The heart and soul of BB&T is its philosophy, also termed its core values. This is ingrained in all employees at all levels of the organization. BB&T’s refers to employees as “associates” in its management terminology. BB&T’s values form the basis for all actions performed by all employees during the course of their duties. BB&T’s guiding vision is to create the best financial institution possible, “to be the best of the best”. This quest for excellence is perhaps the primordial factor maximizing human performance and lays the seeds for long-term growth and evolution. BB&T’s approach to dependable finance is very human; by maximizing human potential, the bank’s potential is maximized thus delivering shareholder and client value and dependability. These values are of course long term. The hierarchy and interaction of the core values are as shown in Fig. 10.1.

BB&T’s philosophy develops the associate and governs their actions to the highest moral, fiduciary, and intellectual standards. The customer is the focus of all bank activity, therefore he or she is the direct beneficiary of investments made in the associate. It follows therefore that to deliver the best of the best to the customer, the associate has to perform at peak capacity. Associate development by necessity is a long-term process and to travel this long journey, an employee needs two things, a core philosophy or set of values which acts as a moral and ethical compass and a method or process that delivers these values into tangible transactions. Therefore, an associate must be viewed as a long-term asset in whose growth and development lies the means to be the best of the best.

But firstly, what are values? They are hard to define since they vary so diversely with culture. The Oxford English Dictionary defines values as “beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life” [2]. Values therefore establish standards for behavior and judgment. They provide guidance and clarity in uncertain times. They provide consistency in our actions. Actions guided by values therefore are least likely to stray from high ethical, moral, and legal standards. Therefore, once values are well established, conscientious actions follow. By consistent application, values proceed from our conscious to our sub-conscious behavior and actions. BB&T’s core philosophy is composed of ten values which every associate is encouraged to internalize and apply consistently [3]. The stress on values comes from BB&T’s belief that “ideas matter and an individual’s character is of critical significance” [3]. In the following section, BB&T’s ten values are listed followed by a brief discussion in the context of delivering dependability.

The core values lie at the heart of all matters big and small at BB&T; they influence all aspects of operations. These values provide the framework for an employee’s thoughts and actions during their growth at BB&T. The internalization of these values tempers emotions which transform from reflexive feelings to a deeper understanding of thought and happiness. Emotions evolve in a manner where they reinforce best decisions and behavior towards long-term success and happiness. Beliefs inspire behaviors which lead to results [3].

While mission values are not unique to BB&T, translating them from abstract principles to day-to-day actions across thousands of employees is an important process. This is all the more important when a company grows by mergers and acquisitions, assimilating thousands of new employees in short periods of time who come from different organizations. A core philosophy therefore needs a process to spread these principles across the organization. BB&T achieves that through very innovative employee education programs which will be studied in subsequent sections.

The basis of BB&T’s success is to understand the customer and to act only in the best interests of the customer. BB&T encourages all associates to understand the customer’s needs, credit requirements, business processes, and best interests as the basis for all transactions [4].

BB&T University is the primary learning and development arm of BB&T. The main campus is located in Winston Salem with training centers across the bank’s footprint. The main functions of the university are:

The university operates on a “Demand-Pull” business model. Demand-Pull itself is discussed in detail in Chap. 8. Applied to banking operations, this refers to the fact that a business knowledge need is first identified (“demand”) in the organization followed by course development to meet that need (“pull”). BB&T University is geared towards providing banking and financial industry knowledge for new employees who will serve as officers in the bank. The BB&T Banking School at Wake Forest University is geared towards existing bank employees who have shown exceptional performance but have a non-banking or finance background. This program helps such individuals gain domain knowledge in banking to lay the foundation for further career advancement at BB&T.

LDP is designed for training and mentoring new hires who are college graduates. Graduates of the LDP progress to solid careers at BB&T. They have served long, successful careers in the organization and form the vast majority of officers on the executive team of the bank. Class sizes vary depending on economic conditions and hiring requirements, ranging from 120–150 individuals in economic boom years to 50–60 in more recent times. A great emphasis is placed on company culture and values throughout the program. The company core values are emphasized during all phases of the program. The course structure involves lectures from senior management, including the chairman. This allows new associates to come face to face with senior management, division heads, and understand company policies and management direction. There are two major training areas—business and corporate. The idea is to create knowledgeable employees who would fit into leadership roles within the organization in the years to come. Coursework includes finance, accounting, regulation, economics, and business administration. Training is divided into three phases.

