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Jim Cardwell’s October Educational Webinar –
“Arkansas FCU Nearly Doubles Assets During This Recession” – Guest Speaker Larry Biernacki, CEO
This webinar was a smashing success, as Biernacki delivered a home run with the “anti-micromanagement” leadership philosophy used in his credit union – resulting in nearly doubling Arkansas FCU’s assets from $375 million when he arrived in 2004 to $770 million today. This is especially impressive when you consider there were no mergers—and it was all achieved by the same team he inherited.
Other impressive growth numbers during this timeframe include:
· Loans – 125% increase ($258 million to $580 million)
· Deposits – 66% increase ($339 million to $562 million)
· Members – 39% increase (58,000 to 81,000)
Much of the credit union’s success also has to do with Biernacki’s vibrant, yet humble personality, along with his skills as a motivational, hands-off leader. He discussed how he set the stage and direction for success and then let his staff do what they do best – their jobs!
The key to Biernacki’s hands off, trust-driven approach was using Connections Online (Connections) to establish the overall goals of the business, and then challenging his team to find the pathways to success.
Biernacki called Connections “the skeleton that holds the work together.” It helped them manage their resources more effectively, because everyone was kept informed no matter their position. The entire credit union had access to the targets, the outcomes, and the status of every project.
Connections established a framework for two-way communication that fostered insight, learning, and recognition. The Connections dialogs provided a way to keep the challenges top of mind. They also clarified and reinforced accountability for the Leadership Team and staff. Fully engaging employees in the achievement of a worthy goal promoted a “nobody wanted to let anybody else down” environment that led to the impressive level of achievement.
With this enhanced communication throughout Arkansas FCU, Biernacki added that it enabled staff members to volunteer for projects in which they were interested. It was a transfer of workload to others who have ideas about the project that may not have had a chance if not for the improved communication channels. “Connections Online became the blood vessels of our organization,” he said.
As a result of Arkansas FCU’s success, it garnered a few noteworthy accomplishments:
· Completed 77 organization-wide projects in four years
· Completed 50 departmental projects in four years
· Elevated BAI Employee Climate Survey results to “best
in class”
· Recognized as Arkansas Business of the Year (2008)
· Won two Credit Union Journal Best Practice Awards
· Achieved NCUA’s top rating for credit unions
Some Biernacki takeaways from the webinar:
· Empower your people
· Enlist everyone’s participation
· No micromanaging
· Stay consistent and committed – CEO cannot be too
busy to help
· Nothing is perfect – go with what you know and make
adjustments later
· Celebrate all successes no matter how big or small
“It’s all about creating a culture of discipline in a positive light,” Biernacki explained. “Let them know where you are going and get out of their way. Don’t be afraid of failure. You’ve got to trust your people and let them do their jobs.”
For details on Cardwell’s most recent Connect with Leaders webinar and previous ones, visit www.connectionsonline.net and click on the Events tab or call 800-395-1410. Click here to hear a recording of the presentation.
Jim Cardwell’s Educational Webinar – Dialogs
Tuesday, December 15th at 1:30 ET
True competitive advantage comes not from new delivery channels, an updated strategy, or internal processes, but from human talent—from ordinary people achieving extraordinary results.
Dialogs add the human element to organization, department, project and individual performance. They make business more people-centric than document-centric. Dialogs create a conversation that consistently reinforces your strategic focus and targets; builds team consensus on business priorities and trade-offs; celebrates successes and problem-solves shortfalls; and provides a moment of truth vis-à-vis individual accountability and team performance.
The purpose of this Connect with Leaders Webinar is to take a deeper dive into the real objectives of Dialogs—and how to optimize them.
4.0 Tips of the Month
People Tab (Purple) – In order to improve the view for the individual’s Project Tasks module on their purple People Tab, the interface has been changed slightly. There are now more columns (start and end dates, project role, hours, and status.) Also, please note that the priority number for the project is at the beginning of the name of the project.
Copy Metrics and Projects – Users will now be able to copy metrics and projects within an organization or department and people pages – or copy one metric or project to another organization, department, or people tab.
Expand/Collapse Item Feature – There has been a change in the user interface to expand items that were previously expanded using the check box. With the last update, there was an issue with the expansion feature only when using IE7. In order to fix the IE7 problem, the application has been modified for all browsers.
To expand or collapse additional detail for an item on the main columns of each tab (critical measures, projects, tasks, basic role, basic role tasks, personal tasks, and follow-up tasks), you will now see a symbol (to the left of the select box) pointing right to expand and the symbol pointing down to collapse. Please note that the background color is now white (not blue) and font sizes are larger for ease of reading.
The list boxes on the right side bar for main tabs are working as they did before – select the check box and the item expands – uncheck check box and item collapses.
Security Using Propagation
Users will now be able to propagate the default security on the site page as well as security elements on the metric and project modules on the organization, department and people tabs within the application.
Security Using “Reports to” and Propagation
There has been a security category created called “Reports to.” All Users should have their boss as the person the User reports to. This can be checked by the User on the People tab – click the pencil next to the user’s name and under the organization/department, the “reports to” will be listed. If this needs to change, please contact the Connections Online Coordinator in your organization.
New Reporting Feature
The Tab reports have been revamped to provide a better look and easier functionality. The tab reports include the Organization and Department tab report, the Project Report, and the People Report and can be launched using the Reports module on the right column of the four main tabs. On each report, the User will be able to open or close modules, expand modules for all details, close module detail, drag and drop modules around the report page, and print reports in portrait or landscape. Users will be able to sort headers in each of the modules.
Connections Online 4.0 New Features Webinar
This 30-minute training webinar highlights newly released functionality of Connections Online 4.0. For a recording of this webinar Click here.
Informational Webinar
If you know someone outside of your company who may be interested in learning more about Connections Online, we have an informational webinar scheduled on Thursday, November 12th, at 1:30 EST. Please pass this link on to them: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/228177090 to register.
Client Care Notes
To view previous Connections Online Newsletters, go to http://www.connectionsonline.net/news and then click on the Newsletters tab for a listing of our past newsletters.
Connections Online Migration
If you have not already done so, and are ready to migrate to 4.0, please contact Karla Norwood at 800.395.1410. For more information regarding what has changed with 4.0, you are welcome to join one of our Connections Online 4.0 Migration webinars. (See Monthly Calendar of Webinar Events link below.)
Monthly Calendar of Webinar Events Link:
Go to this link and click on the Events Tab - then choose Calendar of Web Events from the list:
http://www.connectionsonline.net/ShowNews.aspx?id=245
Connections Online
24481 Detroit Road, Suite 300
Cleveland, OH 44145
(440) 892-1410 or (800) 395-1410
www.connectionsonline.net
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