Credit union brand training easily becomes a dog and pony show if you’re not careful. The trainer shows up, gives a fancy presentation, packs their bags and heads home…leaving your staff with a great memory (but not much else).
If your employees are going to live your brand, they need more than a memory. They need reinforcement. They need continual engagement.
Here’s how to maximize your credit union brand training effectiveness.
Hold More Than One Session
This tip is obvious but not always easy to orchestrate. Differing schedules and all-too-common staffing shortages make one training session hard enough to plan. Throwing in three or four more sounds like a scheduler’s worst nightmare.
But if you invest the time in additional credit union brand training sessions, it’ll pay dividends for your brand. Your staff can go deeper each time, diving below the surface level covered in an initial training. They can answer questions like:
- How does our brand inform the member experience?
- How does our brand respond during times of crisis?
- How does our brand truly become a “lovemark” (beloved brand)?
Use Bite-Sized Reinforcement
Still, multiple credit union brand training sessions might only mean a once a quarter brand refresher course. Further encourage employees to live your brand with monthly, bite-sized training aids. Those might look like informational one-pagers, emails or tangible takeaways (i.e. a chain link to remind employees to connect with members).
It could also mean using monthly training videos…a method likely more effective than training via text. According to Vidyard, 59% of people recall information from an email video as opposed to only 46% recalling information from email text.
We’ve found that monthly Living The Brand videos are one of the best ways to keep staff engaged with their credit union brand training. These videos are fast, fun and memorable. Your staff will enjoy continued brand training without the stress of a huge time investment interrupting their duties.
Carry the Torch
Of course, the trainer and videos are only there part of the time. Every other day, it’ll be on you to continue your staff’s credit union brand training. You must carry the torch and keep the fire of brand excitement alive.
One of our clients has managers lead brand discussion groups about the Living The Brand monthly videos. These groups develop deeper understanding about brand concepts and hold employees accountable for watching the videos.
A couple other ideas to help you continue your credit union brand training are:
- Brand pop quizzes, where the highest performers get prizes.
- Brand spirit days to consistently create excitement for your brand.
- Brand field trips, where staff serves the community and spreads your brand vision.
And remember: you must lead and live the brand if you want others to do it. No one buys into a program the leader doesn’t care about.
Are you ready to make your credit union brand training more than a dog and pony show? Subscribe to On The Mark Strategies’ monthly Living The Brand video series for quick, fun member experience tips.
