by Jim Cardwell and and Kristie Greenleaf
A Case Study from a Recent Adopter: CoastHills Federal Credit Union
If you went back in time ten years, how would you explain to your colleagues the benefits e-mail or the internet would bring to your work life? How would you describe how it exponentially increases your communication ability, how the rapid transfer of information impacts business flow, how productivity has improved, how work in general has changed?
Now imagine an application that connects every member of an organization or business for the purposes of:
- communication
- team building
- strategic plan implementation
- value reinforcement
- information management
- people management
- project management.
Much like the Internet, an application of this sort is so progressive and cutting edge that it’s impact on an industry seems inexplicable; although, pinpointing the achievement and results comes easily. For instance, CEOs and management teams would find this type of solution invaluable: it would build teamwork and trust while making their jobs immensely easier.
This type of solution centralizes information and decentralizes access to it, lowering frustration, increasing productivity and minimizing stress levels. Effectively communicating information is one challenge that a software solution, which compiles all the above issues, would easily facilitate. In fact, studies show that four to five hours are typically devoted to looking for information each week and that executives spend 10% of their time looking for information. Multiply that times your payroll and benefits cost. It adds up to real money.
"We have vision, values, goals and action items – but they are all in different places. We want it all in one place," says Diana Dykstra, President/CEO of CoastHills Federal Credit Union. She goes on to explain that her assistant spends endless hours distributing information, only to have the organization still be frustrated with communication and project management issues. She wanted to solve this communication challenge. "I need software that allows my team and me to click on any organization, team, department or individual goal and see what’s happening with progress, due dates, and issues."
Jeff York, EVP of CoastHills agrees that bringing everything together in one location is essential. "We were looking for a system to help us keep our focus, improve project management, and support our organizational management process."
That is when CoastHills discovered Connections Online, developed by Cardwell. "Now our critical measures are presented right next to business priorities – in fact they’re matched up – and even link back to the five areas of focus in our Credit Union. Connections Online pulls it all together," says Mr. York.
"It is very important for us to keep people outside the room informed every step of the way," continues Ms. Dykstra, "We are all ‘Chief Communications Officers’ and Connections Online is a tool that we believe will make our efforts exponential. For example, every department has a different role in meeting a target, like delinquency, and we needed a way to make that ownership clear." The ability to add comments to metrics provides senior management with a way to continually educate staff on what contributes to those metrics.
"Connections Online was the first tool that we have seen that brings all these pieces together," praised Ms. Dykstra. Connections Online, developed by Cardwell, is a web-based application that connects every member of an organization. For more information about how Connections Online can help your credit union, visit www.connectionsonline.net or for a demo contact Karla Norwood at knorwood@cardwellgroup.com
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.