Thanks for attending our Back to the Future: Uncharted Territory Round Table event.
We were overwhelmed by the questions submitted! Our panelists took the time to submit answers to all of your inquiries.
For every question entered, Moser has made a donation to the Youth Service Bureau of St. Joseph County. To make your own donation go to https://www.ysbsjc.org/donate
Question:
Any insight into how specific training for new supervisors is beneficial not only to the new supervisor, but the staff?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
Onboarding and training new supervisors is absolutely critical to their success as a leader – and the team’s success rests on this. It is imperative that these aren’t just hard skills, but soft skills are equally important. Don’t just trust that because someone has been a supervisor or manager that they know how to do it right – or the way you expect. They need to know how to care for others, not just the work that needs to be done, or you will have turnover. People leave because of poor management more than they leave because of a company or better offer. When they feel cared for, they will think twice about a taking another offer. So, ensure you are spending time strengthening them as a leader and it will pay you back ten-fold.
Regarding critical thinking, many times these skills need to be taught. Having scenario-based training or, even better, using real company data/information to train on expectations around critical thinking will connect the dots for your employees. Once employees are trained, you can then hold them accountable. If you don’t do it in the right order, then they may not understand what you expect and how to get there. Too often, we set people up for failure because we don’t invest in them with clear guidance and training around expectations. People want to do a good job and help their business succeed, so train them on how to do this.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
In the spirit of our AI discussion, I asked ChatGPT to answer this first part. Here’s what I got and can’t say that I disagree!
Specific training for new supervisors can have a profound impact not just on the supervisors themselves but also on their teams and the organization as a whole. Here are some key benefits for both parties:
Benefits for New Supervisors
Skill Development: Training equips new supervisors with essential skills such as effective communication, conflict resolution, time management, and performance evaluation. This helps them manage their teams more effectively.
Confidence Building: Comprehensive training boosts their confidence in their role, enabling them to make informed decisions and lead their teams with assurance.
Understanding of Roles: Training clarifies their responsibilities and expectations, helping them transition smoothly into their new positions and reducing ambiguity in their roles.
Adaptation to Company Culture: Training can reinforce the organization’s culture and values, helping new supervisors align their leadership style with the company’s mission and vision.
Networking Opportunities: Training often provides new supervisors with a chance to connect with peers and build a support network, which can be invaluable for sharing experiences and challenges.
Benefits for Staff
Enhanced Leadership: Well-trained supervisors are better equipped to lead and motivate their teams, resulting in improved team dynamics and morale.
Clear Communication: Training helps supervisors develop effective communication strategies, fostering an environment where staff feel heard and valued.
Increased Engagement: Staff are likely to be more engaged when they perceive their supervisors as competent and supportive. This can lead to higher productivity and job satisfaction.
Improved Conflict Resolution: Trained supervisors are more adept at handling conflicts within the team, leading to quicker resolutions and a healthier work environment.
Professional Development: As supervisors implement what they've learned in training, they can provide coaching and mentoring to their staff, fostering their professional growth and skill development.
Organizational Impact
Reduced Turnover: Training helps create a positive work environment, which can reduce employee turnover and its associated costs.
Better Team Performance: Skilled supervisors can lead their teams to achieve higher performance levels, contributing to the organization’s overall success.
Succession Planning: Investing in training for new supervisors prepares them for future leadership roles, strengthening the organization’s leadership pipeline.
Question:
How to encourage critical thinking while holding staff accountable?
Answers:
From Nicole Fallowfield:
When employees come with a problem, instead of providing suggestions or answering how you would solve it, ask them “What do you think we should do? OR “What do you consider to be the best course of action?” I have found that when I do this, my teammates inevitably rise to the occasion.
Question:
How does Centier’s / Gibson’s workplace culture enable the retention of employees?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
Associates come first at Centier. We invest in them tremendously and raise that bar every year. We know that when you take care of your employees, they take care of the rest. They work harder, they care about your organization and co-workers, and ultimately they take care of the business and your clients. Everyone benefits from this focus!
From Nicole Fallowfield:
Gibson’s workplace culture is built on our Core Values (Create a Great Experience; Do the Right Thing; Play for Each Other; Pursue Growth; and Own Your Future). These aren’t just words at Gibson – we hire and fire based on our Core Values. As a 100% employee-owned company and a company that runs on EOS, we have a culture of transparency. Additionally, we treat our employees as owners, allowing them autonomy in their roles, while also providing opportunities to upskill and grow in their careers.
