LANGLEY, B.C – First West Credit Union recently won a Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) Learning Excellence Award for their extensive work in the creation and implementation of their Invest in People: First West Certification Program. The award was presented at the annual CCUA national conference in Toronto.
Each year, the Learning Excellence Award recognizes and honours one leader or initiative that demonstrates an outstanding contribution in the development of credit union employees.
“At First West, investing in our employees and their learning and development is a priority,” said Liz Bailey-Connor, Chief People & Culture Officer at First West. “Our certification programs elevate the knowledge, skills and abilities of our employees through innovative, exciting and common sense learning solutions which enables them to succeed and thrive in their careers.”
First West Certification is a robust learning program that provides the skills and knowledge necessary for employees to grow and succeed in their roles and beyond. The program was developed over the course of three years and it takes a holistic approach to learning, providing the resources, educational opportunities and coaching employees need to develop knowledge and skills to thrive within their roles. The program has eleven different certification streams which cover a variety of roles within the organization.
Since launching this certification program in January 2017, all 127 Financial Services Advisors (FSAs) within the organization have enrolled in the FSA Certification stream (100 per cent participation rate). Twenty-one FSAs who were in the FSA certification program were promoted throughout 2017 to a Financial Advisor role.
The First West Certification Program was a true team effort to develop and implement. To learn more from some of the key contributors, view the full story below.