An organization’s limited personnel resources necessitates that its business performance assessments be performed in the most efficient manner possible. While at times there may be the need for an in-depth end-to-end process review, at other times it will be appropriate to examine performance of a specific task or activities by numerous performers from across the organization. On these occasions, the horizontal cut assessment approach is most appropriate.
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The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act represents the most sweeping change in the regulation of the U.S. financial industry in over half a century. Contained with the act are 243 new rules that will be developed by 11 different government agencies1; fundamentally reshaping how business is done at financial and non-financial institutions. But do these regulations treat businesses fairly and equitably or do they establish an unfair environment that favors a select few?
StrategyDriven believes the answer to this question is the latter. Not only does the Dodd-Frank Act create an unfair advantage for some businesses, the advantages provided favor those companies responsible for the meltdown of the U.S. financial system.
The financial reform act directs absolute rather than scaled coverage in its implementation. Subsequently, small institutions will be subjected to the same regulatory rules as larger ones and those ‘too big to fail’ institutions responsible for our financial marketplace challenges. While the various audits and forms will inevitably have fewer $000s, the cost to perform these reviews and compile and submit these documents will be roughly the same. For small financial institutions, the high cost of compliance will be passed on to a relatively smaller customer base causing a disproportionally high increase their customers’ fees which will in-turn drive these individuals to the ‘too big to fail’ institutions… the very same institutions whose poor performance necessitated the legislation in the first place.
“Small banks, forced to use their limited resources to comply with burdensome new reporting requirements, will suffer, as will the communities they serve.”2
Bob Corker
United States Senator – Tennessee (R)
StrategyDriven Recommended Practices
StrategyDriven believes the Dodd-Frank Act unduly penalizes small financial institutions not responsible for the financial meltdown of 2008. The full scope of the marketplace imbalance created will take years to be understood as the final details of the many new regulations will not be defined anytime soon. Thus, company leaders must remain vigilant in order to mitigate, transfer, or eliminate the evolving financial industry risks and costs facing their organizations. In this specific case, StrategyDriven suggests company leaders consider the following:
Follow the FDIC’s rule making process and understand how these new regulations are impacting financial institution partners; focusing on the changing costs of doing business with these organizations particularly if they are relatively small.
Consider whether the relatively higher cost associated with doing business with smaller banks is warranted given other beneficial factors such as community good will.
Provide financial advisory programs to employees; ensuring they are apprised of the costs and benefits of maintaining a relationship with both small and large financial institutions.
As always, we’ll provide our thoughts on how business leaders can best prepare for the implementation of the financial reform law and weather the storm in the long-term. We also hope you’ll share your thoughts, lessons learned, and recommended resources with us and the StrategyDriven audience.
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Even if you do not have an actual figure, most business leaders realize that there is a substantial cost to employee turnover. This series of articles will address relational leadership methods you can employ right now that will tip the turnover scale to your favor.
The Relational Leader presents a framework to use as a compass point so that you can project a consistent message and methodology to your people. The book will expose you to the principles of relational leadership and show you how the principles when applied in tandem, can produce substantial results.
People are the core of this leadership style. How you approach people and the environment that you provide for them to work in revolves around seven attributes called: Fairness, Character, Trust, Fun, Celebration, Attentiveness, and Purpose.
You will understand how these attributes affect people through the eyes and experiences of highly successful leaders. You will learn how to put the attributes in play for yourself in your own leadership situation.
This book will explore how our institutional leaders can make claim once again to ethical, fair, and purposeful practices that underscore the value of human beings as the linchpins of our society. The methods presented in the book will help you build a motivated and responsive team within your workgroup.
You do not want to stop turnover; you want to control it. Not all your hires will perform as you hope and some people will just naturally burn out. How can you mitigate these circumstances?
Today’s article will address creating a ‘learning – thinking’ organization. I will share a few key thoughts to get you started.
Low turnover and effective recruiting go hand in hand. Your business environment and culture bear heavily upon your ability to attract and retain the best people. The following are some of the significant success factors in building a winning environment. Your people:
See themselves as growing.
Feel their contributions – big or small – are valued and recognized.
Appreciate that significance is placed on building relationships through shared experiences.
Observe evidence of an overriding commitment to people in the organization.
It’s a great compliment to invest time and money in an individual’s development. A learning – thinking organization will have development plans for the company and personal plans for individuals (based on their strengths) that increase their capacity. The following is an example to improve organizational needs:
Assess individual and company strengths while also determining the top three or four organizational needs.
Create a Strength Inventory for the company (see Table 1 below) on a spread sheet.
Identify top strengths (individual or organization) that can positively impact needs.
Assemble diverse teams by appropriate strength to address the organization’s needs (e.g. 5 people with technical strengths).
Strength Inventory – Sports Stars, Inc.
Individual
Strengths
Ted Williams
Technical*
Disciplined
Analytical
Larry Bird
Competitive
Doer
Adaptable
Bobby Orr
Self-Assured
Developer
Energized*
Tom Brady
Strategic
Communicator
Deliberate
Organization
Strengths
Sports Stars, Inc.
Blend of Experience*
(range of people with
different times on job)
Market Share*
Location
* Top 4 Strengths to be used in needs analysis and improvement
Table 1: Strength Inventory Example
In the example below, the organizational needs appear at the top of each column. For illustration there are two strengths from both the organization and the individual. I assigned them to the needs as appropriate. The teams assembled by strength concentrate on improving the need assigned. You will need multiple teams from each strength area. People representing the organizational strengths are selected ‘at large’ and have demonstrated an impact on that strength in their daily work. Figure 1: Organizational Need to Individual Strength Alignment
The matrix that you have created becomes the key to a functioning thinking – learning organization. It will help you arrive at effective strategic decisions thus maximizing success in your company. The concept of building on strengths is a powerful motivator. People like to do things they do well. By helping them to do them even better, it makes sense that they will begin to contribute to the whole at a much higher level. Also, they will feel a personal commitment to the growth of the business, because it becomes a part of who they are.
