measuring tools that the organization can use to gauge the effectiveness of its training programs. In addition to the feedback received by the existing employees and their supervisors and managers, the new employees also gave the training department resoundingly positive feedback in regard to their level of preparedness after they had been in the job for a few weeks. The training methods used at Maine Savings have also changed over the last three years. In the past, employees may have been sent off-site to attend a generic training program with a general description. Now, the company uses webinars, videos, onsite consultants, professional seminars, and if necessary, travel to another destination for appropriate and pertinent training. With continued improvements in technology, the company tries to take advantage of as much cost effective, easy-delivery training content as possible. If an employee is permitted to travel off-site for training, it is required that they write a synopsis of the training that they received and review it with both their immediate supervisor and the V.P. of Human Resources & Training, in order to assess the benefits of the training. This sort of assessment and constant evaluation of training programs is leading the company to develop “best practices” in the area of training. This will allow the company to maximize its efficiency in delivering training to its employees in the future. The last topic that deserves to be mentioned in regard to Maine Savings’ training programs is the relationship between effective training and employee satisfaction and turnover. The organization has one of the lowest turnover ratios in the country (for its peer group), much of which can be attributed to the investment in training the company has made in its people. Employees are encouraged to ask for more training when they feel that it is necessary. The company realizes that training is an investment, and looks upon the endeavor as actively investing in the betterment of its workforce. As this paper previously stated, “Unless an organization aligns their corporate training to organizational goals, any returns that are realized from the training investment will be by chance alone.” Maine Savings definitely understands this concept and has made training part of its strategic business plan, and has funded it accordingly. Employee Development & Leadership Planning In addition to training its employees for their specific jobs and initiating them all into the customer-centric atmosphere at Maine Savings, the company also strives to develop future managers and leaders. As this paper discussed in the “Leadership – Management Attitude/Response” section, the Senior Staff of the organization routinely rates its employees on the basis of 70%, 20%, or 10%, adopting the rating scheme used by Jack Welch at General Electric. The 20% category is where the top performing employees are in terms of their ability to be mentored and groomed for future leadership opportunities. Although the Senior Staff discusses everyone in the company once per year as a group, each senior Staff person is responsible for evaluating the employees in their departments on an ongoing basis throughout the year. In the past, when someone in a supervisory position left the company, management would either promote the next person in line within the department, or was forced to hire an outsider for the position. With its new leadership development strategy, the organization has pre-identified people from all over the company that are capable of being promoted into many different positions as the need arises. As an example, when the organization announced the opening of its two new branches, it received interest from many current employees, several of which were previously identified as having the potential for leadership positions. As a result, the company was able to promote qualified people into supervisory positions that had experience with the institution already. Because of this, the company is able to promote deserving people, instill a greater sense of employee satisfaction, and prevent the “brain drain” experienced so often by other institutions in the same geographic area. As a result of its recent successes with leadership development, the company has added a section to its annual employee appraisal form (Appendix 8) so that the topic can be discussed with every employee in the organization. This serves a two-fold purpose. First, it allows an employee to be proactive in discussing their wishes or desires in receiving further development toward a position of greater responsibility. Second, it allows members of Senior Staff the opportunity to assess whether or not an employee possesses the desire or intention to progress into a position of leadership. Because of the importance of promoting leadership qualities in all of its employees, whether or not the employee has any intention of ever ascending to management, the company uses other methods to allow leadership qualities to be honed. For example, Maine Savings has many informal committees (annual party, Christmas party, employee newsletter, etc.) that are made up of employees from many areas of the company. Everyone is given an opportunity to lead these committees and take on added responsibilities as a result of the initiatives created by the participants. This method has proven invaluable at giving most employees in the organization the opportunity to experience leadership at some level. Employee Satisfaction and Recognition Employee satisfaction and recognition is an area that Maine Savings has placed a special emphasis on in the past two years, and continues to make a priority. The results of Hawthorne Studies that were conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 are still valid today. These studies concluded, in part, that money was not solely