Training is important but expensive. Should your bank invest money in training your employees, or does it make more sense to let other institutions do it for you so you can “pick off” their experienced people? Those of you who have been in banking for decades know that this topic is always a popular one inside the walls of your banks as well as at industry forums and roundtable discussions. And now with the problem of retiring baby boomers and a projected lack of qualified people to fill those retirees’ positions, the training question becomes even more acute.

In this article I’ll tackle a few of the key objections to investing in training and I’ll remind you of the primary benefits, both to your bank and to your employees. (more…)

Regardless of the industry in which you work, if you want to be successful (or even just survive), you need to be continually learning. Banks, like other companies, spend lots of money every year teaching and training their employees. Every organization wants to stay on the cutting edge, and with the business environment changing so rapidly, no one wants to be left behind.

Yet when many of us hear the word “learning” we flash back to a negative experience in a school classroom as a child. The last thing we want is to be subjected to that process again. So if learning is so important, how can you be sure your bank isn’t wasting its precious “learning and development” dollars? (more…)

To Borrow or Not to Borrow?

In my personal life I am debt-averse – I don’t like to borrow money. Many of my readers may be like me in this respect – you know the dangers of abusing credit cards, and why pay interest on a car loan unless absolutely necessary? I do still have a mortgage loan on my home, but I’m working to pay it off as soon as possible. So what is a guy like me doing in this business? Ironically, I’ve made a living for almost twenty years teaching commercial credit analysis. That is, I facilitate the borrowing process by training people like you to underwrite and structure commercial loans, thus allowing businesses to finance their needs through bank borrowing. Why? (more…)

With 8 children living in my home, races abound.  As soon as the snow melts and spring weather arrives, it’s only a matter of time before someone is challenged to a foot race by a sibling.

I like a healthy competition as much as anyone, and I know it won’t be much of a contest if the 10-year-old races against the 5-year-old.  The simple answer?  Give the younger child a head start. The hardest part is to determine how much of a lead to provide, lest if be unfair to the older child.  I’ve often been surprised by how a small head start can be difficult to overcome, especially when the early lead gives the younger child a temporary dose of confidence that they otherwise wouldn’t have enjoyed. (more…)