Making a Difference

Having been in the finance industry for more than 39 years I have seen many changes – Rural, Venture capital, Cash flow lending and security lending or for a better term Mortgage lending, just to name a few. At this time I am not going to bore you with the differences.

Deregulation of the Finance industry, and most importantly for Australia, the establishment of APRA. (Australia Prudential Regulation Authority), in some ways has protected the Australian borrowers from the situation that has occurred and continues to have an effect overseas. This is especially true within Credit Union’s I can’t see why the same scrutiny has not been afforded to the store credit industry that has flourished in today’s market.

Enough of that, what I would especially like to address are a couple of ways that I have managed changes which have taken place over the past 9 years in the time I have been an employee of Companion Credit Union. Change in any institution is not always greeted with enthusiasm by all staff, but true to Companion Credit Union values I believe that teamwork is the best approach to change management. In a competitive and volatile market, we as an institution need to give excellence in customer service. It would serve us all well to remember that our core business is Finance and Investment.

The success of any enterprise is the capability of its staff to communicate – my preferred method is face to face. I like to interact with people, listen to their views and hopefully find ways that Companion Credit Union can help with their financial success. I believe that it is always important to find the strength of each individual, this is especially true with our staff, by identifying our individual strengths and work on our weaknesses, we are able to give our members the best service available. It is surprising how much more you can develop a relationship – be it with a customer or a staff member – when in a face to face situation.

2009 Gunnedah Business & Service Awards

On Saturday night 14 March I, along with Jan & Sandra and our partners attended a very successful Gunnedah Business and Service Awards night hosted by the Gunnedah District Development Board Inc. Jan Snape was nominated for the Customer Service Award – Individual.

Jan was among 50 individual nominees and prior to the night this list had been culled down to 14 finalists, Jan was among that final list. On the night Jan was awarded first place. It was pleasing to be part of the night and my congratulations go to Jan and I must add we were impressed with Jan’s acceptance speech. We had an extra bonus on the night – our Muswellbrook Branch Manager Dario and his band provided the Music (Kyda Rock).

They say a picture speaks a 1000 words and the attached photo says it all …

(Jan – it was Sandra’s idea for the nomination – I just acted upon it and left it up to your fellow staff members and customers to do the voting !)

A strong and supportive team can provide that exceptional service we strive for in Companion Credit Union.

If you would like to discuss feel free to come and see me, my door is always open!

Peter Dutton
Area Manager
Gunnedah

March 18th, 2009 | 2 Comments »