Learn how Bank First rebuilt its entire approach to growth, capability and culture through human-centred design.

In the week leading up to the 2025 AHRI Awards Celebration event on 5 December, HRM is publishing the case studies of some of this year’s finalists.

When I joined Bank First, we were at the height of a five-year transformation that touched every corner of the organisation. Our purpose – caring for those who care for the community – had never been clearer, and, like many organisations, we were operating in a fast-shifting environment. 

The mutual banking sector was consolidating rapidly, customer expectations were rising and the emergence of AI was redefining what future-ready capability looked like. It was a moment that called for clarity, focus and the opportunity to think differently.

We started from a position of strength. Long tenures, deep commitment and strong relationships set us up well. At the same time, we saw an opportunity to evolve our systems, skills and mindset so we could continue to keep pace with the world around us.

People across the bank were doing exceptional work, yet not everyone had visibility of how their contribution connected to our strategy or received the forward-looking growth conversations they needed to stay future fit and engaged.

We were proud of our warm, collegiate and community-minded culture. At the same time, we also recognised there was room to build more candour and constructive challenge to help us grow and innovate with confidence.

Our ‘Be You’ people strategy emerged from this context. We developed it through a deeply human-centred design process, combining external insights with internal discovery workshops. 

People told us they wanted clearer expectations, richer development, more feedback in the moment and a stronger link between their daily work and the bank’s direction. 

What followed was a complete redesign of our performance system – bringing culture, capability and employee experience together in a way that felt authentic to who we are.

Here’s how we did it, what we learned and how it reshaped our approach to personal development.

Designing with and for our people

Bank First was founded on a bold act. More than 50 years ago, a group of teachers put ten dollars each into a hat so a single mother – turned away by traditional banks – could pay rent and keep her children safe. That story has become folklore here because it demonstrates that we exist to make bold moves for members who dedicate their lives to serving others.

When we set out to redesign our performance framework, we took that origin story seriously. We wanted to create an experience that felt bold, human and future-focused. That meant we needed to deeply understand the day-to-day experiences of our people.

One of the earliest insights was that our long-standing blanket pay uplift wasn’t supporting differentiation in the way we intended. While the approach has been designed to recognise everyone’s contribution, it didn’t always reflect individual impact. 

High-performing employees told us they wanted clearer recognition, and others shared that they sometimes struggled to understand how they were tracking.

Another insight was that employees wanted a stronger line of sight between their work and the bank’s strategic pillars. They knew what was required day-to-day, but they were looking for a clearer connection to the future we were building.

Importantly, they trusted their leaders. They valued weekly one-to-ones and wanted these conversations to remain human and meaningful, rather than compliance-driven.

“Performance systems are not forms or processes. They are experiences. When the experience is human, relevant and anchored in real conversations, everything else falls into place.”

Developing development personas

These insights shaped our design principles: simplify where possible, strengthen alignment, preserve what matters, build capability and ensure every element feels human. 

We also knew we couldn’t design a standardised solution. So, we created different personas to reflect the diversity of needs and motivations across the bank. They include:

• Accelerators, go-getters who thrive under pressure and want stretch opportunities, recognition and opportunities to advance.
• Architects, knowledge workers who build deep expertise and contribute through analysis, insight and problem solving.
• Routineers, who bring stability and excellence in process, ensuring consistency, accuracy and reliability in a regulated environment.
• Explorers, early-career talent still discovering their strengths, hungry for guidance, structure and development pathways.
• Mismatch, people whose strengths do not align with their current role and need support to transition or re-skill.

Designing with these personas helped us test whether the framework would genuinely meet people where they were.

Redesigning the performance framework

The final framework – our Continuous Performance Framework – is built around four interlocking components that run over the course of the year.

1. Milestone mapping – redefining goal setting

Traditional SMART goals were not landing. People felt they were overly complex and not easily recalled. So we stripped goal-setting back to its essence by combining Simon Sinek’s “one word” focus with a simple ‘what-why-how’ structure. 

Every person now articulates:

• What they’re aiming to achieve
• Why it matters
• How they’ll deliver it
• And, most importantly, their one focus for the year.

This structure dramatically lifted the quality of goal conversations. Leaders can now cascade goals clearly down from strategic pillars, and employees can track how their work contributes to the bank’s direction in real time.

