Credit Union Employee Boot Camp
"It was a colleague and I that put it together and then we reached out to the credit unions and said, 'What else should be covered in this kind of a program?" explains Nagle. "It was really targeted to credit unions that didn't have an internal training department, or they didn't have any kind of internal orientation or on-boarding process." Nagle said they had been providing training and development sessions to credit unions focusing on narrower topics including customer service skills, compliance and related topics. By request, the credit unions who had employees attend then came back requesting more topics be covered. For example, some came back and asked if they could cover more topics such as dress code and professional skills. The inquiries drove them to design a curriculum and agenda to be covered over the course of a day. So, they began to make the course more comprehensive and include things like the history of credit unions, an overview of the credit industry, the difference between credit unions and banks, why credit unions have dividends instead of interest, and who compose all the stakeholders in credit union operations. They also go over the lingo and cover all the acronyms used such as CUSO, NCUA and CUNA and something as basic as what a credit union member is. A Sold-Out Event From the Outset “The first time we offered it, it was sold out with a waiting list," says Nagle. "We then found ourselves conducting six or eight boot camp sessions each year - and selling out every time. For some of our smaller credit unions, the entire staff has completed the credit union bootcamp program. This ranges from managerial levels and even the CEO, right down to the tellers. We have some credit unions that do use us as part of their orientation process, even if the person's been around for three or four months." The frequency of the events was scheduled such that there was always an upcoming event. This made it possible to always have a boot camp available for new employees and the credit unions could save the date for a more extensive on-boarding and orientation than the employee might get from within the organization. "It's great for networking and hearing how other institutions work from some of the conversations that we have during the Boot Camp event," explains Nagle. "So, we augmented the credit union material with additional topics such as professional standards that include things like dress code, communication with members, and how different credit unions have different policies." Nagle adds that some Human Resource persons reached out to us and cover off-beat topics such as best policies for professional use of Facebook, or how about employees with tattoos and piercings. "It's a wide range of topics facing employees," says Nagle. "We have a section on security where we talk about robbery and other things like counterfeit money and identity theft. There's a hefty compliance section where we talk about five or six of the major regulations that impact them every day. Then it closes out with a brief introduction to sales because it's not really something that a lot of credit unions like, but it's the direction that many credit unions are leaning towards. We also prepare them in how to talk to members about products and services. We don't get into any heavy sales techniques like forcing....-->
The New England-based Cooperative Credit Union Association has been conducting Credit Union Employee Boot Camps for 18 years – and growing.
For the past 18 years the Cooperative Credit Union Association (CCUA) based in Marlborough, MA has offered a Credit Union Employee Boot Camp. The periodic event is a training session that serves the Association's member base. Its intent is to provide, as its name...