2015 Dynamic Dozen Top Local Executive: Mark McFatridge

Mark McFatridge is a born leader, but don’t try to tell him that.

“I can’t do it alone,” he says of his roughly 175-member team spread across 13 Metropolitan National Bank branches in southwest Missouri. “If I was expected to provide insights into how to be a teller, we wouldn’t do very well. It’s not me, it’s the team.”

But under McFatridge’s leadership as president and CEO, the Springfield-based bank has experienced a financial turnaround during his past three years at the helm. In 2011, the bank experienced a $7 million net loss. His first year, it broke even. By his second year, the bank had positive net income of $500,000 and last year nearly profited $2 million.

“Leadership plays a role, but it’s really about getting all the energy moving in the right direction,” he says.

McFatridge says his leadership style can be defined by the four “E’s” – engage, empower, educate and energize.

“This style encourages a variety of positive attributes in teams,” he says. “The four E’s really set a foundation for the teammates, but it’s my job to bring the fifth ‘E,’ execution.”

As part of his open communication strategy, McFatridge leads a townhall-style meeting each year with all employees.

“Because our associates work out of 13 facilities in nine different communities, I lead five different meetings in four days in four cities,” he says. “The first two years we did it at the operations center and video cast it to other buildings, but we switched it up this year. It’s good for everyone to hear the same message, but it’t not the same feeling as me standing in front of you.”

Small tweaks like that are part of the reason McFatridge’s leadership is changing the Metropolitan National Bank atmosphere. That leadership is present in teams such as Pride, Passion and Culture, created by McFatridge three years ago with the purpose of defining and creating an “excellent” customer and associate experience through employee-driven initiatives. That leadership is also evident through the anagram, TNT.

“Whatever issue we are facing, our teammates are empowered to do that right thing … that energy comes in a frame of mind we call ‘Today not Tomorrow,’” he says. “We try to attack everything with a sense of urgency. We live in such a TNT industry.

“Urgency is not a sense of panic, it’s efficiency.”

McFatridge says consistency and simplicity allow the bank to quickly identify its challenges or opportunities and develop a plan of attack – such as one he’s executed in key areas, such as agricultural lending. McFatridge knew the bank had many branches in agricultural communities, but it wasn’t actively lending in those markets.

“I helped orchestrate and develop our first ag summit,” he says. “Since then, we have grown our agriculture portfolio by 170 percent.”

While he was the idea man for the summit, McFatridge is quick to point out he couldn’t have done it alone.

“I’m a relationship person. I want to visit a facility and not shake the teller’s hand, but give them a fist bump and talk about their kids,” he says. “This is more than just a 9 to 5 job. We are all in this together.”[[In-content Ad]]