When Cultures Collide

Fixing problems

Fifth Third's top leadership now recognizes the mistakes made in Florida, says Patten, of Moran Keegan.

"Fifth Third is a much more transparent and humble company," he says. "I think Fifth Third is doing all the right things, but you can't turn a bank on a dime."

To Quinn, the problems seemed obvious. "Where we have higher than normal attrition, we have higher than normal customer dissatisfaction," he says.

The team brought in the Gallup Organization to conduct monthly customer surveys and an annual employee survey. "Too many times, people discount the power of asking the customers and employees what they think," Rexroat says.

Employees consistently said they didn't feel recognized. They didn't feel connected. They didn't feel they knew what was happening in the organization.

So Quinn and his team started conducting monthly 8 a.m. conference calls for all employees. Those who miss the call can listen to it later on the Web. They started a South Florida employee recognition program that allows employees to nominate peers for quarterly cash awards for demonstrating one of the "Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership." Employees also earn praise in an all-employee e-mail.

Beyond that, Rexroat offers weekly e-mail nudges to managers about leadership. ("Love 'em or Lose 'em Retention Strategy No. 4: D is for dignity. Do your employees know you respect them? How do you show it?") She started a "Voice of the Employee" committee and listened.

Management committed to doing whatever it took, even if it was simply visiting branches to lift employee spirits, Quinn says.

On the customer front, the team started a check-in program to ask new customers about service at 30-, 60- and 90- day intervals after signing up.

Branches opened for Saturday walk-in hours. The management team began to triage customer problems and determine which were systemic.

"Solving the customer's problem the first time became an absolute stake in the ground for Fifth Third," Quinn says.

The new culture seems to be paying off for the South Florida division.

According to SEC documents, Fifth Third Bancorp posted losses for the year nationally, with declines in net income, total assets, return on assets and return on equity. The South Florida operations also saw a slight drop in total deposits, from $3,556,000 in 2005 to $3,551,000 in 2006.

At the same time, however, Fifth Third Bank regained the largest market share in deposits for Collier County. For the South Florida division, assets increased from $4.4 million in 2005 to $4.7 million in 2006, return on equity rose from 13.81 percent to 15.10 percent, and return on assets grew from 1.31 percent to 1.40 percent. And even in a year of tremendous challenges, says Quinn, net income escalated 23 percent, from $53,236,000 in 2005 to $65,333,000 in 2006.

Maybe it's the cha-ching of a jackpot.