I began my career at Abbey National (now Banco Santander), quickly stepping into leadership and managing the area’s largest branch by the age of 23. It was an incredible experience that started my lifelong interest in helping people and organisations going through change.
Recently, Santander announced it would close 95 branches – over 20% of its UK network, including three where I built my career. Whilst not surprising, given the rise of online banking and reduced footfall, it’s still a loss. Other banks were quicker to scale down, but Santander took a more customer-focused approach, maintaining in-person service to build trust and deepen relationships. I believe that strategy still holds value.
High streets are evolving. As more products move online, services – especially personal, human ones – take centre stage. Modern banks must strike a balance: offer digital tools and smart ATMs alongside physical touchpoints like pop-up branch formats and community bankers to provide some face-to-face support where it counts.
In my time as a branch manager and financial adviser, I had the privilege of supporting people through some of life’s biggest financial moments:
· A young couple planning their first home
· A man recovering from a heart attack, unsure how to pay his mortgage
· A widow dealing with her late husband’s estate
· A parent investing in a child’s future
· A separated couple dividing assets and moving forward
These are deeply human situations, and you can’t replicate empathy or understanding through a chatbot.
As a change communicator, my time working face-to-face with customers taught me some invaluable lessons. For example, when a company is making changes to its business that are complex or have a substantive effect on people’s lives (e.g. mergers, revised job roles, redundancies, new or closing sites etc.), a blended communication approach is essential.
Start with a personal touch and also have information available online so people can revisit it in their own time. Not only is this more humane, it’s also good business. You benefit from their ideas, and by giving people a chance to be heard, you reduce the risks of protests, negative media stories and poor morale.
Working in bank branches also showed me that communications can’t be one-size-fits-all. I had to adapt my language and tone, whether speaking to financially savvy clients in affluent areas or blue-collar workers in more deprived neighbourhoods. Too often, head office-led change projects assume everyone works at a desk with easy digital access. That’s simply not the reality.
On a recent project, I supported a warehouse team with only one shared PC that they could only access in their lunch break, so instead of sending digital updates, the project lead joined their regular team meeting for a face-to-face briefing. We then followed up with printed updates on notice boards and in the canteen; simple, but effective.
HSBC coined the term ‘glocal’ to describe balancing global standards with local relevance. Buzzword or not, it captures a critical truth: successful change communication happens when strategy meets empathy. And that’s how you build a better business.