Business literacy 101

Challenge
When a new CEO came on board at Credit Union Central of Ontario (CUCO), he quickly realized CUCO’s employees needed to understand the daunting market pressures facing credit unions and how Ontario Central could help them..

Solution
We responded with an employee education program that captured the essence of the new CEO’s vision while making employees rethink the work they do every day. Through a town hall forum and supporting handbook, we showed CUCO’s employees not only how they could think and operate like a business, but why doing so was essential.

Our materials put a new spin on CUCO’s organization and business structure, looking at it from the perspective of how Ontario Central’s different departments actually service and support credit unions, and the relationships between those departments and their responsibilities.

Result
We created a radically new way of understanding and communicating about CUCO that’s logical, clear, and meaningful to people both inside and outside the organization – so clear, in fact, that the CEO adopted it as the organization’s standard.

Building on the foundation of their new employee education program, we were invited back the following year to help introduce a new strategic plan and a performance-based compensation program. A creative powerpoint presentation set the stage, while hanging kite-style posters and flip-style desk reference materials brought the message back to employee desktops and workspaces, reinforcing the CEO’s key messages and keeping employees focused on making more strategic choices every day.