Steve Lowisz argues that community banks demand accountability from branch managers while denying them real authority. Decisions get trapped in approval chains, delays pile up, and the bank loses touch with customers. You cannot hold people responsible for outcomes they cannot control.
We say we want our people to show good judgment, to have good judgment. But too many times we punish our people for exercising that judgment within banks in particular, specifically within community banks. I mean, we, we tell our people that we want ownership. Branch manager, you got to own this. You got to own the customer. You got to own the deposit growth. You got to— which is all fine. But then what we do is add all kinds of layers of stuff, layers of approvals, layers of reporting. And I'm not saying we shouldn't have some of those things. We absolutely should. But I've seen so many situations that we give the branch all kinds of accountability and responsibility, but we give them zero authority. And we are moving it further and further and further away from the customer. So when we sit there and say, I want people that take accountability and have great judgment in dealing with the customer, but everything that has to be approved to take care of the customer goes up 3 channels, waits 3 days, and then comes back down. Now how the heck does that make sense?
