Leading an Employee-Oriented Company - Transforming Work - Brief Article

Michael Stanford is a big man. He's big physically at 6'7." He has a big title--President and CEO for First State Bancorporation. He's big in the community, as the current Chairman of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. We wanted to talk to Michael because we had heard that he isn't your average, conservative, vanilla business leader, which immediately peaked our interest.

In fact, Michael Stanford dresses casually; talks easily and colloquially--occasionally dropping a word or phrase that probably wouldn't end up in his publicity department's press releases--and reminds you of a guy you might run into at any gathering of people. In short, he's a real person. And, he's worth listening to. Since he took the helm of FSB in 1988, it has grown from four branches in Taos, NM, with assets of $41 million and 36 employees, to 20 offices throughout New Mexico with $700 million in assets and 301 employees.

His success story is unorthodox. He doesn't come from a family of bankers. "We were not wealthy. My dad was a welder. All of my family went into the trades. I just did it differently." He never planned to be a bank president, but he is not afraid to take risks.

"I got an opportunity to buy this bank in Taos and I had no money," he says. "Absolutely zero, and I convinced someone to put the money up, and so I've done everything through sweat equity basically."

In fact, he thinks stretching himself and taking risks is critical. Being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce was one of those risks. "It took me far beyond where I've ever felt comfortable, and it's been one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had."

Employees are on the top of his agenda. "This company from day one has been totally employee-focused. So, given that, every day that's my focus." Companies that are successful, he says, are very employee oriented.

Make Work Fun and Enjoyable

It's clear that Michael loves what he does. How about the other employees? "We have a committee that's called the Fun Committee. Their charge is to find ways of making our staff meetings more meaningful and less dry, how we get involved in community activities, how we do Christmas parties, summer picnics, floats for the Rio Rancho parade, just all kinds of things...they're really there to keep the fun."

And it's got to be fun to work for Michael himself Just listen to him talk about advertising, for example. "There's been this tradition that's built up in banking over the years that said there are certain lines you don't cross...and we decided, well hell, let's step over them and see what that does. Well what it's done is create a fun environment even for the listening public. I mean, we make fun of ourselves, we make fun of the other banks," and it gets employees engaged. Many of the ideas over the years have come from employees.

Involve Employees in Decisions

Employees are involved in company advertising, but they are also involved in other ways, like the budgeting process and the company bonus plan. "We start from individual departments and everybody is included in the budgeting process and building it up." And everyone in the organization is in the bonus plan. "My theory has always been, I can sit around and tell you to go give good service, but that doesn't mean anything. If I can make you so damn happy that you're here, then it's not hard to give good service because you're just passing it on."

Empowerment

Empowerment is a buzzword these days, but like many buzzwords, it is founded on a solid concept. "What we want people to do is to know the parameters in which they can be empowered to make a decision to help a customer. And that's constant work and constant communication because people will make a mistake. And so what you don't do is go, 'You made a mistake;' you go 'Maybe we didn't communicate this well enough, but in this case, maybe we should have done it this way." Employees know the boundaries and they have lots of ability to make decisions within those boundaries.

Respect

The word 'respect' is laced throughout his conversation. Early on, Michael looked back over all the jobs he'd had and everything he'd ever done, and reviewed what he liked and didn't like. "The one thing that always came back was respect. So we decided to develop this whole company around a very simple concept. There is no elitism. We want to keep the organizational chart flat. Everything we do we hold it up against 'Was that respectful?"'

Making work fun and enjoyable, respecting employees while involving them in decisions and empowering them, are ways Michael Stanford leads the folks at First State Bank.

PATRICIA BOVERIE IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO. SHE AND MICHAEL KROTH, A UNM ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, OWN BOVERIE, KROTH & ASSOCIATES. THEIR BOOK: TRANSFORMING WORK: THE FIVE KEYS TO ACHIEVING TRUST, COMMITMENT, AND PASSION IN THE WORKPLACE CAN BE ORDERED AT AMAZN.COM. IF YOU KNOW OF PASSIONATE EMPLOYEES, LEADERS, OR WORK ENVIRONMENTS WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

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