Description
- How well did the Synovus Financial Corporation “take care of their people”? What role did the Synovus Financial Corporation’s leadership play in shaping their culture?
- What biblical connections can be made to the values displayed by the Synovus Financial Corporation? Are these values discussed in current business/organizational literature?
Leading with Values: Positivity, Virtue and High Performance 2006
| Author: | Hess, Edward D. / Cameron, Kim S. (Eds.) |
Synovus Financial Corporation: “Just take care of your people”
robertdrazin, edward d. hess, and farahmihoubi
Introduction
The Synovus Financial Services Corporation uses an extensive systems- wide approach to values-based leadership. By system-wide, we mean that values-based leadership permeates the entire company. Values are the basis for leadership, culture, selection, training and executive development. Values are used to shape the firm’s strategy, its relationship to customers and to community. Senior executives consistently talk about values and culture among themselves and with employees at all levels. Values-based leadership is tangible – it is part of evaluation and promotion systems. Values are transformed into practices. While core values stay the same, senior managers are consistently updating practices. Values are discussed as much as strategy.
Our purpose in this chapter is to chronicle how these values extend back in history, what the values are now and how Synovus implements practices to support or operationalize its values. Synovus is an example of the founding families’ values surviving four leadership successions, and a company flourishing financially because of its values-based people-centric culture. Some of the lessons to focus on while reading this chapter are: (1) you can achieve great financial results, create substantial shareholder value AND be an employee-centric company with values; (2) maintaining a values-based culture is hard work and can never be taken for granted; (3) senior leadership must live daily the values they want emulated and be role models for all levels of leader- ship; and (4) you have to back up the words by rewarding good values and recognizing cultural deviations.
History
The Synovus story began in the late 1800s, where it was founded in Columbus, Georgia. In November 1888, Mr. George Gunby Jordan 10 Leading with Values
created the Third National Bank and the Columbus Savings Bank, Synovus’ predecessor, by convincing seventeen wealthy patrons of Columbus to front $100,000 in investment capital to create a civic- minded bank. By 1900, a vice-presidency for the banks was created, and William Clark Bradley stepped up to the position. Over time, both Jordan and Bradley would work closely and in harmony together, cementing a friendship and investment partnership between the two families that would continue for five generations. Together, they helped to fund the construction of dams on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus for its hydroelectric energy potential. This led to the Columbus Power Company, which was later amalgamated into Georgia Power.
A wave of banking instability came in the late twenties and early thirties, with the Great Depression. On the heels of the two banks having merged into Columbus Bank and Trust (CB&T), the country was in the middle of a financial panic after October 29, 1929. Many banks collapsed during this period; meanwhile CB&T stockholders boasted an increase in the bank’s assets. A phenomenal number of bank closures took place in 1931 (2,294), with half that many failing in 1930. Remarkably, job losses did not occur at CB&T during this difficult period, even as they were commonplace in the industry during this time. It was at this inopportune time that the bank’s first president, George Gunby Jordan, passed away. The bank’s directors credited him as a man of “vision, integrity, and business sagacity.”1 He was seen as a man “of unusual energy and intellect . . . wherever he touched the affairs of men, he was a leader.”2
In 1947, W. C. Bradley passed away. As he had been a revered member of his community, the Board of Directors claimed that “this Board suffered an irreparable loss in the death of their president and beloved friend, William Clark Bradley…wise planning, cool judgment, integrity and square dealing marked his every endeavor.”3 As A Trust to Keep recounts,
As one of the foremost industrialists of the South, even the country, William Clark Bradley gave generously to the artistic, religious, and educational institutions of the city. This gentleman, born in the midst of the Civil War, knew Synovus Financial Corporation the keen deprivations families faced for years in the South. By his great desire to improve the quality of life of the average Southerner and make that life affordable, he showed a moral dimension neither understood nor practiced by most people of means. For this reason, rather than for his monumental business achievements, he must be respected and recognized. A fair man of energy and unusual talent appears too infrequently not to be given appropriate commendation.4
After his passing, the torch was passed to D. Abbott Turner, Bradley’s son-in-law. Turner also maintained the founder’s high standards of personal integrity. According to A Trust to Keep,
Mr. Turner possessed the affection of the employees – even the citizens of Columbus. Respect and love present a formidable combination and Abbott Turner received them from a populace who appreciated his lack of pretense and his sensitivity to power, which he rarely used and never abused . . . along with his disarmingly keen sense of humor which endeared him to people. Abbott Turner had a natural gift for instilling trust. Individuals wanted to deserve his respect and worked to achieve it. He gave his best effort to his work and expected the same.
