Nancy Huber has the perfect
presence for public speaking: She has a personable smile,
a genuine laugh and a quick wit.
But she doesn’t do all of her
communicating at Fifth Third
Bancorp from the podium.
That’s because Huber, market
president Fifth Third Bank,
Northeastern Ohio, has learned
that no one method of communication is the right way to get
through to the nearly 1,000 employees in her market at the financial services company.
Instead, she takes her leadership message to every forum
she can — from writing for the
monthly publication in her market to visiting sales meetings —
because she can never be sure
where and when the Fifth Third
message will get through.
As she tries different vehicles
for communication, she focuses
on staying consistent so that
wherever her employees turn,
they find the same message to
keep pushing them forward.
Smart Business spoke with
Huber about how no one form
of communication is enough
and why you have to empathize
with new employees.
Use every communication vehicle
available. Good communication
skills are essential to a good
leader, and that’s written, it’s
verbal, it’s repetitious, it’s
redundant, it’s consistent — it’s
all of those things. Just because
you say it one day does not
mean that the next day people
will remember it because priorities shift and change.
I have a senior management
team here, and we’ve gone
down to the next level in our
organization, which is the next
30 leaders — these tend to be
team leaders or regional managers, people who lead five to
15 associates — and I meet
with those people every
month. It gives me an opportunity to repeat what I have told
their managers so that they
hear it directly from me,
because when you talk about
cascading, they really get out
into the organization.
Each line of business also
has a monthly meeting, and I
attend as many of those as I
can. I’m taking the same message to a different slice. We
have a monthly publication
here that I write something for,
and I speak in terms that are
appropriate for everybody.
The message doesn’t change,
but the vehicle might. If one person doesn’t hear the message,
then the message didn’t get
through. There is no singular
way to communicate; you just
have to take advantage of as
many opportunities as possible.
Help new employees assimilate. I
absolutely anticipate when we
have a new hire, there’s a
learning curve; everybody goes
through it.
I know with all the different
changes I’ve had in my career
that I have a period of time
where I have to assimilate, and it sort of gives you enough
times to go through things that
you haven’t experienced before.
I’m pretty realistic about that.
I know it’s not going to be perfect in the beginning, but I give
people enough latitude to do
what they feel they need to do
to assimilate, try to help them
assimilate, introduce them to
people that can be helpful to
them, and share with them
experiences in the bank. Over
time, they learn to trust one
another, to trust the bank, and
it’s not an overnight event.
Create avenues for work-life balance. It’s an expectation that
everyone down in the organization actively participates in our
communities, and it’s not onesize-fits-all. What I care most
about is people are genuine in their participation and that they
are part of an organization that
is meaningful to them.
We talk about it openly, and
we give the opportunity to participate in charitable events
and donate money. We try to
be consistent and support
organizations that are meaningful to the city.
I personally believe that people are much more engaged
and truly better participants
in business when they have a
full life, when they have families and churches and schools
and things that engage them.
Certainly, we all want to do a
good job for the bank, but
we’re part of a larger world,
and it’s important that we participate in it.
It’s also how we know our customers. We’re out in the
community. We go to church
and go to school and play basketball and go to plays with
people who are ultimately our
customers, so it’s so important
for us to be engaged in the
community.
Blend trust and accountability. Accountability tends to have a
cold, hard feel to it, but I really
believe people like accountability; they want to know what’s
expected. And in addition to
getting results, people really
like the clarity, so I want to
make sure people understand
what my expectations are.
Then your No. 1 priority is
earning trust both ways, from
me to them and them to me.
People want to do business
with and spend time with people they like, and they have to
trust one another to have
those feelings.
My lines of business have that
accountability structure, but
they also have a lot of opportunity to put their own touch on
their business. I want to understand what’s happening in their
business always; I ask what’s
happening with their largest
customers, I want to understand what their issues and
concerns are. Then I trust
they’ll make the best decisions
for their line of business.
I hope they use me as a sounding board and they value my
insight and my broader view
since I see all the lines of business. So I support them, give
them feedback and am candid
about my thoughts.
HOW TO REACH: Fifth Third Bancorp, (800) 972-3030 or www.53.com