Look to your banking operations manual as a great template for training your bank employees in every aspect of their jobs.

You really do not need to look further than your banking operations manual to find the perfect resource for everything you need to train great bank employees. Whether you work at a branch or a bank franchise unit, that banking operations manual can be just as valuable as any other document you may have in the building. You can look at your franchise disclosure documents or any of the many other information resources you may have laying around and none of them will beat using a great operations manual to put together your training plan.

One of the challenges that new hires to your bank have is getting their arms around the many policies of the bank. Banking is nothing if not rich with policies and regulations enough to come out the ears of employees. That is why the banking operations manual must be a big part of that training program.  Even if you do not push the new trainees through every page of that document, showing them how to use it to tap into this gold mine of information about banking procedures can help the people who make your bank hum know where to go if they are not sure about what is ok and what is frowned on as they go about their daily duties.

Bank robbers don’t always show up with masks on and carrying guns.  There is enough creativity in how bad guys try to do bad things to get money out of banks to keep Hollywood making movies forever. But even more than that guard with a gun, your banking operations manual can arm every employee to know what to look for when it comes to dirty deeds about to be done. They can watch out for phony checks or forged currency because they were trained to become a crack team of crime busters through the knowledge that comes in the banking operations manual.

Taking the fear and loathing out of banking computer systems using your banking operations manual.

Even if your new employees are not phobic about computers, the systems that are used to be a good bank customer service representative take some getting used to. In every business in the world a good operations manual can smooth out the problems of getting employees up to speed on how to use your banking software systems.

If you are just putting together your bank training program for new employees, you can use the banking operations manual as the template for the format and content of that training.  Even if the document itself is a bit dry to read, by taking what is there and turning into exciting training materials, you know you have your feet planted in good banking policy while you use your training and showmanship skills to turn those recruits into great banking employees without killing off their enthusiasm for the job.

A bank operations manual is a crucial element of doing business when you are dealing with people’s money.

For any bank manager or officer, to overlook the importance of the bank operations manual would be a mistake. Whether the bank that is being managed is a full branch of a larger operation or a business entity that is subject to franchise law, the importance of the bank operations manual is not diminished.

The banking industry is heavily regulated. That is as it should be since, after all, they are dealing with your money.  A well crafted bank operations manual is there to keep the bank’s nose clean. It is there to make sure that the regulators and customers know that nobody is dipping out of anybody’s accounts and that they are handling your cash in a way that will convince you to let them guard it some more.

The tricky part of running a bank is administering fairly complicated and confusing polices and procedures and doing so while regular people work as employees or show up at your teller’s windows to deal with their money issues. The bank operations manual has to turn a neat trick of helping employees understand what is going on and what is expected of them while not talking to them in language that only a PHD in economics would understand.  To do that, a good bank operations manual must cover well the complicated issues of banking terms but explain them in plain English so employees can carry them out correctly.

Employees and customers alike rely on that bank operations manual even if they don’t know it.

To run a seriously efficient bank, you have to have employees that know their stuff. Training is at the core of how to develop a terrific team who can score with customers and live up to the many rules and regulations of the banking industry. Great training grows right out of a knock-your-socks-off bank operation manual. That resource can be your one stop shopping resource to put together a training plan. On top of that, by communicating loud and clear to employees that the bank operations manual is their best friend in doing a great job, you will find your facility copy of the bank operations manual always missing because someone will be using it every day.

The good news is that the development of your own bank operations manual can start from the experience of others.  There are a number of great operations manual templates that will jump-start the process.  Don’t be afraid to pick the brains of people who prepared these templates or of other banking experts who have the brain power you need to create a bank operations manual that can take your bank to the next level.