Jim Blanchard (the current CEO’s father) was appointed president of CB&T in 1957, and served until 1969. Blanchard’s new energy, ideas and industry were just what the bank needed at the time.
From the time that Jim Blanchard came into the Bank, the operation began to change. He did not do it in a fast, quick, or rough manner. He very easily transferred people and began to build the organization without incurring the ill will of any employee. No one openly opposed him. He was the most unselfish man imaginable. Everything he did was for the people that worked with him; and from the day Jim Blanchard took charge, the Bank was a different operation. He was also interested in the community. A revival of public interest occurred in Columbus as a result of his being here. He became active in the Chamber of Commerce and all the other institutions, especially his church.
Jim Blanchard, Sr. passed away on January 12, 1969, and finding someone to fill his shoes after his death “set off a frantic search for a successor who might possess his rare qualities of business acumen, religious convictions, educational interests, and dedication to community service.” Many in the organization wanted his son, Jimmy Blanchard, a lawyer at the time, to keep up his father’s ethos and style, where he kept “his finger on the heartbeat of the city . . . for in the long run what’s right for the community is good for the bank.”8 Jimmy Blanchard was understandably reticent about entering a profession for which he had no prior expertise. A well-known Columbus banker, Bill Curry, was enlisted to run the bank for two years, while Jimmy was groomed for the position, a role that at the outset he reluctantly fulfilled, a role that he has fulfilled for over thirty years. Mr. Jordan, Bradley and the Turner founding families are still involved today as investors, advisors and board members.
Strategy: growth by acquisitions
Synovus has grown into an $8 billion market bank by acquisitions. Its approach to acquiring banks is different from many of its competitors in the banking industry. According to Blanchard, “We don’t have a quantity strategy or pins in a map. We’re looking for tar- gets where there’s economic opportunity, where people mix and are compatible.” There must be synergy between the two banks in their cultural, social, and philosophical outlooks, and the “feel” must be right. The notion is that Synovus looks for “good banks, good markets, and good people.” As Blanchard explains, “This may sound corny, but we wouldn’t want to acquire any bank where we wouldn’t want to take the folks home to momma.”
Rather than subsume smaller companies under its umbrella, Synovus allows the small community banks it acquires to keep many structures intact, retain their autonomy, and “run their own show.” Unlike other bank mergers (especially during the period of banking instability in the nineties) which often generate a great deal of upheaval in the local communities, a great deal of volatility in jobs, and a great deal of apprehension among the employees of the acquired bank, Synovus acquisitions are much less disruptive to both employee morale and to customer loyalty.
The company usually acquires small-town banks that have a large market share in their respective communities, where a close Synovus Financial Corporation relationship exists between the bank and its customers. It also often chooses to have a presence in communities where there is a notable absence of larger, more competitive national banks.
Diversification into TSYS
TSYS was officially launched in 1959, as apart of CB&T and it processed credit cards. In 1973, the company unveiled Total System, a software product that would for the first time allow Synovus to electronically process credit card information and billing. By 1974, CB&T was processing paperwork for other banks’ credit card operations and realized this could become a profitable long-term venture. Total Systems marked the beginning of the bank holding company’s diversification efforts, and has proven to be a revenue-generating asset that is largely “recession-resistant,” as credit and debit card usage has increased exponentially over the years. Today, 19% of TSYS has been spun off into its own separate public company, and is involved in pro- cessing credit and debit-card transactions and electronic payments for a variety of major financial institution clients worldwide, like Bank of America, Capital One and JP Morgan Chase (including their newest relationship with Bank One in 2003).
