additional ideas to use with the training & competency scheme

We’re committed to supporting you in developing your colleagues and ensuring that they are competent to fulfill their role (see below for a definition of competence).

The aim of this blog is to give you some ideas for additional activities that you could use alongside the current structured T & C scheme.

It doesn’t replace the T&C scheme document, which outlines specific actions to be taken in specific timescales. The additional support is to be used as you see fit.

Who is covered by the T & C Scheme?

Here is a link to the T&C scheme. As a reminder, the key points are –

The Scheme covers all employees in the Agency who engage directly with customers on behalf of the YBS Group.

The role of the Proprietor

The proprietor is accountable for delivering the requirements of this scheme within the required timescales and with the appropriate level of documented evidence, although activity can be delegated to an appropriate person.

The role of the Agency Customer Consultant

The Agency T&C Scheme is designed to deliver the following outcomes:

• YBS customers receive an agreed quality of service whilst conducting business in line with what they would expect to receive whilst visiting a YBS branch
• Colleagues adhere to an agreed route to attaining and maintaining competency
• Customers receive appropriate Savings products on a non-advised, informed choice basis from the available YBS range
• To adhere to YBS policies and procedures when carrying out any activity on behalf of or linked to the society.

Competence

Competence means having the skills, knowledge and expertise needed to undertake the role. This includes being able to interact with customers in an appropriate manner as well as adhering to the required policies and procedures.

There are three key elements to competence:

• Knowledge – this is the general and specific knowledge required to fulfill the role
• Skills – these are the business and interpersonal skills required to perform the role to the required standards
• Behaviour – this is demonstrating appropriate attitudes and good standards of ethical behaviour, as well as the ability to apply both knowledge and skills to achieve the standards required for the role.

Why have we created this blog?

This, and the additional support guidance to come next month, has been produced following feedback from Proprietors/delegated colleagues/agency colleagues.

Our mandatory T & C scheme outlines the minimum activity that must be carried out in line with prescribed timescales. However it does not include additional activities that have been proven to benefit everyone: Customer, Colleague, and Business.

Benefits of T&C

Ongoing training and development allows you to develop your colleagues, helping them to increase their skills (to be more all-rounded and better skilled at every factor of their job).

Ongoing training and Development has been proven to:

• Improve employee engagement, motivation and morale
• Increase productivity and business levels
• Produce consistent and appropriate customer outcomes
• Provide personal development
• Reduce staff turnover

A Staff member in an agency said “I feel much more valued now that I am having regular development from my Proprietor. It makes me feel that they care”.

All of the above will ultimately benefit your business in the long run, through more confident employees who will provide a first class service every time. Benefits for your business include:

• Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Reduced levels of complaints and dissatisfaction from customers
• Increased savings balances (and therefore income) through more skilled and confident employees generating cross sales for both your YBS business and your core business.

More frequent T & C Scheme Activity

Currently our T & C scheme asks for a minimum of 1 half yearly observation and a quarterly 121 for all colleagues. An increase in these activities will give you more insight into the interactions happening between colleague and customer, rather than just a snapshot.

Case Study 1

Amanda is an employee of x agency. She did a good job, she was always polite to customers and completed all of her work on time. There were never any issues or complaints from customers. However, Amanda didn’t really generate any leads for the financial advisor within the agency. She received the minimum level of T&C development from her employer.

Amanda’s proprietor Paul decided to spend a bit more time around the agency. After over hearing some informal conversations, he decided to do some more structured development activity with Amanda.

Over a 3 month period, Paul completed monthly 121s, and observations and agreed development actions every 2 – 3 weeks with Amanda.

At first Amanda was a little bit nervous and unsure about the extra support she was receiving. However she soon saw the benefits. She had been struggling with approaching conversations about multiple account openings and also generating leads for the financial advisor within the agency. Through coaching and feedback, Amanda generated 5 leads for the financial advisor within the 3 months. She also opened an extra 11 savings accounts that she knew she wouldn’t have opened without the extra support. Amanda also felt happier in her role and enjoyed coming into work. She enjoyed the development conversations with Paul and felt their relationship had improved.

Savings Observations

More frequent observations will help to put the colleague at ease as this activity becomes the normal, rather than putting them under pressure. This is your opportunity to identify development needs and see how you can support your colleague to help your business grow. It will give you the evidence to confirm that your business is running to the required YBS standards and the opportunity to give your colleague the peace of mind that they are conducting their meetings to the required standard/the opportunity to give them praise where deserved.

Multiple Account Openings 

Whilst observing account openings, you will be able to see if the staff member expands on their conversation and asks their customer other questions to help them identify their needs. They could speak to them about savings accounts they hold elsewhere. We might have a better rate, or a product that better suits their needs. We also have a Moneyfacts Rate Checker tool that can be used to check interest rates on accounts held elsewhere.

