In this episode of Connect and Collect, we’re thrilled to welcome Brittany Harbolic, the Assistant Vice President of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union. Brittany brings extensive expertise and a deep passion for the collections industry. Known for her strategic approach to networking, training, and teamwork, Brittany has been instrumental in fostering a culture of empathy, active listening, and critical thinking within her team. She shares her insights on the importance of open communication and feedback in creating a positive work environment. Brittany also discusses the industry’s shift towards member solutions and the proactive measures taken to mitigate delinquencies. Join us for an engaging conversation with Brittany as we explore the evolving landscape of collections and the strategies that drive success.
For more information on Brittany's work, visit:
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop 1: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Connect and Collect podcast brought to you by Lexop. Connect and Collect is a podcast created with the credit union professional in mind. Our goal is to bring you the latest innovations and trends in the industry by speaking with incredible credit union leaders so you can hear what's happening at the ground level.
Here's your host, Michael Pupil, Vice President of Sales at Lexop.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: All right. Welcome back, everybody. Episode 13, season two of the Lexop podcast Connect and Collect. And it's going to be a fun one today, guys. Today I'm excited to introduce Brittany Harbolic, the AVP of collections at TEG Federal Credit Union. Working over 10 years in the collection industry, including eight in the credit union environment, a self proclaimed jack of all trades and definitely picking on the diverse background that Brittany has spanning in banking, fashion, [00:01:00] entrepreneurship.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Brittany also has a passion for learning and fostering development and professional opportunities, creating a collaborative work environment for her team. And that's what leads us here today. So super excited to make the introduction. Brittany, I saw the wave, wave right back at you. And thank you for carving out some time to chat with us today.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Absolutely. I'm super excited to be here and to chat with you today.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You're a sucker for punishment because we got to meet recently at the Credit Union Collection Professionals event in Nashville a couple weeks ago, CUCP. It was an amazing event and we got to, uh, to hang out a little bit and chat. How did you find the event, first of all, before we jump into all of this, what was your impression of CUCP?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I thought it was great. I found it, I believe on LinkedIn way back when, and I had been following it for a while. I couldn't make it last year. And then this year we just were able to make it happen. And I went down by myself. I didn't even bring any of my team with me and I just wanted to see, you know, what it was about and, and the benefits of it and try and make connections with other, You know, professionals in the space, because collections is such a [00:02:00] small niche industry, and I think we're all in it together, and we can all learn from each other.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well said couldn't have, uh, couldn't have said it better myself. And yeah, it was one of the things that I noticed, I think going to events solo, I will maintain is a pretty tough move to make and you rocked it. And you, you did, you did great. What were the one, two things that you took away from the event that were just the gold nuggets that you, uh, that you had. Was it the sessions, was it the networking, what were the one, two things that stood out for you?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: My big thing was definitely the networking, just meeting a bunch of people there, and you know, hearing what they're going through, and knowing that we're really not on an island by ourselves. We're all kind of in it together, going through the same things, just seeing it on a different scale, and talking about, you know, how people are combating different things that they're seeing.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: And some of the speakers were awesome. I really loved Chuck's presentation on leadership. I thought that was great. And it was really interesting to hear, you know, as somebody that has a very diverse background, sometimes I get lost cause I'm like, well, how do I move up? Where do I go from here?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Am I stuck in collections? Do I want to [00:03:00] pivot? What do I want to do? So hearing that he had kind of a background all over the place and made it to CEO, I thought was really awesome.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, it was very, very cool for sure. Well, it, uh, you know, maybe shout out to CUCP. Hopefully, you're at the next year's one, Lexop will definitely be there. Great job by the board and maybe just, uh, starting the event with a little bit of kudos. We had actually had done a podcast with Alicia Blundell who sits on that board. And so we were, discussing the pre event.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So Alisha, when you're listening to this or any of the board members that are listening to this, there's the kudos of a job well done.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So Brittany, if we shift gears here, talking a little bit more about yourself, you know, let's start at the beginning, the career progression and where it all started in the industry. Of course, your educational background, and maybe just share a little bit with our listeners
