How SBI plans to retain its competitive edge

The bank is also working on a three-year business plan, nearly coinciding with the time its new chairman Rajnish Kumar would be in the corner office.

State Bank of India (SBI) will assess executives’ competencies, craft individual development plans and provide 360-degree feedbacks to its top management to ensure the lender has a competitive advantage.

The country’s largest lender is hiring an advisor for this exercise.

A 360-degree feedback for top executives is the need of the hour to help them understand the perception gap, said sources.

It would ensure that employees and peers give feedback on the subject of the assessment.

A senior SBI executive said with the “merger of associate banks giving us scale, the focus is now on enhancing human resources capacity”.

The top management - which includes the chairman, managing directors, deputy managing directors and chief general managers - drives the lender’s key initiatives, serves as change agents and also acts as mentors.

In this backdrop, the bank would like to assess key competencies required for a successful leader and devise individual development plans, another SBI executive said.

The time frame for the project is five months. The bank is aiming at completing the process by the end of March 2018.

The bank is also working on a three-year business plan, nearly coinciding with the time its new chairman Rajnish Kumar would be in the corner office. Kumar took charge in October 2017.

Assessment of competencies can be done digitally through psychometric tests, in-basket exercises and case studies.

"The bank is also considering using digital methods, instead of “assessment centres”.

This will ensure uniformity across the target group, save travel time and be cost effective.

Competency reports would be confidential. But these might be used to design individual development plans if required.

SBI had a headcount of 271,675, comprising 104,414 officers, 118,406 assistants, 48,079 subordinate staff and 776 contractual officials.

The lender has a network of 16 local head offices, 108 administrative offices, 527 regional offices, and more than 23,000 branches in the country.

It has 205 foreign offices/branches covering 36 countries.

The bank had deposits worth Rs 24,72,200 crore and advances of Rs 15,95,681 crore as of October 2017.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters