COS

NEWS

It happened yesterday at a French retail bank. We were working with managers on the need to simplify processes to make advisors’ work more fluid, and to encourage them to take the initiative, as close to the customer as possible. Management has clearly taken this on board. So we could be on the right track. But “it’s going to be a long road” added one of them. “Are you kidding? he says to the group, and then starts to share an e-mail from a Director sent the day before to branch managers. The e-mail announced the streamlining of the procedure for setting up medium- to long-term loans for businesses, and described the eliminated procedural elements. At the same time, however, the message made it clear that these procedural points would continue to be flagged during the managerial review! In other words: the procedure has been lightened, but you are likely to be held to account for its use. In short, you have the right, but a word of advice: don’t take it! There’s still a long way to go. We’d like to put the responsibility back on the managers, who are supposed to implement strategic decisions. The problem with customer culture is that it is the fruit of a set of beliefs and values that exist within the company, and which extend beyond a single individual in space and time. In the example in question, we can see that the corporate culture is so strong that it’s too complicated to loosen the stranglehold of procedures even when the decision has been made. Procedure be damned!