A learning structure built on these principles will give you the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of people throughout the organization. You will also create multiple opportunities for meaningful shared experiences resulting in a bond that will give cohesion and a shared will to succeed. Finally, it becomes abundantly clear that leadership is committed, first and foremost to its people.
People in organizations like this do not leave. People who find organizations like this want to get in. This is one example of relational leadership at work; there are many more.
About the Author
Frank McIntosh is author of The Relational Leader (Course Technology PTR, Cengage Learning 2010). During his 36 year career, Frank has worked with many of the most recognized companies and executives in the world. He has provided consulting services for peers across the country and helped initiate Junior Achievement programs in Ireland, the Ivory Coast, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Uzbekistan. Frank was inducted into the Delaware Business Leaders Hall of Fame in October 2008, one of 38 individuals so honored and the first not-for-profit executive to receive this distinction in Delaware’s 300 year business history. To read Frank’s complete biography, click here.
For more information regarding this subject, visit Frank McIntosh at his website www.FJMcIntosh.com.
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Not all analytics are created equal. Like most software solutions, you’ll find a range of capabilities with analytics, from the simplest to the most advanced. In the spectrum shown here, your competitive advantage increases with the degree of intelligence.
1. STANDARD REPORTS
Answer the questions: What happened? When did it happen?
Example: Monthly or quarterly financial reports.We all know about these. They’re generated on a regular basis and describe just “what happened” in a particular area. They’re useful to some extent, but not for making long-term decisions.
2. AD HOC REPORTS
Answer the questions: How many? How often? Where?
Example: Custom reports that describe the number of hospital patients for every diagnosis code for each day of the week.At their best, ad hoc reports let you ask the questions and request a couple of custom reports to find the answers.
3. QUERY DRILLDOWN (OR OLAP)
Answers the questions: Where exactly is the problem? How do I find the answers?
Example: Sort and explore data about different types of cell phone users and their calling behaviors.Query drilldown allows for a little bit of discovery. OLAP lets you manipulate the data yourself to find out how many, what color and where.
4. ALERTS
Answer the questions: When should I react? What actions are needed now?
Example: Sales executives receive alerts when sales targets are falling behind.With alerts, you can learn when you have a problem and be notified when something similar happens again in the future. Alerts can appear via e-mail, RSS feeds or as red dials on a scorecard or dashboard.
5. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Answers the questions: Why is this happening? What opportunities am I missing?
Example: Banks can discover why an increasing number of customers are refinancing their homes.Here we can begin to run some complex analytics, like frequency models and regression analysis. We can begin to look at why things are happening using the stored data and then begin to answer questions based on the data.
6. FORECASTING
Answers the questions: What if these trends continue? How much is needed? When will it be needed?
Example: Retailers can predict how demand for individual products will vary from store to store.Forecasting is one of the hottest markets – and hottest analytical applications – right now. It applies everywhere. In particular, forecasting demand helps supply just enough inventory, so you don’t run out or have too much.
7. PREDICTIVE MODELING
Answers the questions: What will happen next? How will it affect my business?
Example: Hotels and casinos can predict which VIP customers will be more interested in particular vacation packages.If you have 10 million customers and want to do a marketing campaign, who’s most likely to respond? How do you segment that group? And how do you determine who’s most likely to leave your organization? Predictive modeling provides the answers.
8. OPTIMIZATION
Answers the question: How do we do things better? What is the best decision for a complex problem?
Example: Given business priorities, resource constraints and available technology, determine the best way to optimize your IT platform to satisfy the needs of every user.Optimization supports innovation. It takes your resources and needs into consideration and helps you find the best possible way to accomplish your goals.
The best analytics for your business problem
The majority of analytic offerings available today fall into one of the first four areas, which report historical data on what happened in the past but no insight about the future. For simple business problems, these analytic solutions will be all you need. But if you’re asking more complex questions or looking for predictive insight, you need to look at the second half of the spectrum. Even better, if you can learn to use these technologies together and identify what type of analytics to use for every individual situation, you’ll really be increasing your chances for true business intelligence.
This article was republished with the permission of sascom Magazine.
About SAS – Providing organizations with THE POWER TO KNOW® since 1976.
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®. To learn more about SAS, its products and services, visit www.sas.com.
About sascom Magazine
sascom Magazine is the quarterly publication of the SAS Institute, Inc. Each issue is packed with thought-provoking content and insight into the business issues that affect all companies competing in today’s technology-driven marketplace with recent contributions by best-selling author and researcher Tom Davenport; social media guru Chris Brogan; and Myron Scholes, world renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner. Subscribe now to get your subscription to this award-winning quarterly magazine. sascom Magazine can also be accessed online at www.sas.com/sascom.
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An organization’s limited personnel resources necessitates that its business performance assessments be performed in the most efficient manner possible. While at times there may be the need for an in-depth end-to-end process review, at other times it will be appropriate to examine performance of a specific task or activities by numerous performers from across the organization. On these occasions, the horizontal cut assessment approach is most appropriate.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act represents the most sweeping change in the regulation of the U.S. financial industry in over half a century. Contained with the act are 243 new rules that will be developed by 11 different government agencies1; fundamentally reshaping how business is done at financial and non-financial institutions. But do these regulations treat businesses fairly and equitably or do they establish an unfair environment that favors a select few?
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Frank McIntosh is author of 
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