BOSTON—Think spring training is just for baseball? One person says it’s a strategy that can also work for credit unions.
Matt McCombs, president/COO at DHCU Community CU, Moline, Ill., told a crowd at NAFCU’s Annual Meeting here that spring training was a crucial element of a three-part process (along with sales scorecards and developmental plans) that his credit union used to drive a culture change and move toward sustainability. The program was first developed about two years ago, but is regularly updated.
“When we look at spring training, we knew we had to come back in and teach and reteach the fundamentals,” said McCombs. “Sales is not a special part of the business—it’s fundamental.” At DHCU, he said, the attitude is that sales skills are a necessary tool for all branch employees, just like knowing how to work with the CU’s core system.
One element the $476-million credit union is currently developing to augment that educational component is a “Spring Training Course Catalog,” which builds out all roles and training needs within DHCU Community. While some courses are required, there are also electives available, and senior staff can assign particular courses to employees they feel need to improve in specific areas or as part of development training to expand their skills within the organization.
Training Before The Job
McCombs noted that in the past DHCU has promoted employees into positions they weren’t ready for, and training didn’t really begin until the employee started in that new job. The focus now is on training them before they take that role.
“It’s an expensive process—it takes time and it takes energy—but if you’re a growth credit union, you have to do this.”
Scorecards are also part of the process, so that DHCU can measure employee progress. Employees are incented, though the incentive program has shifted from being individual-based to more branch-based.
“It still has an individual component, but we wanted to be sure that it wasn’t lender versus lender when (members) walked in the door,” said McCombs.
Since launching spring training two years ago, DHCU has seen strong results compared to year end 2010. Its cross sell ratio is up from 11.3% to 14.4%, total loans have risen from $251 million to $378 million, net income has increased from $2.4 million to $3.8 million, loan penetration has increased from 48.7% to 53.8%, and membership has grown by 3,600 members.
