KQ Article

Welcome to The Learning Curve, the section focusing specifically on the education and development of employees throughout your institution. As we all know, learning is critical to every financial institution's success. Well-trained employees are more engaged in their work. More engaged employees create loyal customers and members. And customer loyalty builds prosperous banks and credit unions. We hope you find these articles helpful.

Mark McCarthy brings more than 20 years of sales leadership and training experience to his role as Director of Sales Competency and Training for Deluxe Corporation. His learning and development initiatives have reached more than 2,000 Deluxe employees. Follow Mark on Twitter at GrowTheBusiness.

As we've mentioned in the other articles in this magazine, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has never been more important for financial institutions. And organizations across the country are realizing that mission statements alone will not shape the actions of employees and clients. Instead, they're turning to training programs that reflect their values and principles.

These knowledge exchanges incorporate real-life examples and exercises that are based upon a company's value system. In fact, training programs that revolve around an organization's vision and values generate outstanding results. They develop employees and leaders who want to live and breathe the values of the organization.

CLARIFYING WHAT YOU VALUE
Organizations have two types of values: explicit and implicit. Explicit values are those beliefs that an organization communicates overtly. Implicit values are those things that illustrate how an organization really functions. An organization's implicit values usually emerge as it decides what its consumer experience will be and how it wants to treat its employees.

Senior leadership and boards of directors set both explicit and implicit values. Explicit values are often specifically defined as part of long-range and/or strategic planning activities. They are fairly easy to communicate and are often included in mission statements, wall plaques, awards and vision statements. Explicit values should be incorporated into all key employee and customer communications touch points, including training.

Implicit values are "discovered" as an organization makes business decisions. In exceptional organizations, explicit and implicit values are identical. All organizations should strive to make them as close as possible.

COMMUNICATING ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES
A person's first impression of company values is usually experienced during his or her first week on the job, while immersed in new employee training. It's here where employees learn how to act and what behaviors will be tolerated. If you're considering a training program that focuses on your company's core values, be certain there are no gaps between what is being trained and what the employee will experience:

• Ensure that your training program has front-line leaders and executives speaking openly about their values and their visions of success.
• Confirm that your training style supports what you're training. If employee engagement is valued, be sure you recognize all your learners and welcome all questions and feedback.
• Add the consumer's perspective into every main training point. For example, if you're teaching how to open a new account, be sure to speak about what you want the consumer to think and feel throughout the process. Also offer suggestions for how to manage difficult customers.

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ACTING ON VALUES
If a bank or credit union's actions, especially those involving communication, employee engagement and compensation, do not align with the values espoused in training, it won't take long for employees to notice. And if employees feel leaders are not treating them in a way that aligns with stated organizational values, they will not be motivated to treat customers any better.

So what might a CSR training program look like? In the end, your company is responsible for deciding how to best communicate your organization's values. But generally speaking, a successful CSR training program should:

• Clearly define the organization's value statements in practical, accessible language.
• Illustrate what the values are — and are not.
• Acknowledge the difference between shared "corporate" values and an individual's personal values.
• Explore how the values impact your business, your community and the world.
• Recognize the short- and long-term impact of living (or not living) the values.
• Provide clear expectations for supporting your organization's values.

You should also acknowledge and encourage differences of opinion. People can agree in principle even if they disagree in tactics, and some of the best ideas arise within this tension.