ORLANDO, Fla.–One credit union is proud to be putting the “cult” in culture—even if that includes embracing being weird. And it is now seeing the dividends coming in the form of new members, growth, and reduced staff turnover.
While credit unions themselves have sometimes been referred to as cults, many have run away from the label. Not Mazuma Credit Union, which has changed just about everything about itself in ways few credit unions have. Indeed, it encourages employees to "Bring your weird."
“Our goal is to be a habitat for humans,” explained Laura Eblen, the AVP of strategic initiatives, who instead used the title VP of Awesomeness during remarks here before the joint annual meeting of the CUNA Operations, Sales & Service Council and CUNA Technology Council.
Being a habitat for humans refers as much to its own employees as it does its members. It has built a culture of fun and quirkiness at its headquarters, where it has a treetop room, an underwater room and a Lego room, among others, for employees, and in its interaction with members, who may be asked to dance in the lobby or who have the option of pressing a number on their phones when calling the CU if they just want to hear random sounds.
It’s a culture that may not be for every CU, as it requires taking some big chances and then sticking with them, but it has paid off for Kansas City, Mo.-based Mazuma, which was previously known as Federal Employees Credit Union.
One point emphasized by Eblen was that the change at Mazuma was far deeper than a new logo, corporate colors and an internal memo to employees. The credit union spent more than a year working to figure out just what Mazuma would be, according to Eblen, and how it would differentiate itself. That included how it would NOT differentiate itself.
“Having good service isn’t the answer any more, it’s not a differentiator,” she said.
Instead, it sought to identify what would be important to Mazuma and its future beyond just the broad 18-45-year-old market that every financial institution is chasing.
“We were looking for members who were aspiring and entrepreneurial. It meant our products had to be simple and streamlined and it had to be easy to do business with us. People needed to leave a little happier for having done business with us,” Eblen explained. “Once we had our core values defined we did an inward look and worked with all our team members on what that meant. We redid all of our employee evaluations (to change criteria). And once did that we did the rebranding.”
Eblen stressed that rebranding is not just about a logo—although Mazuma’s includes an embedded smile. That smile is lit up in its branches at night, and its main office includes an illuminated disco ball. The redesign and rebranding were led by Level 5, Atlanta.
Don't Expect Immediate ROI
“It’s harder in the beginning to prove the ROI on a rebranding,” said Eblen, noting many CUs might have second thoughts after a rebranding if they don’t see immediate results. “Don’t stop here, because a lot of credit unions do. A lot of credit unions rebrand, and then send you to an online loan application that has 20 pages to fill out. It’s not easy. Or the member comes into the branch and there’s no eye contact. There’s a disconnect. You can’t just throw out a new brand.”
Eblen, who said that the credit union had gone through four different corporate cultures in 26 years, began to change its team long before it ever introduced the new brand so the two were in alignment.
Today, the result at Mazuma, where employees are called “Mazumans,” is what Eblen freely acknowledges is a “cult.” To that end, she offered her audience tactics used by cults that are also practiced by Mazuma.
Cult Tactic #1: They Show You What You’re Doing Wrong
“When you first join a cult they show you what they believe is wrong with the way the world is currently doing business,” explained Eblen. “A business with a great culture challenges the status quo and puts all its resources into finding better, faster, more efficient ways to solve current and anticipated member needs. At Mazuma, we believe it’s time to Bank Happy. We believe we are at our best when members are a little happier than when they came.”
Challenging the status quo at Mazuma has meant, according to Eblen:
- New leadership.
- New vendor partnerships (she said Mazuma dropped one long-time vendor that didn’t align well with its new culture).
- Evaluation of the product line.
- Conversion to centralized lending.
- Enhanced online services.
- Development of its e-branch
- Establishment of the Mazuma Foundation (5% of its bottom line goes to its foundation. It also gives employees 40 hours per year to work on charitable and community efforts).
- Partnership with local Major League Soccer team and with kids soccer programs (soccer is huge in the Kansas City market).
As part of its relationship with MLS’ Sporting Kansas City it has introduced a new Blue Card affinity program. “We wanted the card to be as quirky and unique as the credit union. We said we wanted to offer something am little different. So our rewards are a little different,” said Eblen.
