Managers should focus on distributed leadership to unlock innovative skills of employees
Companies that empower and give meaning to employees create highly innovative and flexible organisations
Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN), a medium-sized Indonesian commercial bank happens to be the only Asian bank and only Indonesian company ranked in the top 50 of Fortune magazine’s “The Fortune 2016 Change the World” list. The bank’s emphasis on serving the lower-income segment, comprising of market traders, pensioners, micro and small and medium enterprises, and productive poor communities has gathered much attention for its meaningful and empowering outreach and its “do well by doing good” business philosophy.
The crafting of BTPN’s mission, vision and values began back in 2009 with participation from employees across all levels. The leaders work to create conditions that empower others in the organisation to take charge. Its vision to be the best mass market bank to make a difference in the lives of millions, and its core values, such as trustworthy and passion for excellence, are demonstrated by its leaders who further enable employees to figure out how best to bring this vision and values to life.
Jerry Ng, president director of BTPN and the management team also took pride to integrate its social programme within its business operations to create a company culture true to its tagline, hidup yang lebih berarti, translated as “to give our customers a more meaningful life”. The bank cascades this ethos down to its daily business activities, its branches and front-line staff by actively involving employees in problem solving and innovation, letting them make decisions on the ground to make sure that customers have a positive experience and operations run smoothly. There is a lot of communication and contact across levels of the firm and rewards and recognition for people who make a difference.
In 2015, the bank rolled out a simple yet innovative mobile banking programme BTPN Wow! to help the unbanked in remote lower-income communities by employing local agents who took on the roles of bank tellers within tiny local stalls and grocery shops. These agents have flexibility in how they serve these customers to help increase financial inclusion. This easy access to financial services through mobile phones and local agents instead of through bank branches is a bold yet socially meaningful move. In less than two years, BTPN Wow! has gained more than 2.5 million customers.
