Keeping your culture alive

"Culture is like air. Its; important to all of us but hard to describe".
Dick Evans, CEO, Frost Bank.

"Culture" is another overused and underexecuted word in our business. Banks spend millions printing mission and vision statements, embossing them in plexiglass and wordsmithing the documents ad nauseum. Yet, so few banks can boast the presence of a tangible culture that is crystal clear among their own employees aas well as in the marketplace, such that both prospects and prospective employees alike know what the company stands for and what type of business it is willing to transact.

The question was asked at a recent Forum, How do you keep you culture alive? If the booklets, intranet pronouncements and plexiglass cards don't do it, what is the secret? I asked Dick Evans, CEO of Frost Bank, to show the attendees his Relationship booklet. People protested, saying they all have such booklets. But, in point of fact, they didn't. Dick produced a booklet so tattered it had to be held together by two paper clips. It was written over, yellow highlighted and clearly overused. That booklet alone explains the tangible essence of the Frost culture. It is alive because everyone, starting with the CEO, lives the commitment to relationships every day. Evans carries the booklet with him everywhere. Almost every discussion starts with it, including recruitment meetings and customer calls. It clearly states what the bank stands for and what it cares about.

I believe that it is because of this booklet and the way Evans and others among Frost's leadership live the culture every day that the bank can get away with requiring deposit relationships with all its loan customers, a luxury we'd all like to have but few can achieve. Similarly, the bank's culture makes recruiting top talent easier than elsewhere since the match between any candidate and the bank's relationship philosophy is the obvious and deciding factor every time.

The value of the culture is not only in the way employees feel about the company. It is apparent in the bottom line of Frost, Synovus, Umpqua and other companies that have a strong sense of self. While the culture itself varies widely among these companies, the commitment to it from the CEO down is firm and onwavering. This is what makes these companies special, and it ultimately gets translated through the magic of getting most employees to move in the same direction day-in-and-day-out into consistently strong bottom line results.

Many other ingredients enter the financial performance equation, but none is more impactful not sustainable as a strong culture that comes alive whenever you touch an employee of the bank.