Securing the future for financial services

Cornerstone for credit unions: Four ways you can take your HR to the next level

Credit Unions have a big responsibility in managing their members money. To remain competitive, they need highly professional and personable front-line employees to deliver premier customer service. This requires credit unions to go beyond compliance training to offering modern, relevant skills training on subjects ranging from leadership and management to sales and service, and much more. With Cornerstone, Credit Unions can engage and retain their top talent with modern skills training, career pathing, and continuous feedback. Cornerstone helps Credit Unions not only recruit and onboard new talent, but also ensure that their #1 differentiator, their people, are equipped with the right skills and development opportunities to grow within the organization.

Spokane Teachers Credit Union Case Study

Founded in 1934, STCU has long realized the value of continuous learning. “We’ve always had a really strong development culture,” said Derek Tyree, director of talent development at STCU. Yet STCU’s commitment to employee learning wasn’t well served by the credit union’s existing learning management system (LMS). “There was a lot of negativity toward the system,” said Tyree. “Our old LMS was seen by employees as a compliance tool that they had to use. It certainly wasn’t a system they wanted to use.” This attitude impeded the team’s efforts to switch from a push to a pull learning strategy. STCU engaged in a comprehensive RFP process. “We knew that Cornerstone could provide us with the content library, flexibility, and scalability to meet our development needs,” said Tyree. The team also wanted an LMS that would address key administrative challenges, including tracking and reporting, development planning, and integration with other systems including ADP. The Cornerstone implementation team played a key role in ensuring an effective rollout. “I really appreciated the way that Cornerstone responded. I loved that part of the relationship, Cornerstone’s openness and willingness to listen,” said Tyree. The Results Enabled self-directed learning. Empowering learners is a core part of STCU’s development philosophy. “Only nine months into launching the LMS, we were up to 700 hours of self-directed learning that wasn’t part of a formal learning plan. Prior, we were getting less than 20 hours of training per year,” said Tyree. “It’s the greatest thing because our employees are embracing learning for learning’s sake, not because they have to. We have classes on technical, soft, and leadership skills that aren’t required, via the CyberU content library within Cornerstone, and people are signing up for them.” Improved employee engagement. STCU teaches Instructor-Led Training (ILT) classes for member service and other soft skills while leveraging the LMS for any pre-work and post-work course assignments. “When we look at our overall engagement numbers, talent development and training has always come up as a major reason that people feel engaged. Employees know that we’re invested and supportive of their growth, not just professionally, but personally,” said Tyree. Increased user adoption. The team saw implementation as an opportunity to both install Cornerstone and reevaluate existing processes. “Our whole goal around implementation was to take the LMS from being a system that employees were required to visit, to a system that employees wanted to visit,” said Sara Spurlock, talent development manager at STCU. “We focused on three areas—content, user experience, and collaboration.” The team branded the Cornerstone interface to reflect the STCU brand and also invited employees to name the new LMS. “They came up with EmpowerU, which really speaks to our culture of learning. Whether they’re learning about desk yoga, Spanish or leadership, EmpowerU is a resource for them to enhance their skill set.” Reduced administrative burden. One of STCU's top priorities when searching for a new LMS was to find a system that would free administrators from tedious, repetitive work that took them away from valuable L&D initiative. “Today it takes just one click to create a report,” said Spurlock. Being more efficient is a must, but for Tom Dotson, senior instructional technology specialist at STCU, Cornerstone goes one step further. The system enables him to say “yes” more often to managers and employees. “I have a lot of people come to me with requests. Can Cornerstone do this? Can we incorporate this into Cornerstone? I’m constantly able to say, ‘Yes, we can do that. Yes, we can add that.’ As an administrator, that’s a great feeling.” Enhanced reporting capabilities. Prior, STCU had little access to meaningful metrics on employee learning, but they are setting baselines and accessing real-time insight into development initiatives. “We tracked 18,000 hours of training of all types in 2018,” said Tyree. “I can finally pull great data and provide really good comparisons on our programs. We can see where improvements need to be made.” The team will begin using the data to benchmark STCU’s development programs against other credit unions and banks. “We’re making an investment in our people and can now show the results of that initiative.”

