CU Training Q&A
By Ken Gonyer
According to Nielsen media rankings from 2012, eight of the top ten programs were reality shows. Our culture seems to love reality TV because we?re fascinated with the inside story of everything and everyone. While there may never be a reality show about credit unions, CU leaders can benefit from taking a look at how other credit unions conduct business. This�
CU Training�Q&A is your backstage pass to the training department at Park View Federal Credit Union, a $125 million multiple common bond credit union in Harrisonburg, VA. PVFCU has 50 full time employees in four branches. We have no full-time training staff, but several employees coordinate training part-time.
CUB:�What do you hope your training program will accomplish?
PVFCU:�We want to give our staff the training resources they need to be able to perform all aspects of their jobs with confidence and skill, which means that they need to know all the procedural nuts and bolts of their jobs as well as the policies behind the methodology. By knowing both procedure and policy?the what and whys of their jobs?they?ll be ideally prepared to interact with members knowledgeably and efficiently.
Beyond the basics, we want our staff to get whatever specialized training their positions demand along with continuing education to keep them up-to-date and to make sure our management team gets best practices training in supervision and leadership. We want to create a culture in which employees are constantly growing and learning and whose skills are continually developed and honed.
CUB:�How do you get your employees interested in learning?
PVFCU:�One of the key motivators is simply an employee?s need to ?keep up.? Anyone working in a financial institution knows that change is the only constant and that means staff members are always learning something new just to remain competent.
While monetary incentives seem to energize our employees? interest in learning, we don?t have to work very hard to get employees interested in training. In fact, a lot of the material we offer is in response to staff requests. Non-mandatory class attendance sometimes exceeds fifty percent of the staff. They relish the opportunity to learn more.
To help motivated employees who want to move beyond competency, we offer a clear, self-guided progression plan that defines the learning objectives and coursework required for promotion. We?ve linked educational achievements with the employee salary scale and a pay increase is available to those who earn certification as a financial coach or specialist in marketing, human resources, compliance or lending, among others. They must keep their certification up-to-date to keep the wage increase. Smaller cash awards are given when an employee completes a certain number of in-house cross-training courses.
CUB:�What kind of training are your employees asking for?
We periodically survey departments looking for training needs to satisfy and find that employees routinely ask for refresher training in the more complex aspects of their jobs and skills training to improve their performance. There is always a great demand for training in new technologies such as in the hardware and software used on the job or in any new electronic service being offered to members.
Our staff shows a high level of interest in understanding the whole spectrum of financial services offered by the credit union. While they aren?t asking to be cross-trained in every department, they want to have a basic knowledge of all the products, services, and processes our CU offers. Given the recent economic crisis, they?ve also asked to learn how to interpret and understand the credit union?s financial ratios, performance, and management of assets and liabilities.
CUB:�What does training look like at PVFCU?
The majority of our training is done in-house, but we also provide staff with access to online education, national conferences, college classes, and professional development clubs. In-house educational options are delivered in a variety of ways including classroom training, one-on-one teaching, independent study, and invited speakers.
We offer twelve to fifteen ?Knowledge Builder? classes throughout the year to provide general information about products, services, processes, rules and regulations. Employees from every department are encouraged to participate in these courses. Students must pass a course exam to receive credit toward certificates and cash awards. Co-workers, who are experts in the subject matter by virtue of their daily work, teach the one-hour Knowledge Builder sessions. A loan officer, for example, teaches a class on how to read a credit report. This not only ensures that the content is relevant, it gives the instructors an opportunity to develop their organizational, leadership and presentation skills. The member services staff is expected to teach a Knowledge Builder as part of their progression plan.
We offer two-hour ?workshops? that are designed to deliver more material and in-class group work. Workshop subjects include financial coaching, improving accuracy, and enhancing people skills and are offered once each quarter. Enrollment is voluntary and employees attend with the permission of their supervisor.
We offer ?academies? that provide intensive classroom training that includes demonstrations, practice and role-play. An academy?s content is specific, detailed and targeted toward complex procedures. They typically last between a half or full day and are team-taught by managers to smaller groups of employees.
Intensive one-on-one training works best for teaching basic job skills such as how to use equipment or perform transactions. The learner begins by observing, then works side-by-side with a trainer for several days until they are competent enough to work alone.
Along with one-on-one training, independent study gives employees an ideal opportunity to practice what they?ve learned using mock workstations and dummy data. After several practice sessions, employee confidence rises and they become more comfortable performing tasks in real work settings.
Several times per year we invite outside speakers to address our workforce as part of our in-house training program. These professional trainers present up-to-date material in complex subject areas such as harassment prevention and response, the Bank Secrecy Act, and disaster preparedness.
Online training is another way employees can build their knowledge and skill sets. Web-based courses provide a flexible educational channel that staff can access when and where they choose. This venue works very well for mandated annual training and to fulfill the continuing education requirements necessary for maintaining certification and licensure. The abundance of fresh and relevant content delivered by national experts is one of the major benefits of online training. This year our employees have access to 103 webinars related to regulations and compliance alone.
Like many other credit unions, we earmark significant funds for conferences and travel and offer college tuition reimbursement. We actively encourage our employees to participate in professional development clubs like Toastmasters International. Involvement in the Toastmasters communication and leadership program has greatly improved the people and presentation skills, of our employees while encouraging their overall professionalism.
CUB:�What are some of your biggest training challenges?
The most challenging aspect of training is keeping up with the ever-changing array of products, processes, and regulations. We had to develop systems for alerting employees of all upcoming changes and instructing them in how to implement new processes. Additionally, we needed to create and maintain good-quality documentation. At PVFCU, we use internal newsletters for retail departments, marketing, etc. along with a weekly ?ten-minute meeting? to help keep staff informed of changes. We invest significant time to produce detailed procedure manuals, cheat sheets, and FAQ resource documents.
CUB:�What kinds of training haven?t worked well?
We?ve learned to be highly selective about what outside resources we make available to our employees. Occasionally, we?ve been disappointed in the cost and quality of some of the educational material we purchased from trade associations and national training organizations. We?ve also discovered several ineffective training seminars and conferences. Still, doing all of our training in house simply doesn?t work. We recognize that we need outside resources and have learned to research available options carefully before investing large amounts of money and staff time.
CUB:�What training has worked particularly well?
Peer-led training has had extraordinary benefits. We?ve found that the material presented is more relevant when staff experts teach and student response is generally more positive. Because so many employees are involved in our ?Knowledge Builder? classes and co-workers are depending on the teachers to do a good job, there is a high degree of ownership in the training. A side benefit of peer-led training is increased collaboration. Staff teachers unite employees from different departments into groups and get them working toward a common goal. As these groups work together and build relationships, they become a team, which improves cross-department communication, develops camaraderie, and boosts morale.
This�
CU TRAINING Q&A�gave you an inside look at the employee training and development efforts of a mid-sized credit union. If your credit union is under $50 million or over $1 billion in asset size, your training program may be significantly different. We?d love an invitation to look behind the scenes at your organization! If you would like to participate in a future CU Training Q&A, contact Ken Gonyer at ken.gonyer@pvfcu.org.
Ken Gonyer serves on the executive team at Park View Federal Credit Union in Harrisonburg, VA, overseeing member care. He is a member of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the International Association of Coaching...
Want to keep reading? This content is for subscribers only.
Login
Subscribe
.png){kind=logo}
