Entrepreneurial Banking: Teaching Old Bankers New Tricks

• Published in: Bankers monthly 1990-02, Vol.107 (2), p.58
• Main Author: Hawk, Kathleen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Banking industry; Banks; Bennett, David; Changes; Clark, David R; Compensation; Diesel, Paul; Employees; Entrepreneurs; Grant, James; Incentive Plans; Kanas, John Adam; Lynch, Dudley; Marketing; Motivation; Myerson, Jan; Organizational behavior; Productivity; Savings & Loan Associations; Silver, Rudy; Strategic planning; Thomas, William S; Wilson, Larry; Work ethic
• ISSN: 0005-5476

The new entrepreneurial generation is noted by its distribution of responsibility and reward to employees and by its more effective communication of goals through the organization. Employee recognition is the key to high productivity. During a period of rapid growth, some BB&T Financial Corp. managers implemented an employee empowerment movement, encouraging an entrepreneurial behavior that is still in effect today. One of the hallmarks of entrepreneurial banks is the development of smaller units of management that are responsible for meeting profitability goals, developing markets, and business plans. Other aspects involve creating an awareness of productivity, employee involvement, and a new emphasis on individual and group initiative. There is a growing acceptance that management units are teams of equals with different job descriptions. Bringing executives down to street level and offering incentives are yielding positive results.