Leadership & Continuous Process Improvement

Description

In banking, commercial negotiation takes place on a product whose price the client can easily compare, within a relationship expected to last several years. Conceding on margin to close is always possible; doing so without a counterpart is costly over time. This two-day course works the conduct of the negotiation interview, from needs diagnosis to closing, with filmed and debriefed role plays.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Prepare a negotiation by identifying their real room for manoeuvre
• Conduct the needs diagnosis before making any proposal
• Argue an offer on value rather than on features
• Handle price objections without conceding automatically
• Obtain a counterpart for every concession granted
• Close and secure the agreement reached

Teaching methods and resources

Short input followed by immediate practice. Filmed role plays on banking client cases, individual and collective debriefs, interview preparation workshops. Negotiation preparation grid and concessions-counterparts matrix. Peer exchange between participants.

Course programme

1. Preparing the negotiation

• Identify the objective, the walk-away point and the room for manoeuvre
• Anticipate the client’s position and constraints
• Prepare the counterparts that can be mobilised
• Choose the setting and timing of the meeting

Practical work: written preparation of a negotiation from a client file, then cross-review between participants.

2. Conducting the diagnosis

• Question before proposing
• Distinguish the stated need from the real need
• Identify the client’s decision criteria and their ranking
• Reformulate to confirm understanding

Practical work: role play focused on the discovery phase, with proposing a solution prohibited before a set time.

3. Arguing and defending the offer

• Build an argument from the client’s own criteria
• Present price in a sequence that makes it acceptable
• Handle comparison with a competing offer
• Defend a position without rigidity

Practical work: filmed role play on presenting an offer to a client comparing several institutions. Debrief on the structure of the argument.

4. Handling objections and conceding

• Distinguish a real objection, a pretext and a test
• Respond without conceding immediately on price
• Obtain a counterpart for every concession
• Recognise the point at which the negotiation must stop

Practical work: a series of objections handled under time pressure, then collective analysis of the most effective responses.

5. Closing and securing

• Spot agreement signals and close without delay
• Formalise the agreement and its conditions
• Handle the client who pulls back after agreeing
• Prepare the post-negotiation relationship

Practical work: filmed role play on the closing phase with a hesitant client. Individual debrief.

Description

A commercial action plan that stops at headline targets changes no behaviour. This three-day course is about building a plan that can actually be executed: portfolio diagnosis, choice of priorities, translation into dated and assigned actions, and a monitoring arrangement that allows correction during the year.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Establish the commercial diagnosis of a portfolio or a branch
• Select a small number of priorities and argue for them
• Build a quantified, dated and assigned action plan
• Define monitoring indicators and their frequency
• Cascade the plan to a team and obtain its buy-in
• Correct the trajectory during the financial year

Teaching methods and resources

Methodological input followed by build workshops using participants’ own data where possible. Banking portfolio case studies, prioritisation exercises, team meeting simulations. Commercial action plan template and monitoring grid. Peer exchange between participants.

Course programme

1. Establishing the diagnosis

• Analyse portfolio structure: segments, product holding, tenure
• Identify growth pockets and areas of attrition
• Locate performance against the potential of the catchment area
• Distinguish cyclical from structural causes

Practical work: full diagnosis of a branch portfolio from supplied data. Presentation of the priority findings.

2. Choosing priorities

• Select three to five priorities and give up the rest
• Estimate the potential of each priority retained
• Check consistency with available resources
• Argue the priorities to senior management

Practical work: prioritisation under resource constraint, then defence of the choices before the group.

3. Building the action plan

• Translate each priority into concrete, dated and assigned actions
• Quantify the expected result of each action
• Sequence actions across the year taking seasonality into account
• Identify the resources and support required

Practical work: drafting a complete action plan for one priority, then cross-review between subgroups.

4. Cascading to the team

• Present the plan so as to obtain buy-in rather than compliance
• Allocate objectives between team members defensibly
• Handle objections and resistance
• Organise the rhythm of commercial management

Practical work: simulation of a meeting presenting the plan to a team, with objections. Debrief on how the meeting was run.

5. Monitoring and correcting

• Define a small set of indicators tracked regularly
• Organise review points and their format
• Identify early the actions producing no effect
• Revise the plan mid-year without emptying it of meaning

Practical work: analysis of a mid-year dashboard and decision on the corrections to make. Reasoned presentation.

Description

Banking processes accumulate controls, re-keying and waiting time between departments, each justified when it was introduced. This three-day course applies Lean principles to those processes: identifying what brings nothing to the client, mapping actual flows rather than written procedures, and running an improvement workshop through to a measured gain.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish, within a process, what creates value and what does not
• Map an actual flow and measure its timings
• Identify waste and rank it for treatment
• Run an improvement workshop with the teams concerned
• Measure the gain obtained and make it visible
• Embed the improvement so that old practices do not return

Teaching methods and resources

Short input followed by practical workshops on real banking processes. Flow mapping exercises, simulated improvement workshops, root cause analysis. Value stream mapping tools and a waste identification grid. Peer exchange between participants.