Among the rewards holders of the affinity card can earn are a Sporting KC away match road trip; the total SKC Matchday Experience; Pitch Black with Sporting KC; SKC match tickets, and Sporting KC gear. All of the fulfillment is handled by Sporting Kansas City and Jack Henry PPS.
“Instead of the vendor saying, ‘No we can’t do that,’ they said ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ When you are aligned with the right vendor they don’t say no, they say ‘Let’s make this happen’.”
Cult Tactic #2: Dictate Everything
“Your culture should, too,” said Eblen. “Clearly define for your team exactly what is expected of them. How should they act? Who can they date at work, if at all? What should they wear?”
Eblen said Mazuma focused on creating role clarity, including rewriting all job descriptions so they are very clear and explain exactly the tasks the credit union wants to know and practice in front of members, as well as explain how the employee can advance in the organization.
“There was some turnover, but it was low,” said Eblen. “When you are launching a corporate culture, don’t be worried when you see some team members leaving. It doesn’t mean they weren’t great team members; it just means they didn’t align with the new culture.”
For Mazuma, the core values and culture had to define “who we wanted to be and what it meant to be a Mazuman,” said Eblen. That meant acknowledging:
- Each of the values is expressed uniquely.
- Not everyone was going to accept us and that was OK.
- We might lose current talent and membership.
- We would emphasize culture fit over talent in hiring. “This one is tough. We ask very unique interview questions. The talent and the skill is in the interview, but we use a lot of panel interviews. You might interview with six or seven other people also vying for that position. It can be tough. You get someone with all the right talents and you talk to them more and you realize they aren’t a culture fit. That’s where the rubber meets the road and you have to go with another candidate. You can teach the skills; you can’t teach that personality fit. At one point we did hire more on culture than on skills, and we had to shift that back a bit.”
- The culture shift would never be finished.
- Every new product and project would have to align with the CU’s core values before it would be implemented, regardless of profitability.
Eblen said Mazuma’s job reviews include demonstrating a positive, fun attitude, being consistently positive, and respectful. Being late for work, for instance, is seen as affecting the rest of the team.
For employees, the credit union has in place a number of practices that show it values them. These include:
- A FLIP (Future Leaders in Progress) team, an 18-month program ending in a capstone project, the most recent of which was to review its onboarding program.
- Self-development.
- Tuition reimbursement equal at ALL levels, up to $5,200 a year. “It’s up to you to select the class you want to be a part of.”
- Improvements in areas of growth opportunity.
Mazuma has also:
- Developed career path advancement plans with culture weighing more on the evaluation than product and service scores.
- Put its team in charge of developing themselves and others.
- Helped managers developed into leaders.
The result, said Eblen, has been a reduction in turnover, which initially increased after the culture shift before leveling and then declining; an improvement in member satisfaction scores, and an organic increase in the ownership of roles.
Cult Tactic #3: Give Them All Your Time
“How much of your time do you spend at your job,” asked Eblen. “How much time do you spend awake with your family?”
To create a greater balance, salaried Mazumans may work remotely, and she said many CU meetings are held on employee’s back decks and in back yards.
“They average 15 hours a week offsite and we estimate a 45% increase in productivity,” she said. “There is a direct correlation to higher team member satisfaction scores and a 20% increase in loan volume production. When our team was happier, our loans started increasing.”
Cult Tactic #4: Spread the Word
“Live the culture every day in every action,” said Eblen. “Core values don’t belong on a wall, they are a measurement against every decision made to advance the business forward.”
Mazuma does member satisfaction surveys like many CUs, but as would be expected its surveys are different, taking the form of a smiley-face emoji that the member can slide along a bar to indicate their level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. “Anyone who slides it down gets a phone call,” she said.
Cult Tactic #5. Follow The Vision of One Leader (Not!)
“Each member of the team is responsible for enforcement of the vision, regardless of title,” said Eblen. “Repeat: culture is everyone’s job. No position is exempt from following the rules and no one gets to slide because ‘That’s just not who they are.’”
Credit unions that want to turn their own cultures into a cult must be “unafraid to challenge the status quo; define who you are, stick with it, align your strategy against your values, go slow and spread the word,” she said.