TSYS currently fills all the card-processing needs for five out of ten of the largest global card-issuing banks. Today, TSYS is the second largest credit-card transaction processor in the United States,13 with 2003 revenues of $1.05 billion. At present, TSYS contributes about 30% of profits to the parent company’s bottom line.14 Over the years, the company has expanded to Great Britain, Mexico, Canada and Japan, and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region are next.
Performance
Synovus has done well based on standard banking metrics of performance. It has grown steadily from 1999 to 2003 in revenues, assets and earnings per share. Earnings per share compounded annual growth rate for this period was 13.0%. 14 Leading with Values
Further, Fortune magazine has ranked Synovus one of the ten best companies to work for in America for five years in a row. In addition, Synovus has made it into the list’s top 20 for seven years in a row.
In 2000 and 2001, Synovus also graced Working Mother’s list of “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.” Citing their emphasis on human resources, CEO Blanchard noted,
In a social and economic environment where so many things are uncertain, it is more important than ever that the team members of Synovus and the employees of companies throughout the country know that they are cared for. Enabling our working mothers to be productive, valued and rewarded while also caring for their families is one of our primary missions as an employer of choice.
The magazine’s criteria for comprising the list included “how ‘deeply’ benefits are available in addition to the traditional scoring for (a) per- centage of women in workforce, (b) child care support, (c) flexibility, (d) leave for new parents, (e) work/life balance and (f) advancement of women.”
The Wall Street Journal awarded Synovus “No. 1 Bank in the South” for its shareholder returns over the years 1993–1998.17 In addition, the company was named 49th among banks for the Fortune 1000 list. Synovus was winner of Forbes magazine’s Forbes Platinum 400 index (for profitability and return on capital), ranking second among the 20 largest banking institutions listed, and ranked 10th out of 33 banks and 70th generally for Business Week’s annual list of outstanding companies for performance on the S&P 500. Synovus’ Investment Division was also ranked by Pension and Investments magazine as one of the country’s top-ten money managers. Finally, TSYS was winner of the 1998 Georgia Oglethorpe Award (for performance excellence).
Certain key leaders at Synovus have also been singled out for exceptional achievement. Synovus’ Chairman/CEO James H. Blanchard was ranked among the “25 Most Powerful and Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine. And, Synovus’ CIO Lee James was named by US Banker magazine as one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking.”
Synovus Financial Corporation – The culture
At Synovus, the culture can be summed as the Golden Rule and doing what’s right, this expands into “treating others right, and treating others with kindness, and pulling for others. Decision-making follows from this, even when “right” may not be the most profitable avenue, the most expedient, or even the most popular. Outward from the company, this extends into the families of Synovus employees, others that Synovus come into contact with, and finally, out to the community. There is a sense of building a better family, a better community, and being a part of a better world. None of this is naive idealism, as those in the Synovus community know that they are performing meaningful work, and working for a higher purpose. This becomes contagious, and others realize, “I’d love to be part of that team.”
Operationalization of culture
The Golden Rule: Do What Is Right culture operates with the simplicity of a mere handful of founding principles, ones it is difficult to imagine not being able to resonate with.
At Synovus, the Golden Rule and ‘Servant Leadership’ – the notion that the boss is there to serve the organization and its people, not the other way around – are bedrock principles. The company’s operations are centered around a well-defined set of expectations, graphically bisected by an ordered ‘value chain,’ that focuses first on people and culture, and places performance near the end of the list. Various committees and meetings constantly refine and reinforce the message. The latest addition, a “Customer Covenant” adopted last year, and carried on small cards in employees” wallets, codifies the company’s goal of serving all clients “with the highest levels of sincerity, fairness, courtesy, respect and gratitude.” All of this is wrapped up neatly in what officials like to call a “culture of the heart.”
