Most community banks don’t have a talent problem.
They have a profit connection problem.
CEOs tell me the same thing: “We’ve got good people. Great service. Strong work ethic.” But when you ask those same employees how they drive profitability—how they bring in the full relationship at premium pricing—you get blank stares.
And it’s not because they’re lazy. It’s because most employees don’t know what “top performance” actually means.
In our national research, we analyzed 1,000+ workplace professionals and asked a simple question: Do you perform in the top 10%?
Seventy-five percent said yes. Statistically impossible. Culturally normal.
That gap creates a dangerous illusion: people believe effort equals value. Coming in early and being nice to customers becomes the definition of performance—while profitability drivers stay invisible.
Here’s the trap: when organizations introduce accountability before people understand what they’re accountable to, they trigger fear, resentment, and turnover.
In this video you’ll discover:
Why “good service” is not a profitability strategy
How to connect every role to measurable profit drivers
The hidden risk of letting low performers ride on your best people
Because when lower performers aren’t paying for themselves, your top talent subsidizes the entire system—and that’s a risk you can’t live with.
Watch now.
In talking to hundreds of bank CEOs, I’ve heard the same repeated message. We’ve got good people. They have good customer service skills, but they don’t really know how to bring in the entire relationship at premium pricing, and they don’t really know how they tie to profit. Well, if you have this problem, you’re not alone because this is a common issue.
People mean well. It’s not their fault. Did you know that when we did our national research, where we analyzed over a thousand different people in the workplace, and we asked them, “Do you perform in the top ten percent?” what we found out is that seventy-five percent believe that they perform in the top ten percent?
Yeah. I know. I know. That’s statistically impossible.
And yet, they truly believe that they’re a top performer because they come in early and they’re good to the customer. But they don’t know that there’s another whole piece in terms of the critical drivers that tie them to profit. And here’s the problem that most organizations have when they start bringing in accountability cultures: they get ahead of their skis. They ask them to be accountable for things they’re not ready for yet, and then they have a mass exodus for the door.
In today’s day and age, we have to figure this problem out because we do need people who know how they tie to profit, because they do have to pay for themselves. And here’s why it’s important.
When your lower performers are not paying for themselves, that means they are on the shoulders of your very best performers—and that’s a risk you can’t live with.
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