🔒At Bangor Savings Bank, accelerated leadership program attracts talent

In May, Amber Allen graduated from the Husson University College of Business, having earned her Bachelor of Science degree in management, in conjunction with an MBA, during a special five-year program.

A month later, the 23-year-old was enrolled in Bangor Savings Bank's Commercial Credit Development Program, an accelerated leadership program designed to compress five to seven years of advancement into two years.

The program takes participants through internal rotations in areas such as business banking, commercial lending and credit and underwriting; mentor relationships with senior management; hands-on job performance and job shadowing; community service projects; management, leadership, communication, sales and business development education; and special projects and assignments.

Recently, Allen and three other newly minted college graduates were taking part in leadership and teamwork training exercises at Castine-based Maine Maritime Academy's bridge simulator, the first time the facility has been used both for a business application and by an entity outside of MMA.

Facilitated by Blue Hill-based SeaChange Resources founder Kim Parrott, who is providing individual and group coaching to the team through the two years, the two-day workshop rotated team members through mate, navigator, helmsperson, and observer roles, requiring them to practice various team and leadership communication dynamics for the sake of virtually navigating a large vessel through a constantly changing environment of traffic, buoys, visibility, current and sea state.

Allen was thrilled by the experience.

“It was a fun and challenging experience. It was a good way for us to find out how to work as a team, and who we were on our team,” Allen says.

The Commercial Credit Development Program was founded with the idea of accelerating the development of “well-rounded bankers with leadership, management, and business and commercial banking skills who possess a comprehensive understanding of Bangor Savings Bank's culture and commitment to customers,” says the bank's vice president and organizational development officer, Isla Dickerson.

The graduates were selected through interviews and hired to start June 22. As an internal training program, costs and investment for set-up and operation are confidential.

Keeping young people in Maine

The program is driven by a scenario seen across the state. According to a 2010 report called “Making Maine Work: Critical Investments for the Maine Economy,” commissioned primarily by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Maine Development Foundation and written by former University of Southern Maine economist Charles Colgan, the state lost more than 20% of its population of 18 to 34-year-olds from 1990 to 2010, resulting in serious problems for many business sectors looking for employees. If nothing is done, wrote Colgan, the state's workforce will continue to shrink.

“There are not enough workforce development and professional opportunities for young, high-achieving graduates in Maine, and a lot of our talented, young folks leave the state to find their first jobs,” says Dickerson.

Dickerson's personal story is similar.

“I grew up in Maine,” Dickerson says. “But I had to leave the state to find my professional feet. I came back to Maine wanting to contribute to the community and the economy and the workforce.”

Bangor Savings seeks to reverse youth flight for its own workforce, and also create a model that can be used across Maine's business community for attracting and retaining talent.

The idea is to fast-track professional and management competencies among young college graduates who are equipped with technical skills but possess limited or zero experience in a professional workplace.

“We are committed to the community,” says Dickerson. “Part of that is trying to increase the number of professional opportunities and jobs in Maine. That's the genesis of this program.”

With four participants starting in year one and an additional four to be added in 2016, all eight will graduate by the end of year three. The first four participants are recent college graduates — from University of Maine campuses in Orono and Farmington, as well as at Husson — in a range of disciplines, from finance and business administration to political science and English literature. All have a bachelor's degree, one has a master's and another is working on his master's degree. As it turns out, all are Maine natives, although the program is open to graduates from elsewhere.

Allen embraced the opportunity, which she learned about through Husson.

“I was pretty open-minded coming out of college, but I knew I wanted to stay in the state,” she says. “I had a lot of different interests, but when I saw this opportunity, I thought I should apply because it had so much to offer. I had heard great things about Bangor Savings, especially their culture and everything they do for their community. It's all turned out to be true.”

The first year offers well-rounded, hands-on experiences throughout banking operations. Early on, the new hires are spending time on the teller line, learning the ins and outs of the operation from the ground up. They're doing service work with a Bangor homeless shelter, in keeping with Bangor Savings' community-oriented ethos. And in addition to the bridge simulator workshop, they've begun various internal professional competency and management leadership courses, including mentorships and individual and team projects.

Plans for the second year include time spent primarily in business banking operations that serve the financial and lending needs of small- to mid-size businesses, and in commercial lending operations that serve the needs for mid- to large businesses.

There's good reason to focus on banking, says Dickerson. “Across the state and the nation, banks are experiencing a shortage of talented business bankers and commercial lenders,” she says. “And that learning curve is typically even longer.”

In addition to in-house training and mentorship, BSB is collaborating with other education and leadership-training organizations.

“A big part of the story is that we have incredible talent and resources in our backyard,” says Dickerson.

This includes a joint partnership with the University of New England. A team of educators, instructional designers and banking professionals from both institutions is in the process of developing and implementing a program of essential workplace competencies for bank employees with management and leadership aspirations, with coursework in often-neglected subject areas such as change response, conflict management, and strategic leadership. Eight courses of six to eight weeks are offered online and through hands-on workshops and assigned projects.

“UNE will be first to marketplace with this type of offering,” says Dickerson. “These courses will become available to any UNE student as part of their curriculum, and will also be available to any other business that wants to leverage them for their employees.”

She added, “We're growing our own talent and developing our own internal employees, but with the full intention of getting these courses out into the world. This helps all of us.”

The connection with SeaChange Resources came on the recommendation of one of Bangor Savings's current managers, who attended a course last year. The leadership consulting program provides intensive, experiential coaching to train participants to think strategically, according to Parrott. Lessons learned through the bridge simulator — clear communication, role clarification and team alignment — apply to any industry,

“MMA has been a tremendous partner,” Parrott says. “Leadership is part of their educational mission, and this is another way to use the bridge. So it turned into a win-win situation.”

Dickerson has a clear idea of how a leader is defined in the context of Bangor Savings.

“Customer experience is key for us,” she says. “So we know, nearly immediately, who is a people person, with a big heart and good decision-making skills and the ability to do the right thing, and who also is professional and has warmth and real pride in what they do — and genuinely wants to do the right thing for everybody they cross paths with. That's the base for a good leader. Give me that base, and then I can develop a good manager.”

At the end of the program, says Dickerson, Bangor Savings will have eight ready-to-go business banking and commercial relationship managers, underwriters, and/or portfolio managers, all with a comprehensive understanding of the bank's operations and culture. Depending on the preference and aptitude of each participant, and on the savings bank's business needs at the time, each will be given a position in the business banking and commercial lending division.

“I don't know if it will be management positions, but it will be positions of significant responsibility far beyond entry level,” says Dickerson.

Over the next few years, Bangor Savings plans to develop several similar programs to meet the leadership and management needs of other business areas, she says. Bangor Savings also offers informal outreach and assistance to communities and displaced workers.

Dickerson says she is confident in Bangor Savings' ability to retain these young employees once the program is complete.

“We have a commitment to them and their success at every step along the way,” she says. “We've chosen terrific candidates who already embody some of our core values. They'll have the advantages of good positions and higher pay, and it's an opportunity to stay in Maine and fulfill their career aspirations.”

“Staying in Maine was definitely something that I would like to do, so that was appealing to me,” says Allen. “I'm excited about what this program has to offer. I think that being exposed to all the areas along our journey will give us a good idea of what our strengths are and how to use them.”