The company pledges an “unwavering” commitment to its culture and its values. Synovus maintains, “Integrity. Service. Putting people first. Treating folks right, and doing the right things. This is not corporate rhetoric; this is our character. We won’t compromise these values under any circumstances.”20 Thus, within the company, the “we, not me” ethos reigns supreme.
The value chain begins with people, with performance being necessary, but people coming first. Performance comes from good people with good values. Management’s role is seen as stewardship, since the company is seen as an asset borrowed from the shareholders, and one which must be maintained as if it were one’s own. A distinctly non-secular approach to spirituality manifests as a belief in a “higher power,” a belief in the inherent worth of every employee, and a commitment to developing the talents of each individual. While skeptical onlookers mock the company’s Golden Rule, comically asserting that “He who has the gold rules,”21 Synovus stockholders are laughing all the way to the bank, as profits and shareholder returns have steadily increased over the years.
Company culture
The company strives to maintain an atmosphere where employees grow “materially, spiritually, and intellectually,” and where the customer sees the culture come “from the heart.” For Synovus, there is a deep, embedded commitment to “walk the talk,” unlike other companies for whom culture is merely paid lip service. For Synovus, its culture is firmly entrenched in the very fabric of its being, and it can be found from the highest levels of management all the way down the chain of command. Some have given this corporate philosophy an almost religious or cult-like status, recounting that “the atmosphere is hushed, reverential…attending an annual meeting…is almost like going to church.” Management meetings are decidedly not secular, as a recent management meeting began with Blanchard saying, “Thank you God, for the company we have to work for,” and Biblical quotes are peppered throughout “pastor” Blanchard’s speeches. Weekly Tuesday morning meetings bring together local employees to hear the “sermon,” and other Synovus employees may opt to hear it via conference calls or cassette tapes. Company meetings that involve meals begin with blessings, and executives explain, “We operate in a culture where that is OK. It’s not showy and people are comfortable with it.” At one time, it was considered whether to abolish this practice, but Synovus management was bombarded with pleas from their employees to retain it.
In addition, a “family-like” atmosphere permeates the culture. “Our culture is rooted in the notion that people are valuable. They’re entitled to dignity and respect and appreciation,” says Blanchard. Employee evaluations are not threatening once-yearly encounters, but rather ongoing and interactive discussions. Servant leadership, or the notion that management serves the organization, rather than the other way around, translates into management-as-mentor or coach, rather than the traditional boss–subordinate relationship. According to Blanchard, “Supervisors who don’t buy into that type of atmosphere – who want to be controlling and demanding and demeaning – we basically don’t want them here. We want people who can coach and counsel and be concerned about a person beyond just what they do between 9 and 5 o’clock.”
This approach translates directly into the company’s success, as the company aims to follow the axiom that if we “take care of people, profit takes care of itself.” It is believed that an employee’s life should not be “compartmentalized” into all its component parts, but that rather, the office environment should feel similar to all other parts of one’s life. Thus, the workplace should also support all other parts of the employee’s life such that “when one person at Synovus cries, everyone tastes the tears.”
Loyal customers palpably feel the warmth that emanates from the company as well. According to Chief Warrant Officer Four (Retired) Michael Novosel, United States Army, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, and 31-year customer of a Synovus affiliate bank in Alabama, “Seeing the Synovus sign is like seeing the international Red Cross symbol – you know that behind it is an organization of dedicated people who are there to help.”
Leading with Values Walk the talk
For Synovus, living its values begins with compensating its employees adequately for their commitment and dedication. Employee benefits are grouped under the four broad categories of “health, wealth, well- being, and time” and include an 8% retirement match, an option to buy 150 shares of Synovus stock, an exceptional and comprehensive health- care plan, fitness center discounts, flex time, training programs, tuition reimbursement, child care centers, and adoption credits. TSYS employees are encouraged to enroll in the Columbus State University Masters of Information Technology program. Minority youth are also encouraged through internships at Synovus (INROADS), many of whom stay on for permanent positions with the company. REACH (Recognizing and Encouraging an Atmosphere of Community and Hope) is the company’s volunteer arm, and employee participation in various com- munity service projects is encouraged and enthusiastically supported by management. Whether it’s building homes, caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, or working on environmental clean-up projects, giving volunteer time during work hours is welcomed by management.
