Client Services Rotation!

For the past three weeks I have been working in my first rotation in the Leadership Training Program in our Client Services Department. My experiences so far has been very beneficial and has helped me to have a better understanding of what our clients experience when they call us. I have spent time both taking calls from clients and working on projects that are going on in the department.

Assisting client's with their questions regarding their accounts, investments, and IRAs has helped me to better understand and apply the information I learned in training. It has been rewarding to tell when I have made a positive difference in the ability for a client to understand the process for making an investment or find the information they need regarding their account.

In addition to assisting clients I have also had the opportunity to work on department specific projects. One of the projects I am working on is reviewing reports for our First Call Resolutions and to identify areas where we can improve by creating an action plan to submit to my supervisor. The goal is that I will be able to plan and present a training session for our Department next month. Working on this project has really helped me to better understand our client's needs and to recognize opportunities we have. I am looking forward to the results of my project and to see how it will impact the calls we receive.

Moving Fast During Tax Season

It's been a while since I had a chance to post anything on this blog, but I've been very busy with new projects in the Leadership Rotation. The months leading up to tax day (April 15) are very fast-paced at Equity Trust and my projects can change at any given time. Fortunately, this gives me the opportunity to learn new things and gain experience handling multiple projects.

Lately, I’ve been working with the Human Resources Recruiting Team to review resumes, phone screen job candidates, and assist in the interviewing and hiring processes. Equity Trust hosted a career fair in February and I had the opportunity to interview several great candidates. Some of the hiring decisions have been made now, so I’m developing a training plan for the Client Services Supervisors to bring some new employees on board. It’s exciting to see our company grow!

Another project I’ve been focusing on is a plan to bring in a large group of new clients to our company. Of course, a big influx of new clients will require additional staff to handle the increased volume, so I’m creating training plans for these new hires. These new employees will be part of a new team at Equity Trust, so it’s great to learn how to build a team from the ground up!

Overall, the Leadership Rotation is full of new experiences and challenges. I’m learning a lot in this fast-paced environment. Over the next four weeks, I’ll be conducting two training classes and then serving as the team lead for the new team that will be bringing in the large group of new clients. I can’t wait to see how these projects turn out! Best of all, by the time the projects are done, tax day will be behind us!

The Leadership Rotation Begins!

I was surprised and excited to learn last Friday that my Client Services Rotation was over and I would be starting the Leadership Rotation immediately. Service Excellence was previously planned as my next rotation, but Equity Trust's needs have required a change in plans. As a result, I have begun planning for a six-month leadership position in the Client Services Department.

One of the benefits of remaining in the Client Services Department is the opportunity to help with the implementation of the call volume project that Rachel and I completed over the last few months. Our proposals are awaiting approval and they will likely be implemented just in time for tax season. Another benefit of staying in CST is the chance to continue working with the team leads, supervisors, and manager whom I've gotten to know well over the last seven months.

I don't know all of the specifics of my new role in the Leadership Rotation, but I'm sure I will be learning very soon. Right now, I am job shadowing the CST Team Leads to learn about their daily responsibilities. I've also been reviewing Equity Trust's employee handbook, which I will have to know well in a leadership position. I am really looking forward to the challenges and learning experiences that this new rotation will bring. As I learn more about my specific role, I'll follow up with details about tasks to be completed and project plans.

Meeting Deadlines

After Rachel’s recent departure from the Client Services Department, I have been focusing heavily on the call volume project to help prepare CST for tax season. Rachel and I had nearly completed the project by the end of November, so I have been working hard to tie up any loose ends associated with it. Earlier today, I sent the final versions of two Excel files with all of the call volume and staffing data requested by the CST Supervisors and Manager. I am confident that our recommendations will be approved and implemented. After three months of analyzing call volume data and staffing models, the work that Rachel and I did will finally pay off!

