“You're doing yourself, your company, and your employees a disservice if you aren't doing more to know them better and find out what keeps them awake at night.”

Lonnie Scarborough has been in the banking industry for over 31 years. His role today, Chief Dream Manager and Talent Development Officer at Origin Bank, is by far his most fulfilling.

In this episode, Kate Volman talks with Lonnie shares employee stories to illuatrate Origin Bank’s Dream Manager program. As a champion of the program, Lonnie starts by challenging the company to see employees as whole people so they feel comfortable talking about their lives in an unbiased and confidential environment. and Lonnie’s business leaders positioning from seeing employees as a whole person and allowing them to talk about their lives in an unbiased, confidential environment. Listen in to how Lonnie’s approach has lead to the creation of an award-winning workplace environment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. How caring for your employees improves your customer experience, bottom line, and ratings
2. Why providing employees with Dream Manager, financial coaching, health and wellness coaching, and other resources creates an optimal employee experience
3. The role trust and vulnerability plays in building a strong bond with employees

Things to Listen for:

[01:11] Getting intentional about culture

[03:28] Origin Bank’s Dream Manager Program

[06:23] The importance of trust and confidentiality

[08:40] Dream Manager metrics and how it helps the bottom line

[14:20] Increasing employee engagement through the program

[24:22] Becoming an award-winning workplace environment

[26:19] Final thoughts from Lonnie

[28:11] Final thoughts from Kate

Resources:

Floyd Coaching - https://www.floydconsulting.com/

The Dream Manager Program - https://www.thedreammanager.com/

The Culture Assessment - https://www.floydconsulting.com/culture

Matthew Kelly’s Books - https://www.floydconsulting.com/books

Floyd Coaching’s Blog - https://www.floydconsulting.com/blog

Connect with the Guest:

LinkedIn Lonnie Scarborough - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonniethedreammanager/

LinkedIn Origin Bank - https://www.linkedin.com/company/origin-bank/

Connect with the Host & Floyd Coaching:

Kate Volman’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katevolman/

Floyd Coaching on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/floyd-consulting/

Floyd Consulting on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/floydconsulting/

Floyd Consulting on Twitter - https://twitter.com/floydconsulting?lang=en

Floyd Consulting on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/floydconsultinginc

Floyd Consulting on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/floydconsultinginc/

If I can help you dig del deep and find out what's important to you with regard to your goals and dreams and help you meet those. Those employees are coming to work with a whole different perspective. They're much more engaged and that's going to translate into the customer experience, which then Mr. Or misleader is going to make a difference to your bottom line.

Thank you, Kate. Same here. I always love talking about Dream Manager.

You are changing the culture over there at Origin Bank, which is so exciting to see. So before we dig into Dream Manager, obviously you're making culture a priority over there at the bank and doing some really incredible things and I would love to hear an overview of how did that happen? Why does the leadership team feel that it's so important for the bank to focus on their people and really being intentional about building a dynamic culture?

I'll tell you this, for those organizations who may be wanting to get into Dream Manager, it gets easier every year because you have people who sign up for it. They go through the program and then they are excited about sharing their story. And so it's like a flywheel. It's hard to get a flywheel started to crank, but then once you get it cranked, it's easier to keep the momentum up. And as our new employees and as existing employees who have not been to the program begin to hear and see their coworkers and not only see and read their testimonials but see the difference in them and how they behave, how they act, how they react to different situations, how they handle stress. They say, wow, I didn't realize that it did all that. It just gets easier for people to say, I want to be a part of that. Another unexpected outcome of the Dream Manager program for me is that I have people outside of the Dream Manager program reaching out to me just for advice for council, and that's really fulfilling for me. And that lets me know that the program is working as intended. People are looking for trust. I had someone in a testimonial recently say, I never thought I would have somebody at work who would be unbiased and confidential, who I could just share some issues with. That makes my heart sing, because that means that we are keeping the program within the confines of what it should be, and it's starting to make waves throughout the whole company.

So why is that important, Lonnie? Why is it important for people to have that sense of trust and to have that person that they can go to, to really confide in and know that they're a third party person that has their best interest at heart?

There are some issues that are quite sensitive that people just aren't comfortable with talking about. And so I think that's why it's important. We have a good mix of male and female Dream Managers. I have some male and some female participants. The ladies who were in our group as Dream Managers have the same. But we're able to allow people to say, hey, I'd rather be with a lady. No problem. We can be happy to handle that. Whatever makes it tick. People just want to talk. I think I mentioned to you before that throughout the program, the last three and a half years I've done it, there have been situations where we start our conversation and we just push the books aside and they just need to talk. Now, ultimately we'll schedule another session or whatever to cover that particular workbook session. But sometimes people just need to unload, and they have a hard time doing that at home occasionally. They've never really had a chance to do that at work except for their boss. And sometimes you don't want to tell your boss all this troubling you, right? And so having that third party, unbiased, non judgmental person who becomes a friend, by the way, it's not all one sided. I share personal things about myself in those sessions when it's appropriate to help that person in their own issues. So it's not just me going, let me tell me your problems. I'm human too. I have my own issues. And so sometimes being vulnerable and sharing with them what my issues are helps them think, oh, I'm not alone, I have the same issues. Trust is a powerful bond, but if it's broken, it's hard to reestablish.

