Questionaire on my Past Business Experience - Assignment Example

1. What factors (or values) have led to your success to What factors (or values) will you need to be successful moving forward? Integrity, respect for others and inclusion, teamwork and cooperation, and being responsible are the core values that propelled me to reach the peak of success. For me, integrity goes hand-in-hand with character and honesty. It gives me the logic to think, reason out correctly and do the right thing all the time. For instance, in several occasions, I have been confronted with the opportunity to take short cuts or cheat in my work. This becomes especially tempting when nobody is around to witness the act. However, my honor as an individual reminds me to always choose what is right. Everyday, I try to create an environment in which everyone feels included, valued, and appreciated. In fact, I have championed integration initiatives at different organizations. For instance at Fifth Third, I, along with my peers (the executive team) formed 4 counsels. Each of the 4 councils had an executive team member as a sponsor. I served as the executive team member sponsor of the Respect and Inclusion Council where I graciously offered my time to guide, support, and encourage the members to achieve their goals. Specifically, our council included 12 members of the bank who displayed a palpable desire to take on an affiliate-wide leadership role focusing on Respect and Inclusion. In just about 5 months, the team had built its vision, the three core focuses, and measurement for success. One focus was on education. As part of its activity, the team sponsored a "Career Day", where in every line of business manager talked about their success stories. The participants listened to the experiences of the managers and how they got to where they are today. The participants also learned what our division does, and what skills and competencies are needed to become a member of the team. I have also built many high performing, high achieving teams. For me, there is nothing more engaging, more exhilarating and more satisfying than achieving success through teamwork. Building trust, teamwork, and collaboration is something I continually seek to recreate. At Colonial Bank, everyone had a clear role but nobody had a firm understanding of the companys mission and objectives. So I thought this is where I should start. As part of a team, every one needed to know our common goal. I believe everyone in the bank wants to contribute and they want to contribute to something larger. For instance, customer experience starts with our tellers. My vision is to have every teller know his or her importance; that what he or she does every day make a difference. I paint the picture of how they are contributing to the overall success of the organization. Finally, I believe in holding myself and my team accountable in a positive way. For me, accountability is about setting the expectation, clearly communicating, recognizing success and coaching for improved performance. 2. Describe your leadership philosophy and style. How would your current team articulate this style and philosophy? Provide examples of where your leadership contributed to the dynamics and success of your current team. My leadership style is geared towards being people-oriented. I see myself as a motivator. I believe in giving the team a clear vision of where the organization is heading and ensuring that the members have the tools and capability to execute that vision. I believe that if people feel valued as an integral part of the group, they will be more engaged in the activities sponsored by the team. Engaged employees deliver excellent production and service results. During my 15-year career in various senior management positions, I have adapted my style to different situations in order to achieve optimum results. For instance, at Fifth Third, there was a time when my new team was in a rut because the members were without a leader for 8 months and were ranked at the bottom of the scorecard. Also, they just completed an operations review and failed. I know the team needed change, and together we created new opportunities. By focusing on key issues, we started to have some wins. And these wins built the team’s confidence. In late 2010, during the budgeting process, it became apparent to me that consumer asset generation was going to be the driver of our balance sheet growth and success with the scorecards metrics. Knowing this, my team and I built a consumer lending "meeting in the box training" along with what we called "Debt review for our customers". We incorporated a step in the banker process- we asked our customers to allow us to ask some questions to complete a debt review. In these historically low interest rate times, we wanted to ensure our customers enjoy the best services and products in place. Through the lending training and consultative sales training, my bankers earned trusted advisor status with their customers and our consumer loan applications increased by 25%. These two key metrics are essential for recognition and the incentive system. The core team was recognized at the Bancorp level and asked to share our best practice on the Presents monthly conference call. 3. This role requires expertise in Operations, Sales & Service Delivery, Marketing & Business Development and Community Relations. Briefly describe your expertise and level of competency in each of these areas. How did you gain your expertise? Which do you enjoy the most? I earned my experience because I have always been open to change, to learn new skills, and take chances. Early in my career, I would volunteer for any assignment and take on any challenge. If not for that openness to new experiences, I would have missed many opportunities of working for, with and around different people who have influenced my career in a positive way and aided in my development in the corporate world. It is for this reason that I consider mentoring a vital process in establishing a career. Sharing this leadership vision, working with experts, and encouraging personal growth are definitely invaluable in a career. When I look back at my experience, my roles have encompassed what I call "the four legged stool": service, sales, operations, and community relations. What I like about each role is that they all give me the opportunity to think about the future of the organization such as where were going to make changes - improvements. I find all my roles very exciting, whether it be in marketing, operations, or sales and service. 