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: who you are and what led to being the AVP at TEG.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So I, I listened to some of your other podcasts and I feel like everybody kind of falls into collections, right? So I definitely, in one of those, [00:04:00] I went to school at a Fashion Institute down in Manhattan. So I definitely had a different trajectory when I was younger, but when I was in school, I started in banking.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So I was a teller for Wells Fargo, and that's kind of how I got my foot in the door. And I was really close with my branch manager, and she ended up moving to a smaller community bank. And I followed her there. And then, you know, I moved into a credit union and the rest was history.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Amazing. Well, it's a, that's a really good sign of following a leader. You know, there's all those adages, especially on LinkedIn of, why people leave jobs, why people get motivated and that leadership when you find or work for a great leader, I think it ends up being an amazing teaching tool for yourself, or we're going to dive into some of the passions that you have about where that leads you about coaching the team and training the team.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I have a feeling that that mentor, that early mentor had a, had a big piece to it. You know, maybe just touching on the differences, you know, obviously you're now with a credit union. Biggest difference or things that you could talk about between Wells Fargo, a massive [00:05:00] national account, moving to a regional bank, and then now into the credit union life for, you know, the last eight years of that experience.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Talk to me a little bit about the differences there and what's the, what's the passion.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: It really is different. I know everybody says there's a night and day difference and it really is true. I mean, you're focused on sales in the banking industry and then the credit union space is really dedicated to their members and that sense of community that just kind of resonates and hits home for me.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So it was a no brainer. I came to federal credit union eight years ago now and I've stayed and I love it. And the community and the credit union space is just awesome.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, the member first mentality is, uh, I think a lot of organizations, if they put their members or customers first, I think there'd be a lot more caring workflows and just overall, there's, uh, there's something to be said about it. I think it's why we all fall in love with accredited union spaces in general, but
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: 100 percent right in saying that, uh, a lot of people that we have spoken to, seem to find [00:06:00] their way into collections and it doesn't necessarily end up having much, you know, pointed purpose where, we grow up and instead of a firefighter or a police officer, we want to be in collections. And that's the, that's the goal. What would, do you remember your first experience in that?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Like what was the hook? What was the,
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Ooh, kind of like this. And, you know, kind of, it grew from there.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So I really like a challenge, and I really like solving problems. And, you know, every experience with different members is different, right? Everybody's got a problem that you need to try and help them solve, and you need to keep the member in mind and the credit union in mind and kind of come up with a solution that benefits everybody involved.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So it's always problem solving, critical thinking, thinking through, you know, solutions. So I really enjoy that.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I have a feeling that it has changed a lot over the years. You know, certainly over the eight years that you've been there, but I think collections as a whole, as an industry has changed. And I know, you know, in conversations that we've had, you are very [00:07:00] passionate on the training side of things with your colleagues.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I love that. You know, there's, uh, there's an adage that one of our colleagues here at Lexop, uh, Sasha talks about all the time that the collectors that that job is the hardest job, you know, ever. And there's a lot of empathy between the collectors and the collectors
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Salespeople. I think it is a very, very difficult job in terms of communication, but you have a deep passion for training.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Talk to me a little bit about the transition of, you know, training methods and where you emphasize, you know, where this training should be and how you structure continuous learning, you know, within the group and within your, your group specifically.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So when I started with TEG, there were no procedures in place. Everything was kind of like a free for all and it was here's an email, you know, that I had on this procedure that I did one time six months ago. So I think, you know, building that foundation and getting your procedures in place and building a manual so that everybody has a resource to refer back to.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: And you have one source of truth is kind of the starting point. And [00:08:00] then, you know, focusing on the pain points. What are people seeing where they have questions and they can't figure out solutions for or answers for? And so what we do every month is we meet as an entire department and we go through one training topic.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: And then I'm really big on collaboration and feedback. So we kind of just have an open floor discussion where it's like, what are you guys seeing? What are the challenges you're coming across? How can I help you? You know, is there an example that we can all look at as a group? So, you know, just getting that conversation going to see where their brain is and kind of help them think through my thought process so they can kind of learn how to do it on the next instance.