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Jamie Notter defines culture as the collection of words, actions, thoughts and "stuff" that clarify and reinforce what is truly valued inside your organization. A strong culture is one that aligns what is valued with what drives the success of the enterprise, he told attendees in his CUES Symposium: A CEO Chairman Exchange opening general session audience.
To make progress toward creating a strong culture at your credit union, you must:
Know where you are now. Gather data, conduct research, ask questions, read reviews. You need a system that is constantly monitoring itself, Notter said. It’s imperative to understand what is really going on at your organization.
Know where you need to be. Define what drives your organization's success and get clear on what's important to drive future success. “It's a deep and complicated answer,” he warned. “Don't look at what you believe to be obvious.”
Know how you will move from here to there skillfully. “To do this you need to do these two things: Make it real. Make it permanent. Choose to make changes to concrete processes that everyone sees,” Notter advised.
Meetings are Notter's favorite recommendation for a visible process to change right away. He challenged Symposium attendees to think about how they meet, then make a change to get the impact they're after: transparency, efficiency, engagement, etc. This could mean changing the meeting structure, shifting the location, altering the number of people in the meeting, or changing the action taking place after the meeting—whatever is needed to make the desired cultural impact.
Erin Templer is CUES’ marketing director.