Living the culture then translates directly into superior customer service. In a competitive financial services market with largely undifferentiable products and services, employees “extending” themselves for their customers translates into greater consumer loyalty and higher product sales. In a push by the industry generally toward one-stop financial-services shopping, exceptional customer service is a key to success. The dedication of Synovus employees is a direct result of the trickle-down people-oriented approach the company applies to human resource management. Thus, “success is a by-product of the [bank’s] culture,” where employees are valued for themselves and not for the value they bring to the company. As mentioned in the company’s 1998 Annual Report,
Some experts say a formula for success can’t be that simple. Well, maybe it is. It’s more than programs and benefits that make a great place to work. The challenge is teaching our leaders how to show genuine concern for each person they lead. People respond when they know someone really cares about them and appreciates them. They just do.
Synovus also believes strongly in personal accountability. The company maintains,
Our values also describe a company at which every member is fully responsible for every loan, account, market trade, every client and every customer. That’s 100 percent responsibility. No excuses when something goes wrong, just make it right. Mediocrity is never a solution. Every member of our team should have zero-tolerance for anything less than the best. That’s us; that’s our way.
This becomes the foundation for the company’s “mission statement,” and can be found in the “Customer Covenant” as well. The Customer Covenant (see Appendix 4) was created in 2001, and is signed by every employee, which gives it unified company support.
Finally, living by its values can also be found in the company’s approach to corporate ethics. The company has two fronts on which it addresses corporate ethics. The first, the Synovus Code of Conduct, covers proper operating procedures for most topics under the corporate umbrella. Further, there is a toll-free 24-hour ethics hotline, where calls are recorded anonymously, and employees may feel free to report any concerns about ethics violations anywhere within the company.
Keeping the culture alive
Keeping the corporate culture undiluted for a company that has been in existence for well over a century is admittedly difficult. While the founders believed with a passion in the core values they built the company on, it requires constant reinforcement to perpetuate over time. When the company was much smaller, it was obviously easier, and its critics often countered that once the company grew, it would be impossible to sustain the culture in such a fashion. Synovus’ value-system is still firmly in place and very much institutionalized even at the lower ranks, with its 12,000-plus employees.
Toward this end, leadership at Synovus, even after its phenomenal growth, is deeply steeped in the company’s core values. Leaders at the topmost levels are not content merely to “manage from this gorgeous office,” and realize that “values will start to erode the minute you takeyour eye off the ball.” Many Synovus initiatives have been born upon taking a closer look at the reality, and realizing with humility, that “we may not be as good at this as we think we are.”
Is it real?
Personal interviews with Synovus employees at all levels, from those who had been with the company less than a year, to those who were mid-level managers, to those on the executive committee, produced consistent stories. For these managers interviewed, arriving at Synovus for the first time felt like “coming home.” For the mid-level managers, who echoed the same basic tenets as those in the executive committee, the “culture is just life to us, we live it everyday.” It is seen both literally and figuratively as a “fiduciary responsibility to our culture – which is both our privilege and obligation.” Thus, it is “a trust to keep, whether to the customer, or to each other.”
At Synovus, hiring is deemed highly important, since the company is only as strong as the weakest link (person) in its chain. “Chemistry” is the term often repeated in the company, where it is used for assessing fit and building relationships. For those in charge of hiring, the “chem- istry” must be there, since at the end of the day, the biggest asset the company has is its people.
Management looks specifically for people with charisma, who have their priorities in the right order: family, spirituality, community activism, and who are leaders wherever they presently are. These kinds of people inspire others to be on their “team,” where others would want to follow them, and they are also top performers by other traditional standards.