So for leaders that are listening, that are saying, what are you talking about, Lonnie? We're not here to be friends. We're not here to help people with their personal stuff. They're here to work. They're here to do work. Like, how does this help a bank? And what are you doing telling people about your personal life, how does that help improve the culture? How does that help improve trust in an organization to actually drive the organization? Right? What would you say to a leader that's thinking something like that?

Wow.

Another metric of saying, okay, how does taking care of your employees, making the employee experience optimum? How does that translate into good numbers when it comes to customers and retention? There's one of them. So I would say you're doing yourself and your employees at this service if you aren't doing more to know them better and finding out what keeps them awake at night, you figure that out, you help them solve that, they're going to come to work engaged, and they're going to change your company.

I'm like getting goosebumps just listening to you talk Lonnie. It's so incredible because you embody what not only Dream Manager, but just creating a great culture, right? I mean, that's what companies need to do, is create cultures that people feel supported and valued and heard and they feel like a person, like an actual human being, where so many people feel like they go to work and they do kind of feel like just a number. They just show up, and their boss just wants them to just get the work done. It doesn't matter. They don't care that you're going through a divorce or that your mom got sick or that you have to pick up your kids or whatever it is they feel like. That's not my problem.

Right?

Like, you got to figure it out. And so when leaders actually care about their people, it's incredible to see the shift in mindset. It's incredible to see that people don't they're no longer talking about how they don't want to come into the office. They're talking about how they feel like they are appreciative of the work that they get to do. And that's really what you're building. Congratulations on number two best places to work. So by next year, you'll be at number one.

I have a theory about that. I have a theory about that. I don't mind being number two. We were number three last year. But in my mind, number two of anything will work harder at getting to number one. The number one will work hard at staying at number one. We are going to do our best to topple them in top spot next year.

I love it. That's so great. So Lonnie, obviously you have a lot of experience in employee engagement and development and trainings. And really it's incredible what you're doing at Origin Bank just with not only yourself but hiring multiple dream managers. I think you're how many do you have right now? Six.

We have six.

So you have six dream managers, obviously because you have a lot of people that's a lot of people that's a lot of dreamers that need a dream manager. When you look at programs to develop your people, obviously dream manager included, how did you make the decision to how do you make decisions on what you're going to implement in the bank knowing that you have limited resources to do all of the work that you know, really want to do to help your people grow?

Look, another dream came true. He didn't even know. Maybe that was a dream of his. To be able to do this time.

Definitely was a dream of his. And he'll tell you that.

What's so cool about this, Lonnie, is when you get people dreaming and now they're talking about their dreams, and you get to know more about them and who they are as a person, and you get to uncover what some of their challenges are. And what I love about what you're doing and what a lot of our Dream managers do is they identify, oh, there's collectively a lot of people that are dealing with this one particular challenge, right? Like, when we look at our Dreamers, I think the top three dreams that we see across the board from most of our Dreamers is buying their first home, losing weight, and becoming financially free. Those are the top three dreams that people are working towards. And leaders like you recognize that. And now you can bring in other resources with Dream Manager at the heart of it, because first you have to discover what are the dreams that people are working towards? And then when you know their dreams, you can then give them those additional resources to help them fulfill those dreams. It's not about somebody telling you their dreams. And the leader says, I'm going to make this happen for you. It's about empowering your people to go after and make it happen for themselves. That's why it's so impactful. So talk a little bit about if there's one or two stories. I know you've shared a couple, but if there's one or two stories that kind of stand out to you from one of your dreamers, that just made a huge impact from the program.

So I've got one specifically that I just featured in a testimonial. I've told you this before, but I am an ordained minister. And so that gives me another aspect of the program from a spiritual standpoint. And not everybody has a faith based spirituality, right? We come across all types. I've had people who are atheists in the program, people who are of different religious beliefs. That's cool, we meet them where they are. But having the experience I have as a minister helps me also open up their eyes to some things they may not be thinking about. So I have one young man who, if you look at the Rhythm of Life scorecard, right? The red, yellow, green that we do on the spiritual. He was bottom of the red when we first started, just revealed, I don't.

