Bank of America has launched an employee training program designed to meet the needs of its clients through every stage of their lives.
“Lifestage Navigation” is a learning curriculum developed in partnership with Age Wave, a leader on population demographics and aging, under the leadership of founder and CEO Dr. Ken Dychtwald. It is intended to foster deeper relationships between employees of Bank of America, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, and their clients nationwide, according to John Jordan, head of the Academy for Consumer and Small Business for Bank of America.
“Our business is based on client relationships," Jordan said. "Through Lifestage Navigation training, our employees will gain a deeper understanding and heightened empathy for the events that shape our clients’ lives."
Jordan said that by transforming how the bank's workforce interacts with clients and customers, employees would be far better at creating and deepening long-term relationships with them.
The nine-hour learning curriculum was developed through studies and survey data based on over 70,000 hours of work by dozens of researchers, behavioral finance experts, psychologists, economists and instructional designers. It utilizes ground-breaking and proprietary insights, empathy training, and a wide range of techniques to assist bank employees to better develop and relate to the unique, individual needs of each client.
Years in the making, Dychtwald said that "Lifestage Navigation" was custom-developed for financial professionals to focus on people, not products. He said that the learning curriculum would enable Bank of America employees to provide their clients with customized attention and care at every stage of life, whether that customer may have started his or her first job, might be a new parent, or is preparing for retirement.
“The era of one-size-fits-all is over,” Dychtwald said.