Basic Leadership Training for BPI Direct BanKo: Leading a Branch Team from the First Day

by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on October 19, 2026

On October 14, 2026, Rainmakers delivered Basic Leadership: Leading a Branch Team with Confidence, Credibility, and Accountability from the First Day as a Supervisor. It was a one-day leadership training program for 20 newly hired and newly promoted officers of BPI Direct BanKo, Inc., facilitated by Malvin Dinlasan.

The hardest promotion in any organization is the first one. The skills that made someone a top performer are not the same skills that make them a good leader. Overnight, success stops being about what you do and starts being about what your team does. This program was built on one idea: a new supervisor earns the right to lead by being clear, fair, and consistent from the very first day.

In a single intensive day, the new officers went from defining what changes the moment they are given a team to rehearsing the corrective conversations every supervisor eventually has to face. Here are the highlights.

Training at a Glance

Why Basic Leadership Matters for New Branch Supervisors

Leading a team inside a retail and microfinance bank is not a desk job. A new supervisor is responsible for service at the counter, sales and portfolio targets, turnaround time, and compliance, often across branch staff and field personnel at the same time. On top of that, many are now leading former peers, tenured staff, or team members older than they are.

Without a clear way to lead, new supervisors fall into two traps. Some keep doing the work themselves because it feels faster, and end up exhausted while the team stays dependent. Others swing the other way and lean on their title, which costs them trust before they have had the chance to earn it. Both slow the team down. And when a target is missed or a lapse repeats, the conversation either never happens or happens badly.

That is why basic leadership is one of the most requested topics among our leadership training programs in the Philippines, especially for banks and financial institutions with fast-growing branch networks. The goal is not to make new supervisors tougher. It is to help them lead clearly, fairly, and consistently, so results come through the team instead of in spite of it.

Program Goal: From Individual Performer to People Leader

BanKo’s brief was clear: equip newly hired and newly promoted officers with the mindset, discipline, and practical skills to make the transition from individual performers to effective people leaders. That means building credibility, communicating across levels and generations, coaching performance, managing change, and driving accountability while keeping team morale intact.

Basic Leadership was built around that brief, to help each officer set clear expectations for their branch and unit personnel, coach and correct performance with fairness, and deliver service, sales, portfolio quality, and compliance results through the people they now lead.

The day was titled Leading People from the First Day, and it moved through five modules:

• Morning: From individual performer to people leader, then building credibility and trust with the team
• Afternoon: Communication and daily direction, coaching and difficult conversations, then accountability and the first ninety days

Meet the Facilitator: Malvin Dinlasan

[FACILITATOR BIO PARAGRAPH 1: background, years of experience, areas of expertise.]

[FACILITATOR BIO PARAGRAPH 2: credentials, organizations, certifications.]

[FACILITATOR BIO PARAGRAPH 3: how this experience shapes the sessions. Participants work on situations from their own branch or unit, rehearse the conversations they actually face, and reflect on how they respond when their team pushes back.] Learn more about the Rainmakers team.

Morning: Stepping Into the Role and Earning Trust

The day opened with a warm-up called “The Best Leader I Ever Worked For.” Each participant described a leader who brought out their best and what that person actually did differently. The answers became a shared picture of the kind of supervisor everyone in the room wanted to be.

1. From individual performer to people leader

The officers looked at what changes the moment someone is given a team to lead, and the three roles every supervisor now plays: doer, leader, and representative of management. They talked through the most common mistakes new supervisors make in their first months, and how to lead former peers, tenured staff, and team members older than them without losing either the relationship or the standard. Authority, responsibility, and accountability were explained in plain terms, along with the supervisor’s role as the link between management direction and frontline execution. In a My Leadership Starting Line activity, each participant took an honest look at where they are starting from.

2. Building credibility and trust with the team

Trust is the first requirement of every new supervisor, and it is built on three things: character, competence, and consistency. The officers discussed leading by example in attendance, conduct, and service standards, getting to know their people’s strengths, motivations, and personal circumstances, and protecting the integrity of the team by staying clear of favoritism. In a Trust Builders and Trust Breakers workshop, they identified the everyday behaviors inside a branch or unit that quietly build trust, and the ones that destroy it.

Afternoon: Directing, Coaching, and Holding the Team Accountable

The morning was about stepping into the role and earning the team’s trust. The afternoon was about using that trust to direct the work, correct performance, and hold the line on standards.

3. Communication, expectations, and daily direction

The officers practiced setting clear expectations on output, behavior, and service standards, then running short, focused huddles that align the team for the day. They worked on giving instructions that do not need to be repeated or corrected, delegating according to skill, readiness, and current workload, and listening for the mood of the team. Because new supervisors often have to cascade decisions they did not make, the module closed with a role play on cascading a new target and a policy change, giving everyone practice in managing change and communicating across levels and generations without losing the message.

4. Coaching, feedback, and difficult conversations

“I was busy with other clients.” “That’s how we’ve always done it.” “Nobody told me.” The officers worked through the difference between coaching, feedback, counseling, and discipline, and why good feedback starts with observing performance on the floor and in the field. They practiced giving corrective feedback without humiliating or demotivating, recognizing good work in ways that actually matter, and handling defensiveness, excuses, and repeated lapses. A corrective conversation role play with an underperforming team member gave everyone a chance to try it live and get feedback.

5. Accountability, discipline, and your first ninety days

The last module covered how to hold the team accountable for targets, turnaround, and compliance, and how to document performance and incidents properly and consistently. The officers discussed when to escalate and when to resolve matters at their own level, and how to protect team morale while still enforcing standards.

The Final Output: First Ninety Days Leadership Action Plan

Every participant left with more than notes. As the closing activity, each officer built a First Ninety Days Leadership Action Plan and shared their commitment with the group:

• A starting point showing where they are today as a leader and what needs to change first
• A trust plan with the specific behaviors they will model for their team
• A team direction plan covering expectations, daily huddles, and how they will delegate
• A coaching and accountability plan for giving feedback, documenting performance, and handling lapses

These plans give each new supervisor a clear path through their first three months, and give their managers something concrete to coach against in the weeks after the training.

The program closed with key takeaways, final insights, and the distribution of certificates to all participants.

Program Highlights

1. We defined the shift from individual performer to people leader, and the three roles a supervisor plays.
2. We learned to lead former peers, tenured staff, and team members older than us.
3. We identified the behaviors that build and break trust inside a branch or unit.
4. We practiced setting expectations, running huddles, and delegating with clarity.
5. We cascaded targets and change without losing the message.
6. We gave corrective feedback without humiliating or demotivating.
7. We committed to a ninety-day action plan for leading our teams.

We’re proud to be BPI Direct BanKo’s learning partner in developing confident, credible new leaders. Thank you to BanKo for trusting Rainmakers with your officers’ growth, and to Malvin for a practical, high-energy day.