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: How long did it take to do that? Because if you're starting from scratch, is this a Herculean effort in my mind? Or is it just kind of an organic process that once you start, the ball just starts to turn? And it's not, it's not as bad as, uh, as what I'm making out in my mind.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I mean, I like it, so I didn't think it was bad. It takes a long time, right? And you're constant, it's a living, breathing document. You're constantly making changes, procedures change, the [00:09:00] environment changes. So you're never done. It's like building a house, right? You own a house, you're never done, there's always a project somewhere.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: It's very much the same thing.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I'm glad you said that because I'm in the middle of renovations in a part of the house and I feel like I'm tinkering with stuff way too much. And, I should get a different hobby because this one is expensive in, in of renovations. Totally agree. What would you say is maybe the biggest change that you've seen over, you know, that, that decade plus time that you've been in collections, like what's the, what's the biggest, you know, kind of trend change that, no longer as fashionable, pun intended, you know, 10 years ago to what we're, what we're looking at today.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think two things really come to mind. When I started, I feel like collections had this really negative connotation where you're like, Ooh, it's a debt collector. I don't want to be a debt collector. And I feel like the entire industry has really pivoted to this member solutions type of, you know, frame of mind, which I think is great and definitely hits home where, you know, we're here to help.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We're not here to take your car in the [00:10:00] middle of the night. We really want to get you through whatever financial hurdle you're struggling with.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So I actually see a wild, comparison to the professional sales and professional collectors. And there is a difference between the two. And unfortunately I think that there are, you know, a lot of sales people that are out there where it is a job versus a career.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: One of the things that I have concentrated on a lot over the years
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: is focusing on active listening skills, you know, being able to apply empathy. There is nothing worse than a sales rep asking, are we there yet? Like the backseat, you know, get where you just want to turn the car around. I would imagine that there is a very, very strong correlation to collectors as well, or member solutions where active listening and empathy tend to be the two traits that we want to train and embed as a culture the most.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Now that I made that comment, thoughts, you know, uh, about what I just said, does that hit close to home? Are there things that you [00:11:00] guys do that obviously feed into that part? Or am I way out in left field and, you know, I'm trying to draw a line here that doesn't necessarily exist?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: No, I definitely think it's the correlation because I think it's about partnerships, right? So with Lexop, you're building that partnership. It's like, how can we benefit each other? How can we work together to do better? And I think that's kind of what the collections department does, right? We're trying to do better for the members.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We're trying to help people figure out financial literacy, you know, offering financial education, things like that. And, and then it just goes back to the community within the credit union space.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: For sure. I couldn't echo that. So that's where I do see the, you know, the, the parallels coming in, so tightly knit and it is that establishing that foundation of importance and trust, you know, follow up for sure and having it be consistent and then applying all of the active listening skills like do you really understand what the member is going through?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And until you really understand what the member is going through, how can you possibly,
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: provide [00:12:00] empathy, uh, in terms of a solution, right? Like the definition of empathy is to understand and feel what the other person is going through. So if you're not really listening to what it is that they're saying, how could you possibly provide any type of solution to it?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so then there's a misalignment it. I totally agree with you. If, um, maybe just a shift here, if you had a magic wand to wave, to, you know, kind of change something, uh, in the collection space, what would it be?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think it's a good shift from, you know, your comment about empathy is, you know, sometimes the collectors take things very personally and it's tough to separate. You know, it's not me doing it to this person. I'm trying to help them and, you know, it gets heavy sometimes. So we try and keep things light.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: The collectors, you know, really have a great relationship internally. If they need to talk through things, you know, we all have an open door policy where we can kind of just talk through what happened. What are you feeling? How do we get past this? How do we help you through it? How do we make you understand it's not you that's doing this to this member and the member isn't upset with you, you know, they're going through [00:13:00] something and you're kind of like a therapist for them and sometimes they just need to vent and you know sometimes it's misplaced but nine out of ten times I would say that people will call back and be like, I'm so sorry. It wasn't you, I was just upset or I was in a bad place, and it's not your fault. I understand.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, kudos to those people for, uh, for doing that. I think that is, uh, that's wonderful. I also think that that is, you know, a shout out to the, to the, the organization, the credit union itself. In terms of the culture. It means that, you know, upon,
