May. 1, 2008 at 1:28pm

Credit unions need help? Don't send the Air Force - Part 2

Posted by Kurt Jacobson in Differentiation is Key, Talking to Members, The Power of Creativity
Comments (1)

My last post discussed the importance of changing old habits and bringing innovative thinking back into the credit union movement. As I discussed in that post, Robert Gates is helping The Air Force get through the same problem. Here are some other comments from the Washington Post and Gates that can be applied to credit unions:

Washington Post:

1. “Gates expressed frustration with conventional military thinking that he said has been slow to adapt to current threats. The U.S. Air Force has not moved fast enough to meet a need for unmanned aircraft, which often can hunt and target enemies more efficiently than piloted planes.”

   Gee, does change mean that some people [pilots and crews] may no longer be needed? Every change we make will be met with at least some resistance. Jobs will change. And it’s clear from the credit union movement leaders that costs must be reduced in operations so that the resources can be invested in marketing and membership growth. How can we use the respectful and helpful credit union culture to help employees and boards grapple with new ways of doing things?

2. “The speech…appeared aimed at challenging young officers to become more innovative thinkers.”

   At least Gates is appealing to young officers. Are our boards and C-suites full of "young officers?” Why not? How will we recruit more of those “young officers,” our future, to positions of influence? Then, how do we make sure they represent innovation and not just personally profit from maintaining the status quo?

Robert Gates:

1. “For the good of the Air Force, for the good of the armed services and for the good of our country, I urge you to reject convention and careerism…and become more creative thinkers.

   The challenge that I pose to you today is to become a forward-thinking officer who helps the Air Force adapt to a constantly changing strategic environment characterized by persistent conflict.”

   It’s easy to be complacent when we don’t feel threatened. Are credit unions immune from “persistent conflict?” How about ABA attacks? Constant change? How about Wal-Mart, ING and the community banks that are sown and profitably harvested in our own backyards? Even if we don’t feel threatened, and we are, we need to act wisely as if we are. Because we are threatened.

2. “An unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers.”

   This reminds me of what Andy LaFlamme said in the blog, OpensourceCU: “The hierarchal structure of most financial institutions makes it very difficult for lower level employees (tellers and MSRs) to bring up ideas. Typically the proper channel of communication ends up smothering the idea as unusable, or it gets lost before it makes it to somebody who might care.”

3. “The Air Force will be increasingly called upon to conduct civil-military or humanitarian operations with civilian partners and to deal directly with local populations. Such missions will require foreign language and cultural expertise.”

   When will credit unions “deal directly” with the young prospects, whom we need to thrive? We’ll also need “foreign language and cultural expertise” to win them over.

   So, the leadership of the credit union movement is calling for more innovation, taking marketing risks and forcing us to band together to deflect ABA attacks. That’s wonderful. But let’s ask ourselves, what can my credit union do to break away from old habits and enlist “young officers” for our C-suits and boards? How can we handle the dissent that comes with challenging, and in fact changing, the status quo?

   Gates provides a couple ideas:

   • “Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it’s done in the right way and respectfully and so on, but people who dissent, who take a different view . . . are always at risk in their careers. The biggest challenge for out-of-the-box thinking is the wisdom of the senior leader who sees the value of that kind of thinking and protects it and the people who do it.”

Comments (1)

I feel that I am right in the middle of this issue. I have been working with Filene for a few months now, yet I come from the frontline management aspect of my CU. Becuase of my unique position I see things that many never know about. As a CU, we are doing an amazing job of serving our membership to a point. We do what we have always done as good as anyone. In our market we can hold our own against any institution.

That being said, we suffer from our “old habits.” Our Board of Directors represent the same membership base that it represented in 1975. The problem is that we have added 100K new members, and 400 something new SEGs. So how much of our membership do they represent?

I am 24 years old. I started working here just as a PT job to get through college at 18. Like most people who will read this blog, I didn’t intend to be in the CU movement. But I am all in now. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I will tell you that it is my presonal initiative to PUSH my CU to change some of those old habits. No, I don’t want to lose my job. Yes we are currently doing things the right way. But, I beleive that the best way to strengthen and enhance the “status quo” is to challenge it. Tactfully and effectivelly. If I don’t, who will…
5/1/2008 at 6:47 am
1 | Left by Kent Sugg | Aug. 27, 2008 at 2:15pm

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