Banking Success and Lessons from the Golf Course

Recently, I had a great reminder of the art and importance of communication. I am an avid (okay, borderline obsessed) golfer. I am constantly trying to figure out ways to better my game, with an ultimate goal of lowering my handicap to a three.

Last weekend, I was telling my wife about my last few rounds of golf, going into detail about the rounds (highlighting shots and putts) and explaining why/when/how these rounds would get my handicap closer to my goal. She appeared to listen with interest for about 15 minutes. When I was finally done with my impassioned story, she looked at me and asked, “What is a handicap?”

At that moment, I realized I had lost her about 20 seconds into my recap. She’d spent the rest of the time wondering, “What the heck is a handicap?”

All too often, we fail to articulate our message in a way that makes our audience understand and care about what we are saying. In the banking industry, this is especially true when it comes to compliance driven functions like internal audit or regulatory compliance. We put so much focus on trying to tell management, the audit committee, or board of directors about our findings, that we lose sight of communicating the underlying value and impact of improving the bank’s operations.

When we neglect to communicate clearly to decision-makers, we miss the chance to make a difference. The work ends up being perceived as a cost of doing business, rather than an opportunity to improve operations and/or profitability. 

Here are three tips to ensure your audience hears your message and acts on it in the right way:

1. Come with solutions.
   It is always easier to discuss what is wrong than it is to outline the solution for doing it better. Decision-makers need to know the issues, but they want solutions.
2. Bring relevant information to the table.
   Decision-makers don’t have time for details. If they want to know more, they will ask. Prioritize the most important topics. Remember, most people retain only three things from a presentation.
3. Look for ways to add value outside of the core task.
   Decision-makers want to hear new ideas or ways to make existing ideas better. When reporting your message, offer solutions that help the bank grow. 

Don’t let how you share your message keep you from grabbing an opportunity to add value to your banking organization. Next time you’re performing a compliance-related task, think about it from the perspective of the user. Look for the opportunities versus the problems, and communicate the information clearly. Changing the conversation enhances the value for everyone.

Does your message ever get lost in translation? Change the conversation and be a driver in your bank’s success.