CU Journal 2006 Best Practices Award

Cardwell Wins Credit Union Journal 2006 Best Practices Award

— Credit Union Journal selects Connections Online usage at Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union as the winner of the 2006 Best Practices Award. —

Westlake, OHIO — October 31, 2006 — The Cardwell Group; a strategy implementation consultancy for and developer of the web-based management automation tool, Connections Online; and Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union have won the Credit Union Journal 2006 Best Practices award for the credit union’s usage of Cardwell’s Connections Online. Sandia Labs deployed the web-based management automation tool last year to improve management alignment, tracking, and reporting on the progress of goals and projects.

“With Connections Online’s interface, everyone in the organization can see every project’s focus, goals, and objectives,” explains Jo Dee Martinez, Sr. Mgr. of Strategic Projects for Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit. “We always know what our current business priorities are and what’s in the queue. Our identification of project management roles and responsibilities through Connections Online helps facilitate shared responsibility for project success and overall ownership. It’s no wonder it’s a winner.”

Martinez adds that this award-winning process ensures that there is project sponsorship before a team is assembled and the work begins. The project process helps teams to clarify scope, roles, deliverables, and tasks.  In addition, Sandia Labs' new Connections Online management system helps develop team and individual leadership skills that, over time, translate directly into developing the core processes of leadership within the credit union.

Summary of Award-Winning Results from Sandia Laboratory FCU:

• 30 percent more projects completed in the first year (several large-scale projects simultaneously).
• 43 percent time-savings in senior leadership meetings, which amounts to approximately 240 fewer executive hours per year spent in traditional leadership team meetings.
• By standardizing the monthly coach/employee dialog process, the credit union has increased the quality of the individual performance management meetings and, thus, made performance management an ongoing process of leadership rather than a yearly ritual tied to the annual appraisal process.  Even more beneficial is that these meetings are initiated and led by the employees, which naturally increases personal accountability.
• 100 percent of the senior leadership team agrees that the benefits of the project outweighed the time and costs.
• 100 of the credit union’s 200 employees use the performance management processes and system for organization, department, and individual performance management.
• Implemented a process that allows the credit union to systematically link all the work that gets done in the organization, as well as linking all of the people to support the objectives.

“When we started this journey of implementing Connections Online, someone around our table half-jokingly asked the age-old question: ‘Can we teach old dogs new tricks?’” admits Martinez. “We’ve proven to ourselves that the answer to this question is ‘yes.’ We have seen enough positive changes to produce results — some measurable and some intangible, but impressive enough to warrant continuing down the path and continuously improving our organization performance processes.”

“We are extremely pleased with the results of Credit Union Journal’s Best Practices awards. We couldn’t be happier,” says Jim Cardwell, CEO of Cardwell Group. “We’re also very happy for Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union, too. Without them implementing Connections Online and displaying the tremendous results it can provide for a credit union’s corporate performance processes, we certainly wouldn’t be here. We’ve known all along how powerful this software is and how it can help credit unions enhance the communication channels and streamline operations starting at the executive level. Winning this award is a huge validation for this product.”

About The Cardwell Group and Connections Online

Based in Westlake, Ohio, Cardwell is a software development and management-consulting firm that helps clients succeed by improving organization-wide alignment and cross-functional collaboration. Jim Cardwell and Karla Norwood, the firm's current CEO and President, founded Cardwell in 1983 as a leadership development and management process consulting firm.

In response to strong client demand, Cardwell set out in the mid 1990s to transfer its extensive knowledge in these fields into a stand-alone software product. In 1998, the company launched Connections Online™, one of the first organization-wide software solutions designed to address executives' challenges to leading companies towards their strategic goals.

Currently installed in more than 70 organizations across various industries, Connections Online consistently improves profitability and leadership effectiveness. Connections Online users report projects being completed 30 percent faster with a 31 percent improvement in the quality of project results, according to a recent Cardwell survey.

For more information about Connections Online, call (800) 395-1410 or visit www.connectionsonline.net.