Talent centricity
The key to success for banking company
Anwar Faruq Talukder
Management of people and management of risk are the two major challenges facing the banking industry in Bangladesh. Effective and efficient management of people and risksdetermines the success in the banking business.
Skilled manpower is the key to success for any initiatives. Therefore it has been widely uttered that you need right people in the right place and more importantly in the right time to become successful.
According to renowned socialist economist Karl Marx, only proper usage of Labour can only add value to production.
Other factors of production like land, capital, organiser, only can produce according to it values. Banking has been and will always be a People Business.
Though pricing is one of the important factors however, there may be other valid reasons why people select and stay with a particular bank.
Banks as employers must try to differentiate themselves by creating their own images, particularly in transparent situations with a high level of competitiveness. In coming days, the survival of the banks would depend on customer satisfaction, and the banks that will not be able to comply with the customer expectations will find difficulty in survival.
Banks must articulate and emphasis the core values to attract and retain certain customer segments. Values such as loyal dependable sound, reliable, innovative, socially responsible, customer centric, etc. need to be emphasised through real actions on the ground and it
would be the banks human resource which would deliver those services.
To become successful in the short span of time you need right people, who can expand your business and excel your companys values. To acquire those heights the company must employ the right people, retain them and develop those talents with proper guidance.
Banks need to seriously look at lateral recruitment as an option to induct specialists at various levels with specific skill sets and experience pool. The right people will come only if they are paid competitive salaries and also allowing them to work independently. Bank leaders who can attract talent to their organisations will have a distinct advantage. For example in the battle for new loans in crowded markets, the banks with more and better lenders on the street will win.
The matter is simple for the talent. Think, stars, I mean super performers have the most options as to where they will deploy their talents. Usually stars want to work with stars and other A categories players. Unless its a crisis move, A players will choose an opportunity where they are working with or for a well-known company, and where they feel they are best set up for success. A true star player generates an annuity stream of new business, and a B player simply does not. The lesser performer, while almost always less expensive, is never cheap enough relative to the ROI of the more proven player. Thus the company should make a policy how to transform such vibe so that the talent feels that it is and will be worthwhile to stay here.
On the other hand the nature of business (banking) requires massive re-skilling of the existing workforce and continuous skill up-gradation. So, continuous training and development is as important as recruiting talent.
People these days have different take in life they are not working only for livelihood but also wants congenial working atmosphere where they find full job satisfaction. To become competitive in the market a company should always adopt customer value proposition (CVP) that makes customer to choose his company.
Similarly, concept Bank HR needs to think carefully about their employee value proposition (EVP) that in turn will help attract and retain employees. The well-known 80:20 theory of Pareto is now being used in all industries. That means only 20 per cent people can generate 80 per cent output.
Now the question, are you recruiting those 20 per cent? If you are then success is bound ti come. Its a strong diver who can drive you smoothly and flawlessly.
Banks that choose to play it safe with regard to talent, whether in the executive ranks; in key areas like technology and customer experience; or in the hiring of revenue generators, do run therisk of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
We are living in an industry time of go big or go home when it comes to human capital. The variable on the success of a banks strategy is always the execution, and execution always comes down to people.
The writer is a banker and he can be reached @ anwarfaruq@ yahoo.com.
