Identifying learning needs accurately and proactively requires a business partner approach.

The following story was told by Saynur Onen, vice president of Yapı Kredi Banking Academy at Yapı ve Kredi Bankası A.Ş.

Client

Yapı ve Kredi Bankası A.Ş., a nationwide bank in Istanbul, Turkey

Opportunity

Maintaining a competitive edge and sustaining healthy sales in turbulent financial markets requires branch operation managers to have specialized knowledge about products and services, as well as coaching skills to help motivate branch teams and improve on-the-job behaviors.

Diagnosis

To help operation managers acquire new skills that would enable them to cultivate a more customer-focused approach while fostering a strong company culture, Yapı Kredi Banking Academy launched a program to support one of the bank's strategic projects: "Being a Business Partner of Sales." The new simulation training program focused on simultaneously teaching technical banking knowledge and personal and managerial skills.

  • Humana-focused: Improve organization, direction, and leadership capabilities.
  • Customer-focused: Cultivate more valuable relationships with customers and partners.
  • Externally focused: Develop a more comprehensive understanding of healthcare reform and its implications for the company.

Methods

The Banking Academy dedicates a training consultant to each business unit to better link learning initiatives to business strategies. This business partner approach helps identify training needs proactively. It is this close relationship with the business units that enabled the Banking Academy to uncover performance gaps among the branch operation managers.

Workshops and meetings with the operation management unit and regional managers sought to understand expectations and collect data from their point of view. Branch visits identified responsibilities and roles in their day-to-day tasks.

The result of the data collection is the three-day Operation Manager Development Simulation Program, which consists of five modules: a customer-oriented approach to sales, lobby management and customer interaction instructions, risk management, business acumen and problem solving, and coaching skills.

Each module employs various learning methods, such as role plays, case studies, discussions, presentations, group studies, and competitions, which are inspired by real-life experiences at bank branches so trainees can practice facing real problems using their technical skills, as well as personal and managerial skills. Also, to ensure a long-term effect, operation managers and branch managers have been assigned follow-up action plans.

Results

Initial results indicate an increase in customer satisfaction and decreases in service-level indicators such as lobby waiting time. But to assess the program's business impact even further, training worked with operation management to determine tangible key performance indicators for evaluation, including decreases in returned job ratio, which was 25 percent, and operational risk entries, which was more than 65 percent.

Return-on-investment for the program has been calculated at 279 percent, and gains are being made in performance improvement, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Lessons Learned

To keep up with complex business environments, training and development employed a partner approach to proactively identify learning needs.