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: know, a little bit of de-stressing moments or upon reflection, the aftermath of what's happened.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: The member then turns around and says, well, I was served with a smile. It really wasn't their fault. There are other things that are happening in my life. And you know, that's a really difficult phone call to make, to turn around and say, it's my fault, right? Like that's, that's on me. That must be incredibly motivating for the team.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I hope it happens more often than what I'm maybe making it out to be. And I hope that that is true, even for the listeners that are out there. Do you, [00:14:00] do you guys sometimes have those calls where you guys share it where that happens to motivate the team or what are
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: of the motivating things that you guys do?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, go ahead.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We definitely focus on motivation and collaboration and teamwork and try, we all feed off of each other, right? So if you work in a great environment, you know, maybe those calls aren't so bad. So we try and do things like we're going to have a potluck. I think later this month, they do a lot of things just in the credit union as a whole.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We have an employee rewards committee where we try and do different activities each month. You know, we, decorate wreaths for Christmas, and we make birdhouses in the spring, and we do different things just to kind of break up the monotony of the day and and, break up the nine to five, make it fun so you can kind of unwind a little bit.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I may put you on the spot here if there's a potluck that's coming up. Have you decided what you're bringing?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I don't know yet, we were gonna go with possibly like a taco theme, but we'll see.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think Lexop may want to get involved in that. We'll do something maple syrup-themed and send it over to you guys at some point. I love that idea. [00:15:00] Because if there is anything that is probably universal is that food equals comfort for a lot of people. And so I love that you're doing that with the team.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I imagine that there's a lot that do it. Actually, we just came back from a different event in the Pacific Northwest and somebody had put together a cookbook. And I thought that this was a wildly clever idea where all the employees were coming in with all of their own kind of recipes and putting it together.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: They made their own privately branded cookbook and now they, you know, circulated out to the team, which was kind of fun. Um, you know, and it's a living, breathing document as well, where as new colleagues come in, they attribute, you know, what's their, their dish that they can do. Um, and it becomes part of a part of the culture for these potlucks and other things like that.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So. Uh, I think the creative side of things to keep the team motivated is so wildly important. I think this is one of your passions as well, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're very heavily involved in like things like [00:16:00] surveys and addressing the team. You know, talk to me a little bit about the structure as to how you go about assessing the motivation of the team and where you turn those dials and what those dials are.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I really try to touch base with my team all the time. So, you know, we do have a manager, we have a supervisor. So I'm kind of removed sometimes from the day to day, but I do make sure to walk over there and just have those conversations on top of the meetings that we do every month and then we meet as a management team weekly.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I try not to lead from the top down, right? So our collectors are really the end users and I don't want to make decisions that don't make sense for them.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So, it's a tough line sometimes because it's like, yes, we have to make decisions, but also sometimes they might not be the best decisions and I'm okay with owning that.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: That's why I try and talk to my team to talk through what that looks like and get their feedback on what's working and what's not and what their reservations are for something that we might put into play.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: A hundred percent. Actually, let's talk a little bit about the team for those that don't know size of T. E. G. Federal. How large are [00:17:00] you?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We're about 450 million, so we're relatively small for our area.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Number of members that you guys services in the.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I'm not sure, to be honest, off the top of head.