The Friedkin Group case study

The Friedkin Group, Inc. (TFG) represents a consortium of businesses focused in the automotive space, as well as the hospitality and entertainment industry. The automotive business is the focus of TFG’s Cornerstone implementation and provides finance and insurance, marketing, automotive transport and distributing vehicle parts to more than 150 dealerships across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. A Learning Approach As Dynamic As Its Workforce TFG needed a best-in-class learning approach that would meet the needs of a growing company. To continue its success and further that growth, the company decided to invest in a platform that would support career development across the organization. But finding a solution dynamic enough to meet the needs of associates across these varying sectors posed a challenge. The combination of Cornerstone’s Learning and Content Anytime subscriptions proved to be the solution TFG needed, offering interactive and engaging learning content that would meet the demands of TFG’s diverse—and ever-growing—workforce. OnDemand Learning Keeps Business Running Even When Disaster Strikes When Hurricane Harvey tore through the southern U.S. in 2017, TFG felt the impact. The category four storm completely flooded the company's corporate HQ in Houston. With over 20 inches of water in the building, it was clear no one was going back to their desks anytime soon. But, TFG’s associate development and compliance needs had to continue, and thanks in large part to Cornerstone, they were able to do so nearly seamlessly. Keeping Associates Learning and Engaged Wherever They Are To keep these diverse businesses running, TFG associates worked remotely for two weeks before occupying a temporary office for the next four months. Some businesses would have struggled to recover from such disruption—not TFG. Thanks to the help of Cornerstone’s on-demand learning platform, which TFG implemented in 2015, associates could access learning as well as performance reviews, from their home or temporary office space, or anywhere else they were working. Looking back, “if all we had was instructor-led training, we would have been in a tough spot because no one was onsite and the focus was on keeping the business running,” TFG Manager of Learning & Development Rob Denton says. “Instead, Cornerstone enabled us to get relevant information out to associates, wherever they were.” TFG kept the strategic momentum going, and today the enterprise offers associates thousands of curated courses through Cornerstone’s Professional Skills and Leadership and Management subscriptions to enable continued growth and development. Engaging and Meaningful Learning Content In the age of smartphones, TFG’s associates expect content that is fast, easily accessible, and user-friendly. That’s especially true for the next generation entering the workforce, the Gen Zers, also known as Digital Natives. TFG knew it needed an innovative approach to learning—not only to accommodate its newest hires, but also to help tenured associates adapt and grow as technology changes business operations. By investing in Content Anytime’s Professional Skills and Leadership and Management subscriptions, TFG effortlessly drives relevant, engaging content across the workforce—making development as binge-worthy as content on similar platforms like YouTube. Driving Targeted Learning, Across Modalities One of the reasons TFG continues to invest in Cornerstone is the ability to satisfy diverse learning preferences. For example, drivers employed by US AutoLogistics, LLC (USAL), an automotive transport business within TFG, are always on the go, so many of them require on-demand learning courses that they can access at their convenience from wherever their work takes them. “Before, if we had a driver on the road and they had training, they had to stop at a terminal, sit down at the computer, and take it,” Denton said. “Thanks to Cornerstone, we now just give them a push notification that tells them about assigned training, and they can complete via a tablet they have in their truck.” In an effort to increase program engagement and awareness, TFG rebranded the Cornerstone platform as “Develop U,” complete with a bespoke collegiate logo to complement it. TFG also organized a tailgate-themed party to introduce the platform and demonstrate how to navigate it. Committed to catering to a diversity of learning styles, TFG configured Content Anytime to give leaders of all levels the ability to create their own learning playlists and post relevant content for their specific business units. Associates stay up-to-date on the latest learning trends by subscribing to playlists for automatic notifications whenever new course content is available. Instead of having to constantly check if new content is available, regular notifications guarantee that associates never miss a learning opportunity. Content is Key to Unlocking the Next Generation of Leaders Businesses like TFG must always be prepared to navigate the next big challenge—whether it be a hurricane or a new technology trend. Much of the company’s success comes from good leadership, and Content Anytime has a direct hand in helping foster emerging leaders through its Leadership and Management subscription. Blending the accessibilityof Content Anytime’s topics with instructor-led learning provides a blended learning approach thatallows TFG associates to apply course content confidently. With Content Anytime, they know they are equipped with the knowledge and expertise needed to successfully navigate a changing business environment. Content Anytime course content runs the gamut-from the basics of employment law to how to run effective meetings-and meeting the leader where they are with the skills they need to develop next. “TFG continues to see changes in the learning space,” Denton says. “It’s no longer enough to just tell someone they need to know something and have them learn it. Now, people want to know why they’re being asked to learn certain skills. With Cornerstone, we can be strategic in helping associates understand the meaning behind these initiatives and delivering it in the moment they need it most.”