Professional Development Leads to Great Member Service

Competency-based training benefits staff at all levels

It’s well known that retaining loyal credit union members depends on excellent service—and such service originates from a trained and motivated staff.  The challenge for any financial institution is to sustain company-wide commitment to provide that service.

Let’s face it—it’s tough to provide incentives that encourage everyone on staff to deliver top-flight member service.  Compensation, benefits and other perks can go a long way.  But according to CUNA’s Credit Union Staff Salary Survey, young workers in particular value flexibility and learning opportunities more than pay. 

In a competitive employment market, talent management means you find, win, develop, and retain the best people.  A key component is having an ongoing, comprehensive training program.  Typically, this includes identifying job-related competencies, helping employees develop career paths, and providing relevant learning plans.  

A well-trained workforce enhances organizational performance, typically by lowering overall costs and ensuring that employees understand and focus on critical activities. 

But training is a dual opportunity: While the organization boosts its prospects for long-term success, employees broaden their skills and knowledge and enhance their career opportunities.

Consider the benefits of a competency-based training program for line staff, supervisors, and executives:

Member-service employees become more productive and engaged in their jobs, and less likely to exhibit absenteeism or turnover.  Competency-based training helps them take responsibility for their own careers—they check their skill sets against position requirements, and become more active in managing their career progression. 

Supervisors and managers are able to direct employees toward specific skills needed in a range of jobs.  They become more accountable for their people’s development, and more able to foster the growth and progress of subordinates.

Top management gains the tools to see total skill sets across the organization.  From recruitment to succession planning, a competency-based training program promotes an understanding of all jobs and activities within the credit union. 

Many of these training benefits cut across organizational lines.  Knowing the competencies required in a particular position helps potential applicants, just as it does the person doing the hiring.  Trainers use competencies as starting points and benchmarks in continuing education.  And competencies aid supervisors and HR staff in evaluation, rewards and recognition. 

The advantages of a competency-based structure—comprehensive, detailed, highly organized—can also be the first impediment:  How does the credit union even approach this level of commitment?  One option is to find a program in which the foundation has been laid for you in advance. 

Turn-key programs help you avoid tremendous amounts of research and start-up effort.  In a credit union, however, an effective competency-based program needs to be specific to that environment.  The best programs provide courses tailored to a wide range of positions and job-related tasks.  A cost-effective learning management program also should be part of the package, including testing, tracking and reporting capabilities. 

It’s worth determining whether this type of training program makes sense for your credit union.  If the goal is member service, the benefits are hard to ignore! 

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