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: About 20, 000, 30,000 or I think maybe a little bit bigger than that. We may want to add that in the, uh, in the comments, but talk, talk to us a little bit about the department and the team itself because there's been some growth there too, hasn't there?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I started eight years ago, it was two collectors and admin and then we all reported directly to the VP. So we were very small. Now, we're a team of four collectors, a supervisor, a manager, two admins, and then myself.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So talk about the necessity to create the training document as you're onboarding new people. And if you're making changes to this, I can see where, you know, the, the need to kind of document to be able to share those stories really come into place. You know, what, what were some of the early wins that you guys had seen?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, what was the feedback [00:18:00] coming back? Was it really the growth of the team? Or do you see onboarding get shortened? Is it the employee retention side of things? Like what, what were the wins? What were the areas that you really wanted to dig into?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think consistency, right? So I didn't want everybody to have a different experience coming into the department. So our training department is great, but they're not specialized in some of the back office departments. So it's really up to the collections department and the team to train those new hires that are coming in.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So, you know, I developed a slide show where we go through everything and there's a complete training workflow where these are the topics we're going to cover. And first you're going to hit, you know, outbound calls, because they're pretty self explanatory. You're calling your, you have the account in front of you.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: You know what you're calling about. And once you get that down, then you move on to the next thing. So again, like building that foundation and then building on that rather than throwing you to the wolves and saying, good luck. So they focus on outbound calls. Then once they're ready, they'll take inbound calls because you never know what you're going to get.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: [00:19:00] You know, sometimes we get calls that really should go to the solution center because they're asking about an interest rate or something like that. So preparing them first, building on it, letting them get used to that and then moving on from there. So, you know, everybody comes in and they start at the lower level delinquencies and then they kind of get a taste for things and move on.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: A hundred percent. And I don't know why I had a brain freeze before. I think, you know, TEG services roughly about 40, 000 members. And I believe you'd agree that, um, you know, no two members. Are exactly the same. It's not a copy paste approach. And I think this is where teaching through those scenarios really, really help with hardship.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And some of the hardship could be commonalities, like, unfortunately, a lot of people pass away. A lot of people lose jobs. A lot of people have family trouble that the impact might be thematically the same, but no two members should ever be a copy paste or treated the same. And I think that's the, the adage that you subscribe to, hence the listening skills.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Yeah, absolutely. And even kind of to build on that and pull it back to [00:20:00] training, we had something pop up where it was on power of attorney. Right. So power of attorney, you wouldn't think is really a collections, you know, specific job function, but we get questions that come up about that. So I sent it out to not only compliance, but the collections department, and then even accounting.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So it's like cross training and giving everybody the tools to learn different things so that they're more confident in their role and can build on what they need to do. So then you're providing a better member experience and it's less of a handoff or hold on, let me go get that answer for you, or I'm not really sure. Let me look into it.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And then there's the follow up, the consistency, the outreach to this. If you had to put together a couple of key words of some of the best collectors, like what are the traits that they use and what is it that you're, you know, attempting to develop with this training that you're putting in, in terms of categorizing these conversations, both good and needs improvement. I don't want to use the word bad, because I do believe that your team knowing you, uh, I know that the team is probably hustling pretty hard, but [00:21:00] if you were to talk to, you know, a collector, give me a list of here's some of the things that you need to employ for sure, in order to get, you know, get started and be the top percentile of, of, of the role.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think we touched on the big two. So empathy and active listening are the big ones.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Critical thinking is another one. So like you said, we live in a gray area, right? Things are not black or white. We kind of live outside the box and
