Culture club

It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for Dick Hollington, regional president of the Greater Cleveland Region of Sky Bank, the commercial and retail banking affiliate of Sky Financial Group Inc.

Sky acquired Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. in mid-May 2003, Great Lakes Bank in December 2003, and in July 2004 finalized its acquisition of Second National Bank.

“When we created the Cleveland region, the challenge I had was forming a new team, trying to accelerate that team’s adoption of all of the best practices of Sky and executing in a highly competitive marketplace,” Hollington says. “I felt a need to do more than just what the company had done to that point. I felt the need to accelerate the performance of my region and, in doing that, to invest in the individuals on my team to help them perform more quickly, more effectively.”

Hollington had heard Donna Rae Smith, founder and CEO of Chagrin Falls-based Bright Side, speak at a Florida business conference and was impressed with her methods for transforming individuals and team leaders through development workshops and sustainable programs.

“There are so many things that you do that seem like a great thing the day that you do them, but the next day, nothing happens,” he says. “(The Bright Side process is) not just a one-time event; it’s actually going to be something that’s going to change the way we work, the way we behave and the way we perform.”

Hollington spent several months talking with Smith about the Bright Side process and consulting with other corporate executives who have been through the process. He also took the concept to Sky Chairman, President & CEO Marty Adams, who gave his approval but insisted that the process align with Sky’s current development programs because “we don’t want to start a new path, we want to perform better on the path we’re on,” Hollington says.

” … The (Sky) corporation has invested a lot in the programs that we have, and my intent was not to reinvent the corporate programs. It was to introduce something to my team that would accelerate our adoption of those programs and become the best at utilizing sales and service culture.”

The Bright Side methodology was appealing to Hollington because of Sky’s vision for how it wants to compete in the market.

“We need to win the hearts and minds of our clients because we compete on a relationship basis, not on a price basis,” he says. ” … We want to deliver more value than just the bank transaction that’s in front of them, in the form of advice, counsel and problem-solving.”

Smith says CEOs must be committed to the hard work that is required for sustainability.

“That’s what impressed me most about Dick in my first meeting with him and continuing to work with him, is what a learner he is and how open to learning he is and how transparent that is with the rest of the team and the rest of the organization,” she says. “It’s really hard work for an executive to lead change, to coach change, to model change, to be learning and leading at the same time.”

Following the Bright Side process, Hollington and his team are undergoing six phases to transformational, personal and team leader development. It started with a discovery assessment phase, which included interviewing the workshop participants and the stakeholders — the Sky board and executives from other Sky regions and its corporate office.

The Bright Side staff customized a four-day experiential, interactive workshop, and when participants left the workshop, each had a learning partner, a personal leader development goal and plan and an application strategy to apply the learning in the work environment.

Six weeks later, the group returned for team reinforcements, individual coaching and learning partner coaching.

“We incorporate behavior change measurement and outcome change measurement through various measurement and assessment tools that we have,” Smith says. “And that incorporates, most importantly, how people are observably behaving differently. That is creating execution. That is creating different results, better results.”

Hollington says his team has come to the realization that it’s hard work to think about and change your behavior in this way, but he expects performance improvement immediately as a result.

“In my view, there’s application for this process in other parts of Sky, other regions, other parts of the corporation, any part of the organization where we have leaders trying to meet teams and solve problems and move forward,” he says. “As a company, we’re looking at the impact and results that we’re getting from our efforts here in Cleveland to say, ‘Where would be the next logical place to do this, and has it been effective?”

Smith says she observed the transformation when she attended two meetings led by Hollington one week apart.

“First, the energy in the (second) meeting was noticeably different because there was a commitment to clarity around each person’s behavior and the impact that it had on specific goals and outcomes,” she says. “Dick is leading that effort, and I noticed how he has set the stage for the rest of the team to similarly be clear on their commitments and their outcomes.

“That creates a different kind of energy, an engagement, an excitement in the meeting. This is execution versus telling.”

Hollington says he’s learned that his perception of his role in the company and his team members’ perception of his role are two different things.

“I think my team very much wants me to play a heavy facilitation role as I interact with them and less of a command-and-control telling role,” he says. “Now that I’m aware of that, the way I operate within our meetings is much more to facilitate discussion and to draw out ideas from the team, rather than share my ideas with the team. And, if you knew me very well, you’d know that would be hard to do because I have a lot of ideas I want to share.

“If I weren’t aware of that, I’d just keep throwing ideas on the table, none of which would resonate and none of which anybody would do because they’d be sitting there thinking, ‘If he knows what he wants me to do, why doesn’t he just tell me and we’ll do it?'”

The new methodology allows Hollington’s team members to develop a set of ideas that excites them and energizes them to develop a plan to execute it. The end result will be as good or much better because the team will want to make the ideas come to fruition.

Hollington says every experience a client has with Sky is the most important one, and he needs to ensure that every time a client interacts with Sky, it’s a positive experience.

“It just takes that last bad one to be the one that ends the relationship, and all of the 200 good ones that came before it disappear. So you have to ensure that everybody understands,” he says.

Smith says the sustainable advantage that any company can have today is in-the-moment learning and applying the action from learning.

“I have come across one wonderful quote about learning, ‘The illiterate of the 21st century won’t be people who can’t read and write; rather it will be people who can’t learn, who don’t have the capacity, the capability to unlearn and relearn,'” she says. “Learning really is the sustainable advantage with the action that Dick is driving for the Sky organization, and doing it very well.” HOW TO REACH: Bright Side, (440) 543-1800 or www.bright-side.com; Sky Bank, (216) 206-6000, www.skyfi.com


Keys to success

Dick Hollington is leading Sky Bank’s Greater Cleveland Region and using a transformational method created by Donna Rae Smith for her company, Bright Side, to accelerate that process.

They sat down with Smart Business to discuss what a company needs for a strong corporate culture.

* Culture is established at the local level. There are 30 financial centers in Hollington’s region, and each has its own culture.

“What is important to me is that the key elements and the vision are being lived every day in and day out,” he says. “Every manager I have is a little bit different in the way they manage and the way they interact. … They’re creating a little bit different culture in their office because of the difference in their style and the interaction of the team.”

* Individuals’ beliefs, values and behaviors affect culture. Decision-makers should encourage employees to be uniquely different and authentic, as well as to follow a transformational methodology to be No. 1.

“For any organization to have accelerated change, it is important that each individual within that organization has the belief and emotions that will drive the behavior for accelerated change,” Smith says.

* Form your team. “If the quarterback is the only guy who knows how to keep score and you have 11 other players, how are you going to win the game?” Hollington says. “You need everybody to understand the rules of the game and what you’re trying to accomplish to get there. … You can’t win unless you’ve got everybody on the team playing toward that goal.”