Question:
Does this change with a Hybrid / remote employee?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
You need to be more creative about ways to engage hybrid and remote employees. We have a specific associate committee that focuses on this. They hear and bubble up the challenges. They bring ideas forward to ensure these associates feel engaged and supported. We have a lot of fun days where we encourage full teams to come together – they conduct in person meetings but also do things like community service together and have fun activities. Accountability and ensuring productivity are measured.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
Creating a Great Experience for all employees, regardless of where they office, is at the heart of what we do. We strive for the best People Experience – one in which are our employees feel included, cared for, and invested in. We want employees who are engaged and thriving when they are in person, remote, or working hybrid. For our managers with fully remote employees, we do encourage them to visit in person at least 2 times per year. We also will pay for our fully remote employees to travel to one of our physical locations for culture building activities.
Question:
What are some of the initiatives you launched that you found successful in building the culture you want?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
All that bring our people together and focus on caring for one another and our communities. Often, companies focus solely on productivity – people are there to work – and they end up feeling like a number and not a person. When you are intentional about enabling your associates to build relationships/friendships with one another, then they will in turn be more productive because they value working for you! We have many fun days as fundraisers for our CARE Fund. We have a system for peer-to-peer recognition. We reward associates that practice our values and servant heart philosophy. We rolled out Associate Resource Groups covering a variety of topics that have brought associates together virtually across the state and that has also been a huge hit! You must never stop focusing on new ways to strengthen your culture.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
Team building activities; celebrating our ESOP with our Annual Statement Day and GESOPtober Fest; Quarterly State of the Company meetings with the Leadership Team to review company financials/goals; Monthly Employee Spotlight of a team member living our Core Values; Annual Company Awards; 15five Engagement Survey & eNPS (2x/year); Best Places to Work in Insurance annual survey; Quarterly Planning sessions by team (EOS); Quarterly Conversations – each team member meets with their manager once a quarter (EOS); Weekly L10 Meetings (EOS); Continuing Education; Leadership Development; Career Paths; AND More!
Question:
What Initiatives have you tried that didn’t work?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
In-person sessions without having virtual, too. We brought in Mental Health America in to conduct stress, anxiety, and self-care sessions. At first, we only offered these sessions in person because we felt it was important to get away from the office to fully engage. We ended having “okay” turnout but because of other factors (small staffs, sensitive topics) our associates really preferred a virtual offering. We are now bringing them back this fall for a few virtual sessions.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
We used to conduct a quarterly engagement survey, but found that was too frequent and employees shared they felt “survey fatigue”
Question:
What lessons have you learned along the way?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
Sometimes, we think we know best and we might not. In retrospect, if we just asked and built this around their feedback, it would have been done right the first time.
Be agile and cut loose anything that isn’t working – even if you love it personally! You don’t have to completely give up on it, it may just be a matter of timing.
And, who you hire is critical, especially in leadership/management. The adage is true, people leave people foremost. We have heard on occasion that someone loved working at Centier, but didn’t love working for their manager and that is crushing and needs to be dealt with.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
Listen to your employees; invest in your managers; if you conduct an engagement or any other type of survey, share the results and act on what you are able to do; employees want to be treated as adults – treat them that way; no one wants to be unsuccessful at work – if you have invested in training and coached an employee and it’s not working, be honest with them – clear is kind!; when a change is coming – be honest – transparency is almost always the best course of action; be vulnerable as a leader – you can always learn something from someone else, no matter your age or experience; have a growth mindset
Question:
Centier, Moser, and Gibson are all part of the Best Places to Work………What does the “Best Places to Work” mean for your organization? How have you used it to attract new talent? Is it worth the time, energy, and cost?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
The recognition is wonderful, but it is the fact that our associates really feel we are a Best Place to Work that means the most. It is a big culture metric for us – how are we really doing? The raw comments are also tremendously valuable to hear what our associates value and what opportunities we have to be better. Our Sr. Management team and HR pore over the data and develop strategies from it.
We don’t market it in a big way, just subtly, but have heard many times it is what caused someone to want to work here. Applicants are very astute and do their research. They take into consideration the press on you, awards, and things like Glassdoor ratings. They also talk to your employees on things like LinkedIn to see if what they are reading is true! If you aren’t focusing on your culture inside-out, the awards won’t last.
We use the data, so we feel it is. We participate in 2 surveys because they are at 2 different points of time to gauge how we are doing and then look at the trends over the years. Depending on your size, the surveys only go to a percentage of your employees randomly. However, every 5 years we pay extra to have all of our associates receive one so no one is missing out. We just did that in January and had 76% participation, which we were good with! We also share back when we have made changes or added something because of the feedback from the surveys – it’s so important for associates to know they are being heard and we are using it to be better!
From Nicole Fallowfield:
Achieving this award means we are providing the Best People Experience.
