The Only Constant Is Change

The usually taciturn American Banker Newspaper, normally a business-as-usual publication, recently ran a very thoughtful series on life in the banking industry. Specifically, they talked about how life in the banking industry is changing and how those changes are affecting the people left in banking.

One article during the series had to do with today's bankers being "burned out" and overstressed. They described symptoms such as diminished hope, feelings of emptiness, the constant need to prove yourself, the unwillingness to delegate work, physical and mental exhaustion.

Why are there such symptoms for the people who work in our financial institutions? What's happened to the banking industry that creates the need to publish such an article?

One theory is the fact that we find it harder and harder to deal with change.

Those of us who have been around awhile remember when getting a job in a bank was synonymous with saying "job-for-life". Now, we may have a hard time dealing with an industry that changes with almost the speed of light.

The human mind resists change. Many smart entrepreneurs have gotten rich appealing to the need to return to the "good-old-days" by marketing music from the 50s and 60s, opening restaurants where you can still get 'burgers, fat fries, and root beer floats, and publishing magazines about life as it was yesterday. The farther away we get from those days-the better they look. Even banks were nicer, it seems.

Change took place then in the banking industry - but more slowly. It took several years to decide that interest could be paid on checking accounts. Even ATMs took decades to be totally accepted.

Now changes take place weekly-in mergers, regulations, products, the way our services are delivered. Job security is gone, and with it went peace of mind.

Large banks, with their technical talent and support, change more quickly and to a greater degree. It's no wonder that employees there are more unsure of their jobs-hence, more stressed and burned out. One lady said it well when she stated, "I'm so busy trying to keep my job that I don't have time to do my work!"

Copyright © 1996 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 6, No. 9, 7/96