Chase sends key executives to special school for 'Top Guns'

CNY Business Journal (1994-95), May 15, 1995 by Hadley, Mark

Kipta also notes that the Navy equips all the aircraft used in the fighter school with several video cameras to record an encounter from a variety of angles. Then, when the exercise is over, the instructor and the students dissect it, analyzing the moves of both the student and his opponent, looking for alternative strategies that could work better next time.

And that is just what the students and instructors do at what Chase executives have come to call their Top Gun school. Role-playing exercises are videotaped and then analyzed immediately after the exercise.

"Immediate feedback is important because participants learn best when the situation is still fresh in their minds," Kipta explains.

Joseph Serbun, vice president for small business in Syracuse, recently completed his session at the school, and he says it lives up to its reputation among Chase employees.

"Too often, in other training, you get somebody who is a professional trainer throwing a lot of information at you, and they hope that some of it fits and sticks. Here, you had colleagues from around the bank, talking about how they work, what works for them, and sharing their experience in working with clients," Serbun says.

"We got to spend five days listening to the most successful people in the bank tell us about how they go about their daily business, and to see things that could change in our routines," he explains.

And what made it even more valuable, Serbun adds, was the role playing. "They told us: 'Don't do what you always do. Try out some new things.' The idea was that if we 'crashed and burned' there, it was no big deal. It hasn't cost you any business. And that is why some of us are reluctant to try new things on the job because the stakes are higher," Serbun stresses.

And that, says Getman, is the whole idea of the program--"to distill the elements that set leaders apart and then train other top performers to use them."

Getman and Selak add that it is not just the participants who benefit from the program. For both instructors and participants, a kind of fraternity or esprit de corps develops--a network of people each can call on for feedback, information, or new ideas.

It starts with participants and instructors alike getting "call signs" such as "Smoky" or "Lightning." These become their names for the week--names that will stick with them long after the program. The bonds deepen as the week progresses, with participants and instructors often working into the night, reviewing the day's lessons and planning the next day's activities.

The bonds that develop, Selak stresses, are valuable assets for company leaders.

"Everybody at this level is extremely busy and is very careful about how they use their time," Selak explains. "But if a Top Gun instructor or graduate calls somebody else who has been through the program and leaves their call sign, the call will be returned in minutes. And I know that from personal experience," she reports.

While Kipta declined to discuss Chase's budget for the program, it is obvious that the bank makes a significant investment each year to maintain the school and bring in participants and instructors from all over the country. But it is not a purely selfless expenditure on the bank's part.