Human Resources Managers

 

The Human Resources Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum was launched in 2005, in response to a request by partner bank CEOs to provide a common forum for their HR Managers to discuss challenges and brainstorm strategies to improve staff performance and development in their institutions. To participate in the next Human Resource Managers forum, email us. 

Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum: Selling “Development Planning,” July 2009

This call focused on employee development within our microfinance and small business banking institutions. Of the institutions that reported, the number one concern of the CEO is improving productivity; they are also concerned with retention, growth, raising financial resources, and increasing deposits. Managers report that they often don’t have time to do development planning; many do not know how and many do not see the value of it. This call discussed how to “sell” development planning to senior managers, business units, and the organization as a whole.

 

Quick Lessons

  • It is critical for their HR department to “sell” development plans by making employees understand how they can benefit them and their departments.
  • HR managers should understand what line managers want. Some line managers only understand the numbers game, find the numbers and create a message based on that. Help them understand how much employees cost and how much training on products will help, how it’ll add value to the customer or the institution. If HR people understand the business they can speak to line managers on how to understand the business. HR has to use the vocabulary of operations or line managers.
  • Even though line managers may want to keep their top performers, it is important that HR managers work to create good incentives to reward hard workers. Encourage promotion of good workers and work to ensure that the line managers understand why it is important.

 

Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum: Development Planning, April 2009

The HR Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum held on April 30, 2009 focused on the topic of development planning within HR management. Participants joined the call from institutions in various stages of growth and development. The group also included business managers in addition to HR managers so both groups were able to share line and support management perspectives. The call began with a discussion on what “development” meant to institutions—how it is defined and what its important aspects are.

 

Quick Lessons

  • “Development” includes a mixture of formal and informal activities, and the stage of growth of the institution in question defines how its employees look at development. Career progression can be one of the most critical elements of this, especially as a motivational factor and to bolster employee engagement.
  • Three success factors were identified:
    • Communicating the role of development to managers at all levels (senior, mid-level, and functional managers) is essential.
    • Alignment with business objectives. It is crucial to align the direction of the individual’s career with the business development for the organization as a whole.
    • Recognizing efforts: An organization should be aware of the initiative displayed by staff to develop themselves.
  • For institutions with high volume growth, special focus needs to be given to streamlining processes for development.

 

Risk Management Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum, January 2008

The HR Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum held on January 16, 2008 marked the fifth call in the series focusing on HR becoming a strategic partner within an organization, and the benefit of demonstrating the value of HR through the use of measurable targets. This call centered on people-related risk management, including employee retention.
The participants discussed which areas of people-related risk were currently receiving the most attention at their institutions and the related solutions they were working on.

 

Quick Lessons

  • Retention is a big issue for all institutions – ranging from  startups to those who have been operating longer; many of the banks had especially difficult times with retention in their information technology departments.  Employees need to feel engaged, feel they are enhancing their skills, and reinforcing teamwork and commitment.
  • Competition for qualified staff comes from other development financial institutions as well as other financial institutions and other sectors. Some key means to  differentiate your bank from others (apart from salary) include: strong internal culture, sense of community within the bank, managers addressing employee needs, helping employees feel supported, and creating career and personal development plans and job structures that allow for flexibility.
  • One African bank found that as performance management gets implemented, their staff is becoming more specialized and trained in areas that suit them.  As people become better-trained and experienced, they get better at doing their work, violations of policy go down, employees feel empowered, and increase efficiency and productivity.

 

Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum on Performance Management, September 2007

The HR Banker-to-Banker Peer Learning Forum held on September 13, 2007 marked the fourth call in the series focusing on HR becoming a strategic partner within an organization, and the benefit of demonstrating the value of HR through the use of measurable targets.

 

Quick Lessons

  • A critical task is ensuring buy-in and participation from every level, including the board, and to link performance management to corporate objectives. This requires a strong strategy for achieving buy-in before going to the staff.
  • One bank from Africa noted that Performance Measurement is integral to their organization because it connects training, rewards, and competencies.  They also place importance on annual appraisals, linking rewards to evaluations.  
  • Integration of a performance measurement system with the day-to-day running of the business is key. Integration between performance measurement and the organization’s achievement of strategic goals is equally important.
  • Using the strength of the system to push institution forward on its strategies is often an effective approach.
  • Organizations need to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with these issues.

 

Managing human resources in a high-growth environment, April 2007

The most recent HR Managers phone forum, held in April 2007, centered on managing human resources in a high-growth environment. Human capital is a critical need for organizations especially during high growth periods--making it critical to identify and address challenges in areas such as hiring, developing, and retaining staff, as well as systematic methods to improve processes and procedures that directly affect business expansion.