responsible for employee motivation and satisfaction, but rather employer behaviors and attitudes toward employees played a large role in this. In addition to this study, is the hierarchy of needs theory presented by A.H. Maslow, that says that as basic needs are satisfied, higher levels of needs emerge and motivates an employee’s behavior. Maine Savings management understands these hypotheses, which is exhibited by the offering of a very robust benefits package (Appendix 9) to every employee, that consists of fully paid employee health benefits, dental coverage, life insurance, a 401K plan with employer matching and profit sharing bonus, a Christmas bonus, Thanksgiving turkey, and a longevity bonus, just to name a few. Maine Savings is well recognized in the industry and geographic area for its generous employee benefits. One new, never before achieved initiative that management recently concluded was the completion of an employee survey (Appendix 10). The survey was totally confidential and asked employees to rate items such as: work environment, benefits packages, their immediate supervisors, the executive management team, the equity of their compensation package, and their overall attitudes toward the organization. In addition to the fifty or so stated questions, employees were provided the opportunity to give any other feedback, or comments that they may deem appropriate. The results of the survey were tallied and reviewed by the Senior Staff of Maine Savings. The next step management took was to address some of the concerns noted in the survey by making any changes that were appropriate, based on the employee feedback and recommendations. After this step was taken, all of the employees in the organization were provided with the results of the survey (Appendix 11), including the comments, and management’s answer to any concerns or recommended changes. This step alone has engendered a large volume of employee satisfaction. There were numerous comments from the employees in the vein that it was nice to see that management cared about what they thought and actually made changes based upon their direct input. An element of employee satisfaction that was waning until the current management team was installed was a formal employee recognition program. Prior to the establishment of the current recognition program, employees were lauded on a sporadic basis, at best. In the past two years, the company has taken the steps necessary to establish a formal recognition program that include: recognition in the quarterly employee newsletter (The Quarterly Compass), honorable mention in the monthly Maine Savings Customer newsletter (Appendix 12), the Cecil C. Porter award for outstanding achievement (Appendix 13), and formal recognition for training program completion. Management has seen a very positive result from these initiatives, and garnered an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from employees and customers alike. The recognition programs are working as desired by building employee esteem, reinforcing desired behaviors, motivating performance, and supporting the mission and values of the company. Because of these positive results, management will continue to find new ways to bolster and improve the current recognition program. Another important step the company has taken is to highlight their employees in industry-wide or trade publications whenever possible. Not only does this improve employee morale and satisfaction, but also highlights Maine Savings as a desirable place to work. This hypothesis was proven correct just recently when the organization advertised for the many new positions at its two new branches. The company was literally inundated with applications and resumes from the local competition. During the interview process, most prospective candidates told the company that they were familiar with the great working conditions at the firm and had seen at least one article touting the accomplishments of the organizations employees. In almost every case, the candidates expressed dissatisfaction with their current work environment and employer. The candidates voiced their desire to work for a company like Maine Savings that has invested in their employees and highlights their successes whenever possible. As is the case for all of the items in the company’s strategic business plan that management feels are necessary to the success of the company, so too is the recognition program adequately funded and budgeted for each year. For the fiscal year 2007, the recognition budget is larger than ever before in the history of the company (Maine Savings Budget 2007). The Senior Staff has made the decision to begin formally recognizing an employee for their accomplishments at most company events. For example, the organization has an annual company party and an annual meeting. At the company party, an award will be given to the employee who most supported the effort to open the company’s two newest branches. At the annual meeting, the Cecil C. Porter award for outstanding service will be awarded to the employee who best exemplified “WOW” customer service. In both cases, the employee receives a plaque and is recognized both at the event and also in the newsletter. Awards such as these have become very competitive and also very desirable, as well as being looked upon by all employees with respect and admiration. With very few exceptions, most of the organizations employees will tell you that garnering an award and being recognized publicly for their work is a major motivating factor in their performance and level of satisfaction with the company itself. In addition to the corporate-wide, more formal and recognized programs, management is also in the process of encouraging informal recognition at lower levels in the company, such as the departmental or branch levels. For example, in