WEST JORDAN, Utah-Suzanne Oliver, SVP educational services and chief learning officer at the $2.8-billion Mountain America CU, sees a greater emphasis being placed on training and education of the entire credit union staff.
"The industry is headed in the right direction here," said Oliver. "It can be the lifeblood of the organization, like marketing. If you are not marketing the business to let the public know what you have to offer and are not training people and giving them the skills they need to provide good service, you are missing the boat."
The emphasis on training heads all the way to the top of the organization, which is creating stronger leaders and helping with succession planning.
"Managers and supervisors have such an impact on the front line, that if you don't have really strong people in those positions then you have service issues, dissatisfied members, and you lose business," contended Oliver.
Well-trained, skilled leaders can also help share the credit union difference to members at a time when that message rings loudly with consumers, Oliver suggested. "Strong leaders are good coaches, they set expectations, help people prioritize, and make sure we are walking the talk. We always say we are different than banks, but leaders have to exemplify that and coach employees about what makes credit unions different."
