Recently, I had the great pleasure of visiting the team at Wright-Patt Credit Union in Fairborn, Ohio. We’ve been working with Amanda Minehart, their Service Quality Manager, for the past year to kick-off their Net Promoter Program. Wright-Patt has always been a member-focused, service-driven organization…and they were ready to take it to the next level and integrate member feedback into every part of their credit union.
That's me on the left & Amanda on the right at the Wright-Patt headquarters in Fairborn, OH.
I’ve been incredibly impressed with the rapid engagement within the front-line management and executive team. The executive and management teams invest time during their regular meetings to discuss the feedback they are receiving from the program, performance levels for various parts of the organization and ways to use this feedback to improve the member experience. And they continue to ask for more and more feedback…it’s absolutely wonderful! So, when the opportunity presented itself…I had to go out and see for myself what these guys were up to.
Amanda arranged for Michelle (our CEO) and I to attend one of these regular manager meetings, which was great. I could tell immediately that each of the managers knows and understands their score, AND…more importantly…what members say they need to do in order to improve that score.
Then, we saw the NPS forum she created on their employee intranet. This is a place for the entire company to see the survey results and have two-way conversations about the feedback. Staff is encouraged to share their ideas on how to improve member service.
The Net Promoter League scoreboard at the Gantt Member Center. This is visible to all employees as they enter their breakroom...a great reminder that "promoter worthy" service is everyone's goal.
One of my favorite parts of the day was going on a tour of several Member Centers (at Wright-Patt “branches” are called “Member Centers”). Here, we got to see how each Member Center encorporates NPS feedback into their day-to-day operations.
The entire Wright-Patt team recently began the “Net Promoter League” (an NFL-style season, playoffs and Super Bowl NPS competition). Each week one of the 22 Member Centers “plays” another Member Center. They compete for the highest NPS for that week’s transaction surveys. Rankings are updated on the Partner Net (employee intranet) every day, so each team knows how they’re doing. Team rankings are also announced at regular manager meetings…Amanda announced these during the meeting I attended, and I can tell you that the top spots are highly coveted!
The Member Centers are encouraged to post wins & losses for employees to keep track. One Member Center asks employees to send an email during the week congratulating or encouraging the team to provide great service.
I think the competition is incredibly smart…not because it’s helping managers and staff keep track of their scores. But, the real key is that, they have created a mechanism for consistent and timely communication around member feedback that is visible to EVERYONE in the organization. Very quickly, the focus in the organization has been placed on members and what they have to say about the credit union’s service levels.
Many companies are measuring NPS, including credit unions, but few have developed systems and processes by which this information is shared on a regular basis. Front-line managers and executives are key in the NPS information sharing process – they’re the ones that control operations and strategy. But, it’s also important to remember that front-line employees need feedback too. Your member’s experience is in their hands, after all.
Thanks for a great visit! And keep up the good work!