the institutions Brewer branch, every Friday afternoon the Branch Manager buys an ice cream sundae for the employee who has gone “above and beyond” in their performance for that week. Although it seems like a small gesture, the Branch Manager indicates that the program is very competitive and that employees work hard all week to be the winner. This sort of friendly competition has served to raise the level of awareness in job performance, customer service, and overall satisfaction with the employees’ jobs at the company. The organization has many of these informal recognition programs that help perpetuate the morale and productivity of its employees, and because of this, will continue the practice and look for more ways to accomplish this. Organizational Goals and Employee Expectations Over the past three years, Maine Savings has been able to effectively transform itself from a vertically integrated, top-down, information flow process to a more flat, horizontally integrated organization, for the purposes of information sharing with employees. For example, in the past, rather than explaining to employees what the goals were, how they were to be achieved and why, a manager would simply give employees tasks without explaining the reasons behind them. This type of management behavior results in the employee only concentrating on the task itself, without having an understanding of how it may fit into the larger, more strategic plan. For this reason, management now actively shares elements of the strategic plan or other endeavors with its employees, fully stating the goals, purposes, and processes by which to accomplish them. By doing this, the employee understands why they are doing what they are doing, and can also take ownership of their process toward accomplishing the desired end result. The Senior Staff firmly believes that everyone in the organization should understand what the goals of the organization are, and what measures will be taken to accomplish them. Staff meetings in all departments are frequent and one-on-one meetings with mid-level managers and supervisors and a member of Senior Staff are expected. These meetings serve to maintain an open line of communication between executive management and employees, as well as serve to allow employees to offer their feedback to management. To this end, many members of the Senior Staff have trained their managers and supervisors on the best ways to conduct meetings. Rather than be unilateral, the meetings should be bilateral and take on a participative quality. This will engender more open and honest input from employees and allow them to feel that they are part of the solution and a valued asset to the company. One way that the company has been able to use this strategy in order to accomplish a strategic goal, is by allowing employees at all levels the opportunity to have input during the implementation and planning stages. For example, in January of 2006, the organization underwent a very arduous demand processing conversion. Knowing that there was a goal of implementing this within a certain time frame, management asked for volunteers to join an implementation committee to solicit employee input and feedback. The Committee was comprised of employees from many different functional areas and included all levels of employees, from a Teller to a member of Senior Staff. During the implementation-planning phase, the employees were integral in helping to design a successful implementation strategy. According to the software vendor that coordinated the conversion, they had never before seen the kind of cooperation and understanding of the process than they did at Maine Savings. As a result of employee involvement from the beginning, the conversion went smoothly and was considered to have been very successful, by any standard. Employees at Maine Savings are not seen by management as robots employed there only to perform assigned tasks, but as valuable assets with important opinions and ideas. The organization stresses a collaborative work environment and constantly looks for ways to promote and facilitate this initiative. When there are issues to be solved, status or level of position does not matter. Every employee must work with each other to solve the problem and ultimately make the banking experience better for the customer. Management constantly stresses the fact that employees need to focus on two different types of customers, the internal customer and the external customer. The concept that the organization exists solely because of external customers is reinforced on a daily basis. So too is the concept of the internal customer, or all of the other fellow employees that rely on each other to do their jobs effectively. When problems between employees do arise, they are addressed in an expedient manner, and with the understanding that internal customer service is just as important as external customer service. The Board of directors and the executive management team at Maine Savings truly feel that all of the employees at the organization are important stakeholders in the company. As is the case in most organizations, the employees at Maine Savings are one of the largest groups of stakeholders in the organization. For this reason, it is essential that the employees understand the goals, purpose, mission, and objectives of the organization. To this end, when executive management sought to create new mission and vision statements in 2005, the input of employees was sought. The process began with Senior Staff members drafting an outline of what these statements should contain, then “roughing” up a first draft statement for each. Then, the statements were given to employee groups to critique and offer input and feedback on the statements. The statements were then refined based on the employees’ feedback and made final. These statements