Yes, it speaks to our culture. See prior answers.
Yes, but if cost is a barrier, consider doing it every other year.
Question:
What tools do you use to measure the satisfaction of the employees and how do you leverage that data?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
In addition to the BPTW/BBTW data, we have internal surveys from every department within the bank and conduct other surveys – stay interviews, 90 day/1 year/transfer surveys. We learn a lot from these surveys – reinforcement of what is valued and what we need to address. Because they are anonymous, we supplement with non-anonymous surveys. Together, these all provide trending data and ultimately what we need to make decisions around our culture, compensation, benefits, leadership, and other things like tech, HVAC, training and development, etc.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
15five engagement survey, eNPS, stay interviews, BPTW survey results. Leverage it by sharing results with employees and acting on the data.
Question:
Each of your organizations have multiple locations throughout Indiana and Gibson across the country. How do you attract new talent and tailor your message to be market specific?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
We probably use the same sites that most use to post our openings. Within a market, we also use community partnerships and our own associates to spread the word through their LinkedIn accounts. We do have a referral program, too, for our associates. We are pretty active on social media and within community service/events, so they know us before we post jobs. Often, people will ask if there are openings before we have any and we hold their application/resume. We also have a couple of banking recruiters we use on occasion and have had them come in to meet us and see our culture in action.
We also have a boomerang recruitment effort where we stay in touch with past associates that we hated to see leave. We have gotten many back and they are also great referrals for us!
From Nicole Fallowfield:
First, it’s important to understand the talent market and leverage data– demographics, skill sets, trends, competitors, universities that may offer degree programs/have recent graduates that fit your industry, etc. Utilizing LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and other similar platforms can also be helpful in gathering insights about the talent pool. We have found that leveraging carrier partners can also help with recruitment efforts, as well as having a strong social media presence by the Gibson leadership team and other employees to highlight Gibson’s culture.
Question:
What tools do you use to help you craft your message and what challenges do you have to maintain consistency across all different markets?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
We don’t necessarily use any tools, but we do work with our marketing team sometimes to help us with a recruitment campaign, when needed. Otherwise, we just lean on our in-market associates as advisors on how to recruit for specific candidates.
Additionally, we utilize LinkedIn to build relationships all year long. Then when we have an opening, we aren’t strangers. It’s a proactive approach that works well for us.
Question:
How do you manage the various personalities within your organization to build a culture where the employees work together in a positive manner and feel free to express their thoughts and opinions in a constructive way?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
Emphasizing our Servant Heart Culture across the whole employment journey – recruitment to retirement and walking the talk is crucial. Respecting others, even when there are differences in opinion is a must. As an employer, you need to set the stage – this is our culture and if it’s not for you, no problem but don’t come here. We deal with associates when they don’t exemplify our culture. We still do it in a caring way, they were part of our family, but we won’t enable someone to stay on if they aren’t a cultural fit, especially if they are in management.
We also have free 24/7 counseling available so there is always help for work or personal matters that are weighing someone down. We try our best to make mental health and self-care a priority here. Some employers don’t realize that you have the whole person there at work, they aren’t just a number.
We have a fantastic full wellness program that supports mental and physical health and provides incentives when you participate. We also offer individual and group activities that are fun and count toward incentives.
Another success around this topic is our ARGs. We have used these groups to foster learning, healthy conversations, understanding, and respecting one another. Almost half of our associates are in at least 1 ARG:
Veterans and Allies, Black and Latino, Women’s Group, Celebrating Abilities, LGBTQ+, Financial Wellness and Empowerment, and Generations are our current groups. We will look to add others over the years based on what our associates are looking for.
Being intentional to sponsor ways your employees can get together and have fun away from work is super-critical to relationship building and finding things in common. Ultimately, when your employees see you care about them, they care about your business!
From Nicole Fallowfield:
EOS has helped Gibson create an environment where employees can feel free to share ideas, express concerns, set their own goals, and share in a common language regardless of role, tenure, or location. For employees who may not feel as comfortable sharing in a group, they have the opportunity to discuss what’s working and what’s not working during the quarterly conversation with their managers. Additionally, our engagement survey allows employees to share anonymous feedback on a variety of organizational topics that influence culture.
Question:
What are some ideas you have implemented for cyber security best practices?
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
Outside help from Cyber Advisory firms like Reveal Risk and Centric Consulting (who recently acquired the Mako Group) can help you build a framework of best practices.
Question:
How much intel can AI access? Can it give me a strategy for beating competitors?
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
Yes, if the competition’s strategies are publicly available on their websites or already in a large language model (LLM)’s. This is a complex request that requires a multi-component prompt or question to an LLM.