Know, red, yellow, green. Like, red is not good. It's like, we need a lot of work. Yellow is like, okay, we're not quite there yet. And green, we're good in that particular area. So in the spiritual area, he was not doing so hot.

Yeah. And I don't want people to be scared about the spiritual area. Everybody has a spiritual part of their lives. All you have to do to think about is think about the last time you went to a funeral. Your friend or your loved one is lying in the casket. They're physically there, but emotionally and mentally and spiritually, that person who made them your loved one is gone. That spirit is not there anymore. So everyone has a spiritual side. It's just how do you exercise that? How do you encourage and maintain that? So he had a lot of questions. As a matter of fact, we even took some of those questions offline and talked about them late one evening on our own time. So anyway, over time, he began to really see, wow, this is making sense for me again. I met him where he was, and we talked through a number of different things. And I was so heartwarmed yesterday through the number Ten session or module, and it was on a deep dive into spirituality. And one of the questions is, when was the last time that you were at peace spiritually? And Matt, he said, I think it was the last time I was able to visit with you. That was amazing. But then in this last session that we did, session eleven on profession, we were going over, like we do every month, the four areas the physical, the emotional, the intellectual, the spiritual. I asked him about spiritual, and he said, you know what? He said? I couldn't wait to tell you this. He said, I was driving by in my car the other day, and I saw a homeless person. He said, I just felt this need to go to get out and sit down and just have a conversation with him. He said, I did that. And he said, I ended up talking to the guy. I gave him a couple of dollars, but that's not what it was about. I asked him what his name was, what his story was, ended up giving him a hug at the end. He said, I just felt so great. He attributed to him exercising the spiritual aspect of who he was. So that's just one story. Another story I have is someone who I found this to be true in many times. Kate, in a relationship, a person will come into Drain Manager and they're complaining about their significant other. What I have been able to show them is that, look, in many cases people are just reflecting what they see in the mirror. So why don't you change the mirror? Why don't you change yourself first? Work on who you are, be more forgiving, be more encouraging. And over the course of a year and the participant that I had a year ago, they're married to the rocks and she began to say, okay, I'll try that. So she's changed how she talked to her husband and she began to change how she related to him. He began to change and they reconciled. So look, Dream Manager is not going to make breakfast for you and cure all the world's problems. But I can tell you this, it does make a difference in people's lives. And if you never try it, I guess you just won't know.

It does make a difference in people's lives, that is for sure. It can be the smallest things. That's what I find so fascinating is that I think oftentimes we think it could be much harder than it is to make changes in our lives that are going to really make a huge impact. And that is what we get to do. That is what we get to focus on. So Lonnie, talk a little bit about because you talked about attrition and retention. Obviously this is not new. I feel like people think it's new. Like, oh, it's so hard to attract great talent. I feel like this has been a constant challenge for years and years. How do you attract and retain great talent? And obviously when you have a Culture first organization, people are attracted to that because they want to work at a culture where they feel supported, they feel valued, they feel like a person. How has Dream Manager and really all the programs that you're doing over at Origin Bank, how has that really helped to attract some really great talent?

For a leader, that's questioning, I don't know if this is the right program for me. What would you say to a leader that's contemplating making culture priority and implementing a program like the Dream Manager?

Oh, my gosh, Lonnie, you're so awesome. It's incredible to see what you're doing over there at Origin Bank. They're lucky to have you, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you. I know that you're thinking about hiring a couple of more Dream managers to send next year, which will be amazing. And your stories are awesome. You're making such an impact in their lives, and obviously it's working. Thank you for being such a great leader to your people and looking forward to seeing what happens in the future for you and Origin Bank.

Thank you, Kate. You're welcome. And please give my regards to Matt. Do you tell him thank you for taking the time to come up with this program many years ago. It is making a difference in so many lives.

As you can hear, Lonnie is quite passionate about the Dream Manager program, and we see this all the time with our Dream Managers. I mean, they love sharing these incredible stories of the dreams that are being achieved, the culture shift that they see in their organizations. When you are a leader, your number one role is to help your people grow. Not just grow in the role that they're in, but help them become a better individual. When somebody is more engaged in their own life, that they're engaged in their dreams, only then are they going to actually come to work and be excited about the dreams of the organization. In order to do that, we have to show our people that, yes, we care about you. We care about helping you grow. We care about the dreams that you have for your life. If you are a leader and you are actively looking for programs to help develop your people, to help create a dynamic culture where people love coming to work and accomplishing great things together, I definitely encourage you to check. Out the dreammanager.com. And we would love to talk to you about the program and see if it might be a good fit for you. I hope that you've got at least one thing out of this podcast to help you become a better leader and go ask someone on your team what's your dream? Thank you again for listening. And until next time, lead with culture.