Strategy
01/16/2019

Pat Summitt’s Model on Talent Development


talent-1-16-19.pngWith unemployment at its lowest point since 1969, the competition for top talent is as fierce as it has been in years.

While many experienced banking professionals know well that the industry offers challenges, rewards and opportunities, many millennials and Gen Z’ers remain reluctant to pursue a career in banking.

The high-performing banks of the future will be those that can translate those benefits to attract, develop, reward and retain top talent. There are two places your bank can start this process.

Banks already provide strong salaries, bonus opportunities, health-care coverage and retirement plans. The challenge the industry now faces is how to make the banking industry more attractive to today’s generation of younger recruits.

What a bank should consider includes flexible work hours, the ability to work remotely and cross-training. If the bank can demonstrate a track record and policy of promoting from within, the job opportunity will be even more attractive to a potential hire.
Another recruiting tool we have often used successfully, particularly for younger individuals, is a deferred compensation program designed to help pay down student loans, with vesting provisions that encourage continued employment at the bank.

But once you acquire top talent, how do you develop them as future leaders?

First, an ongoing coaching and mentoring program is critical.

Pat Summitt, the legendary University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach who won more games than any other NCAA Division I women’s coach, recruited talented players.

Once they joined the team, she delivered an individualized plan to improve each player’s weaker areas. She also provided regular feedback and monitoring. This method of coaching and mentoring led to 1,098 career victories and Hall of Fame success as a coach and leader. So, how can Summitt’s approach help your bank?

When developing the bank’s future senior management, the board and the CEO should ensure they agree on both the long-term strategic plan and the necessary skills to execute that plan.

They should then identify the internal candidates best suited to develop and provide them with opportunities for growth. It is important the bank develop a culture of honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses, and provide ongoing mentoring and feedback.

Even with top talent, it is unlikely that Summitt would have achieved the success she did had she provided her players with feedback only once a year.

In addition to an ongoing assessment and coaching program, the bank should discuss a career path for potential leaders, and the company should provide the necessary training and cross training, when feasible, to allow promising employees to learn each facet of the bank’s operations. Thorough training programs can be very attractive in recruitment and are invaluable to the development of a leader.

Once the bank has invested in developing up-and-coming leaders, rewarding them appropriately and incenting them to remain with your bank is critical. No doubt, your competitors will recognize the strong leaders you are developing and actively recruit your talent, requiring your bank to maintain not just competitive salaries, but methods of keeping your compensation programs unique and desirable.

An example is a nonqualified deferred compensation plan that pays in-service distributions at the end of certain periods, such as three- or five-year time frames. This type of plan typically would include performance-based compensation tied to specified goals.

Additional amounts can be credited to the deferred compensation account and distributed at the end of a longer period (such as 10 years), providing even more incentive to stay with the bank.

If the individual terminates before the applicable distribution period(s), undistributed funds can be allocated to hire a talented replacement or credited back to the bank’s income.

We have found these flexible deferred compensation arrangements, when combined with other tools, to be helpful in recruiting, developing and keeping top talent.

An active career development program bolstered with proper financial incentives can help ensure your bank has the right leaders for the future.

WRITTEN BY

David Shoemaker

WRITTEN BY

Beth Taylor