PARKERSBURG, W.V.-West Virginia Central CU exceeded its goal to boost loan volumes by $8 million this year and sent employees to Disney World as a reward.
"We met our goal by about Sept. 5," said Mark Greenlees, VP of lending at the 18,000-member, $107-million credit union. "We went ahead and set another goal for staff to be at $9.5 million by Dec. 31 and we exceeded even that."
Greenlees said that he had worried that things might tail off after the challenge ended, but staff kept up the momentum and, as of early December, the final tally stood at $10.4 million.
"It created team work like we've never seen before," said PR Coordinator Lisa Collins, who called the trip "the biggest incentive we've ever done." As of its September 2012 Call Report, WVCCU listed $63.7 million in loans, a 15% uptick over where it stood at the end of 2011, with increases largely concentrated in auto lending and first mortgages.
Collins explained that ultimately only about half the staff made the trip to Orlando, with the rest taking the cash payout of $750 (equivalent to the per-person cost of the trip). "That's not a huge amount of money," confessed Collins. What really energized the staff, she said, was "the friendly competition, the fun through the year and the camaraderie."
The trip took place on Veteran's Day weekend, and WV Central intends to run a similar competition next year for a trip to New York City. Rather than measuring loan growth, the CU will track member savings by bringing loans over from other institutions, though a specific goal has not yet been set. The real challenge, said Collins, will be to keep the same kind of momentum and enthusiasm among the staff. Most of the staff teams will remain intact, as will granting each team the autonomy to make their own decisions as to how to recruit business.
"A big part of it is empowering and motivating the staff and not having everything come from management," she said.
