MOLINE, Ill.—Today is Positive Thinking Day, a time Americans are urged to set aside each year to concentrate on all things positive.
But every day is positive thinking day at Vibrant Credit Union here, where the culture is all about just that.
“We pride ourselves on being a little different. We believe banking doesn't have to be boring. We have a heavily community-involved, fun-filled culture,” said Marketing Coordinator Danielle Blocker. “We also believe that happy, healthy employees translate into better business—if employees are happy they provide better member service.”
To create that culture Blocker said Vibrant employs psychologist and author Dr. Donald O. Clifton's theory of “filling buckets with positivity. We've done a few internal surveys that show four out of five Vibrant employees had received praise or recognition for good work within the last seven days. Our internal survey also shows that more than 85% of Vibrant employees stated there was someone at work who encourages their further development.”
Danielle Blocker
Invisible Bucket
Blocker explained that Clifton’s theory says each person has an “invisible bucket” and it is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do.
“When our bucket is full, we feel awesome. When it’s empty, we feel not so great. Negativity is an empty bucket, and an unhealthy and expensive bucket. It leads to poor health and lack of productivity. Research shows that actively disengaged employees cost the United States between $250 and $300 billion per year in lost productivity,” Blocker said.
While Vibrant recognizes financial services as a serious business, the credit union does things daily to make sure staff have fun and take a lighter approach to their jobs.
“Just because banking can be serious, that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun, too,” said Blocker. “We start each day with motivational moments. It can be anything from paper airplane contests to a high five train. The only rule is no shop talk—just have fun. Starting our day off this way sets the tone.”
Blocker said the leadership team, headed by CEO Matt McCombs, drives the positive culture.
“It’s not uncommon for them to stop by your desk just to say hi or even play a prank. It’s a great way to keep from drowning in the work day. They keep the workplace positive and fun,” said Blocker.
Email Chains
Staff are encouraged to have fun with members, too.
“At the end of a transaction we might ask the member for a high five. Maybe ask them if they want to play one of our bean bag games we have off to the side,” said Chief Culture Officer Jon Sexton. “It’s all about having fun and keeping things positive.”
Sexton said that Vibrant uses organization-wide email chains to recognize outstanding employee work, and further uses a bulletin board on Google.
“Similar to our email chains, this is a place to post shout-outs, personal accomplishments, or anything else you would like to share,” said Sexton.
Sexton said, no surprise, that Vibrant has built a reputation in its markets for not only providing excellent service but for having fun and being highly involved the community.
“At community events some credit unions might show up with four or five executives, while we show up with 100 employees dressed in credit union T-shirts,” said Sexton. “That kind of marketing impact you can’t pay for.”
Jon Sexton
According to Sexton the credit union has many “engaged” members following it on Facebook, where it shows 16,449 “likes.”
“Love us or hate us, you can’t ignore us,” said Sexton. “Sure, some people post and question why do we do the fun little things. But the vast majority of people on social media love the vibe, the positive energy from our credit union. We typically get scores of four out of five on our Facebook ratings.”
Facebook Following
Blocker noted that it is common for members to ask questions about their accounts via Facebook, and the credit union responds.
“I don’t think other banks and credit unions typically get that kind of social media engagement from account holders,” said Blocker.
Sexton said that measuring the business impact from the culture can be difficult, but noted that the $567-million Vibrant has grown assets by more than $100 million over the last four years, the period in which the new culture took hold. Its staff engagement scores are high, as well.
Every six months Vibrant uses Gallup’s Q12 questions to assess employee engagement, and in the last several years has averaged from 4.15-4.25 on a five-point scale, with five being the most positive score.
“This shows a high level of engagement from our team,” said Sexton, who added that turnover is low, as well, at 3% in the last quarterly study.
“A benefit of this culture, too, is employee retention,” said Sexton. “We want people who buy into our culture and as such we talk a lot about it throughout the recruitment and interview process. We have fun here at work. Sure, at times a small population of our employees raises questions about the playful culture. How is this related to business and the bottom line, they ask. Well, we feel there is a significant impact on the bottom line. When employees struggle to the point of disagreeing completely with the culture that we're continuing to build and want to look for external opportunities, we encourage them and support them in doing so. We understand that no workplace culture can meet the needs of everyone. In addition, we understand that working in an environment that is misaligned with your professional values leads to disengagement, which in the long run can have a negative impact on an individual's overall well-being. In the end, we want employees who want to be part of something different, something fun.”