Organizational Structure

When I think of team building and empowerment my banking experience comes to mind. The bank for which I worked had several areas and each area was subdivided into smaller sections. For example the area of Personal Banking would comprise of the tellers, the customer service officers (CSO), and the loan officers. Of course, this bank also had several branches with the same set up, along with other areas such as asset management, mortgages, and others. The orientation at this bank is that each branch is a team, each location is a team, and even within the branch each unit is a team. The tellers are a team, the customer service officers are a team, the loan officers are a team and each team and team member has to do their part so that we could all succeed. Each employee and branch had sales and referral targets to meet which affected your year-end pay. So, how were our teams built and empowered? At the branch, daily meetings were held with the entire staff and an atmosphere of competition was encouraged between the units, such as Tellers vs. CSO’s officer, and appropriate prizes worth the effort were given out. The teams that did well were recognized during the next meeting. When as branch we did well, there was recognition and prizes for that. There were coaching sessions where each employee met monthly with their immediate supervisor to discuss their strengths and weakness and the way forward. There was opportunity for cross training so that each employee could expand their knowledge base and service expertise. A teller may cross train as a CSO and a CSO may cross train as a branch manager. This bank also started a Toastmasters Club for employees wanting to join, and also assisted employees with furthering their education.

In this setting I saw teambuilding and empowerment par excellence. We were coached to work in teams, coached as individuals along a career path, and empowered to perform by personal development and incentive initiatives by the company....