At Synovus, people take precedence over profits and performance. At the executive levels, this is especially apparent. Newcomers often spend
weeks and months developing relationships with Synovus affiliates, meeting other executives, employees, and members of the local communities. Meeting with everyone, regardless of their “rank” is seen as more important than “spending the day playing golf with the CEO.” As Mr. Yancey recalls from his days as a teller, “I know how it felt when the president shook everyone’s hand.” With 41 different banks under the corporate umbrella, honoring the different nature of each member bank becomes a formidable task. Nevertheless, this is done with enthusiasm, and conversations revolve around people and communication issues and then numbers. This is based squarely on the Synovus ethic that “if you put the right people in the right role, you have faith that all the rest will work out.” Thus, the causality is first relationships, then performance, and not the other way around.
Personal growth is another important area, since Synovus likes to think of itself as espousing the net exporting of good people. Whether this means that good employees are “grown” within the company and moved higher in the organization, or whether their expertise is sought out by other companies, there is no monopoly on talent within the organization. Those who wish to understand their own career growth possibilities can feel free to talk to anyone in the company, at any level, and know that they will receive coaching, mentorship, and encouragement. The executives especially believe that “we take our jobs seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously.” Thus, there is a notable absence of hierarchical boundaries among employees. It matters little where one falls on the traditional “organizational chart,” as those “below” are just as important as those “above.” Yancey comments, “people who promote me are below me . . . it is they who need to think I’m something special, and not the other way around.” It follows that employees who are most successful in climbing the organization’s ranks are those who treat everyone with the same respect, regardless of their position in the company.
Leading with Values At the customer level
At Synovus, the focus is not on commission-based selling of financial products and services. Instead, the concern is to first understand the needs of the customer, and only then suggest products that fill that need. The focus is on relationships, and employees first attempt to discern whether or not they can meet a client’s needs. If they truly cannot, they will suggest that the client seek assistance from a potential competitor. The ethic is then, “Do your best to make your fellow team members successful and your customers successful in their financial lives, rather than push a product or live from one [sales] campaign to the next.”
To rejuvenate the culture
The People Developing EveryONE (PDE) initiative was created in 1996. PDE came about as a response to a company survey, which identified key areas in which Synovus could improve. Among the initiatives that PDE spawned include: Cultural Trust Committees, a new Orientation Program, Re-Orientation, Leadership Education, Foundations of Leadership, The Leadership Institute, the Performance Management Process, a Team Member Survey, Evaluation of Officer Criteria, and Continuous Review of Work/Life Issues.
PDE is a people-development initiative, and as such, rests on four fundamental ideas: “We pledge to respect the fundamental worth of every individual. We treat people right. We do what’s right. We will safeguard our ‘culture of the heart.’” Thus, PDE is based on the Company’s
most enduring value: Every person has great worth. We will invest in every member of our team just like we save money for the future. We should build people. Teach them. If team members know their part in the plan – why they are important, regardless of their roles – then their attitudes are brighter. They want to serve. Our returns are hearty. Working here is better. PDE is a key part of our success.
Synovus Financial Corporation – The use of stories
In the Synovus tradition, the corporate culture and values are often passed on via storytelling and the recounting of parables and anecdotes, which help to maintain the essence of the culture for newcomers. Storytelling (“what’s in your heart that you want to share?”), or the recounting of personal triumphs of the human spirit, are used especially for teaching at the Leadership Institute. Via “teachable stories,” managers each humble themselves by presenting a story of something they have learned along the way.
The following two stories are examples, which are used repeatedly by senior management to teach key lessons.
Gandhi
This is a story of the great Gandhi of India when he was a student in South Africa. Gandhi had heard so much about Christianity, and he wanted to know more. One day, he slipped into the back of a church in South Africa and sat on the back row. An usher came to him and very courteously informed him that there were no “coloreds” allowed in the church. In a speech years later, Gandhi declared that the usher was only doing his job, thinking he was simply ushering a colored man from the church. In reality, what he was actually doing was ushering India out of the British Empire.
