In Your Shoes - Tony Guatella

Tony Guatella is the Branch Manager in Dundee for Future Williams & Glyn and had this to say about the company.

"Future Williams & Glyn in Scotland is about making banking easier for our customers. We are here to listen, to challenge, to make things better for our customers, potential future customers, whilst taking a pro active role within our local communities. We want to connect with and understand the needs of emerging and established local entrepreneurs, as well as those of our private, retail and business customers. We will prioritise our customers' needs and deliver a high standard of service to them. The bottom line is that all of these customer strands will have immediate access to the Bank Manager, of a local branch that is small enough to know you whilst being big enough to help you."

Continue reading for a week in Tony's shoes!

The Week Begins!

My Monday as always starts with the commute from Glasgow all the way to Dundee (always get a shocked look when people find this out & even more shocking when they find out I do it daily!) Mondays are used in the office to prepare & plan for the week ahead. I hold our weekly service audio for Scotland with members of our frontline staff and talk about the previous week and what we could do to improve the service to our customer’s.

On the Counter

Some may seem surprised by seeing a branch manager on the frontline serving the public but it’s a part of the job I love as it allows me to keep in touch with my personal banking customers and give them a face of the branch.

Tuesday mornings are also used for coaching our customer adviser team in Scotland. I take the audio and go over how we can meet more customer needs & overcome any challenges we have had in the previous week. We share best practice to ensure a great consistent service throughout Scotland.

Local business visit

Today I visited one of our local business customers at his premises. I try and visit a customer at there site at least once a week. Having only been here since June I am slowly but surely getting there with everyone. I like to build relationships with my customers out with them just visiting the branch.

They seem to enjoy having a face to there banking which is a huge part of what we do here.

Networking

I had a fantastic morning at the Employability of young people Business Breakfast. The event centred around how employers, teachers, college & university representatives the chance to share & shape how we can enhance the employability of the young people in Dundee. The guest speaker was a Mr Brian Cunningham who had flew over from the USA who has experience in engagement between employers & education.  Having went into employment at a young age myself this really struck a cord with me and something I am very passionate about and I will pro-actively be looking to assist in any way I can in the local area.

Supporting local business

Productive Afternoon spent with a Susan Long. Susan is new to the business world and is starting up her own bakery company which she is looking to get off the ground. I have given her my banking hall the full day in the new year where she can come in and display her wears. This lets her expose her delicious cakes to a new audience and help grow her brand.