In addition to the call volume project, Rachel and I have also been delegating our tasks as Equity Trust Company’s Facebook Administrators. We met with the CST Management Team to choose two great Client Service Representatives who can assume the responsibilities of this project. Like Rachel, I will also be moving on to the next rotation of the Leadership Program in the near future, so training two new Facebook Administrators is imperative before I leave the Client Services Department. So far, the transition is going smoothly.

A fun and exciting part of my job over the last three weeks has been interviewing candidates for open positions in CST. After spending time as a job applicant during college internship searches and job searches after graduation, it was interesting to be on the other side of the desk as an interviewer. Rachel and I were recently trained on Equity Trust Company’s Topgrading methodologies, so the recent interviews have been excellent opportunities to learn how Topgrading practices can be applied. Not only were the interviews great learning experiences, but they served as reminders that I work for a growing, successful organization. I hope to learn the results of our hiring process before I move on to the next rotation in the Service Excellence Department.

Goodbye CST...

This past week, my rotation in Client Services came to an end. I am now starting a new rotation in the Human Resources Department assisting with the recruiting process. My four months in CST were very helpful and I learned so much from our clients. I will take the suggestions that our clients presented with me throughout my future rotations so that Equity Trust Company can continue to enhance our clients' satisfaction with our services. I thought this would be an appropriate time to recap on my experience in client services.

Throughout the first couple of months on the phone, I balanced taking incoming calls from our clients and working on projects. I would say that I spent about 70-80% of my time on the phones and the remaining time was spent working on various projects. In months three and four, I was probably on the phones about 50% of the time and worked on projects the other half of my time.

A typical call from our clients would usually be about a pending investment, how to proceed forward with an investment, questions about their account or questions about paperwork regarding an investment. Most of the answers to their questions could be found within in one of our information systems. Having this type of interaction with our clients helped me to gain information about what our company does, the types of investments our clients are pursuing and the company's internal processing of investments.

Some of the ongoing projects that Colin and I both worked on while in client services included monitoring our Facebook and Twitter pages, a process improvement project and our call volume project. I was also given numerous smaller projects from my supervisors to complete on an as needed basis.

I will miss the client services department but look forward to my new rotation. I will update this blog with my new experiences and projects as my time in Human Resources continues!

Projects

As I've mentioned before, a central part of the Client Services rotation in the Leadership Program is completing projects to make improvements within the department and enhance our services for clients. I'm currently working with Rachel to review call volume data from early 2009 to create accurate forecasts for the call volumes that the Client Services Team (CST) can expect during tax season in early 2010. We're also analyzing different options to create the best scheduling and staffing plans for the department to handle the high number of calls during that time period. Since tax season is very important for Equity Trust and its clients, Rachel and I have been focused on this project for about a month. We've been making good progress and I'm confident that we'll have our final plans ready within a few weeks.

In my opinion, working on such projects is the best part of my job because I get to apply the knowledge and skills I acquired during my college and internship experiences. In addition, the projects I've been working on have the potential to bring financial benefits to the company, make work processes more efficient, and increase customer satisfaction.

Although my projects are primarily focused on the Client Services Department, certain project components can often impact other departments. That has given me the opportunity to discuss the projects with people throughout the company, which has been a great way for me to understand how different departments work together. Everyone in the company seems open to new ideas and eager to help me. Next month, I hope to see new promotions of some of Equity Trust's services on the company website. This is the result of several months of work on a project that was assigned to me in June. Along the way, the project has been improved by employees who work in Marketing, CST, Sales, Service Excellence, and Operations. The implementation of one my projects is a great confidence-builder and it shows how quickly a Leadership Trainee can make an impact at a great company that's moving forward at a fast pace.

Sometimes, I work on one or more projects for most of the day. On other days, I help the rest of CST take incoming calls for our clients, which helps me get a great understanding of Equity Trust clients' experiences. My schedule can vary from day to day and week to week, but I generally try to make sure that I'm spending half of my working hours taking clients' calls, while the other half of work hours are devoted to project work. Since there are project deadlines, required meetings, and company events on a regular basis, my supervisors and manager are always understanding with my schedule. Speaking of my schedule, it's Thursday afternoon and I'm off work tomorrow...I should go finish some things before the three-day weekend!

