Gary Hamel writes in the Wall Street Journal that the Bank of New Zealand is an example of a company balancing a venerable history (BNZ’s first branch opened in 1861) and a fresh approach to decision-making that’s led by employees at its branches.

The story starts with a visit to BNZ’s Christchurch store by Chris Bayliss, General Manager for Retail Banking, on a tuesday morning in June 2007. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were designated for staff training, so the store opened at 9:30, a half-hour later than normal. But a line was queueing outside the door, and Chris asked the store’s manager if this was a regular occurrence. She said that it was not only the norm, but frustrating, so Chris asked if she would open the store earlier and reschedule the training if she could. She enthusiastically said she would, and Chris gave her the go-ahead.

Within days, news of the policy break had spread across BNZ’s retail network. Soon Chris was fielding requests from managers throughout New Zealand, all of whom, it seemed, were eager for the same prerogatives that had just been granted the Christchurch store.

Bayliss and Blair Vernon, General Manager of Marketing, decided to give all the bank’s branches the flexibility to set their own hours:

In Takapuna, a tiny Auckland suburb, BNZ became the first bank to open on Sunday mornings. This allowed the store to serve the thousands of customers who flocked in to the local farmers’ market. In South Island ski towns, store managers opted to stay open until late in the evening, so skiers could attend to their banking needs after a full day on the slopes. Within city centers, many store managers chose to synchronize their schedules with nearby retailers, rather than to keep bankers’ hours. Within 6 months, nearly 95% of BNZ’s 180 stores had altered their opening hours in some way.

This shift raised concerns at BNZ’s headquarters, where a policy change would typically be subjected to a lengthy risk assessment and input from all the major functional heads before being green-lighted. Some of the objections were political, but others were more practical and resulted in process adjustments meant to help the new policy succeed. For example, to deal with a concern from marketing that hand-lettered signs being used to advertise branch hours looked tacky:

A software template was developed that allowed store managers to print out a simple sign displaying local opening hours.

To address concerns from HR that changing hours could lead to security problems with cash-pickups, or objections from the employee union:

Team members were reminded they still had to abide by the bank’s security policies and could do nothing that would jeopardize employee safety. Furthermore, store managers were expected to consult with team members before making any changes to staff schedules—new opening hours required the agreement of every store employee. This caveat also helped to neutralize objections from BNZ’s union. How could it demure when the new work schedules had been set by employees rather than imposed from above.

This is a good example of a change initiated by employees based on their knowledge and experience on the front line, supported by senior leadership, and backed up by policy and technology adjustments. Ultimately, it reflects well on the company’s identity and reputation, and helps reinforce the fresh new branding the bank introduced in October 2008. Chris sums up the spirit of the change:

“What everyone learned,” says Blair, “is that when you treat people like adults, they act like adults.”