NAFCU Journal July August 2021

24 THE NAFCU JOURNAL July–August 2021 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. DONNA LOSTOCCO, CEO OF COMMONWEALTH FEDERAL CREDIT UNION employees who have worked in other organizations. “We want people to get out of their silos and interact with people in different departments,” says LoStocco. This translates to organizational meet- ings with representatives across the organization as well as internal “cus- tomer” surveys in which one department asks another department how well they did when providing support. For exam- ple, the IT department might survey front-line employees at a branch to see if they were satisfied with a technology update, training, or support for a prob- lem. “We’ve always surveyed members, but it is important to know how we can continue improving our support of each other,” she adds. Employees are comfortable sharing ideas with others. In fact, one employee who had worked in several different depart- ments identified a process improvement that would benefit multiple departments because she understood one depart- ment’s activities affected the others, says LoStocco. Communication and transparency is critical to building a culture that promotes innovation, explains Tricia C. Szurgot, COO of First Commonwealth. A variety of meetings that began with breakfast with the CEO and expanded to include lunch with the COO and similar informal meetings with other C-suite executives, gives employees a chance to interact directly with leaders. “We also hold executive and management team meetings every Monday to ask for feedback from managers,” she says. “Leadership has to demonstrate that we are listening to ideas.” SkyPoint also cultivates creativity and innovation in a variety of ways. “We are very digitally oriented, but we want to make sure the member- and employee- facing technology we use helps us achieve our goals,” says Norris. The organization has a digital roadmap that tracks technology projects and executive staff members update the projects weekly so that everyone can see what is happen- ing and how implementation will affect all departments. “We constantly talk to branch staff to find out what is hap- pening, what challenges exist, and how problems can be resolved.” The focus on innovation and creativity is so ingrained in SkyPoint’s culture that a section of every employee’s evaluation is entitled “Innovation and Creativity,” he adds. The organization’s culture is important to support innovation from all departments and employees, says Norris. “I meet with new employees during their onboarding to talk to them about our open door policy and to encourage them to share ideas,” he says. “I realized that we had created the culture we wanted during the pandemic, when a branch manager who had been with us for only one month, spoke up during a Zoom meeting to offer ideas we should consider for our re- opening plan,” he says. “Employees are willing to propose ideas and step outside their comfort zone if they feel safe and know their ideas are welcomed.” Leaders have to be willing to change core processes—they can’t say that they want innovation and also say some things cannot ever be changed. PETER MYERS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF DDJ MYERS