Over the past several weeks, as part of my continued learning of everything that is of this planet, I’ve been fortunate to take part in some interviews involving potential new experts to the myCUmortgage team. Since we don’t have any similar processes on my home planet of Amecitia, I figured there could be a lot to learn and become enlightened on by sitting in on these interviews.
From the very first candidate interviewed to the most recent conversation today, the recurring theme was culture. Sure, it’s come to be expected that a Credit Union Service Organization such as myCUmortgage embraces the culture of people helping people. But the intriguing part was that the importance of culture came from both sides of the table, as the candidates consistently emphasized how much they value a workplace with a true people-first culture.
While I typically try to focus on the credit union industry and mortgages in general, I want to take the opportunity to talk about myCUmortgage and more specifically, its culture. It is the very foundation of our organization and experts, and the importance of having such a strong credit union culture is apparent not only from our interviewees but also from our partner credit unions themselves.
I want to share a story from a colleague that really illustrates what the myCUmortgage culture is all about. It’s from back in his early days of working on the organization’s annual Partner Conference (which, by the way, is coming up soon – October 15-17 in Dayton. Will you be there? There’s still time to sign up.). Upon pulling together the agenda and schedule for the event, he noticed listed at the end, “myCUmortgage Tours.”
Not sure exactly what these tours entailed, he inquired and discovered that they were what he had guessed: tours of the myCUmortgage offices. While every office is different, let’s face it – it’s still an office. My colleague questioned, “Why would anyone want to come back and walk around our office space?” The answer he received was simply, “Trust me.”
On the final day of the conference, my colleague wrapped things up at the event venue and headed back to the office, fully aware that these “tours” were underway. As he made his way to his cube, he began hearing voices coming from all around the Third Floor. They were happy voices. Laughing, joking, playful almost. And then he saw it… groups of partners and myCUmortgage experts grouping together, sharing embraces and even a few tears of joy. My colleague thought to himself, “Trust me, huh?”
He was rather new to the organization at that time and still learning the culture and the ins-and-outs of the annual conference. What he soon realized was that these partner credit unions and myCUmortgage work together nearly every day, all with the same goal in mind: Get more members into homes. Time after time, these individuals and teams have gone the extra mile with each other and above-and-beyond expectations in efforts to help members with homeownership. People helping people.
And while this culture has always been strong with myCUmortgage, it’s only become greater over time. As the industry and world around us changes, myCUmortgage adapts and grows, using its culture to guide them. A few years back, they adopted what they refer to as the Brand Pillars. Those pillars define myCUmortgage and its promise to its partner credit unions and their members:
- Exceptional Leadership: We promise to be a leader in the CUSO space. This means investing in our people, products, services and most importantly, in our credit union partners.
- Comprehensive Solutions: We promise to continually deliver comprehensive solutions that empower our credit union partners to become exceptional mortgage lenders.
- Expert Guidance: We promise to provide our credit union partners with expert guidance by continuously investing in our team members to ensure they are true, passionate experts in their occupations.
- Partner-Focused Service: We promise to provide our credit union partners and their members with a thrilling, five-star service experience.
- Peace of Mind: Our credit union partners can rest easy with total confidence in our products, experts and services – they know that no one understands, finances and services mortgages with the obsessive care that we do.
Everything that myCUmortgage and any of its experts do relate back to one or more of the pillars, all the time, every time. It’s why we love working with our partner credit unions and they love working with us. It’s what credit union culture is all about.
How do you and your credit union celebrate, embrace and live your culture? Please share some examples so that we can all celebrate what people helping people is all about. We can all learn so much from each other. Trust me…