Pub. 16 2019 Issue 1

Issue 1 • 2019 3 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S want to achieve the what. The team is critical to success and you must find individuals that believe as Harry S. Truman did “You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.” For me it is about accomplishing the goal and if you have a member of the teamwho is always focused on getting the credit it will affect the team, particularly if that indi - vidual is you. The other thing a leader must remember is that part of the team is your boss, or if you are the CEO, your Board. You must establish trust and a relationship with that higher power as Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin call it in their book “You’re in Charge, Now What?” They stress that you must un - derstand your boss’ or board’s motivations, what their culture is, how best to communicate with them including a process for feedback, and you must keep them involved and informed in the business. The what. Sometimes a leader must change a culture. In changing a culture, it is important to communicate. A leader must establish a communication program that is supportive, concise and repetitive. A strategic plan must be developed that is refreshed annually and lived daily. This strategic plan must be developed from the board down and from the associates up if it is to be successful. Everyone in the organization should live this plan daily. Suggested means of communication are discussed in Verne Harish’s book “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits”. In his book he speaks to the need for a concise strate- gic plan and core values. He also stresses that every meeting should have an agenda and specific time frame for the meeting. It is the responsibility of a successful leader to establish and exhibit these practices if they wish other leaders in the organi - zation as well as every associate to also demonstrate the same commitment and respect for each other’s time. Facing the brutal facts. Tough decisions must be made by a leader and often these decisions are not popular and often may not be “the way we always did it.” Collins calls this fac- ing the “Brutal Facts.” The brutal facts may be that a process or practice is no longer the best way or the appropriate way to go forward. In some cultures, these past processes or prac- tices may be so ingrained that change may feel like a slap in the face to what has been considered the only way to do a function. To achieve success a leader needs to find or build a bridge for all to follow and to identify and remove those who would sabotage success. The hedgehog concept. Jim Collins suggests that there are three circles that must intersect to create a successful company: what can you be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what drives your economic engine. I have experienced organizations that are deeply passionate but try to be everything for everyone and have no focus on their economic engine. This approach generally leads to financial failure. I have found that these organiza- tions can be the most difficult to change. Passion is one key to success but as a successful leader you need to create the focus on what you can be best at. If your focus is too broad it will be difficult to attain success because you will not achieve the quality of success you needed. In banking that may mean identifying your true specialty and creating a product set to support it. Having a focus and a passion will not create success if you cannot financially support that focus and passion. A focus on your economic engine will likely cause you to exit certain product lines or markets. It may force you to add other service capabilities and move to new markets. These decisions again support the need for a clear strategic plan that is constantly reviewed and discussed daily. Culture of discipline. A successful leader will inspect what they expect and share the results of those inspections. My COO at Los Alamos National Bank, Eddie Ho, was one of the best examples of a leader who inspects what he expects. He would work tirelessly with his teams on identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for each area under his control. He would track and publish these KPI and how they affected the Service Level Agreements each area maintained. When he met with his team at their regularly scheduled meetings the gaps quickly be- came apparent. The magic in this process was when the team was presented with this data, they found the solutions and Eddie did not have to tell them what to do. The team identified and implemented the solutions and would review the results with the next meeting’s KPI each time improving the process. Technology accelerators. As I wrote in my last article tech- nology has always been critical in banking and has accelerat- ed at an ever-increasing rate. Our industry has morphed from hand written ledgers to electronic transactions and a new age of competitors, or accelerators, with Fintech. We must em- brace the new advances as we have in the past and find ways to leverage new technologies to better serve our customers. As leaders we need to make it a priority to understand how and when we add new technologies. We do not need to be on the bleeding edge but we must track much closer to the leading edge focusing on what we have a passion for, do well and can do in a financially successful way. A common thread of a good leader is to involve all in the process and have a recurring program of renewal. Things change and processes and procedures must change also. I cannot claim that I have mastered all these things, but I strive always to seek improvement and to envision those things that never were and ask why not. n Passion is one key to success but as a successful leader you need to create the focus on what you can be best at. If your focus is too broad it will be difficult to attain success because you will not achieve the quality of success you needed.