ILY U.

CULLI I Case study: Becoming protean David had been working

for ABC Bank for 20 years and had risen steadily through the ranks. He
was initially employed in a general customer service role, but after
demonstrating some flare had been promoted into the lending area.
Over the years, David was promoted up through the ranks of personal
and commercial lending and was now a senior lending manager, David
had witnessed and been a part of many changes throughout his
banking career, and had embraced and adjusted to these changes
well. However, during a merger with XYZ Bank his work situation
changed dramatically. David was now reporting to a new manager
from XYZ Bank who was completely changing the way things worked.
The new manager was extremely sales focused and set stringent
targets for his lenders to meet. David had great difficulty adjusting to
this new style and was concerned that his customer relationships
were suffering due to the new aggressive sales approach. David was
now also working long hours just to get everything done, and was not
being remunerated or even recognized for the extra hours he was
working. He also felt that he was constantly monitored as he was
having to provide endless statistics on new leads and on the activity
to generate them as well as having to report on sales results David
was indeed unhappy in this new work situation and his work began to
suffer. What was once a rewarding and fulfilling position now became
a 5 chore, and David lost interest in his work. Eventually, as staff cuts
were made to incorporate the new employees from XYZ Bank, David
was made redundant and was referred to a recruitment agency for
outplacement services. Although David's career had plateaued
somewhat, he was devastated that his career was over with XYZ Bank
and was extremely concerned about his future employment options.
He believed that, although he had developed sound skills in banking -
particularly in lending he would be very limited in new career
opportunities outside of those areas. However, after several consulting
sessions with the outplacement service, David realized that he had
indeed developed many skills throughout his career that were
transferable to other work contexts. Saks Similarly, during David's
banking career he had established quite a network of contacts and it
was through these contacts that David was soon offered a position as
an insurance broker with DEF firm. DEF had an excellent reputation in
the industry and placed strong emphasis on induction and training of
new staff as well as on the professional development of existing staff.
Having completed the induction programmed, David embarked on his
new career armed with his company car and new laptop. David
enjoyed much success in his new role and was
Contemporary Issues and challenges in HRM an instant hit with his
new clients, as they were impressed with his nowledge and
experience. DEF offered flexible work arrangements riable work
schedules to their employees to accommodate oth their brokers' as
well as their clients' needs. David enjoyed the option or working from
home on certain days to avoid distractions, and was even able to
structure his time so that he could collect his children each day. In
addition, David found that he could manage nis tune OLE effectively by
completing all of his processing work early in the morning, which was
when he worked best. In terms of remuneration, Da now receiving a
similar base salary to his previous role, however in his current role as
an insurance broker he was also eligible for commissions on each sale
that he made. This was a rewarding incentive to increase sales at he
had not previously enjoyed. In his previous role David had avoided
training and development programmes as he thought they were a bit of
a waste of time. He thought he was too old to learn new skills, and he
had already risen to a fairly senior level within the organisation and
was comfortable at that level. David now regularly attends
professional development programmes and industry conferences in his
new role, as he sees them as valuable opportunities to further develop
and refine his skills as well as a chance to establish important
networking contacts. After three fulfilling and successful years as an
insurance broker, David became aware of a fantastic new opportunity
for a sales training manager with a new company establishing a
finance and insurance business. With such an excellent sales and
customer service record, well-developed presentation skills and strong
previous management experience, he succeeded in securing the role,
David couldn't believe what a difference a change in career had made
to his life and how much he now enjoyed his work. Having originally
worked in an organisation that he thought he would be with for life
that had a very rigid organisational structure and fairly traditional
values, he was now in a position that he loved with flexible working
arrangements in a progressive and dynamic industry. Written by: Ross
Donohue