The article for today takes a precedence (say initiative) from a 2018 post by Scott Keller (Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company) who wrote expressly on the legacy of teamwork, incorporating management gurus and acquisition of top talents.
We will be juxtaposing the art of music (rock ‘n’ roll) with the essence and applicability to building a credit team. The theme from the write-up today is practicable in all fields, however, we will limit the scope of knowledge to the credit team of a financial institution (Risk Management).
When last did you attend a music concert? was it a Rock ‘n’ Roll genre of music concert? One thing is never missing in a good music- the timely syncopations of the music team, the perfect sync understanding, not to talk less of the silent behavioral/ attitudinal axioms of music that are upheld by them- that is why they call them R.O.C.K.
The Head of a Credit Team (even the CEO) hopes to achieve a team with one language, a team that upholds industry/ organization professionalism acts and above all a team that ROCKS. My early days as a credit analyst, I understood that I needed to achieve an understanding with my team, not to work in isolation. It is important to learn to work together if you’re going to spend your career together realizing same objectives overtime.
It has been known that some credit that went bad were not as a result of the obvious causes but could have been mitigated with a team effort rather than mere individual inputs. Firms today have individuals who are never ready to exceed their KPI (Key Performance Index) or JD (Job Description). The robotic nature of man is a curse to an organization. The obvious side-effect of this is a cracked wall.
Let’s define that. The Bible teaches that the serpent bites once there is a cracked wall. Can you relate with this now?
Organizations are vulnerable to bites, hurts, dangers, losses when they have a Credit Team that work in isolation. As such, it is worth considering how Risk Managers can incorporate team- building programs and approach to having a credit team and not credit individuals.
The Risk Management Team that R.O.C.K.s
R: Role Clarity: Risk Managers must ensure the roles of all individuals in the department are well spelt out and understood by them. Understanding roles explains that individuals can answer- Why am I doing this? Why am I the best-fit for this? What happens if I don’t do this? A lucid answer to this, differentiates people from being robotic in thought to understanding dynamic and efficient in performing their task.
HR experts upholds that major failure in jobs today originates from an unclear communication of job roles. Everyone has to understand and commit to what their role is and they have to do it well. This does not just apply in Rock ‘n’ Roll music but also in building a team.
The first stage to team building is individual perfection.
O: Objective Setting: A task without an objective becomes less interesting and ultimately ends abruptly. Once the Risk Manager understands the holistic objective of the firm, it is worthwhile to set big goals and at the same time break it down into smaller and manageable goals on the way to the big picture. This makes the big goals feel achievable. The small wins start to accumulate, build momentum and in time what may have felt impossible at the start becomes reality. This idea originates from Paul Stanley, a rock ‘n roll act.
Time Objective, NPL ratio objective, Profitability Objective of the firm are cascaded into smaller goals and attached to Risk Management roles and this forms a foundation in achieving the corporate organization goal.
C: Communication: Communication is vital to the success of a team. It is the life of team. When roles and objectives start to deviate, it will not come back to norm without good communication. Some departmental failures have persisted because of lack of communication (mostly from the top). A team is not built when there is scarcity of communication between members. Mistakes/ Errors should be communicated so they are corrected. Job deficiency should be communicated so efficiency is encouraged. Targets and Appraisals should be communicated to build a team. Communication remains the livewire of Team. Risk Managers who don’t communicate or are not communicated to have successfully cracked the hole for an impending danger.
K: Killer Attitude: In a team, you have got different people with different attitudes and skill set coming together to achieve a common goal. The greatest barrier that gets in a way of a team is ego. When someone, or everyone perceive their role is more vital than the sum of others, it all falls apart. The killer attitude you should ensure to drive across your team is humility and mutual respect. This attitude helps strengthen the team and helps the strong individuals build others up, and themselves be open to learning. With the killer attitude, the Risk team becomes formidable and ultimately achieve organization’s goal with ease.
Timothy Akinyomi
