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The Leading Edge By Ed Yager "Hire the best people you can, train them to be the best they can be, and get rid of the roadblocks that keep them from doing their job." -- Gordon Dames They say first impressions are everything. It is clear upon entering the offices of Gordon Dames, CEO at Mountain America Credit Union, that he is a master of symbolism. As you weave your way into the corner office it is a bit like working your way into a cocoon. The offices are glass, all arranged around a small core (co-joined he calls it). "Team desks" facilitate meetings in every office. The atmosphere is casual - a change this former marine has consciously and intentionally fostered. No ties - nothing formal. He meets us in his Levi shirt and pants with the Mountain America logo over the pocket. He talks about the eclecticism of his leadership development. He is confident, firm in his convictions, and comfortable with who he is. He commutes weekly to his home in San Diego (a drill he has carried out for eight years). He is the personification of the MACU corporate mission statement, "Quality people providing quality products and services through quality delivery systems". Gordon was hired in 1992 to rebuild an organization in serious trouble. Branches were being closed, assets were declining, employees were working in a "cesspool of negativism". Today, approaching a 5X growth on assets, 9 to 23 branches, they are launching an initiative that will "turn every member's home into a branch" through on-line transactioning. He is as enthusiastic as ever. He is also a master story teller, a critical dimension of leadership. Q: WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH? "What I did, in order to get everyone on the same page, to get everyone aligned, was to set a very simple goal -- to give our members the best service possible. The only way we could get growth was to keep the members happy. Every moment was what the people as SAS called a moment of truth. But what may be obvious in verbiage is not as easy when it comes to getting everyone on the same page. Everyone has their own individual problems and the culture becomes one of surviving problem to problem. Autocratic management emerges in a problem environment, 'you do that'. " "The first thing I did was to have a meeting with my executive team. I talked to them about how I was going to approach the job, about the priorities and about the importance of all going in one direction. I used the example of a racing shell. Just imagine if, in the middle of the race, just one person stood up, turned around, and started rowing in the opposite direction. We went through a very painful planning process. When you go through this process there is a lot of understanding that must take place. But the result is fabulous because, when you come together everyone is on the same page." "As things turned around, we had celebrations at every milestone (especially in the branches to thank our members). We tried to keep constant excitement about the changes." 'We hired for attitude - not for skill. That was a major change. We did not want to bring people in at a high price who were steeped in the way they did things in their old organization. We hired for people skills, and for attitude, and then trained them to be the best they could be. That was a major commitment." Q: HOW DO YOU PAY AND REWARD YOUR EMPLOYEES? "We will never be second best. We are probably the highest paying financial institution in the state, and we have an executive incentive system that is tied to specific results. If they don't get a bonus - I don't. Everything rolls up." Q: HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES ENERGIZED? "We have what we call an 'All Employees Seminar'. Most nonexecutives never get to go to a conference, so we have a credit union conference every year at a Salt Lake hotel. We pay time and one half for a whole day Saturday. We have a party and dinner the night before, spouses attend, a different theme every year. One year we had Bear from the Jazz; the theme was teamwork. The whole hall was done up as a football stadium. At another event we broke everyone into teams and gave them a box full of stuff (straws, buttons, ribbons, tape, etc.), and they had to design the financial institution of the future. Each table had to make a presentation. One team came up with a pipeline to every member's house made of straws. 'Guess Where We Are Going'." Q: Where? "Today we are taking a major initiative to turn every member's home into a branch office. I have hired a new VP for On-Line. The branches will transition from transaction centers to relations centers. Already 50,000 homes are on-line, and we have not even advertised." Q: How do you get people to cooperate on such dramatic changes? "Constancy - consistency. there is no turning back. They gotta get in the boat. You can't be on the shore and on the boat. Everyone must understand that it's going to happen. We must give people a chance to adapt, but 2 or 3 months later the transition must be complete." Q: What does teaming mean to you? "It means everything. It means everyone works together. We went through the whole team process. Ray Hansen (of 80/20 Planning Inc.) took us through an incredibly tough process with staff and board members working together as a team - we struggled - but that has been the basis for everything we have done. It is still the foundation of everything we do." "We discovered that those who participate and have a say in deciding what needs to be done commit themselves to making it happen. That is the most powerful thing to come of this process. We have a plan, and we are all committed to make it happen. We truly try to live teaming at all levels. One year we had every team make a presentation on how they built their team. Another year we had every team make a presentation to every other team that had helped them do their job." Q: How do you keep in touch with the front line? "First, we always keep them informed. I go out every day, never with a lot of people. I also take every department to dinner every year. I have one question for them. If they can't tell me something we need to do to improve, they pay for the dinner. I look forward to them telling me about some lousy thing we are doing that upsets the members, and then I come back and get it fixed. In 8 years they have never paid. We then implement the change through HR. We have a terrific training operation here, and they try to make everyone gain ownership of the change by telling them about the benefits -- not by telling them what to do." Q: Where is the energy coming from? "Initially it was from me, but over time everyone has seen the benefits of the changes and they have taken over. I am constantly asking people to tell me about their successes. Most people have thousands of successes but no one asks them to talk about them. We do have a corollary to that -- make the same mistake twice and you can expect some very serious counseling. Everyone understand the rule, and I expect every manager to step in as a coach to be sure mistakes are not repeated." "And we have another rule - no surprises. If I am surprised it's akin to insubordination. I can deal with things I know - everyone knows the drill. As a result we don't need to spend time on mistakes. Here is the problem; here is what is being done - end of discussion." "I expect teams to be meeting all of the time to solve problems or implement changes. I tell them 'don't invite me in - don't ask me how to do it because I will give you my answer and still hold you accountable'. As a result they have learned to solve their own problems. Now I just tell them what is expected, and they go out and make it happen, then they tell me what they have done." As I talked to Gordon, I felt like I was listening to a walking text book on leadership. I was told by others that he is, in fact, a speed reader with an incredible memory. More importantly he has the intuitive ability to understand and integrate the meaning of what he reads and hears. I couldn't help hearing Peter Senge's (The Fifth Discipline) words about what he calls the 5 disciplines of effective leaders. 1). Systems Thinking, 2) Personal Mastery, 3) New Mental Models, 4) Building Shared Vision, and 5) Team Learning. Gordon Dames provides an outstanding model of each much to the benefit of others at Mountain America who will be able to learn from that model. |
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