The Dream Maker Award

I started out with this project wanting to find a way to recognize staff members who go above and beyond in our credit union and community, in hopes that this would inspire and encourage other staff members to do the same. My research also indicated that getting peers involved in this process is the number one reason individuals DO go the extra mile in their careers and in their lives. 

One of my goals then became to determine the value this Dream Maker Award would have on PCM Credit Union as a whole. I came across that two of PCM Credit Union’s current challenges are to increase member word of mouth marketing (with emphasis in the Marinette, WI area) and increase membership growth. These challenges made me realize that my proposed project of the PCMCU Dream Maker Award could play a key role in helping us conquer these challenges. What better way to increase word of mouth and membership growth than by being more involved and more visible in our communities?

Here are a few key statistics showing the positive influence of “employee engagement” and “employee recognition” in the workplace:

"41% of companies that use peer-to-peer recognition have seen marked positive increase in customer/member satisfaction.” (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)

“Peer-to-peer is 35.7% more likely to have a positive impact on financial results than managerial only recognition.” (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)

“Organizations with the most mature employee recognition approach are 12 times more likely to have strong business results.” (Bersin by Deloitte, The Employee Recognition Maturity Model, 2012)

I feel if staff members realized that putting forth more effort than their daily job requires and volunteering for more opportunities would create more buzz in our communities while increasingmembership growth each year, they would be more willing to put forth the extra effort within the credit union and outside in our community. I also predict that if they knew they would have a say in who they feel is most deserving of the award, they would be more willing to support this project.

Each year as a group we discuss our membership goals and where we would like to be at year end. These goals are for ALL of us to meet as a team. Our team is also aware that we spend little on advertising and that most of our membership drive comes from word of mouth marketing and building member relationships. These goals that pertain to all of us are very meaningful to us. We know that successful growth in these areas means successful growth of our credit union, so that we can thrive in our industry and better serve our members. 

There is a positive correlation between the increase of member word of mouth and membership growth. Incentivizing PCMCU staff with this award creates value in our workplace and in our community so we can conquer these challenges in full stride. 

So why would an employee care about this award and why would they want to support it and participate? Well, peer-to-peer support is something we all strive for, and we can all agree that a little extra recognition doesn’t hurt. In fact, it only helps us to want to continue doing better every day. All in all, employees would feel a sense of accomplishment, would know that they are helping contribute to successful growth of the credit union in our challenged areas, and would be a part of something larger within our movement and the culture we work in. This in turn would create a more positive business atmosphere and overall employee satisfaction.

I project that by adopting this award we could increase our membership growth by at least 10% of what it would have been without the award, meaning with this employee encouragement and peer-to-peer recognition, we can better conquer our challenges in these areas.

People are always at the core of what we do, and following the overall “People Helping People” credit union motto, as well as the PCMCU “People Caring More” motto, is how we best serve our members every day. It is what we are built on. It is the higher purpose we live for. 

Until next time, Dream Big.

Brittney Dessart