Investing in Engagement By Erica Kemp
Do you ever wonder what you ’ d do without your cell phone ? I know a few people who claim they would , quite literally , die without this little tool . I think dying is a bit extreme but their point is well taken . It ’ s amazing how we have become quite dependent upon our little devices .
I feel the same way about some tools we have at work . I certainly remember the time before my colleagues and I had access to these tools and I think I can speak on behalf of all of us when I say we would shudder at the thought of returning to those days .
I head up the employee training and development program for Credit Union 1 . Credit Union 1 has been in business since the mid-1990s and today we have 15 locations throughout the state . We have almost 400 employees throughout Alaska as well as in several other states throughout the country . My team and I are charged with educating the workforce , whether it be onboarding new employees , executing long distance “ mock teller ” sessions , or presenting leadership development sessions .
With the growth of our organization around the thriving city of Anchorage and all around our great state , and with the addition of employees in the lower 48 , Credit Union 1 needed to invest in some tools to keep us all informed , connected , and engaged with each other . In 2005 , when we built our corporate headquarters , we made the initial investment into Audio and Video ( AV ) technology for our training and conference rooms .
My team and I , who had not previously had these tools , immediately experienced a change in how we performed our work . But that change had a significant reward in the form of reduced travel expenses , heightened employee engagement , and increased “ fun factor ” of various types of professional development events . Outside the training environment , Credit Union 1 employees benefited from an immediate increase in collaborative problem solving and brainstorming as the “ perceived distance ” was shortened .
You may wonder what I mean by “ perceived distance .” I understand this is an industry term and speaks to how far away we perceive the individual , and subsequently the conversation is from us . Imagine using a speaker phone to meet with someone in another location , who is also on speaker phone . While this is better than not talking with them all , we still perceive we are quite far apart . The use of speaker phones doesn ’ t necessarily give either party a good “ connection ” as verbal communication is the only cue they give / receive . However , once video is added to the equation , we perceive the distance between us has shortened . As video allows non-verbal communication cues to be shared , we feel better connected and understood .
In my opinion , most of the Credit Union 1 workforce received an immediate positive impact on their work from these initial investments into technology .
But alas , all good things must come to an end . The equipment in our training and conference rooms began to enter what the Information Technology ( IT ) folks called “ end of life .” What this meant was the equipment started to have inconsistent and unpredictable performance . The down time for these rooms became more and more frequent . This was such a problem that we built in specific extended timeframes for our training and meeting agendas to account for quick fixes and band-aids to our aging system .
The cost of this wasted time was significant to Credit Union 1 . Imagine the collective wage of a bunch of new tellers , a few tenured employees and the trainer . Or how about the collective wage of our leadership team during their meetings ? Or the value of the time offered by our Board of Directors ?
Now , take the dollar amount of those collective expenses and throw it out the window . That ’ s what we were figuratively doing each and every time the equipment failed . The direct cost was , of course , significant . Moreover , it was frustrating and embarrassing for the individuals involved . The cost of repairs and service were notable expenses to our IT budget too .
Allow me to digress a bit to cell phones again . When the screens crack , when they become dated and start to give us trouble or worse , when we misplace or lose them , we panic ! I think this is because we don ’ t think our little phones are luxury items and , instead , we consider them staples .
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