121s

More frequent 121’s will again ensure that this is a development conversation and not just a tick box exercise. The more frequent they are, the more relevant any actions you set can be, and as they are timelier, you can then monitor/tweak these actions accordingly. Here are some of the other benefits of 121s:

• They are a chance for proprietor/delegate to have open and honest conversations
• They provide the opportunity to reflect on what went well and think about what can be improved
• They offer a platform to discuss how the business can be grown
• They help keep proprietors engaged in YBS Business
• Colleagues feel supported
• They help you to focus on what your business/YBS wants to achieve.

When Y Agency appointed a new office manager, she came from another financial provider, where she had been used to a T & C scheme and developing their colleagues. She immediately got to grips with our scheme and completed observations and 121s with all colleagues on a monthly basis. Without doing this she would not have known how the staff were performing, what their development areas are, or how they needed to improve to grow the business. She used the observations to immediately feed back and set actions/objectives with their team.

She has now started to focus on wider conversation with the colleagues and developing them to increase multi account holdings with their customers. This has really benefitted both the staff and the business as there have been potentially lots of missed opportunities in the past, which will no longer be an issue.

Counter Observations 

These are not part of our current scheme, however they are a great opportunity to be able to see what level of interaction is happening at the counter. Consider:  

• How do they greet their customers?
• How do they engage in conversation?
• Do they open up the conversation regarding any further support that we can provide to the customer, or just doing as the customer asked?
• Are they confident with their product knowledge?
• Are they confident with their procedure knowledge?

The customer may enquire about our range of accounts at the counter. If the customer requests an application form for a specific account, it is important that they are provided with the appropriate documentation as detailed in Your Savings Meeting.

Did they offer to do this now? Have they booked an appointment? If not have they arranged to follow this up?

Case Study 3

Rob works in Z agency. Linda, his manager had noticed a couple of customers had come in with queries about their fixed rate bond and didn’t seem too happy when they left. Linda decided to conduct some extra observations on Rob. Through the observations she discovered Rob had a knowledge gap. Amongst other things, he was unaware of the maturity process and options, and he hadn’t been telling customers the terms and conditions of the accounts. He didn’t think he needed to tell them that as it’s covered in the product factsheet. Since Rob has received this feedback, Linda has observed him giving customers the full details, and the dissatisfied customers have been replaced with happy ones.

Linda is really pleased that this has been identified as she doesn’t want unhappy customers, as this could affect the business’ reputation and also business levels. Rob’s confidence has also grown, and both his performance and that of the agency has improved.

Outbound Call Observations

This may not seem like an obvious activity to carry out. However it could be very worthwhile to evidence that staff are following Data Protection Guidelines. Are they verifying the customer before discussing anything at all to do with the account? Please see the Outbound call Guide under 'Training and Competency' here.      

Both the counter and OB call observations we looked at above could also include focusing on the following -

• Alternative Business Referrals - if the customer wishes to discuss wider needs, they can be referred to your alternative business within the office, and the staff member needs to confirm your relationship to the Yorkshire Building Society. You should observe:
  • That they make their customer aware of any associated costs relating to your Non YBS business, and that there may be alternative options through Money Advice Service
  • They must ensure their customer is happy to provide their personal details to your Non YBS business.

• Mortgage Referrals – are another great income stream for your agency if you are a referral agency or a broker agency. Mortgage referrals can come from any customer interaction providing the staff member is confident in opening up the conversation rather than just reacting to a customer’s request. Observe your colleague interactions, do they ask further questions and engage in conversation? Support with questioning skills may be needed. This will be included in the future guide.

Other Activities

Reviewing NPS Comments

Your Development Manager will send these on to you for you to review with your team, which is a great opportunity to look at what your customers are saying about the service they receive.

This may suggest that some improvements are needed, from customer service, to privacy to queue times. However, the majority will highlight the great customer service they receive and it will be an opportunity to praise the team for their efforts. This will also help you to discuss with your staff how the customers trust them, and how they will be receptive to suggestions from staff for looking at any additional needs.

Reviewing risk checks 

• Use the feedback from the quarterly/monthly Operational Control checks to review the quality of each staff member's work.
• Is there a pattern? Is there a knowledge gap?
• Do they need further training? (How can your DM support)
• If they have had training are they still getting errors – is this a behavioural issue or is further training needed?
• This can be used to support your 121 meetings with your staff to discuss development needs/praise where it is evidenced that they are meeting requirements consistently.

A colleague in X agency said: “121 discussions following the risk checks really open up chats about how they each interpret procedures which leads to them discussing them with each other, and even making suggestions on procedures via Bright Ideas or Business Support to make sure they’re clearer in future and so don’t lead to any risk check fails”

Guide coming soon

The guide coming soon will include all of the content above as a working document, which will be available on the proprietor SharePoint.

It will include various resources to help you help your colleagues to cover topics such as questioning skills, coaching models, how to give feedback, action setting, and scenario support.