WEST JORDAN, Utah — In an effort to better educate new employees about financial literacy, Mountain America Credit Union has developed a series of videos on topics ranging from indirect lending to business services and outbound sales.
"We were hoping to reach our millennial trainees, the YouTube generation, through a medium that appeals specifically to them," said Mountain America AVP of Educational Services Shelley Muhlestein. "We also wanted to broach topics that had been more difficult for employees to understand by introducing a new delivery method."
Before launching its first video in 2013, Muhlestein explained that an "in-class skit" called "Driving Ms. Leslie" was created (a riff on the 1989 hit movie "Driving Miss Daisy" starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman). The goal was to help employees understand the differences between wills and trusts as well as revocable and irrevocable trusts.
"'Driving Miss Leslie' eventually became the basis for a live-action video where viewers travel with Ms. Leslie and her passenger in her various cars, which serve as metaphors for wills and trusts — irrevocable and revocable," noted Muhlestein.
Before and after watching the video, Muhlestein said trainees self-rated their familiarity with will and trust documents.
"The results of the test group showed a 266% increase in knowledge concerning the difference between wills and trusts and a 489% increase in knowledge of the difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts," she said.
MACU's Education Team
In the last year, MACU's Educational 16-person member services team has produced 10 videos. These short films are geared toward educating a percentage of the CU's approximate 1,200 employees.
Muhlestein explained that two of the team leaders have a background in film production, which has allowed the process to unfold in-house. The CU also recently hired a corporate videographer.
"We brainstorm ideas, go through a storyboarding process, film and edit the video. We then beta test the video in our instructor-led classes and make adjustments as needed," said Muhlestein. "We now develop the ideas and work with our videographer for the filming and editing of the work."
Among video titles are Business Services 1: Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships, which has been viewed by 92 employees; Outbound Sales, viewed by 110 employees; and Indirect Lending, seen to date by 79 employees.
"Some of the videos are geared specifically to people who are learning to open new accounts, such as Business Services and Driving Ms. Leslie,' " noted Muhlestein. "Other videos are specifically for people who are new to lending."
To better assist Mountain America's approximate 496,000 members, new trainees are encouraged to access the videos via the organization's employee intranet. To date, the videos Business Services and Driving Miss Leslie are featured on the website's Products and Services page.
Building on the success of the program, Muhlestein expects more educational videos to be produced in the coming year.
"Video delivery promotes understanding through placing more difficult concepts into a memorable context," she said. "Some videos were also developed to demonstrate processes that cannot be practiced by trainees through our training systems."