4. Describe your participation in and expectations of the strategic planning process. Over the last 10+ years as a Senior Vice President, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer (COO), I have played a key role in strategic planning. My expectations of strategic planning process are inclusion and collaboration. Part of the strategic planning process is research, market analysis, and assessment of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. I utilize these information to set the course for sustained growth. It is my firm belief that strategic planning should be shared with all levels because it is a living document. As the Retail Executive of Colonial Bank from 2004 to 2008, I was part of the senior team that created the strategic team. Also, one of my functions is to work directly with the line of business managers on the tactics to execute the strategic plan. Quarterly, we met to review and update tactics as necessary. As COO of 1st Commerce Bank, I along with the senior team and the Board of Directors were actively involved in the strategic planning process. As Retail Executive of Fifth Third Bank I, along with the senior team were also actively involved in the strategic planning process. We had core subgroups that we worked with in building the information gathered and in formulating plans. Semi-annually, I met with the Bancorp executive team to present the plan, tactics, and the financial update. Additionally, it was my role to annually present the plan to the Board of Directors. As Retail Executive at Fifth Third Bank, I, along with the senior team worked collaboratively on a 3 year strategic plan. We worked closely on gathering market data and defining our SWAT analysis. Each senior team member worked with a sub group to encourage participation at all levels of the bank. Our President was very involved and worked with us individually to challenge innovation. The team revisited the plan quarterly and semi-annually. We presented our updated plan and results to the Bancorp executive team and Board of Directors. 5. Provide a detailed description of your team and role within the group. Include number of people, how people interact and with what frequency, how decisions are made and who you typically interact with outside of your group and organization. At Fifth Third, my team consisted of four regional managers, a consumer lending manger, a project manager, a work place banking manager, and a finance analysis person. My role was to mentor and coach my subordinates. Also, I was actively involved in our strategy and tactics formulation. I had 8 direct reports and 400 employees. I interacted daily with my direct reports and we meet weekly for a formal team meeting. I had close collaborations with our CEO, business banking executive, middle market executive, chief credit officer, HR, and CRA executive. We interacted daily and formally during our weekly senior team meeting where we discussed the important events for that week. Additionally, we meet offsite 2 times per year for strategy discussions. Monthly, I attend and interacted with the Board of Directors. I present to them quarterly. Semi-annually, the affiliate leadership team met with the Bancorp President to present the NW OH strategy, market opportunities, and results. 6. What is your management/communication style? Explain in detail how you have successfully mentored and developed others on your team, being sure to provide examples. How do you build trust in a relationship? I lead by example, with high ethical standards, and by building strong effective teams. In fact, I have already developed and mentored many employees. At Colonial Bank, trust is extremely important in personal and work relationship. I create trust, first and foremost by keeping my integrity, being true to my commitments, telling the truth, and doing what is right all the time. I consistently find ways to communicate and demonstrate the companys core values and vision. I believe that by communicating these things, everyone will have an idea where the company is going and feel that they are part of the company. Being a hands-on leader, I am frequently visiting my branches and my departments. I know my team members by name, how long theyve been with the organization, and more importantly, I seek and listen to their opinions and ideas. I create work teams with shared goals, I align goals with individual skills and aspirations, and I reward individual and team contributions. For my team, I created a direct line of sight between individual behavior, team goals, department goals, and company goals. 7. How do you assimilate into and blend with a new team? What role do you typically play in the group? What do you feel is the biggest challenge in becoming part of a new team? I think executive assimilation requires a planned approach. My 90 plan would include getting to know the team, learning, listening, and asking questions not only with my direct reports but with the team members who do the day to day selling and servicing. Moreover, I think it is also important to learn things in the field and not just behind a desk. It is my belief that we become great because people work together and build on each others ideas. I acknowledge the need to listen, appreciate, and take the time to have lunch with someone. I would reach out energetically to build strong, positive relationships with peers. In my past leadership roles, my division usually carries the largest employee base and revenues to the company. My divisions usually touch every area of the organization. This gives me opportunities to collaborate with other departments as well. I seek opportunities to use task forces and other ad hoc structures with a broad range of colleagues to promote team building. For me, the biggest challenge with becoming part of a new team is that you dont have the history with the team or the organization. Read More