YORK, Penn. — The true measure of an effective branch manager is when the boss leaves and the office doesn't miss a beat.
That's the business philosophy of Wendy Spangler, who manages First Capital FCU's East York location. "If I left here today this branch would be successful. The staff might miss me, but the office would run," she said. "Staff all have been cross-trained, and work flows down not up. If my assistant is out, I very rarely get her work because that job is shared by everyone else. Any person's work can be picked by any member of the team and things will run smoothly."
The East York office is located in the suburbs of York in southeast Pennsylvania. A city of 8,800, York is known for its small to medium-sized manufacturing of everything from motorcycles to pretzels to wallpaper to candy. That diversity is reflected in the $103-million First Capital's membership, which is made up of 400 SEGs. "We have a great deal of blue collar workers, many of those members feel like the credit union is their extended family."
The branch has been in East York since 1985, when it was acquired through a merger. Members stop in and know the staff by first name, and vice versa, Spangler said. "Our staff has a great deal of tenure, which I think makes our branch feel very comfortable to members," Spangler shared. "They like stopping in."
Spangler, as much as staff themselves, is responsible for fostering the relaxed atmosphere in the branch. When she came to East York five years ago, she recognized the importance of skilled, friendly, tenured employees, and worked to keep things that way. "You have to have employees that enjoy what they are doing," she said. "I worked at a bank and I know how that is not the case there, and banks' service suffers as a result. When I came here the first thing I did was make sure the people that were here wanted to be here and enjoyed helping members. That keeps business coming back."
So Spangler did more rearranging than replacing. "The group was really tight knit and you should not replace front-line people who members are used to dealing with. Those are the people who make the credit union successful."
Spangler said the move plays well in today's economy, where member service is the competitive advantage. "Member service has always been important, but much more so today. With all the bank and credit union mergers, I think service is lacking. People want to be known by their financial when they walk in. They want good service, and they are willing to pay a little more for it. If they get 25% less on an interest rate they will still go to the place where they get the service."
Even though Spangler contends the York branch would run effectively without her at the helm, the manager is certainly needed to make those judgment calls that many banks avoid. "Face it, if everyone followed policies and procedures to the letter, you wouldn't need managers," observed Spangler. "You need someone to look at the member's entire picture and say this needs to be an exception."
This special report on Branch Management is reported by Ray Birch.
