Page 38 - CCCA 250375 Magazine_Summer 2016

{ strategIC management }

innoVAtion in-houSe:

bmo driVing eFFiCienCY And engAgement

By Lynne Yryku

three years ago, the Legal and Compliance group at BMO Financial Approximately a third of the Group par-
group turned their focus to innovation and effciency in their ticipate in the Challenge, driving value for
BMO and its customers. It has fostered
department. they came up with the Innovative team Challenge. collaboration, encouraged employees to
work outside of their own functions, and
helped them gain perspective on other ar-
“ ur original thought was that we want- tions and 75 fnal entries. This year, it eas of the legal and bank operations.
ed to change the culture internally to received 135 registrations and 94 fnal To encourage the sharing of ideas
obe more forward thinking,” says Carla entries. The fnalists—and winners— across the Legal and Compliance Group
Goldstein, Associate General Counsel and are recognized at an awards ceremony and throughout the bank, a catalogue of
Director of Strategic Initiatives. “We want- in front of their peers. the projects is produced and posted.
ed to change the conversation from ‘This is “As soon as those frst awards were “It is an amazing catalogue of effcien-
how I have always done it,’ to ‘How can I do over, people started talking about the next cy,” explains Cudjoe. “We share it with
it better?’” They knew training alone would year,” recalls Goldstein. “We did not play other lines of business to show them what
not drive this behaviour change. up the competition, but it was there. The we are doing on our end, and ask how
Open to all 640-plus Legal and Com- winners were so proud of themselves.” they can take the projects further on their
pliance Group employees around the “The photos of the teams being celebrat- side.”
globe, the Challenge is simple: employees ed were of people you would not normally The involvement of executives from
have to work in teams to implement proj- see together. It cut across groups and bor- throughout the organization as judges
ects that streamline processes, increase ders,” adds Bindu Cudjoe, Deputy General has been instrumental in the idea shar-
effciencies or improve how they worked Counsel & Chief Administrative Offcer. ing as well. They see frsthand what the
with outside counsel. Training and one- “The collateral benefts have been much Group is doing and can take the con-
on-one support is provided along the way, more than we expected. People have built cepts—and potentially the Challenge for-
and the submission process consists of relationships working on these projects.” mat—back to their groups, which helps
flling out one simple form. Those enter- The cultural shift has been transfor- BMO as a whole.
ing the Challenge must demonstrate their mational on what BMO’s Legal and Com- “It really has become part of our cul-
project is straightforward, and easily and pliance Group does and how it works. ture in Year 3,” states Cudjoe.
objectively tracked. Ideas can range from
simplifying a process to improving time
effciency, increasing predictable or bet-
ter outcomes, reducing costs, mitigating
risk, or improving effectiveness or value.
Submissions are judged by the General
Counsel and executives selected from the
operating businesses.
“The projects deal with day-to-day
work,” explains Goldstein. “We kept [the
process] as simple as possible so people
would actually do it. For instance, using
less paper is a great project— simple, but
a huge savings to the bank.”
A resounding Success
When it launched in 2013, BMO re- Initiators of the Innovative Team Challenge (L to R): Carla Goldstein, Associate General Counsel
ceived 60 project registrations and 40 & Director of Strategic Initiatives; Anne Sonnen, Chief Compliance Offcer, Wealth Management;
and Debra Renaud, Director, Offce of the General Counsel. Photo: Chris Owen Harper.
fnal entries. In 2014, it got 108 registra-

38 CCCa MagazIne | SUMMer 2016 été