Page 48 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE MAKING OF ABUNDANCE

McKell and his executive team continued to efficiently
manage the bank’s daily operations, but they also talked
about where the bank was headed. McKell was a master of
financial focus and discipline. But to put a friendly face on
the bank he wanted to focus on feelings that shape mean-
ing as well as facts that deliver results. This would mean not
only continued efficiency but also relationships of trust with
key clients and employees and better citizenship in the com-
munities they served.
One of the executives jumped quickly on the bandwagon
of good corporate citizenship with a proposal to invest in
initiatives like microlending to underserved constituents.
Another got enamored with building client trust and improv-
ing the bank’s reputation for personal attention. Another felt
passionate about efficiency and excellence in management
processes. All three goals were ultimately about creating a
sense of meaning as reflected in how people inside and out
felt about their experience with the bank. And ultimately
all three could help the bank’s bottom line. After hours of
debate McKell decided that only by embedding each of
these goals in the other two would they shape a sustainable
future identity. The individual values of these key execu-
tives needed to be coordinated and institutionalized for their
goals to be realized.
As leaders they also needed to direct the emotional energy
of employees, clients, and other stakeholders to these goals
of citizenship, trust, and efficiency. Employees would need
to gain a vision of how efficiency, client trust, and corporate
citizenship could make their everyday jobs feel more like a
personal mission and less like a duty to be endured. Clients
and other stakeholders would also need a clear vision of what
the bank was about and why.

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