My First Blog
Xempli started working with Westpac in 2015 to help them achieve customer and financial objectives in the business banking segment.
Objective: Westpac’s need was to lift the capability of its people in areas such as:
• Customer empathy
• Use questioning techniques to understand needs
• Relationship management
• Portfolio & pipeline management
Challenge Westpac faced:
• Tyranny of distance: teams were spread over 5 countries, making it difficult to uplift capability and ensure disciplines are maintained;
• Limited budget;
• Noise: frontline staff face many demands including product updates, compliance training and systems changes;
• Legacy behaviour: ingrained habits and cultural norms that undermine performance.
Adopting an agile approach, Xempli created a 2-week program that was deployed to a small team. Based on the success of this, Westpac commissioned Xempli for a 10-week programme.
The opportunity Westpac saw was to embed real behaviour change:
• Higher employee engagement: with a completion rate that is three times higher than industry benchmark (96%). One employee said: “I’m going on leave for 12 months, can I still get access to the training?”
• Capability growth: A senior manager said: “I’ve had first hand observation, as well as feedback from GM that our people have started to ask the right questions in meetings…based on the kind of questions they are asking it is apparent they have prepared for the meeting, and they are able to take control of the meeting…”
• Customer & financial outcomes: Greg Pawson, GM Pacific & South Asia said: “Staff are so engaged with customers: they’re coming back with new leads; I’m getting positive feedback that Sales people have improved skill and confidence; and importantly, we’re wired with momentum on achieving our financial targets.”
The work continues: since the success of the Business Banker capability programme, Westpac has engaged Xempli to migrate customers to use digital channels for simple transactions, improve the capability of people leaders, and make new product launches more effective.
Objective: Westpac’s need was to lift the capability of its people in areas such as:
• Customer empathy
• Use questioning techniques to understand needs
• Relationship management
• Portfolio & pipeline management
Challenge Westpac faced:
• Tyranny of distance: teams were spread over 5 countries, making it difficult to uplift capability and ensure disciplines are maintained;
• Limited budget;
• Noise: frontline staff face many demands including product updates, compliance training and systems changes;
• Legacy behaviour: ingrained habits and cultural norms that undermine performance.
Adopting an agile approach, Xempli created a 2-week program that was deployed to a small team. Based on the success of this, Westpac commissioned Xempli for a 10-week programme.
The opportunity Westpac saw was to embed real behaviour change:
“So much investment in people is wasted. For example, most of what you learn in a classroom or through online training is forgotten within weeks. What counts is not the test score people achieve – it’s whether people apply better practices out there in the field”. – Darren Moore, Head of LearningTogether, Xempli and Westpac has achieved “astonishing” results:
• Higher employee engagement: with a completion rate that is three times higher than industry benchmark (96%). One employee said: “I’m going on leave for 12 months, can I still get access to the training?”
• Capability growth: A senior manager said: “I’ve had first hand observation, as well as feedback from GM that our people have started to ask the right questions in meetings…based on the kind of questions they are asking it is apparent they have prepared for the meeting, and they are able to take control of the meeting…”
• Customer & financial outcomes: Greg Pawson, GM Pacific & South Asia said: “Staff are so engaged with customers: they’re coming back with new leads; I’m getting positive feedback that Sales people have improved skill and confidence; and importantly, we’re wired with momentum on achieving our financial targets.”
The work continues: since the success of the Business Banker capability programme, Westpac has engaged Xempli to migrate customers to use digital channels for simple transactions, improve the capability of people leaders, and make new product launches more effective.