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: there's no two situations that are the same. So you really have to kind of analyze what the person is telling you, what that member, you know, is going through and figure out what the best long term solution is for them.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So definitely critical thinking. And then just building the confidence. And I think that goes back to training and building their confidence that they have the resources and the tools that they need in their belt to help the members.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, absolutely. And I think by reinforcing like what I think, um, you know, in our conversations, what you do a really great job with is reinforcing the positive, um, you know, [00:22:00] behaviors that are there. And I think that's what really pulls the team together. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, If everybody is following the path, you know, what does that look like?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Like, how are you trying to reinforce and keeping motivated, uh, you know, teammates, and reinforcing that good behavior or the behavior that we want to be able to change. Cause we know that how much everybody loves change. It's one of the hardest things to do. But you seem to do it very well and you seem to get a lot of people to, to react to it.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, I was wondering if there's a secret sauce there to, to what you do.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I don't think there's a secret sauce. I just try and be really open and honest with my leadership and my communication. And I really am big on feedback. So whether it's negative or positive, just giving it to them in the right way, I think goes a long way because if you don't know what you need to work on, you can't get better, right?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So I love feedback. I love feedback for myself personally, and I think it's really beneficial to the team. And I think that goes back to the survey you had mentioned before. I actually just sent one out, I think two weeks ago at this point, and it was, you know, how can I communicate [00:23:00] better? How is your management team communicating?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: What can we do to make your work life balance better? Just, if people are happy coming to where they work, I think they will perform better. So just really keeping that open air communication there for them. And knowing, like, at the end of the day, we're all people, we all go home. You know, I don't want anybody to come in and hate it.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So, just to have a really good team environment is important.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, I'm gonna push back on you a little bit. It does sound like that's a secret sauce because, um, look, one of the first things that you were talking about was how you could be open and transparent. And, I would go out on a limb. I know that I have personally worked for people before where. I don't know if I feel so comfortable being as open and transparent as I have with other leaders.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And maybe that's the kudos to early mentorship with a, with a boss that you ended up following that, you know, set the stage where you feel like it is part of your DNA and very natural where it is not experienced, you know, for every single team that is out there, creating that environment [00:24:00] to trust is incredibly valuable.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so you can't fix a problem unless you really know what it is. And if you're shy about discussing the details to it, you may be proposing a solution that isn't a fit. That is one of the biggest areas that I think sales and collections or leadership has, because the last thing that you want is to buy something that doesn't make any sense.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Right. So, I hear what you're saying and it's amazing how similar the approach really is when it comes to the leadership and the mentality of individuals. I'm going to go out on a limb here. You know, uh, it's very rare that people spend 40, you know, 50 years again in the same role, the same organization.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think that's where we used to be. I would like to think and correct me if I'm wrong, that you're the type of person that as long as you walk in the door, if you were to ever walk out of the door, you are going to be bigger, better, faster, stronger after going through, you know, the Brittany experience of, here's the training, here's the codification.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: We're going to be transparent in our conversations. [00:25:00] And I know you're humble. That's why you're smiling at that conversation. But I truly do admire some of the structure that you have. Is that something that is premeditated or is that just something that comes natural to you?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think for my own journey, I went through a lot of that. I do a lot of reading, and one of the books that I read recently was Extreme Ownership. So our COO actually recommended it and I am drinking the Kool Aid. I think that if you're looking for a good book to read, that is it. It changed how I communicate.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: It changed my work life. It changed my personal life. Like I just feel like I had an epiphany after reading that book and it was phenomenal. So maybe that's the secret sauce. Just read that book and then everything will fall into place.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So there's the takeaway. We'll put a little shout out in the comments on that thing. That's a that's a huge piece. What was the the biggest impact that you had after reading that like in term professionally in terms of translating it back into the collection space? What's the one or two things that uh that had that big of an impact?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Cuz that's a that's a pretty big endorsement.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think that we all get to this place where we're like, okay, well, [00:26:00] this person did that. And I've really tried to shift my perspective and take ownership and be like, okay, how can I improve it? Sometimes things are out of my realm, but maybe it's a perception change. And maybe I just need to think about something differently and take a step back, put myself in their shoes and be like, okay, how are they seeing it?