April 10-Build Contagious Organ. Momentum

Jim Cardwell’s April Educational Webinar – How Do You Build Contagious Organization Momentum?

What happens when people in your organization start to consistently win?  They want to do it again and again.  As the momentum begins to build, the energy level increases and the excitement is contagious.  If you attended the most recent “Connect with Leaders” webinar on April 29, you learned how this happens. Here are a few highlights of this information-packed session.

The webinar, entitled “How Do You Build Contagious Organization Momentum?” was quite different from any other we have hosted. We invited a guest panel to share the steps they have taken to create a work environment that positively reinforces staff for doing the right things.

The panel included:

·    Kerry Parker, A+ Federal Credit Union CEO

·    Nancy Richardson, Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union AVP of Human Resources

·    Tim Draper, Navigant Credit Union VP of Marketing

The session started by discussing the challenges of living in a “go, go, go” work environment.  In many organizations leaders get so busy they don’t take the time to stop and recognize top performing employees.  When the right things get done, no one is told.  If you want high performance, you need to set some clear, mutually-understood targets, and then reinforce everyone who helps you achieve them.  Actively market that “we are winners” to everyone WITHIN your organization.  Use real examples.  By doing so, your culture will change—people will start to believe it.

Every organization on our panel deployed a number of these tactics.  Running in parallel, they built the “we are winners” brand from a number of angles.

A+ FCU’s Kerry Parker discussed how her credit union created an Intranet site that made it easy for people to recognize fellow employees for living the organization’s Core Values.  Each month, the organization’s leaders review and select the best Core Value stories submitted. All of the winners are highly recognized on the Intranet and in the quarterly newsletter.  (A+ is building momentum; last month they got more than 70 story submissions.  This is working!)

One of the recognition tools Jeanne D’Arc CU’s Nancy Richardson uses is Character Pins.  Every time a project is completed, every team member gets one of these attractive pins.  The pins are on a card that is personalized and signed by team leaders — the CEO signs them too.  This motivates the employee (and those around them) to get involved as new projects come along.  Staffers throughout the Credit Union proudly collect these pins.  They wear them or hang them on their bulletin board.  You see them everywhere.

A new form of employee recognition was added this year at the annual employee meeting for Navigant Credit Union.  Tim Draper created a themed event around the Hollywood Academy Awards.  The meeting was held around the Oscars. Draper dubbed the event the “Navicademy Awards” and handed out Oscar look-alike trophy statues to all the successful teams and team members.  They renamed the Oscar Award to “Gary’s” after the credit union’s CEO, Gary Furtado. Needless to say, the event, which was normally a ho-hum affair, was a huge hit.  People are motivated.  The culture is transitioning.  They want to win more.

The panel shared several other creative, high-impact examples for fostering fun, nurturing, and rewarding people throughout each organization. In addition to heightened employee motivation, these uplifting work environments lead to increased production, better service, and team pride.

Check out the archived presentation on our site for more details.  For additional information on building contagious organization momentum, contact Jim Cardwell or Karla Norwood at Cardwell 1-800-395-1410 or info@connectionsonline.net.

Click here for a recording of the webinar.