Do you remember when Patrick Swayze was dancing with Jennifer Grey at the end of the movie Dirty Dancing? The song they danced to was, “I Had the Time of My Life”. And then she jumps up into his arms and he lifts her up in the air and they nail the move they’ve been working on all summer and she smiles and he smiles and then the audience is all happy and life is good.

That is EXACTLY what it was like last night when we were at the Washington CEO Best Places to Work awards ceremony. Except nobody lifted me in the air. And I didn’t dance. But all the other feelings were the same. And the steak dinner was great.

We were there because Verity Credit Union was named one of the 100 Best Places to Work. To earn this designation, our employees filled out a survey and judging panel evaluated a corporate profile we submitted. We came in seventh in our category—Non-profit/Not for Profit/Government organizations. There were about 700 people in attendance at this awards event.

What was most exciting about this designation was the inspiration that came from hearing from the other winners. I find myself completely motivated to make our culture even stronger and better. I’d like to see our CEO on stage (the top three in each category get called up in front of the group) to represent our organization next year. I was talking with Daryl and Justin in HR on the way home last night and we talked about dissecting the survey, creating focus groups for more feedback and working hard in the next year to make that dream a reality.

I’m really proud to work at Verity Credit Union. I’ve been here for almost five years now and it’s great to see where we came from and to look forward to where we are going. Good times.