Ten high-impact topics for HR&TD success

The HR&TD field is more complex than it seems. Numbers are straightforward, but people can be a bit trickier. Whether it’s training, motivation, benefits or talent management, an HR&TD professional needs to know the ins-and-outs, not only of their credit union’s strategy and culture, but of fundamental human behavior.

In order to keep the growing list of HR&TD responsibilities from becoming overwhelming, the CUNA HRTD Council has assembled a list of ten topics that will have the greatest impact on credit unions’ HR&TD efforts – and success. In fact, many of the topics will be priority agenda items for the 2014 CUNA HRTD Council Conference this April. Here’s what made the list:

1. Affordable Care Act

It’s not going anywhere. Years after its introduction, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is still relevant to your HR responsibilities. Its requirements can affect your credit union and change the way you deal with providing health care for your employees, so keep yourself and your team updated on recent changes to ensure your compliance stays airtight now and over the next few years.

2. Succession Planning

Do you have a plan for when your CFO decides to make his vacation to Maui permanent? Or when your CEO retires early on her lottery winnings? Without a succession plan for key roles, even a successful business can face heavy damage – or failure – if one or more of its crucial leaders are lost. Strategic succession planning is paramount in avoiding costly extended vacancies like these.

3. Talent and Performance Management

You’re going to need to start distinguishing your member experience from the competition across the street. As the financial services industry expands, so too do consumers’ options, so make sure you’re aligning organizational performance and retaining your talent with a competitive pay scale. You’ll hit the ground running in 2014 if you understand how to manage talent and performance with your members in mind.

4. Service Culture Excellence

Everyone who walks through your door is waiting to be impressed. Maintaining high service standards, both internally and externally, is a credit union’s greatest opportunity and asset in the financial services industry. By upholding the credit union philosophy and keeping sight of your driving purpose, you’ll show your employees and members what their involvement means while building their loyalty and trust.

5. Employee Engagement

Can you name the top seven motivators in the workplace? They’re worth tracking down, as your employee engagement strategy is directly linked not only to your team’s level of effort, but to its communication and satisfaction as well.  Actively engage and interact with your staff – it’s the most fun you can have while improving workplace efficiency and should not be neglected in 2014.

6. Change Management

UK credit unions collapsed at a rate of one-per-month in 2013. The financial services industry is in a volatile state; businesses rise and fall quickly, often because of a lack of preparedness and flexibility. HR&TD professionals need to know how to face change head on and keep their credit union moving forward, whether that means managing capacity or being the first to initiate an adjustment.

7. HR and Learning Metrics

Gut feelings and guesswork no longer have a place in financial services. 21st century metrics are built from more than just data on a page – they require innovative tools, meaningful data and results-driven reactions. If you want to make your metrics work for you in 2014, you’ll want to know how to assess, measure, and manage the right impact areas and behaviors across all dimensions.

8. Technology

It’s no longer enough to know your way around a Google search. Technology affects every role in a competitive credit union, and the HR&TD field is no different. As advances continue in 2014, your effectiveness will depend on the innovative implementation of HR&TD-specific resources, from HRIS Employee self-service and online learning management systems to survey tools and bandwidth monitoring – even social media familiarity.

9. Learning and Development

How does your credit union learn best? Individual needs assessments, types of learning, training effectiveness – it’s all crucial when implementing a professional development plan for a team of employees. Make sure that you have the facilitation and presentation skills to teach your team the core proficiencies and leadership know-how to handle any future challenge.

10. Compliance

Mandatory Compliance Training. It’s just about the last three-word phrase any credit union employee wants to hear. Every year, HR&TD professionals struggle to provide their credit union’s employees with a thorough understanding of their compliance responsibilities, including FSLA details and ADA standards, while keeping it interesting and engaging – and 2014 will be no different.

All these topics and more will be addressed at this year’s CUNA HRTD Council Conference, taking place April 27-30 at the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Attendees of this annual event learn the latest techniques and strategies for managing and engaging credit union staff – from new-employee onboarding and leading younger generations to expert advice on avoiding self-exhaustion. To learn more and register, visit cunahrtdcouncil.org.