5 ways to replicate your star credit union employees

Every credit union has at least one employee who can be trusted with just about anything. If you’re lucky, you may have a few of them. These are the team members who go above and beyond, exceeding all your expectations. They understand your mission, they prioritize creating an excellent experience for members, and if they don’t know the answer to something, they know how to find out. Everything just seems to run more smoothly when they’re around.

When faced with the prospect of hiring new team members, you may look at your star employees and think, “I wish I could just clone them!”

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you really think about it), cloning hasn’t come that far yet. We haven’t figured out a way to replicate our favorite humans. But, with some planning and preparation, you may be able to do the next best thing: Use your go-to people as benchmarks to help you hire and train new employees just like them.

What is a benchmark?

The Oxford Languages definition of a benchmark is, “a standard or point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed.” In terms of hiring for your credit union, the “standard” would be your star employees, and the “things” would be your candidates. But, I wouldn’t recommend advertising for “things” in your job posting.

How can you measure one against the other? You’ll need to do a little preliminary research:

First: Figure out what works

What is it about these star performers that makes them so amazing? And how do you find someone else just as amazing? I don’t know your go-to employees personally, but I can make a pretty good guess at what makes them awesome.

• They excel at their jobs. They meet the goals of your credit union, and they elevate their team, either by acting as role models or by pitching in (or both).
• They pick up new skills easily. It seems like you can plug your star performers in anywhere and they can make a positive difference, even if they are just filling a temporary gap.
• They show excellent judgment. You can depend on them to make well-reasoned decisions and avoid taking action that would reflect badly on the credit union.
• They have that extra something special that makes them easy to work with, for everyone. Because there’s never any drama around them, they always contribute positively to the member experience. They elicit loyalty.

Did I miss anything? Ask around and find out what makes your go-to employees so wonderful to their colleagues. The more information you have, the better you can benchmark them.

Next: Use this as a model for what to look for in your new employees

You’ll need to dig a little deeper than your standard resume scanning and interview process for this. You may luck out using the traditional methods, but there are no guarantees. The more data you have, the better! Here are some simple ways of improving your odds.

1. Have your star performers take a behavioral assessment. Once they’ve completed an assessment, use the findings as a template for the position. If you can identify the traits that work great for a specific role, you can limit your search to people who share those characteristics.
2. Now that you know the behavioral traits you want to replicate, have your candidates take an assessment as well, and compare them to the setup you’ve created. In addition to helping match a candidate’s overall characteristics to an open position, an assessment can provide insight into any stress or conflict the person may be experiencing. These measurements indicate the likelihood of the candidate showing good judgment on the job.
3. Have your candidates take a cognitive assessment. A candidate who scores well on a cognitive ability test is more likely to learn quickly, assimilate new information and adapt to a changing work environment – all abilities you’ve seen in your go-to employees.
4. Contact references. That “special something” your top employees have? That usually refers to “soft skills.” When you talk to the candidate’s references, confirm the candidate has shown some of the most sought-after soft skills: flexibility, work ethic, dependability, ability to get along with others, and technical savvy.
5. Read/listen closely during the interview and the lead up to it. Of course, you will be listening for the best answers to your questions, but you also want to pay attention to how well your candidate communicates. Do they answer appropriately and express themselves well? Weave in some behavioral interview questions to see if the candidate responds in a similar way to how your benchmark employees would respond.

Bonus: Ask your star employees if they can recommend someone. We’ve already established these individuals have great judgment, so they’re not likely to recommend a dud. Hey, maybe they have an identical twin? You can’t get much closer to a clone than that! Even better, ask them if they see promise in anyone already working in the credit union. They tend to build relationships around the organization and may be able to identify someone promising before you do.

Once you have your promising new star, consider having them spend some time shadowing your top performers. Let them learn from the best.

While you’re on this quest to replicate your top employees, don’t forget to show appreciation for the ones you already have! Trust me, other credit unions are out there looking for them, and you want to make sure they are happy and fulfilled right where they are – with you!