Last week, Jason (our CEO if this is your first time receiving Lab Notes) wrote briefly about culture. Coming off our Annual Member Meeting, culture was top of mind for many of our members, especially as it pertained to safeguarding their institutions for the next era.
“Culture, culture, culture. Banking panels in recent years seem to have adopted the startup world’s fascination with culture. Ironically, the importance of culture is often described in generic terms. Some still think it a box to be checked off.
Culture is hard to define, and it is harder to build.
...First, culture must be intentional. It isn’t about people liking each other or getting along. It can’t be prescribed in PowerPoint and it isn’t one-size fits all. Each bank must decide what its culture should be and build towards it. Step by step.“
He’s right. Culture can’t be copied from a catalogue or LinkedIn post. It’s scrappy and dirty and can be painstakingly slow to generate any tangible results. Most of you have an idea of what your company culture is like already. Now, you must nourish it.
What’s interesting about culture is that it can be sub-sectioned into different aspects, which all amasses into one company culture. I came across this concept of “The Culture Wheel,” and it’s worth sharing just to show how many layers go into building culture. It’s no longer potlucks and employee outings: It’s inclusivity and environmental awareness, diversity and professional growth opportunities, flexible work models and mentorships.
One aspect that the Alliance found particular interest in is how and where data plays into culture. When looking at the image above, we believe that it falls into the “Tools” section...meaning, “How do you use data as a tool to help shape how your institution acts and executes on decisions?”
Put more simply, “How can you become a data-driven institution?”
During the first quarter of 2024, our Data and Analytics Center of Excellence (CoE) spent its time discussing and sharing how different institutions understand and leverage data. We heard – and learned – from banks of all sizes and at all different stages of data maturity.
Regardless of if it was a $1 billion or $20 billion bank speaking, each institution collectively shared that they had to start small.
From these conversations, our latest guide, Building a Company Culture that Makes Data-Driven Decisions, was born.
This publication is meant to capture the candid conversations and experiences of financial institutions who are building out data and analytics processes. By highlighting their starting points and steppingstones, our belief is that this can be helpful to other banks that are beginning, or pivoting, their approach to data-driven mindsets and cultures.
This guide, as well as other Alloy Labs publications, is housed in The Library via Microsoft SharePoint.