Goal transparency is embedded through shared dashboards showing how teams are tracking, and this visibility has strengthened both accountability and cross-functional collaboration.

2. Continuous growth – lifting the quality of in-the-moment feedback

The second component is continuous feedback, guided by Giver and Receiver mindsets depicted in our internal frameworks. The mindsets highlight behaviours such as:

This work was essential because our strong sense of care and connection sometimes meant we held back from offering constructive feedback and challenge. 

We reframed this by leaning into Brené Brown’s principle that “clear is kind” and invested in building practical feedback capability across the organisation. 

We upskilled everyone in simple conversation tools such as the Situation Behaviour Impact (SBI) model for feedback and the 1-2-3 model for coaching. These tools have helped us grow together and amplify our impact. 

See HRM’s case study about how OzHarvest moved from a culture of niceness to a culture of kindness.

3. Implementing power chats

Weekly one-to-ones have always been sacred in our organisation. Rather than replacing them with structured checkpoints, we elevated them. We rebranded them as ‘power chats’ to reflect their importance.

Every power chat begins with a check-in: “Where are you at this week, and what do you need from this conversation?” Some conversations become coaching sessions, others become tactical, and others are wellbeing focused. Leaders are given a toolkit to guide whichever type of conversation emerges.

The impact has been profound. Our people feel seen and supported; leaders feel more connected; and performance conversations no longer feel like an annual surprise.

4. Quarterly reflections – embedding celebration, commitment and connection

Before the redesign, people told us: “We don’t stop enough to celebrate.” The pace of transformation meant we were constantly moving onto the next milestone.

To shift this, we introduced quarterly ‘Let’s Celebrate’ sessions, where teams review achievements, conduct retrospectives, share shout-outs and recommit to the next quarter’s goals. 

Importantly, we also allocate budget for teams to build connections in ways that feel natural to them – lawn bowls, a pottery class or trivia at the pub.

Right before each of these connection moments, we schedule reflection sessions. That timing is intentional as it helps us to create rituals that bind teams more deeply and strengthen collaboration across teams.

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Building future-ready capability

Performance and capability development go hand-in-hand. In a sector being reshaped by technology and AI, we needed a shared language for the human skills that will matter most in the next decade. The result was our ‘Be Limitless’ framework, which outlines the capabilities of the future.

Co-designed with our people, the framework outlines five capabilities critical for a digital, human-centred future: Live What Matters, Champion Our Direction, Drive Meaningful Change, Act with a Member-First Mindset and Make Bold Moves.

Each capability includes three behavioural facets, which feed into a 180-degree reflection tool used during development planning. Employees and leaders each assess behaviours on a three-point scale – underused, balanced or overused – and compare insights to identify strengths and growth priorities.

We piloted the tool extensively, and candid feedback from the pilot group led to meaningful refinements. Through this process, the tool became more intuitive, more conversational and more anchored in lived experience. 

When we launched the framework, adoption was faster and more enthusiastic than we anticipated. I believe this is because of three things.

• First, the framework was built with our people, not for them. It reflected their pain points, addressed their frustrations and retained the elements of our culture they cherished.
• Second, the design was simple and human. No jargon. No unnecessary documentation. No additional reporting burden. Just clear conversations, visible connections to strategy and meaningful rituals.
• Third, the framework made performance feel purposeful. People could now articulate not only what they delivered but how they delivered it, and how both elements shaped their impact.

Engagement survey results now sit in the high 80s and 90s for questions related to clarity, feedback and growth. The quality of performance conversations has lifted significantly, and leaders tell us they feel more connected to their teams than ever before.

Lessons for HR practitioners

If I were to offer advice to anyone redesigning their performance framework, it would be to begin with discovery. Ask people what’s working, what’s not and where they want to grow. Understand whether your leaders have a shared definition of coaching or feedback, or whether you need to build a common foundation first.

Design with your people, not behind closed doors. Test, pilot, iterate and be open to the feedback you receive – especially the uncomfortable feedback. The work becomes easier to implement when people can see themselves in it.

And finally, remember that performance systems are not forms or processes. They are experiences. When the experience is human, relevant and anchored in real conversations, everything else falls into place.

Nadine Macleod is the Head of People and Culture at Bank First.