Course programme

1. Locating value from the client’s viewpoint

• Define value as the client perceives it
• Distinguish value-adding activity, necessary support activity and waste
• Handle regulatory controls, necessary but not value-adding
• Identify the organisation’s priority processes

Practical work: classification of the activities of a banking process by their contribution to value. Discussion of the contested cases.

2. Mapping the actual flow

• Observe the process as it happens rather than as it is described
• Measure processing times and waiting times
• Identify rework loops and re-keying
• Spot the points where work accumulates

Practical work: building a value stream map for a file-handling process, with timings recorded.

3. Identifying and ranking waste

• Spot the main families of waste in a services context
• Distinguish waste that can be treated locally from waste requiring a higher decision
• Estimate the potential gain from treating each one
• Rank the workstreams by effort and gain

Practical work: identification of waste on the map produced, then positioning on an effort-gain matrix.

4. Running the improvement workshop

• Form the working group with the operators concerned
• Look for real causes rather than apparent ones
• Design and test a solution at small scale
• Handle resistance to changing practice

Practical work: simulated facilitation of a root cause session on a recurring malfunction. Debrief on how the group was run.

5. Measuring and embedding

• Define the measurement of the gain before launching the workshop
• Make performance visible to the teams
• Standardise the new practice without freezing it
• Organise periodic review and continuous improvement

Practical work: design of a visual management arrangement for an operational team. Presentation and collective critique.

Description

Lean Six Sigma combines two complementary approaches. Lean improves flow and removes what adds no value for the client. Six Sigma reduces variability and defects, using data and a structured five-step approach: DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control).

In banking, the method applies to high-volume processes: lending decision times, payment exceptions, incomplete onboarding files, complaint handling. It builds on the Lean Management & Operational Excellence in Banking programme (Réf. HA-LEO): that course equips teams for fast improvement workshops, while the Lean Six Sigma pathway adds statistical analysis and DMAIC project delivery.

Four levels, four roles

The pathway is split into levels known as belts. Each level matches a role in the organisation and can be taken on its own. Black Belt days come on top of the Green Belt.

Learning objectives

Depending on the level reached, participants will be able to:

• Explain Lean and Six Sigma principles and how a DMAIC project runs (Yellow Belt)
• Turn the voice of the customer into measurable requirements and map a process (Yellow Belt)
• Lead a DMAIC project end to end, from project charter to control plan (Green Belt)
• Measure process performance and find root causes with statistical tools (Green Belt)
• Carry out advanced statistical analysis and lead cross-functional projects (Black Belt)
• Design, govern and assess a Lean Six Sigma programme across a business line (Master Black Belt)

Teaching methods and resources

Short presentations, exercises on anonymised banking data sets and process simulations. Statistical analysis is done in Minitab, or in a spreadsheet where the institution has no licence. From Green Belt onwards, each participant leads a real project from their own institution, with support from the trainer between sessions. Materials provided: DMAIC guide, project charter and control plan templates, tool sheets and a statistical test selection tree.

Course programme

1. Yellow Belt: the fundamentals

• Position Lean Six Sigma: origins, principles, roles and the structure of a DMAIC project
• Turn the voice of the customer into critical-to-quality requirements (CTQs)
• Map a process: SIPOC and flow mapping
• Spot waste and use the basic tools: Pareto, Ishikawa, 5 whys

Practical work: SIPOC and Ishikawa diagram on the lead time to open a business account.

2. Green Belt: leading a DMAIC project

• Define: project charter, scope, voice of the customer and KPIs
• Measure: data collection plan, measurement system analysis, capability and sigma level
• Analyze: descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, correlation and simple regression
• Improve and Control: selecting and testing solutions, mistake-proofing, control charts and control plan

Practical work: common-thread project to cut mortgage decision times, from project charter to control plan.

3. Black Belt: advanced analysis and cross-functional projects

• Design of experiments, multiple regression and analysis of variance
• Non-normal data and non-parametric tests
• Advanced Lean: pull flow, workload levelling, future-state mapping
• Change management, stakeholder management and coaching Green Belts

Practical work: root cause analysis of exceptions on international transfers and design of the target process.

4. Master Black Belt: deploying and steering the programme

• Set the deployment strategy and governance: sponsors, phase-end reviews
• Select and prioritise the project portfolio
• Validate benefits with finance and track that they last
• Design in-house training, coach Belts and measure programme maturity

Practical work: building an eighteen-month deployment plan for a bank’s operations division.

Assessment and certificate

Each level ends with a written exam. From Green Belt onwards, participants also present their project to a panel made up of the trainer and a representative of their institution. Helios Advisory issues a certificate of completion for each level. The pathway draws on the discipline’s public bodies of knowledge; certification with a third-party body remains possible at the participant’s choice and is not included.