Building an Effective Credit Management Team

1
People l Process l Outcomes
Building an Effective Credit Team
Presented by Steve Mitchinson LICM
Director, BBB Advisory Pty Ltd
Director, AICM

2
Investing in Teams
Ponder this discussion:
CFO asks Credit Manager: "What happens if we invest in
developing our people & then they leave us?"
Credit Manager: “What happens if we don't, and they stay?"

3
Let’s agree two hypothesis
You should hire for attitude, train for skill
– This is not a credit skills session
– A group of credit experts is not necessarily an
effective credit team
Leadership is the most important driver of performance
– People don’t leave their employers, they leave their leaders
Today I want to put forward some strategies on how we might:
– improve our leadership
– develop our teams
– deliver improved results
– challenge our thinking

4
Individualism versus Collectivism
How well do you deal with this internal conflict
But I cant do this on my own so I
need others to help me...
We need to work on this as a team
supporting one another, making
group decisions and sharing in the
rewards
But we need to avoid “group think”
and encourage individual excellence
so that our group goals are met or
exceeded...
I need to excel and be recognised for
my efforts and individual excellence
Individualism Collectivism

5
There are two types of teams…….
Homogeneous Heterogeneous
Group Thinking Diversity of Thinking

6
There is Power in Diversity
Your challenge is how you harness it
Whole Brain Thinking™ and the HBDI ™ are registered trademarks of Herrmann International. For more information visit our website

7
Differences in Processing Modes
We think, speak & listen differently because…we are different

8
What do you bring to your teams

9
Differing Approaches to the Team Process
How might you better leverage the diversity in your teams

10
The 8 C’s of Great Teams
Building on the Four C’s of Credit, how would you score?
Cooperation
Do teams have positive relationships with key
stakeholders? Do you know who they are?
Clear expectations
Have clear and specific team objectives been set?
Are they achievable?
Change Acceptance
Does the team accept and understand the need for
change
Are they capable of change
Control
Has the power to make decisions been devolved,
accepted and supported?
Competence
Has sufficient training investment of team individuals
occurred?
Is ongoing mentoring and coaching in place
Constructive feedback
Are there appropriate systems in place to ensure honest
performance feedback?
Composition
Is the team combination effective?
Do we have the right leader(s)
Cultural Change
Do organisational structures stifle team efforts?

11
High Performing Teams
Failure
• No consensus, people pulling in all
directions
• Disbelief and cynicism - “flavour of
the day “ accusations
• Communication takes place in the
corridor or behind closed doors
• UGR’s
• Risk averse - “Don’t rock the boat”
• Refusal to participate in in shared
responsibility:
“It’s up to you”
“It’s not my job”
Success
• Team has a clear focus on agreed
criteria and consensus on priorities
• Prepared to be open, frank, self
critical and mutually supportive
• Members talk freely at team
meetings - no feeling of
intimidation or threats
• Team evaluates risks and takes
considered decisions
• Actively searches for different and
imaginative approaches
• Commitment to success and
confidence to take responsibility
for the team’s decisions

12
Achieving Discretionary Effort
It only comes with engagement, it sets great teams apart
Drivers of Engagement
Trust & Integrity
Personal
relationship with
Manager/Leader
Co-workers /
Team members
Employee
Development
Career Growth
Opportunities
Nature of the Job
Pride About the
Company
Clear link between
Individual &
Company
Performance
Based on major research, there are some 26 or more drivers of engagement, however there are
8 generally recognised factors that significantly impact on how engaged an employee is…

13
Employee Engagement
Potential Approaches for improving engagement
Organisational
Interventions
Communications
Development
Interventions
Managerial
Interventions
1. Flatten managerial and decision-making hierarchies.
Increase autonomy and empower with decision-
making authority. [Complexity Split]
2. Using cross-functional teams
3. Demonstrate how individuals contribute to
organisational goals (strategic communications)
1. Keep promises / follow through
2. Open and honest
3. Tell it like it is – even when bad news or a difficult
topic
4. Walking the Talk
5. Rewarding the right people for the right reasons
1. Building one on one relationships / trust
2. Employee Surveys
3. Consistent, regular and lots of face to face
communication – the essential e-mail rule
4. Honestly respond to what is heard from employees

14
• Usefulness - Can the measure appraise the most important results?
• Sustainability - Can the measure accurately forecast the trend of results into the future?
• Measurability - Can the measure be calculated from readily available data and would
different judges makes the same calculation?
• Controllability - Can those being measured truly impact the results gauged by the
measure?
• Communicability - Can the measures be explained easily to staff & other audiences?
• Universality – Is there linkage – are measures cascaded downward from the corporate
level to the operating units?
• Timeliness - Can the measure be produced now – when the result is produced?
• Comparability - Can the measure be related to past performances and to competitive
performances?
Criteria for evaluating measures of team performance
What gets measured gets done – are your measures driving the right results

15
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more
and become more, you are a leader
- John Quincy Adams
How do you define a leader
Are you a leader?

