As the face of your company, your frontline staff is one of your most powerful assets and should be invested in accordingly. Maintaining valuable relationships with account holders isn’t easy. Treating each interaction as an opportunity to make a positive impact on your account holders’ day is what should be top of mind for them.
Here are three ways to keep your frontline staff motivated and engaged so they can be a positive and effective representation of your institution.
Good attitudes, practices, and training start from the top. No matter which combination of initiatives you use to engage your frontline staff, having full executive buy-in is essential and gives the strategy more leverage.
Practice what you preach by building relationships with your service representatives the same way you expect them to build relationships with account holders. Use your behavior as a model for how you would like staff to interact with each other and with account holders.
Communicate, communicate, communicate — repeating your message in person, through email, and in meetings can feel redundant, but it’s an essential part of disseminating your message throughout the company.
Company goals and values need to be adequately communicated. But communication goes both ways; do you give space for staff to ask questions and offer their ideas? And do you actually implement ideas they bring to the table? Company goals and values should be non-negotiable in your institution because they are built and inspired by you and your staff, together.
Don’t assume that each and every one of your employees has all the tools, training, and support from supervisors they need — check in with them personally and find out first hand. This will reinforce “Leading by example” and allow you to celebrate employees who are doing well and re-train employees who need it.
Celebrate the little things. Reminding workers why they are an integral part of your purpose as a community financial institution will inform their day-to-day behaviors, and strengthen their long-term commitment to your institution. Employees that feel appreciated make account holders feel appreciated, and are overall more engaged.
Your frontline staff sets the tone for most interactions account holders have with your institution and they should be treated as such. Clear communication, in the form of leading by example and giving employees the training and incentives they need, helps build a motivated and successful frontline focused on converting and helping your account holders.