NAFCU Journal July August 2021

goal, but there should always be a focus on how to continue improving,” he says. “Mission moments” are used to kick off every management or employee meeting at First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union. Sharing creative workarounds that were used to solve a problem or presenting examples of how employees have added value to member interactions inspire others to look for innovative ways to improve, says Donna LoStocco, CEO of Commonwealth Federal Credit Union. “Our relationship with members can be very transactional so we challenge our employees to think about how they can educate, advise, or direct members to other resources,” she says. “We ask all employees to challenge the status quo and identify ways to improve our service to members and to each other.” “Innovation is important to our cul- ture and to who we are,” explains John Melcher, chief people officer at First Commonwealth. “It is one of our core corporate values, and we’ve built innova- tion into our job descriptions and annual performance reviews.” He points out that when employees join First Common- wealth, they are encouraged to share ideas based on their experience else- where if they observe ways to improve service to members. Asking people with different perspec- tives to share ideas is not just limited to We added an item to our app’s menu that allowed members to request a check to be mailed to their home address, so they did not have to come to the branch to withdraw from a savings account. JIM NORRIS, CEO OF SKYPOINT Framework to Review or Revisit Ideas decision-making activities for new technology. “Any employee can suggest a technology that they have read about, know that another institution uses, or have seen at a meeting or conference,” says Jim Norris, CEO. “If we decide that it is not right for us at the time, it stays in the lab for re-evaluation in the future.” Some technologies have remained in the lab for years, and are adopted when the data supports implementation, says Norris. “Payday or short-term, low-dollar loans can take one-half hour to process, so our lending department suggested QCash Financial’s automated lending platform,” he says. “Initially, the first eval- uation of the product was too expensive to justify, but as their product matured and we adjusted some of the underwrit- ing requirements, we were able to offer it to our members as an enhancement to our service in 2019.” The response to the implementation has been so positive that SkyPoint is working to expand the use of the platform to automate all loans, he adds. 23 THE NAFCU JOURNAL July–August 2021