Case Study: High performing teams at ABN AMRO
The challenge
In 2014, bank ABN AMRO went through a major restructuring phase, had a high burn-out rate among its employees and challenges with employee engagement scores. They also suffered from a negative perception by many of their customers. They created an internal Energy Program to tackle these issues and were looking for a trusted partner to help them.
The solution
ABN AMRO partnered with the Hercules Academy who designed their Energy program using a multi-phased approach. First, they focused on the immediate needs of burn-out remediation and prevention as well as stress management through individual coaching sessions tailored to people’s specific needs. Hercules Academy introduced a combination of Core Talents and Personality type assessments to identify the talents and personality types of the individuals with a focus on their positive evolution path. They supported people on this path through regular coaching feedback and also introduced executive coaching sessions for the company leadership.
What was crucial for this new way of working was that all levels in the company were involved in the program and the results were used in a practical way to change the way they think about building teams around projects. Specifically, they used the Cor
e Talent assessment outcome to create work groups for future projects, which represented a perfect combination of core talents, irrespective of the functions and experience of the people. This resulted in a better understanding of strengths and lesser talents in the different teams and more satisfaction and energy for the people who could now focus on their real strengths.
Finally, they implemented a program that focused on creating healthier, happier people through mindfulness, yoga and nutrition workshops as well as physical team building exercises through participation in the Hercules Trophy, coached by former Olympians.
Sustainability and personal energy management were the key values represented in all these programs.
The results
After the initial year of the Energy Program, the overall score on the employee survey as well as the Net Promotion Score (NPS) increased with 35%. The most dramatic impact was made on key criteria, such as:
- being proud to work for ABN AMRO,
- feeling good about the company and their job,
- and especially the collaboration with other colleagues.
The direct employee feedback indicated that people were very positive about the program and felt appreciative that ABN AMRO invested in them in tough times. This was especially remarkable as the achievements were made in a 3-year period where ABN AMRO was restructuring and had several lay off rounds.
“We are very proud that we could collaborate with Hercules Academy through the Energy program in 2014 and are continuing our cooperation in 2015. It was a very innovative program and very well received by our people. It was an immense success and we saw a big improvement in mentality and positive mindset in the bank.” – Yves Beauvois, Head of Human Resources at ABN AMRO Bank Belgium.