PART FIVE
People are resistant to change, and hybrid meetings demand a lot of it. They require new tools, new approaches, a new mindset. It's not realistic to expect everyone to get on board – expect some pushback and even noncompliance. However, there is a method that many organizations are leaning heavily into right now that can drive user adoption: training.
In a 2021 survey of human resource leaders conducted by Gartner, 68% say they are prioritizing building critical skills and competencies. This is for good reason, because that same survey indicated that nearly three-quarters of respondents reported that more than 40% of their workforce has had to use new skills as a result of COVID-19 (Gartner 2021). For employees fresh off adapting to the new workflows developed while fully remote, the idea of having to learn a whole new way of working when hybrid may sound exhausting. Organizations that both recognize the need for change and also offer sufficient training and support to help their employees adjust and adopt will find success. We find one such illustration of a business embracing the hybrid environment in what some might consider an unlikely place: the financial services sector.
“I don't know that there's much of an older business than banking. The interaction where you go in and you see a teller – that really hasn't changed much in the last 100 years,” says Rick Sems, executive vice president at First Bank, one of the largest privately held, family-owned banks in the country, based out of St. Louis, Missouri. First Bank has been streamlining their processes for several years now, but COVID-19 accelerated that and pushed them in new directions. “It really changed to a point where our clients were no longer standing right in front of us. It turned to more virtual meetings.”
For First Bank, that opened up an opportunity for the introduction of new ways to connect with their customers. They introduced virtual bankers, real people who help customers conduct teller transactions through videoconferencing. The tellers appear on screen at special ATMs called ITMs (interactive teller machines), and guide customers through their immediate banking needs, whether that's depositing a check or checking their balance.
“We wanted professionalism. We wanted a smile, and we want the smile to come through the screen,” said Rick. But this was uncharted territory for First Bank, and they knew they needed help in honing the on-camera presence and engagement of their virtual bankers. What did they do? They brought in an outside expert to train them, knowing how important that first impression to customers is. Rick explains, “That's why it has been so important for us to do that training, because you don't want people to have a bad experience. Customers will remember that, but especially early on, if you can deliver a good experience with the technology, that can make a big difference in how they accept it.”
So far, the results have been very positive, with client satisfaction reports and customer experience metrics like Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for the ITMs better than they anticipated. That's prompted a move toward using video in other areas as well, with plans to introduce it for other customer support services that might have traditionally been done over the phone and will soon be done through videoconferencing.
The use of video communication also allows for an easier transition to a hybrid approach in the branches themselves. Instead of just face-to-face interactions, each branch will have a combination of concierge bankers who will be available in person to handle things like opening an account, along with the tellers who will be available virtually through the ITMs to handle transactions. Rick says it's an evolution: “We're changing every branch. We're taking out space. We're taking out walls. We're putting in a little bit more technology so you can get your answers quickly. You can pick your path, your journey. You can stay as short or as long as you want in a branch.”
Hybrid work is all about giving employees choices in how and where they work, but customers are also asking for choices in how they engage as well. First Bank recognized that shift, and is seeking to meet customers where they want to be met. However, no matter the modality, First Bank wants to ensure that the customer comes away with a positive impression. Training their people in how to achieve that is key, says Rick: “At the end, it's about how do you make that client comfortable? How do you make them feel good about the interaction? That training of what we expect was just critical.”
At the heart of the transition to hybrid is an all-encompassing change management process with many moving parts – a process that will not be successful if organizations do not set expectations and then invest in the training that will empower their people to meet them. In this final part, we will discuss the importance of building a training program around hybrid meetings. We'll look at the components of an effective training plan in general, and then translate it to a specific training program for hybrid meeting success (Chapter 12). How do you know if you are on the right path? In Chapter 13, we'll give you a framework for evaluating your efforts thus far, as well as presenting potential next steps.
Reference
1. Gartner. 2021. Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2021. Report by Gartner for HR. Retrieved August 16, 2021 from https://www.gartner.com/ngw/globalassets/en/human-resources/documents/trends/top-priorities-for-hr-leaders-2021.pdf