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: How should I react? How do I make this better? And I feel like. That goes back to training. It goes back to constructive criticism and feedback and all of that. So it really impacted every area that I could imagine.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And, and empathy, right? Again, like if you're putting yourself in the person's position in terms of the experience that they have, that's how you understand and feel what the other person is going through. So I'm maybe tying this into, you know, uh, the, the empathy conversation. And we talk a lot about this at conferences, and there's multiple companies and speakers that talk often about employing different empathetic approaches. So those looking for that empathy that, uh, you know, and maybe repeat the book [00:27:00] again. What was it?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: It's Extreme Ownership. I by Jocko, I have to look up the name and, and the, of the authors and send it to you guys.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Extreme ownership. That's what we'll, uh, what we'll, what we'll tag and we'll put it at the bottom there. And that's, uh, that's an incredible piece of Brittany, any, anything that's coming up. I know that we met at C. U. C. P. It is always so difficult. I found that 2024. Has been difficult for a lot of credit unions to attend all the events that they want to attend.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I mean, I feel like we could be on the road all year long going to, going to those things. Do you have anything else that is planned or is it still open for the next six months where you're still evaluating things that are coming down your plate?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I don't have any conferences or anything scheduled for this year. I do plan on going to CUCP next year. Really excited for New Orleans. Um, I don't know if you've been there, but I loved it and just the history is beautiful. So I was excited for that and I just thought the speakers were great. Um, the other one that I was looking at for next [00:28:00] year is the CRS conference, but I think that's in Vegas.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So we'll see.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah. Well, that's amazing. Well, I think, uh, I think the, the biggest part to that is networking, finding out what other credit unions are doing. Find like minded, um, everybody is, is tackling some of the same struggles. And then what are the solutions to some of those struggles? Sometimes it is creating, you know, a handbook or a training manual that is this living, breathing document to organize and categorize some of the experiences that we're having that thematically we can then start to relate back to members and helping that training so that every new member or every new teammate gets the same onboarding experience so that we're all trained up and that allows for scalability and, uh, and better performance.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: To everything to do with like even things like the potluck and motivation with the team. I imagine your team has a very good camaraderie together as well, I would imagine.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Yes, we have a great team everybody, you know, they're a bunch of rock stars we all get [00:29:00] along really well You know, we've had people for several years now. We Lowered our turnover, so that was great. So we're doing something right for sure.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, I want to give a quick shout out or if your team or anybody on the team is listening, uh, Brittany has spoken very highly of the entire team. That's why I'm bringing it up. Uh, she's been a little bit shy of doing it. You can see the smile on her face, but there is a tremendous sense of pride when we have talked obviously offline about all of this, and you could just see.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know that there's been a tremendous amount of growth. There's a lot of work that has gone into this and certainly like everybody else. Have you seen an increase in delinquencies for the members over the last couple of years? Certainly following the covid years and so, you know, how is the team handled that spike?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And is it something that has gone, you know, wildly high or has the team been able to get ahead of that and jump in front of it?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So COVID definitely threw some curveballs at us and we had to take a step back and re evaluate how [00:30:00] we were handling hardships and some of the options we were, you know, recommending to people and how we were, you know, just treating hardships as a whole. And we scrambled for a little while, but I think we got some really great procedures in place and everybody feels really comfortable in what they can and can't do now.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: And it changed the way that we did offer hardships. And it's been a really big help. I think that, and I don't even want to say this because I don't want to jinx it, our delinquency is, you know, really low right now. Yeah, knock on wood. And we're not seeing some of the trends that other people in the industry are seeing.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I think we did get ahead of the curve on a lot of things, you know, tightening up lending and what we're doing on that end. So that's not trickling over to collections. So, so far, so good. And then, you know, we want to try and implement different efficiencies so that we stay in front of it.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, absolutely. Well, as we, uh, as we wrap up here, any parting comments for how you feel the back half of 2024 is going to go? Um, you know, we've got maybe about six, just under [00:31:00] six months left before the end of the year. Do you foresee any changes or do you think it's going to be pretty much the same sailing waters that, uh, that the first six months have had?