Question:
What are some ways to identify misuse of an AI like Chat or Copilot in a corporate environment?
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
Implementing tools that allow you to review prompts generated by your team can help you identify misuse. Unethical and biased prompts are not unusual. Training on ethics in prompt development is a good idea.
Question:
How can I describe AI to someone who is 'mystified' by the terminology (fearful due to ignorance). I.e. A simple way of describing how it works in general.
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
AI is a computer system that mimics human intelligence by recognizing speech, making decisions, or visual perception. Users can ask questions of the system and receive human-like answers.
Question:
How does AI handle copyrights? Ex. I am using my ND logo in a marketing piece. Can others then use it?
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
LLMs and other models differ. Assume the worst from a liability perspective. Talk to your legal counsel.
Question:
What advice do you have for working with third party sales/lead generation agencies? We are interested in strategic prospecting rather than mass email campaigns.
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
Set clear expectations at regular intervals. Work closely the first year to tune messaging to prospects and regulary adjust messaging based on effectiveness. I like questions about frustration, being fed up, struggling and other painful things prospects experience. Communicating to prospects in outcomes rather than features and benefits is a more effective approach.
Question:
What pathways do you have for team members to grow? Such as certifications specific to industry and/or leadership development.
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
We have developed pathways for growth and development for all job roles within the bank. It takes time but is essential for retention, growth, and succession. You will also find that Millennials and Gen Z demand this – but truly everyone wants to grow and be invested in, so don’t think it is just a “younger” generational need. Certifications are important, we use Pluralsight for tech training certifications, but know that soft skill training is also important to build a healthy and positive culture where people care for one another. What you focus on you get, so if you focus just on hard skills, your employees will give you that and your culture will suffer.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
We have developed career paths for all roles within our organization that give guidance on the skills necessary to master the current role and skills needed for advancement. We offer individual development plans, which may include the opportunity for internal or external learning, continuing education, certification, etc. We conduct an annual talent review with all of our managers that includes succession planning.
Question:
What strategies have you found most effective in maintaining high levels of employee engagement, especially during challenging times or periods of change?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
Honest, consistent communication is a must. Top leadership needs to be out talking about change in a positive and honest way. When employees can count on regular communication, i.e. Monday updates, then they will learn to expect that. If they don’t have that, they chat and fill in the blanks with incorrect information. Bring people together for coffee/donuts, pizza lunch, ice cream…and share updates and ask for questions. Ensure they know you are there to lead and support them through change, they aren’t alone in this and you will help guide them to success. Make sure they know clearly how changes will impact their job – that ultimately is the greatest fear. Remove as much uncertainty as possible.
From Nicole Fallowfield:
As mentioned above, listening, transparency, and honesty are so important especially during times of change. I've also found it helpful to include managers and other key stakeholders early on in the process so that they can express their own concerns regarding a change, as well as share what they anticipate teammates may want to know.
Question:
How can a non-profit apply some of the same principles in terms of culture change, especially since pay in incentives, education, high-cost initiatives are allowed grant activities?
Answers:
From Chrisanne Christ:
It’s how you treat others that is the most important factor in a positive culture – and that is free! Provide clear and honest communication and support. Bring people together, it can be with donuts, and have regular updates. Provide a vehicle for questions – and not always in person, it may be easier for someone to submit them in writing like a “box” or anonymous way. Let them know what the end goal/vision is, how they can/will contribute, any impacts on their job, etc. Make this a regular event-provide regular updates. Make sure your leaders emulate the culture you are building, nothing will ruin it quicker than a leader that is counter-cultural. If someone isn’t an ambassador of your culture, compassionately move them out. You can also bring in outside speakers to help you for free – we do this at Centier if you want us to come to talk about Culture!
From Nicole Fallowfield:
There are numerous low and no cost ways to promote culture. Seek donations from partners, have employee-sponsored activities (e.g. potlucks, game day, volunteer day, etc.)
Question:
What low cost, low bandwidth ideas do you have?
Answers:
From Doug Theis:
This is an ever-changing battlefield of the available providers in a geography and their reliability. Satellite systems like Starlink are eliminating the geographic barriers. Low cost is not always available in some areas. Telecom brokers like Momentum and many others can help you identify your choices for your locations.
Question:
For Nicole: How do you prioritize employee engagement actions?
Answers:
From Nicole Fallowfield:
1. Any insight on how specific training for new supervisors is beneficial not only the new supervisor, but the staff? See response to first question. ChatGPT nailed that one!
2. How to encourage critical thinking while holding staff accountable?" See my response to the first question, part 2 – ask the EE for their suggestions.
