How Is Lean Applied In Banking?

In banking, the focus of lean is mostly bank-office operations, but it can also successfully reduce operational risk when applied in front-offices by standardized processes and by giving more power to the front-line staff.

A lot of times, lean is thought to be and implemented as a methodology that improves operations, and the original aspects of it are mostly ignored or forgotten. This is the reason there are only a handful of companies that can be called “Lean Enterprises”.

A major aspect of the lean culture is that every team member, on each level, puts effort to perform better in his work environment with each passing day. Most of the times, there is a certain level to which the overall performance needs to be raised, so a project team leads the lean process by creating a planned approach towards the goal.

In the final stages of the project, there is nothing that ensures that the initiatives taken for improvement will be followed in the future and that old conducts will not resume once the project ends.

Communication plays a key role in the step by step changes made in any management technique. Banks need to establish a unified goal and milestones that they want the lean methodology to deliver and share them with their employees.

In order to establish a sustainable lean culture in the office space, it is a crucial investment that employees be taught and coached lean techniques extensively.

Departments that do not face the customer directly, need to be introduced to the idea of internal customers. This will allow you to create a customer centric environment at all levels in the bank.

Lastly, it is important to note that any skilled lean manager will spend most of his/her time on the ground observing and innovating ideas for improvement.

The lean methodology has been proven time and time again to increase both quality as well as efficiency in multiple aspects. Let us now take a look at the benefits of applying this methodology in the banking industry: