HR COUNCIL ENTRY 2016: MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Title: Internal Branding Living Our Commitment to Serving the Education Community Category 2: Management Practices Question 1: A Brief Paragraph of Your Background and Your Current Role Dawn Weglein is Vice President of Human Resources for Educational Systems Federal Credit Union and has worked in the human resources field for over 30 years having earned the following distinctions: CBP, CCP, SPHR, and SHRM-SCP. Upon joining the Credit Union’s leadership team, Dawn discovered that working for a credit union meant she could pursue her passion of helping employees and members achieve their goals and dreams. She does this every day with her commitment to professional development, the employee experience and lifelong learning. Dawn’s primary responsibilities include recruiting, organizational and leadership development, and human resources management. Dawn serves as the Secretary for the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, and is a Board member for the Maryland Association of Affirmative Action Officers. She also serves as a Mentor for Leadership U, an organization that focuses on developing leadership skills through experience for high school juniors, and is a Human Resources advisor for the Community Action Council of Howard County. Question 2: Business Issue, Objective, Solution and Results Educational Systems FCU is $800 million in assets, and serves over 87,000 members of the education community in seven county school systems and three community colleges located throughout the state of Maryland. With 238 employees working in 12 branch locations, two corporate headquarters, an off-site data center and on-site in the schools we serve, ensuring that employees live our brand and provide a consistent member experience is a challenge. Our core purpose is serving the education community. In 2012 as many credit union’s in our area were going community and migrating away from their core purpose, we re-branded with a steadfast commitment from our Board, CEO, and senior executives that we would stay true to our mission to grow by helping the members of the education community achieve their financial goals and dreams. Our senior executives further committed that our employees would understand our fundamental brand elements which include our core purpose, mission, vision and values and that the employee experience would mirror the exceptional experience we strive to provide for our members. The management practice of internal branding as our standard was adopted and committed to at that time. Over the last 18 months, we continue to enhance our employee practices, trainings and means of communication with the objective of providing innovative, sustainable and integrated ways for our employees to demonstrate our core purpose of serving the education community. Internal Branding Practices and Solutions Earning Your Stars- At Educational Systems FCU, we believe that our core purpose, vision, mission and values are not just phrases that occupy the pages of the Credit Union’s strategic plan or are printed on posters hung in our hallways. Rather, we believe that by always striving toward our vision, that employees can help members, and members will help our Credit Union grow. To demonstrate this belief, our CEO, Chris Conway, meets with every employee, each year, to ensure they understand and can recite our core purpose, vision, mission and values. In the world of education, nothing is more renowned than the honorary gold star. When an employee correctly recites these to Chris, they receive a coveted gold star for each correct response. We call this, “Earning Your Stars.” Employees are
Transcript
HR COUNCIL ENTRY 2016: MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Title: Internal Branding Living Our Commitment to Serving the Education Community
Category 2: Management Practices
Question 1: A Brief Paragraph of Your Background and Your Current Role
Dawn Weglein is Vice President of Human Resources for Educational Systems Federal Credit Union and has
worked in the human resources field for over 30 years having earned the following distinctions: CBP, CCP,
SPHR, and SHRM-SCP. Upon joining the Credit Union’s leadership team, Dawn discovered that working for a
credit union meant she could pursue her passion of helping employees and members achieve their goals and
dreams. She does this every day with her commitment to professional development, the employee experience
and lifelong learning. Dawn’s primary responsibilities include recruiting, organizational and leadership
development, and human resources management.
Dawn serves as the Secretary for the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, and is a Board
member for the Maryland Association of Affirmative Action Officers. She also serves as a Mentor for Leadership
U, an organization that focuses on developing leadership skills through experience for high school juniors, and is
a Human Resources advisor for the Community Action Council of Howard County.
Question 2: Business Issue, Objective, Solution and Results
Educational Systems FCU is $800 million in assets, and serves over 87,000 members of the education
community in seven county school systems and three community colleges located throughout the state of
Maryland. With 238 employees working in 12 branch locations, two corporate headquarters, an off-site data
center and on-site in the schools we serve, ensuring that employees live our brand and provide a consistent
member experience is a challenge.
Our core purpose is serving the education community. In 2012 as many credit union’s in our area were going
community and migrating away from their core purpose, we re-branded with a steadfast commitment from our
Board, CEO, and senior executives that we would stay true to our mission to grow by helping the members of the
education community achieve their financial goals and dreams. Our senior executives further committed that our
employees would understand our fundamental brand elements which include our core purpose, mission, vision
and values and that the employee experience would mirror the exceptional experience we strive to provide for
our members. The management practice of internal branding as our standard was adopted and committed to at
that time. Over the last 18 months, we continue to enhance our employee practices, trainings and means of
communication with the objective of providing innovative, sustainable and integrated ways for our employees to
demonstrate our core purpose of serving the education community.
Internal Branding Practices and Solutions
Earning Your Stars- At Educational Systems FCU, we believe that our core purpose, vision, mission
and values are not just phrases that occupy the pages of the Credit Union’s strategic plan or are printed
on posters hung in our hallways. Rather, we believe that by always striving toward our vision, that
employees can help members, and members will help our Credit Union grow. To demonstrate this
belief, our CEO, Chris Conway, meets with every employee, each year, to ensure they understand and
can recite our core purpose, vision, mission and values. In the world of education, nothing is more
renowned than the honorary gold star. When an employee correctly recites these to Chris, they receive
a coveted gold star for each correct response. We call this, “Earning Your Stars.” Employees are
HR COUNCIL ENTRY 2016: MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
honored to receive these gold stars and display them proudly on their ID badge. By keeping every
employee focused on what is important, we ensure that the education community trusts their financial
future to the organization and employees are devoted to helping them achieve their financial goals and
dreams.
Employee Conference- Formerly known as Staff Day, the Employee Conference was re-vamped to
move from being a day of mandatory training, to one where employees are treated to the experience of
going to a conference. The learning objective is to make a difference by putting our core purpose,
mission, vision and values into practice.
This special day offers personal interaction, professional development and experiences that remind us
of the importance of serving the education community. The entire event is branded to match the
experience of our members including retail merchandising, pop-up displays, banners, promotional
items, presentations and collateral. Learning activities are created to help employees connect with
members of the education community such as working as a team to fill out report cards or the challenge
of driving a bus route. The Credit Union invests in a keynote speaker who speaks on a topic that
employees can reflect on and apply to their personal and work life. Last year, a professional juggler and
motivational speaker helped employees understand how to find work/life balance and better serve our
members who struggle to juggle the many challenges of being a part of the education community. At the
conclusion of the Employee Conference, employees experience a personal, relatable connection to the
education community. In 2015, the Dem Raider Boyz Step Squad from a local high school we serve
performed a routine based on our our values of integrity, competence, commitment and respect as a
thank to our employees for supporting their school. These moments are very personal and connect us
to our members beyond financial products and services.
Support Education- For us, it’s an honor to support education. It’s who we are and what we do. We are
proud to serve the members of the education community and the extraordinary people who share a
remarkable commitment to making a difference every day. Everything we do is centered on our ideal
and belief to support education and this means helping all members of the education community
including employees of our school systems and community colleges, parents and students from
kindergarten through post-secondary education. Support education is our mantra and the basis for all
our community and public relations efforts and events throughout the year.
In 2015, Educational Systems FCU sponsored 115,000 students from 350 elementary schools in its
baseball reading program, donated and personally delivered 6,500 backpacks to middle school
students, and awarded over $40,000 in scholarships to local students and educators. In addition to
sponsorships and ongoing philanthropic initiatives to support education, we support employees to live
the mantra of support education as well. In 2015, 100 employees volunteered over 750 hours to support
local school reading programs, spelling bees, financial literacy seminars, science fairs, and other
academic programs to further support education within their community.
New Employee Lunch- Each month, new employees are invited to a special lunch with our CEO and the
senior executives to discuss how the Credit Union is different from other organizations for which they
may have worked. The lunch is an opportunity to meet the new team members and hear about their
personal and professional aspirations and where the senior team gets to personally reinforce our
commitment to serving the education community. Our CEO also explains that part of serving the
education community is listening. He encourages employees to call or email him directly, or give his
email address and direct line to members who wish to provide suggestions.
HR COUNCIL ENTRY 2016: MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
The Chalkboard- With our employees working in so many locations, we need a way to centralize our
communication. We introduced The Chalkboard as our solution. Just like teachers write
announcements on the board in their classrooms, The Chalkboard serves as the communications hub
for the Credit Union. The Chalkboard is the homepage of our intranet that is updated throughout the day
with information that employees need to better serve our members and to celebrate employee success.
The information is also archived by date and subject so employees can easily find answers to
questions. Our commitment to our employees is that no information will be shared with members before
it has been shared with our employees.
Results and Business Outcomes
Our efforts to ensure an exceptional employee experience and ensure that internal branding is a standard
management practice has resulted in increased:
Employee engagement- Employees are more connected to the Credit Union. Turnover decreased
nearly 6% in 2015 from 2014.
Member Engagement- Members are more connected to the Credit Union and our core purpose is
important to them. On the 2015 member survey, 33% responded that the primary reason they do
business with the Credit Union is that we believe in “serving the education community”, up from 28% in
2014.
Member Satisfaction and Recommendation- Member satisfaction continues to increase from 3.78 in
2014 on a five point scale to 3.94 in 2015. Members are more likely to recommend our Credit Union as
well. 88% responded “definitely would recommend” when surveyed in 2015, up from 82% in 2014.
Growth- Financial success is the measure of any strategy. We grew assets from $743 million in 2014 to
$815 million in 2015. We grew capital from 9.82% in 2014 to 10.10% in 2015. And, our loan balances
grew from over $448 million in 2014 to almost $489 million in 2015.
These business solutions and practices focused on internal branding are not just one-time experiences. Rather,
they are part of our unwavering commitment to serving the education community. We believe that to achieve our
vision to be the premier financial services provider for the education community, we must live our brand and
demonstrate it in our business and management practices every day. We actively listen and always look for
innovative ways to improve the quality of our member and employee experiences by implementing solutions that
help our employees better serve our members.
Internal Branding: Living Our Commitment to
Serving the Education Community
Earning Your Stars
Employee Conference Agenda
Morning
8:30 am- 9:15 am Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30 am - 9:35 am Welcome - Rosemary Brinkley, Chair
9:35 am - 10:10 am Opening Remarks - Chris Conway, President/CEO
10:10 am - 10:45 am Employee Engagement Activity
10:45 am - 11:00 am Break
11:00 am - 12:00 Pm Keynote Presentation - Dan Thurmon
Afternoon
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:15 pm - 2:15 pm Keynote Presentation - Dan Thurmon
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Break/Refreshments
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm Report Card Winner Drawing
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Service Awards - Laura Eacho, EVP/Chief Of Staff
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm Special Performance - Eleanor Roosevelt High School Students
