My dear colleagues, you know yourselves and I never tire of telling you how great you all are individually and collectively so the sky is the limit and you know I will do everything within my powers to see that you suceed, because your success is also my success!! This blog post is dedicated to all of you for the great work you put in this past year.........
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Peals of laughter reached my ears in the office one morning. This in no way implies that we are generally a dour and sour lot at work buut this merriment was special and this was real excitement. Could it be a reaction to the recent make over in the office perhaps?
Curiosity got the better of me and I went to find out what the hullabaloo was all about. I should have guessed, it was excitement arising from the fact that one of the staff members had reported back to work after a short leave and her colleagues and friends had clearly missed her based on the hugs, kisses and general attention that she was getting. Not being one to spoil a party I joined in the general celebrations at her safe return but obviously in a more muted manner. With that safely out of the way I began thinking about my workmates in a new light. Were these the same disparate people that had moved to Nyeri a year back, unsure of what the future held for them in this strange and alien town away from the comfort zone of Nairobi?
A little introspection may help set the scene for this post. Nyeri branch has a staff complement of 13 including the Direct Sales Team members. Of the 13 staff members at present, we have 7 males and the rest are ladies. A majority of this great team have never worked outside Nairobi though one lady was transferred from a branch in Kisii, while the younger team members are fresh out of college and in their first real jobs. Five of us have banking experience spanning over 5 years and I am the elder of the team as was so cruelly pointed out at a corporate event we had sponsored when the Chairman of the club mentioned that I was the one who was inflating the average age of the staff members of the bank.......but I digress!!Different tribes are represented in this team though a majority are from the local community for obvious reasons. I think you now get a feel for those that I call my colleagues.
As mentioned, this was a new town to us in a territory and market that we knew little about. We needed to find homes fast, settle down and try to operate as a team while trying not to step on each others toes a tall order it would have seemed. I took it upon myself as the team leader with the most experience to foster a culture of trust and openess amongst us a task that is quite daunting when the younger members of staff see you as a father figure and therefore someone to be feared. To this brew add ingredients of independent mindedness, differences in opinions and disagreements galore and this cauldron boils frothing and bubbling feverishly!
With the patience of Solomon and having worked in branches where the majority of the staff were ladies (and I must clarify here that I am a father of girls and a caring, loving individual with no bias against ladies) I remained stoic in my resolve to nuture a team culture amongst us all.
Like any endeavor, you must work on it in small manageable bite size portions, encouraging, nurturing, congratulating, pestering, reminding and generally managing both in and out of the office. Out of the office sessions like a chance meeting,a team building session, a celebration of an achivement by one person, a lunch treat, a breakfast treat, a CSR function slowly breaks down any barriers that may be there and today I can proudly reveal that I have a superb team of committed, dedicated and focussed team members in Nyeri that has probably surprised many of our colleagues at other branches across the country.
The icing on the cake in my opinion was an offer by me to take photos of everyone at their work stations with my brand new camera a hobby that I took on recently (though still learning the ropes) as my new year gift to them, because does one really remember having a photo taken at their workstations? I now know who loves photos the most among this amazing group........and since some are probably going to read this blog go to the common folder and do the math!!
This team has been able to win two significant awards in the one year that we have been in business having completed the first anniversary on 17th January 2015. We won an award during an account opening campaign held last year for being the second best branch in accounts opened and recently winning another award for being the best new branch opened in the previous 12 months.
I can now see why the excitement was palpable and at full throttle when one of us resumed from leave recently. It was because we have become a close knit group working with a common purpose to fulfill common objectives. I know that all are committed to the overall success of the branch and each knows that they bring their own unique flavor to the table when we open for business daily. A missing flavor therefore dulls the tastiness of the dish so when that flavor is available it makes the end result all the better. The latest award came with a cash prize and there has been heated debate what we do with the money.....with consensus seeming to go with having a party and spoiling ourselves silly!
The younger members of staff no longer sidle past me as if I am afflicted with a contagious disease but greet me as a friend. I know that their confidence levels have increased because a healthy workplace where your colleagues know that you have their backs and an open door policy will always elicit the best from them.
This year we shall take the branch to the next dizzying level of business and profitability so hang on tight folks lest you get blown away in the ensuing dust storm!!
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