Westpac - How to better service Indigenous Australian customers.
The Inc royal commission into banking practices uncovered the mistreatment of Indigenous Australian customers by the Banking sector. A one team approach brought together KPMG People and Change and KPMG UDKU to help Arrilla (A KPMG backed Indigenous Australian led cultural competency advisory) develop an e-learning module that will resonate with the entire Westpac Group workforce, in particular those on the frontline, who engage and transact with Indigenous Australian customers. Inspiring them to do better. Develop a product that will support the Westpac Group’s delivery against their duties in servicing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers.
Issues identified highlighted one common denominator, there was a distinct lack of empathy across the group when dealing with Indigenous Australian customers. After a process of reviewing highlighted case stories, we identified this lack of empathy was created by a lack of context. Most Australians have no idea of the cultural differences and the challenges this creates for Indigenous customers.
Our solution was to create a series of short 2-3 minute films that were designed to create context and build empathy. These powerful films communicated not only the challenges but it shared the cultural insights that opened the door to understanding.
It was important to build empathy with our audience if we intended to change behaviour. Corporate training programs are generally information rich and engagement poor. We recommended the idea of working with a film director to create high involvement films that created context around the implications of banking practices on Indigenous Australian culture. To tell those stories with cultural sensitivity we worked closely with Arrilla. To bring it to life, we employed the services of Brendan fletcher, an Australian feature film director who has spent 20 years building relationships with Indigenous Australian communities and creating films that connect Aboriginal Australia to mainstream audiences. We worked closely with Brendan and an Indigenous Australian writer to craft those stories with nuance and authenticity.
