Programm Adler success story · Deep dive · 2020–2021
Clear processes, correctly sized capacity – and no gap when someone is absent.
Optimising bank steering in the Volksbank association: processes, capacity, job profiles and cover arrangements reorganised
8 → 3
specialist areas, combined into three cover clusters
- −25%complexity: six instead of eight service catalogues per bank
- 106activities with defined cover
Reports of the bank steering working group, 2020–2021
The mandate in figures
8 → 3
specialist areas, combined into three cover clusters
−25%
complexity: six instead of eight service catalogues per bank
−9%
capacity transferred to the central organisation together with its tasks
106
activities with defined cover
From Programm Adler – see the full case study for context. Source of figures: internal reports of the bank steering working group, 2020–2021; documents available on request.
The starting point
Fewer people, more specialist areas – and no one to step in.
In Programm Adler, the back-office tasks of the association banks moved to the central organisation. Each bank retained a lean bank steering department. It brought together tasks that had previously sat in separate, better-staffed units: finance, controlling, ALM, financial data steering, recovery and resolution, risk controlling, legal and compliance.
On paper, this was efficient. In the holiday month, it became precarious.
No consistent cover
Some banks had no arrangement at all for certain specialist areas. Where one existed, it looked different in every house.
Risk controlling without a fallback
If the responsible person was absent, reports to the board and the supervisory authority were left hanging. Quality and deadlines were then no longer assured.
Specialist knowledge without overlap
Many activities had little in common with neighbouring functions. On top of that, the job descriptions prohibited certain combinations.
We started with these four questions
- How do we establish cover within the bank?
- How do we make the best use of existing resources across the association?
- Is there a critical size below which a bank steering function must not fall?
- What changes when individual topics move to the central organisation?
The constraints
The guard rails were fixed. We had to find the route.
Matrix with dotted line
The central organisation set the pace on technical matters; the banks retained line management.
Tight target staffing
The programme plan fixed the positions. Every deviation required evidence.
Short-term cover
The arrangement covered holidays and short illness. Separate contingency plans exist for long absences.
Solution within the bank
Cover is provided within the bank. Questions to the central organisation’s specialists remain possible at any time.
One standard for all
A separate approach for each bank would have made the arrangement unmanageable across the association.
Fully digital
In the middle of the pandemic, without in-person meetings. The deadline was 30 June 2021.
The approach
Understand first, then allocate.
01
A shared picture
The heads of bank steering from several association banks and the central organisation at one table. Ground rules: confidential and open, on an equal footing.
02
Capture activities
The banks reported 149 activities. We reconciled them, merged duplicates and described each one properly.
03
Classify
Each activity received four attributes: general or specialist, time-critical or plannable, how often it occurs, and whether it is “toxic” – meaning it must not sit in the same hands.
04
Take out complexity
Financial data steering as well as recovery and resolution moved to the central organisation, together with their capacity. Our rule was “everything goes”: every residual activity moves with the position.
05
Model scenarios
Who is absent, who steps in, and how many specialist areas must the person present then carry? This determined the critical size.
06
Roll out
Train-the-trainer through coaches from the working group, plus a cover list, training materials and tracking. For long absences, the central organisation provides emergency back-up.
The scenario calculation
How much staffing does cover need to hold when it matters?
A cover arrangement in bank steering is only worth having if it holds in a bad case too. We therefore worked through what happens when one, two or three people are absent at the same time.
| Starting point | Option 1 | Option 2 · Recommendation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity versus target plan | 100% | 100% | around 110% |
| Risk controlling covered | no | from the finance cluster | with dedicated additional capacity |
| Service catalogues per person present | 2–3, risk controlling uncovered | up to 4 | no more than 3 |
| Simultaneous absences | – | two only with overload | up to three |
| Operational risk | high | remains | largely eliminated |
Around ten per cent more capacity decided whether cover exists only on paper or holds in the holiday month.
Values shown as shares of the target plan. Absolute headcounts remain confidential.
In detail: toxic combinations
The restriction nobody needed any more.
Compliance had built combination prohibitions into the job descriptions. Whoever was responsible for ALM could not also take on risk controlling or compliance, and the head of department could not run ALM personally. As long as decisions are taken locally, this is right: two functions that control each other do not belong in one pair of hands.
Together with the central organisation’s heads of compliance and risk controlling, we went through the activities one by one. The question was always the same: is anything still being decided here, in the bank? After the outsourcing, the decision lay either with the central organisation or with the local board. The conflict of interest the restriction was meant to prevent no longer existed in bank steering.
1
Restrictions in the job descriptions recorded
2
Reviewed with the central organisation’s compliance and risk controlling
3
Lifted, job descriptions rewritten
0
toxic combinations remaining. Since then, anyone in bank steering can cover for anyone else, provided they have been trained.
After an outsourcing, it is worth asking whether an old control rule still prevents a conflict – or only costs flexibility.
What was combined
Eight specialist areas became three cover clusters.
| Before: separate units | Today |
|---|---|
| Finance, controlling, ALM | Finance cluster |
| Risk controlling, previously without cover | Risk controlling cluster, covered from finance or legal & compliance |
| Legal, compliance | Legal & compliance cluster |
| Financial data steering, recovery and resolution | moved to the central organisation, local job descriptions withdrawn |
Per bank, the number of service catalogues fell from eight to six – a quarter fewer interfaces. Around 9% of capacity moved to the central organisation together with its tasks. Bank steering used the freed-up room for new tasks from securities and payments. On balance, staffing therefore remained practically unchanged (+1%).
The result
All targets met, one exceeded.
| Target | Status |
|---|---|
| Cover arrangement for bank steering | exceeded: rolled out across the association, restrictions lifted, job descriptions rewritten |
| Critical size defined | met |
| Optimal use of resources: service catalogues, job descriptions, work instructions | met |
| Two specialist areas moved to the central organisation | met |
| Contingency planning for long absences | met |
We worked for around six months, fully digitally, with just under 100 hours of joint meeting time.
My role
Project lead and facilitator.
I set up and led the working group and facilitated its sessions. This included the hypotheses and the timeline, alignment with the central organisation’s heads of department, and reporting to the association jour fixe, the CFO round and the transition leaders. The end result was the roll-out concept that took the bank steering cover arrangement across the entire association.
My mandate was a solution that the central organisation and the banks could both work with.
What you can take from this
Three questions for your own organisation.
Does a report depend on one person?
Where a report to the supervisor or the board depends on a single person, the holiday schedule determines your operational risk.
Do you know what is time-critical?
If you sort your activities by urgency and complexity, you can achieve considerably more resilience with the same staffing.
Does the old rule still protect?
After every restructuring, it is worth reviewing the control requirements: which still protect against a conflict, and which are merely left over from the old organisation?
A lean organisation is only as resilient as its cover arrangements.
Your next step
Does a report in your organisation depend on a single person?
In 30 minutes, we will establish where your organisation is vulnerable during absences and what cover looks like that works with your staffing.
Or write directly to office@slotta.at.