This past Friday I saw a very inspiring news report about State Bank and Trust in Fargo, N.D. In what it called the “Pay It Forward Challenge,” the bank gave each of its 500+ employees $1,000. The only stipulation, according State Bank’s chief operating officer Michael Solberg, was as follows:
There were three rules. You can’t give it to your family. You can’t give it to a co-worker. And you have to document your good deed. Other than that, the sky’s the limit.
The bank also gave every employee a video camera to document their gift.
When employees were asked what they hate about working at the bank, here were some of their responses:
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“What do I hate about management? They’re just too nice!”
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“I haven’t found anything yet.”
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“I have to go home.”
Why is this important for customer experience? According to COO Solberg:
That’s our mission statement: happy employees, happy customer.
My take: State Bank highlights a critical concept: Customer-centric DNA starts with employees.
The bottom line: Don’t you want to do business with a bank like State Bank?