Phase I introduces new associates to the company culture and philosophy. The aim is to internalize within them that BB&T is a values-driven organization. There is constant teaching and exposure of “vision/mission/values”. Associates are able to determine during this phase if they fit in or not. This is also a great “self-awareness” phase. Associates learn to relate to one another and learn banking. They understand BB&T’s positioning in the industry and their potential role in the organization. They learn different banking models. During this phase they learn the business and processes of a small community bank (BB&T’s birth and roots). Progressively they learn the more complex range of products and services of a large bank. They learn to compare and contrast BB&T’s operations with competitors. The topics during this phase are variable and include a talk and interactive session with the chairman. This phase typically lasts the first few months. Towards the end of this phase, associates are expected to be driven by the core values of the bank and get a sense of direction of where they fit in the organization. Phase I introduces associates to the basics of financial products and banking processes. Associates learn fundamental banking concepts such as credit analysis, financial analysis, and introduction to commercial underwriting. They learn to appraise loans and the underwriting process. This phase focuses on developing domain knowledge, understanding credit models, and building familiarity with different software used in banking. Associates learn to work in teams and tackle problems collaboratively. By the end of this phase, associates blend independent thinking and critical analysis with collaborative teamwork skills.

Phase II training becomes more specialized depending on the career interests of the associates. It is broadly classified into business and corporate. This phase usually lasts 3 months. Business associates go on to careers in commercial banking. This phase is very intensive since it expands considerably on skills acquired in phase I. By the end of phase II, business associates would have learnt all aspects of working in a community bank. The corporate trainees develop skills for roles in BB&T’s core management and operations. Associates from this track go onto careers in human systems, regulations, audit, etc.

In Phase III, all associates come back together for a final review and undergo a series of formal end of program evaluations. All associates undergo a 90 day, 6 month, and end of program review. They are required to turn in papers and undergo formal testing in a bank simulator. The simulator exposes them to different credit problems under different economic conditions and evaluates their responses. They are evaluated by a panel of senior managers from BB&T where they discuss and defend their actions in the simulations process. Upon successful completion, associates graduate and then undergo placement for their first job.

At the completion of their training, graduates are paired with their respective mentors. Every graduate is assigned a mentor for at least 2 years. Graduates with prestigious MBA degrees receive an additional 2 years of mentoring, for a total of 4 years. Mentoring is considered an extremely important aspect of career development at BB&T. Retention programs to prevent attrition of trained associates starts almost immediately following graduation. Past experience suggests that the greatest risk of attrition is during the 18–36 months period. There are many factors which account for this, two of the more important reasons are:

Mentoring plays a great role in mitigating attrition. Associates can communicate freely with a person outside their reporting lines and discuss perceived negatives (for example unsupportive boss, “work is not interesting” etc.) without fear of retribution. They can learn coping strategies from their mentors. Skill deficiencies can be addressed and goals for performance improvement can be formulated. In cases of major mismatches of an associate’s aptitude and job responsibilities, mentors can help with transitions within the organization which can bring greater work satisfaction. Beyond the 5-year period, associate retention and satisfaction is much greater.

UCP refers to BB&T University’s job-specific training process. Associates hired or promoted into a specific position are assigned the corresponding training curriculum (e.g., teller, retail lender, commercial lender, mortgage lender, etc.) to develop the skills necessary for discharging their job responsibilities. They are allotted 30 months to complete the program. The statistics confirm the benefits of investing in associate training and development. UCP graduates show consistently superior performance compared to their peers:

Most importantly, a statistical analysis comparing the UCP to associate retention has shown a strong positive correlation of +0.507 between the two. Therefore, investments in associate education and career development have a positive impact on performance and retention. Therefore, through BB&T University (including the LDP) and Banking school programs, the human systems division integrates recruitment, training, leadership development, and retention [5].

Section “From Values to Knowledge to Processes” will explore medical implementations of ideas borrowed from BB&T for patient care and physician training.

At the heart of successful organizations lie core values. Core values inspire an organizational mission and vision. This inspires the development of knowledge to deliver the mission objectives. The successful day-to-day translation of these objectives and delivery in the form of products and services requires the development of efficient processes. As the organization succeeds, it inspires new thought, development of new knowledge and newer processes on a bedrock of unchanging values (Fig. 10.2).