are now prominently displayed in every public and employee area throughout the company. Communicating with Employees There is no greater concern at Maine Savings than effective communication. This means with customers, vendors, co-workers, and employees alike. The organization goes to great lengths to promote accurate and effective communication, including providing employees specific training on effective communication techniques. Management of the organization believes firmly that the success of the institution rests on the ability of its employees and management team to communicate effectively. Employees are trained that communication is not just verbal, but can include gestures, tones, body language, e-mail, and physical barriers. Employees expect communication from Senior Management, as well as the opportunity to communicate with Senior Management. The management realizes that effective communication is necessary for a positive and productive work environment, and work toward that goal accordingly. The company experienced periods of turmoil in the past that the current management team has attributed to a lack of appropriate communication. Specifically, employees felt as though that when they were spoken to by certain members of management that they were not getting the whole story, or that things were being blamed on someone else. This left many employees lacking trust or credibility in their management team. In addition, as was the case with a certain member of Senior Staff that is no longer at the organization, there was a deep seeded feeling that this person would often take credit for the positive actions and ideas of their employees, but deflect any responsibility for negative actions or results. As Jack Welch stated in his book Winning, “leaders also establish trust by giving credit where credit is due. They never score off their own people by stealing an idea and claiming it as their own. Trust happens when leaders are transparent, candid, and keep their word. It’s that simple” (Welch 2005). The current management team at Maine Savings has seen how this type of errant behavior can eat at the fabric of trust and ruin communication at an organization. Therefore, they maintain a constant line of open and honest communication with all of their employees. Often times in an organization the size of Maine Savings, employees will have differing opinions, or in some cases air strong opinions to one another that create animosity and have to be addressed by a member of management. More often than not, the management of the company finds that it is not necessarily the message itself, but rather how the message was communicated and subsequently received. In a majority of the instances, e-mail is the culprit. For example, a Branch Manager e-mailed the A.V.P. of Operations in regard to a compliance issue that the A.V.P. of Operations had sent a memo out on two days prior. The Branch Manager’s e-mail was all in “caps”, bolded, and was a statement that ended with a question mark. When the message was received by the A.V.P., she took it to be a challenge to her directive, as well as an inference that she was wrong. Because of this, she responded back to the Branch Manager with a scolding e-mail asking why this was being questioned. In the end, it was learned that the Branch Manager only wanted to make sure that he was communicating the right message to his employees. The current management team at Maine Savings is dealing very effectively with communication issues by addressing them immediately, honestly, and comprehensively. The management at the organization conveys to its employees the need to solve their problems at the lowest possible level, but to use the correct organizational communications path when necessary. In many cases, employees are able to solve their own communication issues if given the opportunity and empowered to do so. Management at Maine Savings reinforces the belief that their employees are capable of solving their own problems if they communicate with one another. When an issue is elevated to a member of management, one of the first strategies is to analyze the steps that were taken in the process prior to elevating the issue to a member of management. By doing this, the employees learn what steps may have been taken in order to solve the problem at the lowest possible level. Management is able to encourage this behavior by not punishing or criticizing responsible, proactive communication. This promotes healthy communication and allows for an open, positive environment for the employees to communicate in. A point that Maine Savings’ management stresses on a continual basis is the fact that communication, whether it is between co-workers, management, or customers, is the foundation for the company’s success. In meeting after meeting, the management of the organization talks about the need to effectively communicate in order to grow and prosper as an organization. When the Senior Staff meets at it’s regularly scheduled Wednesday staff meeting, the CEO makes it a priority to ask each Senior Staff member about the communication in their departments and if there are any issues that need to be addressed. By the top levels of management making communication within the organization an important priority, attention to this priority flows down and permeates the entire work force. Because every employee in the organization understands the importance and attention of effective communication to the top-level management, they know they are enabled to provide input and feedback when they deem it necessary. Specific examples of the successes that open and effective communication has at the organization will be highlighted in more detail in the next section of the paper that considers effectiveness of teamwork at Maine Savings. 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