This organization operates in 16 locally managed markets, each with its own president, management team, and board of directors across the southeastern United States. The majority of their 200 plus branches are open 12 hours a day during the week for their customers’ convenience. They have approximately 5,200 associates, assets of approximately $10.5 billion, and are ranked 112th in the United States by asset size.

The organization is proudly ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the Southeast Region” by J.D. Power and Associates, and is proud of the fact that they were not a participant in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

One troubling issue as they looked to the future was the fact that their leadership ranks were close to the same age, meaning that in the near future, the majority of their leaders faced retirement within a narrow window of time. In order to accomplish a considerate, long-term, yet organic approach to growth, they needed to shore up their leadership pipeline. In addition, they struggled with employee turnover, and while they were certainly not weak by industry standards, they wanted to be better.

The banking organization, already an established partner of The Ken Blanchard Companies^®, uses the Situational Leadership^® II program, and appreciated the values alignment between the two organizations. It made sense to continue to use what was already working internally and also to ensure that even more leaders and potential leaders were trained in the concepts. To ensure successful deployment, they used the following model:

• Define—the work and the implementation
• Determine—the alignment of values, autonomy, processes, and costs
• Diagnose—the issues in regard to morale, business, people, and turnover
• Decide—on competencies and commitment
• Do It—deploy training
• Detect—measure adoption of language and reinforcement

They deployed the Situational Leadership^® II program to 750 individuals in an 8-month period, which meant weekly training sessions for staff members. The learning process was sustained and reinforced through “lunch and learn” refreshers and resources posted on their internal Web site. Additionally, they deployed Situational Self Leadership to provide individuals on the frontline with the tools to empower themselves, to ask leaders for what they needed, and to take responsibility for their own development.

The organization believes that the results have been worth the effort. Recent survey numbers point to similar or slightly higher levels of employee satisfaction with their leaders while metrics from peer institutions are experiencing a decrease in satisfaction with leaders. In addition, they are experiencing an increase in their employee retention rate, which is currently at 94%. Clearly, the employees appreciate the organization’s effort.

As one employee stated, “The organization has helped me develop as a person and as an associate. I feel like I have a leader who listens and cares about me personally and professionally.”