So often we think that we don’t make a difference. But the words that we speak, the looks we give, the actions we take, are all incredibly powerful. There is somebody around you right now that with just a single word of encouragement would be what it took to get them over a hump. There is somebody at your office for which a harsh word could be the last straw. You and I make a difference as a common thread in a business sense. There is no question that the common thread is how you treat folks. You can make a difference.
Waldorf-Astoria
Many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small Philadelphia hotel. “All the big places are filled,” the man said. “Can you give us a room?” The clerk replied that with three conventions in town, no accommodations were available anywhere. “Every guest room is taken,” he said, but then added, “but I can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you be willing to sleep in my room?”
The next morning as he paid his bill, the elderly man said to the clerk, “You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you.” The clerk laughed and forgot about the incident. About two years later, however, he received a letter containing a round-trip ticket to New York and a request that he be the guest of the elderly couple he had befriended.
Once in New York, the old man led the clerk to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, where he pointed to an incredible new building and declared, “That is the hotel I have just built for you to manage.” The young man, George C. Boldt, accepted the offer of William Waldorf Astor to become the manager of the original Waldorf-Astoria, considered the finest hotel in the world in its time. You can make a difference.
Leadership institute and foundations of leadership
The Leadership Institute and Foundations of Leadership were established in 1998 to allow for all Synovus management to “constantly and consistently deliver our most important message – that people come first in every decision we make – to every member of our team.”47 These two company innovations help ensure consistency in the company’s core message of making human resources a true priority and in keeping with the notion of a company as a “ministry.” In these two forums, the culture and values of the company are passed on to all those in management levels (both in Synovus companies and in their affiliates), in a holistic manner, embodying the idea that all members are part of the entire whole and essential to its functioning. The notion of stewardship and servant leadership is stressed, and leaders are expected to value and ensure the success of their teams in order to carry out the grand vision of the larger company. The concept of “averaging up” in promoting from within, such that the new person should exceed his predecessor in every way, is also stressed. It becomes apparent that with management symbolically at the bottom of the hierarchy, providing foundation and support, it becomes easier to develop a common vision that is “owned” by all within. Foundations of Leadership seminars train via four “action requirements.” These are: “live the values, share the vision, make others successful, and manage the business.”
Through the Synovus story, it can be seen that corporate responsibility and ethics need not be merely a “flavor-of-the-month” management strategy. Indeed, it is possible to speak of a corporate values-based culture and more-than-adequate shareholder returns in the same sentence. Whether the culture is deeply entrenched and maintained from the out- set, as has been the case at Synovus, or whether it is brought in later as an all-encompassing ethic, such a values-based style is indeed a viable alternative. From servant leaders to personally fulfilled employees to well-served customers, a holistic vision toward a company’s day-to-day operations is not mere fanciful idealism, but rather a new and necessary direction for future leaders and managers.
The future
One of the unique properties of Synovus is that it continuously updates and rethinks its programs on leadership and culture. Where warranted, Synovus collects data to determine if its practices are meeting its core values of putting people first apoteksv.se. By all means Synovus is not a company that rests on its past achievements. It recognizes that environment and strategies are constantly changing and seeks to change itself to keep up with new challenges.
The Jordan, Bradley, and Turner family values have been perpetuated and passed on through the Blanchard family to create a Synovus values-based culture made up of thousands of employees who have had the opportunity to contribute and participate in the business, their community, all the while being able to take care of their nuclear families and find meaning in life. Synovus is an example of a Company that believes that fundamental values of human decency can go hand- in hand with making profits. To Synovus, values-based leadership and cultures are employee- and customer-centric. And as Jimmy Blanchard says: “It is pretty simple: Just take care of your folks.”
References
Bills, S. 2002. Synovus on Consolidation Units’ CRM Was Suffering. American Banker, 167 (119), 20.
Boraks, D. 2004. Hybrid Synovus’ Plan: Evolve but Don’t Budge, American Banker, 69 (61), 1–2
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