Challenging times call for bank leadership.

• Author: Motley, L. Biff
• Position: Customer Satisfaction

Times like these call for action, visibility and lots of communications. Call it leadership if you will, but failure to be proactive now could result in festering "Whack-a-Mole" problems in the months ahead. Now is the time to energize your team for the next recovery and set the stage for the work ahead. Your bankers are likely to have a lot of explaining to do as new Keg E regulations take hold this summer, likely followed by a variety of vet to be announced, but certain to come, new consumer protection regulations.

Here is a five point action plan.

1. Set up listening sessions. Any good communications plan begins not by talking but by listening. There has been an onslaught of negative and in many cases inaccurate publicity in the media lately about the so-called bad behavior of "banks" leading up to the current recession. It is important to understand what your bankers and. customers really think. Set up small meetings with bank employees and customers and listen to them. Do they distinguish between "Wall Street banks" and "Main Street banks"? How so? What do they think caused the recession? How has it impacted them and their clients? How is your bank perceived? What's working; what could be better?

2. Explain your bank's mission. There is confusion about "banks" and their roles in our economy. This term is now applied not only to traditional deposit-taking, lending companies serving local communities, but also investment banking companies on Wall Street, large insurance companies, national industry-focused specialized lenders and others. The simple and noble mission of putting a community's savings capital to good use growing the community's businesses has been blurred in recent years, and it's important that you articulate what your bank stands for.

3. Ask for suggestions. After you have carefully listened, put together a high-level plan and ask for input. For example, you might hear...