Page 54 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

I suggested to the Chief Manager to get the signatures of the concerned
officers on the daily diary of errors detected on a particular day to make
them aware of their errors leading to problems in our department with
repercussions for the branch and the bank. This was expected to create
awareness amongst the officers as well as a feeling of guilt and they would
be persuaded not to repeat such errors. The supervisors would also have
a ground and justification to educate their clerical assistants also to be
careful.

This appealed to the Chief Manager and he gave his nod to proceed. The
concerned officers expressed their reservations on this system pleading
that Chief Manager would create a record of lapses against them and may
use the same for initiating disciplinary proceedings or denying promotions
based on adverse record. He held a meeting with them in my presence
to dispel their doubts. I explained, "It is not introduced with such
intentions as assumed by our officers. We only wanted to tally the Day
Book on daily basis as required by the norms of banking. This practice
would help you to know the errors and make you and your staff conscious
to avoid repeating them time and again as has been happening so far."

I continued, "This will create a sense of responsibility amongst the
assistants when you tell them that you are being questioned for such
errors. Please cooperate as the impact of your mistakes was on the day
book section, resulting into late sitting of the staff of this section along
with Chief Manager and the Second in Command even beyond 8 pm. All
of you committing errors leave by 6 pm; which is not justified." The Chief
Manager persisted with the practice and slowly everyone became aware.
The errors started declining. Within a period of about four months, the
daybook started tallying on daily basis.

Insights from the episode

If we are on the right path, we should not back down because some
others don't want to do their work; they would come around ultimately.

— z —

A Banker down the Rabbit Hole | 51