In an era of rampant employee disengagement and corporate purpose statements that often ring hollow, Gulf Winds Credit Union is doing something different—and it’s working.
For the past three decades, the Pensacola-based financial institution has transformed a bank holiday into something extraordinary: the Unite Conference, an all-hands gathering that brings together 250 employees from Northwest Florida, South Alabama and Tallahassee for a day of professional development, team building, and community service.
- “We take the bank holiday, and we give all of our employees a floating holiday,” explains CEO Daniel Souers in a recent interview on “We Don’t Color On the Dog.” “So not only do we pay them to come, we give them a floating holiday for everybody that shows up, so they can take a holiday on a different day.”
Flipping the Organizational Chart
This year’s theme—“Connect for Impact and Unite for Purpose”—emphasized what Souers calls a “we culture, not a me culture.” The message is reinforced through an inverted organizational chart that puts the CEO at the bottom, supporting employees who support members.
- “My job as CEO is to support you and you’re to support the members, and we’re here to serve,” Souers told his team, backing up the philosophy with compelling data: individuals who focus on serving others have a 30% better chance of living longer and report higher happiness levels.
The conference itself doesn’t skimp on production value. Smoke machines, stage lighting, and a surprise marching band finale create an experience that new employees describe as “like nothing I’ve ever been part of in a company before.”…