The living story phase
We started year two of our programme with a family-founded, US bank just as the global financial crisis hit.
It recognised the new reality confronting the banking industry. But it also had to keep employees focused on achieving targets set before the crisis. The bank’s ambition remained the same, but it required adjustment in light of the changing external operating environment.
A key barrier to change was the anxiety of the bank’s people, inflamed by the world’s media.
Yet the bank had suffered minimal exposure to the sub-prime lending disaster and had just spent 12 months focused on improving customer relationships. By sharing their stories, employees realised that they were well placed, compared to competitors, to cement their good reputation and grow market share. They were also able to discover what action to take to make that happen and emerge from the crisis stronger than ever.