Category: Banks

Sending “Is it done yet?” Emails on Fridays is Not Leadership

When I was first promoted to managing people, I was fortunate to work for a big bank. Fortunate because they had a leadership training program. There we learned how to deal with both project and people problems – and how often they are intertwined.

Most of the startups I’ve worked for since don’t offer very much training. Leadership is admired and promoted. However, no matter how cute, funny, or cleverly worded the emails, “leaders” who ping people Friday asking about project status are signaling a red flag of poor management skills.

This is so because project management is far more than leadership. It requires organizing the people and the work. It also requires controlling for progress. No amount of emails (or task management software) can make up for disorganized people and/or lack of resources. If someone wants to be a leader, then they must own the fact that it’s their job to get people and resources organized. If someone else does that, they are not the leader (regardless of title).

Note: Misusing task management tools such as Wrike, Asana, or monday.com is not leadership, either. One can create to-do lists and assign people all they want, but if there is no clear agreement on roles and responsibilities, they are missing the all-important aspect of organizing for success.

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Originally published by me as a LinkedIn in 2018

Extreme Corporate Laziness?

I’m all for avoiding unnecessary work. I got an email from the bank that issues my airline credit card. They wanted me to provide updated housing and income information.

Naturally, I suspected this was a phishing scam. But, a careful review of the email headers and links showed they were truly from the bank in question.

So, it got me to thinking: What a bunch lazy so-and-so’s.* On the surface that might seem like a mundane request. However, this particular bank also has the mortgage on my house, receives my payroll check through ACH automatic deposit, and provides me with a free credit score every month. If anyone should know my housing and income situation it’s the very bank asking for these data.

To compound the laziness, every year I get a pamphlet that reminds me I cannot opt-out of the bank sharing information with their subsidiaries and vendors who provide contracted services. For example, I cannot opt-out of the retail banking division sharing my payroll deposit status with the credit-card division. Likewise, I cannot opt-out of the mortgage services division sharing my mortgage status with the credit-card division.

Alas, it appears that banks simply do not leverage customer information to provide a unified and integrated user experience. Despite the trillions of dollars banks have invested in computer systems, we are still stuck in the 1980s when it comes to customer service. Call the wrong department and one is flatly told “I cannot help you.” Sometimes they won’t even transfer you, but make you hang-up and call a different number.

The dictionary definition of “lazy” is “unwilling to work or use energy.” Yes, that seems to fit in my opinion.

* My 7th grade homeroom teacher never lost his temper nor used an obscenity. “So-and-so’s” was his all purpose phrase for those beneath contempt (lol). I used it in my blog post our respect for this fine man.

 

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Bank Stupidity?

This really happened:

Thank you for calling [bank-name] lending services, how may I help you?

Hello, someone is using my name, social security number, and date of birth to fraudulently apply for credit cards with your bank.

May I please verify your name, social security number, and date of birth?

After a moment of stunned silence, I explained: Yes, but, that’s the info the fraudsters are using to fraudulently attempt fraud by fraudulently impersonating me for fraudulent purposes.

Sir, I cannot help you if you won’t verify your identity.

Does this qualify as stupidity? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stupidity as “the state of being foolish or unintelligent.”

My late father used to observe: “Ignorance can be fixed, but stupidity cannot.”

Suggestion:

When a customer wants to report identity theft, fraud, or any of the like, the alternative “out-of-wallet” verification should be used. That method is far from perfect, but it at least it wouldn’t make a customer wonder about your company’s intelligence.

Note: “Out-of-wallet” is the jargon for asking questions based on an individual’s credit report. This is called “out-of-wallet” because it attempts to circumvent nefarious actions by people who find a lost bank card. The lost card is “out-of-wallet.”

Also note: My guess is that most banks are like this, so the specific bank’s name isn’t really that important.

Image courtesy of GIPHY