Success often a matter of personality

Then we asked where they would go if they wanted to change jobs. And, often, the grass is greener: credit union employees name banks and bankers name credit unions. “Royal,” says a banker with Bank of Nova Scotia in Alberta. “A credit union,” says an Ontario rep with National Bank of Canada.
As would be expected, there are a few dissenters. “I’d be a checkout girl at Sobey’s,” says an Ontario banker at CIBC. “I love scanning machines.”

Certain kinds of people, it appears, are suited to the industry.

Shawn Bakker, a chartered psychologist at Psychometrics Canada Ltd., is not surprised. “If you value logic, statistics and numbers, you’re very cool and logical. You’d probably do well in a bank setting,” he says. “Of course, if you’re an introverted type, you might have trouble dealing with the sales aspect of the culture.”

Edmonton-based Psychometrics is a company specializing in personality typing for corporations and personnel departments. Seventy per cent of its business comes from invitations to evaluate staff members for personality typing, as an educational exercise as much as a problem-solving procedure. Bakker employs a wide range of surveys and tests designed to categorize personality traits, but the most common, he says, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Isabel Briggs Myers and Dr. Mary McCaulley developed the test in the late 1960s as a way to identify the eight major personality traits established in the theories of Carl Jung. The renowned psychoanalyst, who began his career as Sigmund Freud’s pupil, interviewed hundreds of patients and organized behavioural traits into four separate categories: introverted vs extroverted; sensing vs intuitive; thinking vs feeling; and judging vs perceiving. An abstract artist, for example, might be typed as an ISFP, while a stockbroker would be an ENTJ (extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging). Bakker admits, however, that it is not an exact science. “Not just any one type is suited to a job, and any type can do well at many jobs.”

Account managers who excel at their jobs, he says, would be extroverted, sensing types who rely on a strong sense of judgment. “I think most work settings value a thinking type rather than a feeling type; the banking industry would for sure.” Feeling types, says Bakker, are far more empathetic and emotional, while thinkers gravitate toward numbers.

Donna Wilson, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union‘s vice president of human resources, agrees. Management at VanCity recently had a company come in to perform the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. “I think most of us are ENTs [extroverted, intuitive and thinking], but whether we deal with things through judgment or perception varies,” says Wilson, adding there is room for “feeling” types and people with social consciences are making it within credit unions.

Jennifer Tory, senior vice president of sales effectiveness at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto, says the bank doesn’t identify specific personality types in its recruiting process but does use a common practice called “behavioural interviewing.” This is a process in which candidates are given specific situations and quizzed about how they would react or handle themselves. Jung’s typing is left unstated, but the questions are remarkably similar to those in the Myers-Briggs test, so the responses should essentially indicate the applicant’s personality as much as aptitude. “What we generally talk about is that you’re hired for skill and trained for the industry,” she adds.

At Bank of Nova Scotia, Arlene Russell, vice president of employment relationships, doesn’t know if personality typing is all that necessary. “What we look for are individuals who are very outgoing and innovative, communicators, self-starters and results-oriented individuals.” In essence, the bank looks for ENT-type personalities.
So if banks are recruiting the best people for the jobs, why do some account managers think they would be happier at credit unions?
Wilson says it’s probably because of the “closeness to the members. We’re very clear on values. Yeah, you’ll make good money,” says Wilson, “but you’ll also get alignment with your social involvement.”

Wilson notes that social responsibility is an important part of the credit union philosophy. Each year, the company performs a “social audit,” checking levels of employee engagement and community involvement.
One credit union employee in Ontario describes it as a place for “people who hate voice mail. We always have a person answering the phone.”

The survey shows that although many bankers would rather be at a credit union, just as many of their credit union counterparts would like to be working at a bank. Banks, they say, offer more career opportunities. “We can’t offer all the products and services, bells and whistles, that the banks can,” says one credit union employee in Alberta. “I think sometimes that’s by necessity and sometimes it’s by choice.”

Wilson admits the scope of credit unions is much smaller and that sets limits on how competitive they can be for both their clients and for their employees. “If you’re comparing yourself to a bank, you won’t have the deep pockets,” she says. “If you just want gold in your pockets, you’ll have to go elsewhere.”

Managing other people’s money requires effort, adds Tory. “Roles are evolving here. There’s added stress. It’s just our industry. Even when you’re talking about mutual funds, there’s anti-money laundering, leadership worries and communications issues to keep up on.

“It’s not always perfect,” she says, “but we have the right attitude.” IE