Building Urgency and Fun in Deposit Operations - Diary of a Community Bank President Entry

Deposit operations is not considered the most exciting area in banking. Some say it is repetitious, routine and even boring. But not at Placer Sierra Bank, a California Community Bank company. Here things are hopping every day, not only because checking accounts are growing by almost 50%, which brings about major volume surges, but because it is a special team that is bringing urgency and commitment to execution to their business in a fun way. Diane Demarest, the department’s manager, and Nancy Storz, a mover, shaker and supervisor in the area, tell the story:

We renamed Deposit Operations the Land of Oz. Our area has experienced so much growth and change this year that the Wizard of Oz seemed to be living amongst us, helping us get through the hurdles we face. Dorothy and her team have become our mascots. Oz (Operational Zenith, of course) is our goal. It’s a little corny, but it works. There certainly are days when our pace feels a lot like Dorothy’s famous ride inside a twister…but Oz is our destination and we continuously make progress toward that end.

We have lots of fun around our goal, borrowing whenever we can from Dorothy and her friends. For example, every month we have a special recognition ceremony called "the Glinda Award", to recognize a person who has made a special contribution to the team or demonstrated leapfrog improvement. The first award went to Carol Ann for her steadying influence on us all. She is unflappable and is always there when you need her. Her sense of humor injects fun into much of what we do. The second award went to Jannell, a reliable, dependable, unsung hero and teammate who pitches in wherever she is needed.

You don’t have to be a superstar to be a Glinda award recipient. What you really need is team spirit and willingness to land a hand.

The award ceremony is fun and flashy. A small, but appropriately dazzling plastic tiara crowns the winner. With great flourish Angie, our Department’s own Vanna White, hands the Glinda Wand (a wonderfully gaudy, homemade affair) to the winner. The tiara is bestowed with much grandeur, everybody cheers and sometimes even a few tears are shed. We love it!

Our monthly visit to the Emerald City is accompanied by daily big, hairy, audacious goals that help us achieve our potential and be the very best that we can be. We focus on identifying and implementing specific ways to use our time and other resources more efficiently. Our methodology for getting there is as follows:

1. A daily task list. We all develop our own, and give Nancy a copy. Then she inspects completion. Anyone caught with two or more unfinished items on the list gets seriously admonished, because failure to embrace the benefits of this method is much like shooting oneself in the foot, and is no fun. In addition, we do not give them chocolate for a day. This management tool must be internalized by each team member, or it simply becomes another onerous task to complete, rating right up there with making bricks without straw
2. The Grand and Glorious Paper Use Awareness Program. We all know we use too much unnecessary paper. Well, we did something about it!
• Keep all the uncollected printer and fax paper abd bring them to the weekly Monday morning huddle to measure the prior week’s usage
• Record the height of the stack on the how tall are we this week (also known as "watch Johnny grow") board. Compare the collected items to a new ream of paper.
• Use the paper to fuel the next company barbeque.
• Make sure people realize this is not the best cooking device.

We are also planning to discontinue various reports’ distribution for 2 weeks and see who asks for them. It certainly helps cut the distribution lists down

3. Monday morning huddle. We meet weekly for 15 minutes.This is the week to come meetings with all staff members. We cover:
   • Important upcoming deliverables and deadlines
   • Recognize past week accomplishments
   • Leave staff with a positive outlook and clarity of goals for the week by closing with "Getting to know you" at the end of each meeting and much chocolate

   It's a great way to start the week, staring into your team mates’ eyes wondering if they, too, left their homes with partially applied makeup and chirping cell phones in their purses. This is the time to cover staffing for vacations, upcoming conversions, volume surges and other issues. It’s an opportunity to lock arms and move like a unit. This 15 minutes meeting is hosted by a perky, upbeat supervisor who has had one too many lattes on the way to work

   Our deposit operations team has absorbed a 50% increase in volume with no increase to staff. This is not because they had access capacity, but because they are working as a team, getting better organized each day, and taking personal responsibility for their to do’s. All this while having fun, remembering each other as people, and sharing many a Krispy Kreme doughnut and white chocolate bars. This is community banking at its best achieving crisp execution and improved efficiencies by better allocating resources and working together!