need for skills-based training in a branch capture environment, The

Today, Dec 2002 by Koon, Buddy

banking

FREQUENTLY LOST IN THE DISCUSSION OF HOW TO IMPLEMENT BRANCH CAPTURE OF CHECKS IN A TRUNCATED PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT ARE THE EMPLOYEE-TRAINING ISSUES THAT THE NEW PROCESS PRESENTS.

By focusing largely on the systems and technology required for branch capture, few banks have given thought to how they will train the tellers across their branch network to handle the branch truncation skill requirements: fast and accurate keying, balancing, problem solving, and customer interaction. Without helping their tellers develop these skills before the rollout of branch capture, banks will risk major problems with quality and customer service.

In the typical branch environment, where proof is done away from the public in the back office, the best tellers can quickly and accurately post deposits, count cash, put the deposit in the proper bin, and give the customer a receipt-all while having a conversation with the customer. The skill required to automatically perform routine tasks quickly and accurately-in training parlance, called non-conscious competency-is what keeps the branch queues short, and allows tellers to provide special attention to each customer (and cross-sell products, as bank marketing departments have discovered). Long lines at branches often are the result of tellers who haven't developed the skill to non-consciously perform routine tasks. Not surprisingly, these tellers also are among the customer service alsorans, since they are so focused on performing routine tasks they have little opportunity to help the bank shine.

In any cyclical job-whether it's a bank branch teller or a back-office operator-non-conscious competency is required to ensure peak productivity, accuracy and service.

NEW SKILLS FOR TELLERS

Introducing item capture into the branch will require tellers to develop non-conscious competency in the tasks of a proof operation's error desk and customer service department (in our experience, the most analytical and stressful operations positions, respectively). Developing these skills in tellers before the rollout of branch capture may be the difference between a smooth (or transparent) conversion to check truncation, and long branch queues, ugly customer confrontations, and an exponential increase in proof errors and write-offs.

The challenge for tellers not only will be proving deposits quickly and accurately at the teller line, but also making it as transparent to the customer as possible. Whereas customers now are credited for all deposits (and errors are later charged back to either the customer or the teller by the proof operation. out of the view of the public), in a branch capture environment, deposit errors on transactions with five or fewer items may be handled at the teller line. When an out-of-balance situation arises, tellers will need the skills to quickly cycle through possible reasons for the error: incorrect check amounts, missing items, extra items. differences in the legal amount and courtesy amount fields, improper endorsements, post- and pre-dated checks, checks made out to the wrong person. addition and subtraction errors, cash errors, and miskeyed items (branch capture will place a greater emphasis on accurate keying). These types of errors occur even day in a proof operation. and will occur every day in teller lines. To get a sense of the potential for error, consider the number of checks to be truncated.

How tellers react when the inevitable errors arise is the key to avoiding long queues and customer confrontations: errors no longer will be faceless. and their resolution may require customer interaction. First, tellers will need to be absolutely sure that the error is not their fault before looking up at the customer. It's human nature to blame someone else for an error, but an incorrect assumption in this situation could needlessly irritate the customer. Similarly. tellers need to take great care in explaining errors that are the customer's fault. Customers undoubtedly will be embarrassed by their errors, and will be self-conscious about the other customers within earshot, likely waiting a few feet behind th(eIn in line. Tellers also need to have patience for customers who don't immediately understand their mistake.

PC-BASED TRAINING IS THE KEY

To ensure a smooth transition to branch capture. EKG of South Carolina recommends that banks implement a skillsbased training program for tellers well in advance of the planned rollout. The program should include a PC-based program, distributed across the bank's branch network, which simulates 80 percent of the transaction errors tellers will encounter in a branch capture environment, and how tellers should react in each situation. Branch managers should require that tellers work with the program for 30 minutes, twice a day, until they develop proficiency and speed in solving randomly generated transaction errors.

Simulated interactions with customers should be built into the PC-based training program. EKG recommends that banks involve their marketing departments in the development of scripted responses for tellers to use when discussing error scenarios with customers. It is important to provide these scripts to tellers before the rollout, as many employees find it difficult to "un-learn" techniques they develop on their own for dealing with customers.