Passport Journeys

Now that Rachel and I have introduced ourselves, I'd like to write about some of the most unique components of the Leadership Program. For me, meeting the leaders of Equity Trust during the "Passport Journeys" that Rachel mentioned has provided some valuable learning experiences. So far, I've met one-on-one with Equity Trust's CEO; the Vice President and Director of Client Services and Operations; the Director of IT; the Vice President of Marketing and Sales; and the Director of Equity University.

In these meetings, I've not only learned about what each leader's department does, but what each leader sees as the future role of the department. This company is growing rapidly and moving quickly toward its goals, and each department plays a critical role in allowing Equity Trust to achieve its vision of being the most valued company in our clients' lives. The leaders of the company's various departments are all very focused on driving our initiatives to upgrade technologies in order to enhance clients' experiences and improve our work processes. Through my discussions with these leaders, I've gained some insight on their leadership styles and how they manage people and projects on a daily basis.

In addition to the Passport Journeys, I've also had the opportunity to read several books as I've gone through the first two rotations as a Leadership Trainee. "Good to Great", a book by Jim Collins about the differences between good companies and great companies, was a nice introduction to the Leadership Program because it correlated with our CEO's ideas about how our company can become even better. After Reading "Good to Great", I read "The Nordstrom Way", by Robert Spector and Patrick McCarthy, which was a great way to learn about customer service excellence while starting my rotation in the Client Services Department. Most recently, I read "Topgrading", by Brad and Geoff Smart. This book was very informative because it describes many of the hiring, coaching, and performance evaluation methodologies used by Equity Trust's Human Resources Department. Overall, these books have helped me stay focused on the company's goals as well as my own as I progress towards a leadership position.

There will be a few more Passport Journeys and another book or two to read in my third and fourth rotations of the Leadership Program, but right now I'm focused on projects that need to be completed before the Client Services rotation ends. Rachel and I have been working closely with the Client Services Management Team on an action plan to maintain excellent customer service during tax season, which is an especially busy season for our company. On that note, I'll get back to work.

Welcome to CST...

My name is Rachel Cain and I, like Colin, am a Leadership Trainee at Equity Trust Company. I started on June 22, 2009 after graduating from Ohio University with a degree in Finance. The first five weeks were dedicated to an intense training program. Within this training I learned about everything from retirement accounts and investments to information about our company and the mission that Equity Trust strives to achieve.

Since training, I have been in the Client Services Department. On a daily basis I take incoming calls from our clients and their representatives to go over procedures for investing and maintaining their self directed retirement accounts. Being on the ‘front lines’ of the company and interacting with our clients has been extremely beneficial to furthering my understanding of what Equity Trust offers and the investments in which clients are currently pursuing. While in this current rotation, I have been working on numerous projects with the CST supervisors and manager in hopes that some of the ideas brought to the table are implemented within the department.

As a leadership trainee, we are participating in a program referred to as the ‘Passport Journey.’ Throughout my first couple of months with the company, I have had the opportunity to meet one on one with many of the members of our executive team. I had the unique opportunity to go out to dinner with the CEO of Equity Trust, Jeff Desich. It is nearly unheard of to find that type of individual attention to a leadership program within a growing company. Along with the CEO, I have met with additional vice presidents and mangers of numerous departments. Through these meetings I have had the chance to learn about specific departments and find out about the vision that these leaders possess. We were even able to go out for a happy hour with some of the executives. Events like these weren't only fun, but they gave me a chance to interact with our company’s leaders outside of the workplace.

Throughout this blog, Colin and I will provide updates in relation to projects we are working on, events that we attend and the every day experiences of a Leadership Trainee at Equity Trust Company.