I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that your process for our Leadership Alignment program has been successful and largely responsible for so much progress at The Cecilian Bank. The foundation of “Take It To The Max” and your core strategies to maximize growth and profitability became the launching point for building a cohesive and cooperative leadership group here at the bank.
There were many parts to this process that helped us to gain trust between peers but the fundamental truth is you helped us to be better communicators. While working on defining ourselves with key understandings of our bank such as Five Characteristics of a Great Team and Incredible Customer Experience, we were also working on simple one on one meetings with each other to create personal bonding experiences. It became so much easier to communicate with each other when you just knew a little bit more about co-workers and what made them tick. It sounds so simple and you would think that most businesses would be doing this on their own, but I am convinced that without this process, we would not have been as diligent and consistent. So in addition to communication, you gave us the tool to do this with by instilling accountability and responsibility in the process. I cannot emphasize enough that you convincing me to play the lead and active role in Leadership Alignment made the difference in our process. I thank you for strongly recommending my lead in something that we still have in practice over two years later. The intangible benefits are easy to outline such as a better place to work, cooperation between departments for the same goal, reduced gossip and negative attitudes, improved management succession planning and a great way to naturally build a mentorship environment between supervisors and management.
The tangible benefits are extremely rich. We have had two full time positions that we did not have to replace when faced with personnel turnover because we gained efficiencies through ideas generated directly through the Leadership Alignment program. One of these positions carried a salary and benefit package of $24,000 and the other $58,000 for a direct benefit of $82,000. During this process we acquired two banks in a merger transaction and the cooperation between departments, supervisors and the acquired employees has been way ahead of expectations. Again another intangible benefit, however the cost savings of $1 million as expected from combining the two banks have materialized at a much faster pace and revenue growth is occurring ahead of projections.
So the purpose of my letter is to tell you that your personal note written in the copy of your book that you gave to me said “join the revolution”. The revolution is alive and prospering here at The Cecilian Bank. I know you are a return on investment professional and you have added tremendous value to our bank and for that I return to you immeasurable gratitude.
Greg Pawley
President and CEO
The Cecilian Bank