16
• There are many tasks and many methods. It’s important for leaders to
understand that the tasks and methods are things which contribute to an overall
purpose.
• Methods are more likely achieve purpose, although tasks rarely will.
Your Role as a leader
What is the purpose of your role
1. RTM,
Monitor
25%
2.
Coaching,
PM
25%
3. Planning
20%
4. Admin
20%
5. Other
10%
Perception Reality

17
Drop
• Tasks that can be dropped altogether.
Consider the impact if it not done anymore?
Delegate
• Tasks that could be handled by someone else.
Does it really need to sit with you? Few tasks really have to sit with the leader.
(Note: do not delegate tasks before you have considered Dropping them first.)
Defer
• Can you get the same outcome by reducing the frequency?
Consider managing by exception
Do
• The remaining work is work that you must do yourself.
Consider whether there is a more time efficient way, e.g. if you could automate
things that you do manually
Your Role as a leader
Moving from Task to Method – achieving the 70%

18
Feedback can be the hardest task of a leader (or anyone)
Here is a simple yet effective model
Purpose
Observation
Feel
Response[employee response]
Expectation
Suggest
Support
Sadly we see
similar
approaches
far too often

19
Balanced Leadership Points Calculator
Performance Task Management Points
I gave clear instructions on a ask or job I needed
with time deadlines and priority
I met with someone to review and discuss their/
our progress on agreed actions or targets
I was efficiencies with my time this week
I was efficient with money and/or resources – or
found a way to reduce /improve they way they are
used
I felt stresses or under a lot of pressure this week
Vision/Transformation points
The actions and decisions I made or meetings I
attended this week contributed to achieving our
vision
I communicated clearly with someone about our
vision
I influenced or changed someone or something
toward changes we are or have been introducing
 I left people confused or uncertain about my
ideas
Strategic Goal Management Points
I did two or more things this week that definitely
contributed to our strategic goals
I was able to influence or make progress on
getting resources for our project or section activities
I spent time determining, clarifying, or planning
our long term goals and objectives
I conveyed in word or actions the most important
priorities for our section for the next 4 weeks
I spent more than 80% of my time on my
technical area rather than leading or managing
People Leadership Skills
I facilitated a worthwhile discussion or resolved
conflict between two or more people
I gave excellent service or improved our services
to our customers this week
I listened and gave my full attention to at least
two staff members for at least 15 minutes this week
I gave praise to at least two colleagues
I spent at least 215 minutes with a team member
coaching them to do something important to them
and our team
I got irritated, critical or negative about something
or someone this week
F
A
C
T
F
O
R
M
F
U
T
U
R
E
F
E
E
L
Total “Made a Difference” points -________
Complete weekly – 5 points for each tick – deduct 5 for red answers

20
Where to from here……
Values, behaviours, expectations and rituals
define the culture and sustain the community
Vision without action is simply daydreaming,
Action without vision is just a nightmare
- Ken Everett, Ken Everett International

21
Thank You
For further information contact:
Steve Mitchinson
Director, BBB advisory
Herrmann® Certified Facilitator
E: Steve.mitchinson@bbbadvisory.com.au
“There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great:
communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of
each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of
them together are unbeatable.”
Michael Krzyzewski ( “Coach K”) owns the record for the most wins by an NCAA division 1
basketball coach

22
BBB Advisory
What we do
People are the essential
ingredient in any organisation
and their empowerment and
engagement at all levels is
vital to your organisations
success. Our methods
constantly deliver on these
critical outcomes. All bbb
people are hand picked for
their knowledge and
experience in bbb outcome
delivery areas .
Effective process has a
dramatic effect on
organisations in many
different ways. bbb advisory
has evolved it’s own unique
practices and processes to
assist a wide cross section
of private and public sector
organisations throughout
Australia achieve improved
operational efficiency.
BBB Advisory focuses on three areas: people, process and outcomes.
BBB Advisory applies these principals to it’s own business and aims to be a centre of
excellence for business process reform and organisational efficiency.
www.bbbadvisory.com.au
By following our unique
practices and processes,
bbb advisory achieves
exceptional outcomes for
organisations delivering
dramatic improvements
in efficiency, customer
satisfaction and financial
performance.

Building an Effective Credit Management Team

More Related Content

What's hot (18)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Building an Effective Credit Management Team (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Building an Effective Credit Management Team