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: I'm hoping it's the same as the first six months. I'm hoping that there's no blips in the radar down the road. Um, again, I think it's just everybody's all hands on deck. We're waiting for the other shoe to drop because I know the economy is, nobody knows what's going on right now. So we're prepared for it.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: We're ready for it. We're making changes that, you know, we need to now, just in case it does happen, but hopefully it doesn't.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I couldn't agree more with you and it sounds like you guys are very well prepared and, uh, if it's any, if it's any kudos to you, I think even if there were some blips in the, on the road or road bumps, uh, you know, coming up that you are, you and your team are very well prepared to handle something because it'll end up getting documented, trained on, consistently followed up on, trained on.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Motivated in order to do the right piece And so the secret sauce guys is being [00:32:00] outlined in terms of of this piece and at the end of the day Unfortunately, there are always going to be people that are not going to be able to pay a bill, right? There is no magic bullet that allows everybody to do this I often joke around that the reason why people aren't late on bills is because balters normally you know, reasons behind it.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Um, it'd be nice if that, if that was the case, but, uh, we all know that it isn't. And so that, that empathetic approach, the consistency, the active listening, I think you're right. You're scripting out all of the pieces that are there. Now, Brittany, I know that you're big on the networking side for those credit unions that are listening.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You open to sharing some of the secret sauce and networking with other individuals as well.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Absolutely. I love networking. So if anybody has any questions or just wants to make a connection, I'll make sure that my information is down below so you can find me and reach out and ask all the questions you want.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Amazing. Well, we'll pop up the, uh, the LinkedIn link and that way everybody can, uh, can see what, uh, what other events are [00:33:00] coming out since you found CUCP that way. Hopefully there's some other stuff that's in there. Um, any, uh, any events or anything that's happening at the credit union that you want to give a shout out to?
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I know that you've spoken very highly of the CEO, and great leadership there, but I wanted to give you a minute to maybe just talk about TEG, federal and, and what you guys are up to and give a little shout out to the organization who's agreed to allow us to have our conversation today.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: They are always up in the community. So we're in the Hudson Valley area in New York, if you're not familiar. And they're, I think we just did an ice cream social event where we kind of drove around the Hudson Valley giving out ice cream and who doesn't love free ice cream? Um, we always have something going on.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: So I don't know what the next one is. It's probably a walk for, you know, something or other, but there's always something going on. They're all on our events and calendars and we're always in the community and pretty active there. So our marketing team does a good job.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I love that. Yeah. And I definitely see it, and every single month there's, there's a new activity that you guys are involved in and it's, it feels like the entire [00:34:00] TEG family just gets involved into it and you guys throw your weight behind it, which is really, really cool. So kudos to the, uh, credit union.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You guys have some wonderful people with it, Brittany. I want to thank you so much for carving out some time, uh, today, the recommendation, uh, not only of the book, but also a little bit of your playbook on how to engage the staff and to kind of corral them in what is sometimes the most difficult conversations to take place and how you employ this newer school methodology of empathy and active listening to work with members on trying to figure out creative solutions that work for both sides.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Uh, and we all know that at the end of the day, sometimes it can't, but. My goodness, you guys give it the old college, try the best attempt possible at it. And there really is nothing more that you can expand, expect, except for, you know, your best effort. And I think you do a bang on job with it. So thank you for sharing your insights with us today.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Well, thank you so much for having me, and thank [00:35:00] you for all the kind words. And, like I said, if anybody has anything they want to collaborate on, or feel free to pick my brain and reach out, I'm more than happy to.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Amazing. Well, Brittany, thank you so much. And for those listening, you know, join us for episode 14. We're going to be coming around. I'll give a sneak peek to one of the episodes that's coming up. I actually got to meet someone at an event who said that they wanted to go into collections and actively worked towards that part. That was my exact reaction as well, brittany, where I was like, wow, there is one that's out there. And so, uh, we're going to have that conversation a little bit later in our, in our series. But Brittany, uh, I think everybody is grateful that you, uh, accidentally found your way to this passion.
Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Uh, and you definitely do it well. So for everybody, thank you very much for joining today's Lexop Connect and Collect podcast and see you guys on the next event. Thank you.
Brittany Harbolic - AVP of Collections at TEG Federal Credit Union: Bye, everybody.
Thank you for listening to the Connect and Collect podcast. Find [00:36:00] show notes and other resources for this episode at Lexop. com. And if you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe, like, share, and comment.