Trainers Corner

SC Telco Federal Credit Union's MISSION POSSIBLE!!

Why do you work for a credit union? For many credit union employees the fact that they are "people helping people," is the defining reason. When employees at SC Telco Federal Credit Union began to realize just how vital their place is in the credit union world and how important they are to the success of the credit union, interesting things began to happen.

"Mission Possible" was born out of a desire to renew employees' commitment to the credit union movement and to SC Telco. After the events of 2001, employee morale needed a boost-in a big way. To increase awareness of mission statement, vision statement and core values, the team at SC Telco incorporated all three of these components to create "Mission Possible". SC Telco needed a way for the employees to unite together and become one- as a company; as a credit union; and as a team committed to the ideals and principles of SC Telco.

If Mission Possible were to be successful, the team knew that their initiative would have to be carried on for some time. Once current employees had rededicated themselves to SC Telco and the credit union movement, their focus turned to helping new employees to do the same. By putting their heads and resources together, staff members at SC Telco were able to create an employee orientation video. It was light-hearted, included history and credit union facts and it showcased credit union staff. With CUNA's permission, SC Telco incorporated the video Credit Unions: Why We're Different into their production. Robert Harris, the Florence Branch Manager says "The Mission Possible video introduced to us at the training meeting was fantastic. The professionalism of the video itself was of the quality one would expect from a top-of-the-line videographer. It was able to get across to the viewer a message about the credit union in a very short time frame from a number of sources. The impressive part of the video is that it captured the feelings of board members, seasoned employees, new employees, and, most importantly, members toward their credit union."

By recognizing that both training and staying informed were crucial to achieving their Mission Possible, SC Telco began to think of ways to meet their objectives. With branches in four locations across the state, they knew it would be challenging to train and inform employees on a regular basis.

Technology made their Mission Possible. They designed an Intranet site, which helped make their goals a reality. They named it CORE.com to remind employees of the commitment that they have made to SC Telco. CORE is an acronym for Commitment, Opportunity, Rededication and Excitement-- the pillars that SC Telco strives to achieve. From its primitive stages, CORE was formatted to include: online training and testing, information about marketing promotions, a limited cross-selling manual, forms needed for everyday operations and a contact listing. However, after conducting an employee survey, the new CORE is much more user-friendly. Employees may now navigate through: online training and testing, marketing marks (which include color versions of all marketing pieces); member services manual; forms; contact information, links to helpful employee sites, links to the CORE values, mission statement and vision statement; and much more.

The response from employees regarding CORE.com is overwhelming. Spartanburg Teller Holly Foster sums it up best, "The entire CORE presentation incorporated with the Mission Possible theme truly motivated everyone. CORE.com has been a wonderful training tool for all the employees. It is easily accessible and simple to use. We all have found that our knowledge of new information and changes to old information has been much easier to work with now that we have the CORE site."

Michelle Malushizky and Eric Wall of SC Telco Federal Credit Union were on hand to accept the eLearning Award of Merit at CUNA's Experience Learning Live! Keystone Awards ceremony in November for their commitment to training and technology.

Here is more information about Experience Learning Live! and the Keystone Awards.

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