 

Quick Lesson

  • Common challenges that partners faced in growth periods included 1) retention, 2) training and development for staff, 3) technological improvement on delivery systems for HR functions, and 4) transforming culture during high-growth periods. 

 

Creating the HR Plan that supports Business Strategy, August 2006

This phone forum was part of a series on HR establishing itself as a strategic partner within an organization, and the benefit of demonstrating the value of HR through the use of measurable targets. Debate focused on the strategic value of HR, integrating HR into the business, developing an HR business strategy, and documenting well-defined HR goals.

 

Quick Lessons

  • It is important for HR to be part of the strategic planning exercise, beginning with senior management attention and an opportunity to provide inputs into the business plan.
  • An interesting approach being used by Bank M in S. Asia was to develop partnerships between functional staff and support staff within the company to garner support from business departments, allowing them to contribute to HR decisions through different structural arrangements (regular meetings to invite feedback, joint plans, etc).
  • Specific and objective performance measurements and targets need to be part of the HR plan and should be used as benchmarks to measure improvement.

 

Developing Strategic Leadership in Human Resources, May 2006

This call centered around methods of positioning the HR department to become a strategic partner in the organization.

 

Quick Lessons

  • Integration between HR and individual business units can take the form of a cooperative alliance. An interesting example of this can be seen in the growth experiences of Bank L in Asia. Until they reached 1,000 employees, Bank L did not have a separate HR department; each line manager was responsible for identifying their needs and developing a plan of attack. Once the bank reached 1,000 employees, they created a corporate HR team that helps teams identify the right program for their HR needs and builds synergies in what different groups practice.
  • HR department must initiate the shift to becoming a strategic partner by thinking, acting, and being perceived as a strategic resource. One possible path is to get engaged in the business planning exercise early on and make useful contributions that can be translated into business measures.

 

Leadership Development Strategies: Retaining Leadership, January 2006

This phone forum continued with the theme of leadership strategies started at the May 2005 Forum, addressing the topic of leadership engagement and retention.

 

Quick Lessons

  • In general, HR departments of participant banks have often not kept up with the fast pace of growth in their organizations. A standard rule of thumb, for example, is that there should be 1 HR person for every 80 to 100 employees, with possibly more HR staff when the company is going through significant changes. Amongst Forum participants, there were vastly differing ratios - but most were far lower than these international benchmarks.
  • Any retention-driven programs need to be part of a larger effort that includes recruitment and employee relations. A holistic approach starts with recruiting those with not only skills and experience, but also a fit with the bank’s vision, mission and culture.
  • Organizational culture was cited throughout the call as a critical factor and often is seen in two broad dimensions. The hard dimensions of organizational culture relate to the functional, technical and control aspects, while the soft aspects deal with inspiration, emotion, energy, enthusiasm, collaboration and camaraderie, openness, sense of belonging, etc. Participants reiterated that a culture that is open, trusting, nurturing, and empowering almost always tends to attract and retain the best people.

 

Leadership Development Strategies: Developing Leadership, October 2005

This was the second of a series of discussions on leadership, this one focusing on leadership development.

 

Quick Lessons

  • All of the executives agreed that building leaders was a business imperative. Many of the banks in the Forum are going through phases of high growth, which puts additional stress and burdens on the organization. Building a strong second line of managers can help alleviate these pressures through a strong and effective team.
  • Mentoring programs have been found to be a low cost way to build leadership. One participating bank, for example, targets emerging leadership through mentorship, which means that talented employees are given the opportunity to shadow experienced managers and learn about integrating the organization’s mission into their everyday roles and responsibilities. Though this is an extended managerial effort, it has a return on investment that makes it worthwhile.
  • Many people fill the need for mentoring by building their own peer support group. Frequently called a Peer Advisory Board, such a group is a small, carefully selected set of individuals who come together regularly to help each other.

 

Leadership Development Strategies: Identifying Leadership, July 2005

The purpose of this call was to find out the common and effective ways Exchange’s partner banks identified staff and managers with leadership potential.

 

Quick Lessons

  • An HR manager from Bank A spoke of a process that evaluates new employees every 6 months, where information is gathered from the employee, his/her manager and peers. They consider and evaluate track records and feedback in the areas of motivation, self-awareness, self-regulation, capability to improve and commitment to the group.
  • Similar processes were discussed to evaluate leadership abilities among junior and senior management. Once an individual has been nominated, a committee evaluates them based on similar areas thus identifying leadership. One bank spoke about using a committee to evaluate leadership abilities amongst identified high-performing staff.
  • The formation of a committee or task force to focus on talent search and review was an important theme amongst participants. This committee should be diverse and in a position where they can communicate with various levels of management.