4 minutes
Having spent most of my career in the banking industry, joining Launch Federal Credit Union about 14 months ago was a new and exciting endeavor for me. I spent a great deal of time over the course of my banking career in operations, risk management and human resources. I was somewhat familiar with real estate lending, but had never worked on the consumer lending side of the business.
Launch FCU’s strategic plan includes 10 key processes that align to core competencies. Last year, the CEO established several process improvement teams, including a consumer lending PIT, to work on what we needed to do best. A major initiative for the consumer lending PIT was to increase consumer loan production. To ensure that those participating on these teams were “all-in,” the CEO asked me, as the chief operating officer, to lead this team. After all, he reasoned, the branches, HR, training and the call center all report to me, so I had a vested interest in ensuring this team’s success.
To say that I was apprehensive when the CEO asked me to lead this team would be an understatement. I had been with the credit union for less than two months and had no consumer lending experience. However, upon reflection, I realized that I had many years of leadership experience. And that experience has taught me that an effective leader need not be a subject matter expert to take on a challenge and bring out the best in people.
The first thing I did was engage the chief lending officer and the VP/member services to agree on who should participate on the PIT. Once we settled on the PIT’s membership, I documented a formal team charter, including team purpose and scope, key responsibilities, team composition, standards (rules of engagement), key measurements of success, voting and quorum information, and an annual self-evaluation component. The charter was reviewed by the team (and modified, as needed) and will be reviewed on an annual basis (and more often if significant changes occur within the year).
The second step was to document the PIT protocol. Among other things, the protocol document includes how to plan and prepare for a meeting, how the agenda should be structured, and when the agenda/meeting materials and meeting minutes should be distributed (e.g., agenda should be provided three to five days in advance of a meeting, minutes should be distributed for review within five days after a meeting).
At our first meeting, I let everyone know how thrilled I was to be a part of the team and that I looked forward to all of us learning from each other. For the first several meetings, I served as a facilitator, applied active listening skills and carefully documented key points. Over the next three months, I took several courses to gain a better understanding of consumer lending. I asked the PIT members lots of questions, and they were eager to help. We quickly developed a high-powered, collaborative working group.
My playbook for leading an effective team/committee:
- Be confident. Remember that it always starts with the “tone at the top.”
- Develop and share the team charter and protocol. Ask for feedback and make any needed adjustments.
- Start and end meetings on time.
- Actively listen and observe. Active listening will ensure that you have a complete understanding of the issues and opportunities. Keen observation can help you identify potential hidden talent within the group.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- Encourage brainstorming and wild ideas (which leads to an innovative mindset).
- Meet at least every two months (the consumer lending PIT meets monthly).
- Schedule milestones to ensure accountability.
- Be results-oriented and methodical (yet flexible) in your approach, and be willing to accept responsibility for the team’s decisions.
- Perform an annual team self-evaluation. Identify common themes and make any revisions based on the feedback received.
- Use your leadership role as a means to provide development opportunities to others. For example, I recently stepped down as the PIT chair and handed over the reins to our VP/consumer lending. I will continue to participate as a voting member.
- Celebrate your achievements, big and small.
The consumer lending PIT was established in July 2015. Through June of this year, consumer loan production was more than 60 percent higher when compared to the same period in 2015. How did we achieve these results? Several factors contributed to our success, including:
- buy-in from the board of directors, senior management and all employees, not just lenders and those who are member-facing.
- shared expertise from a third-party service provider known as an industry leader in providing consumer lending advice and training to credit unions. You don’t have to do it alone!
- ongoing communication and reporting, a.k.a. internal marketing.
- challenging, yet realistic, consumer lending production goals.
- recognition.
- modest incentives.
- training, training, and more training. Invest in your employees. Our numbers prove that the right (and ongoing) training produces an excellent return on investment.
The message here is that, at the team/committee, process, project, department and enterprise levels, having the right leadership in place makes all the difference!
Lorrie Candiotti is SVP/chief operating officer at $797 million Launch Federal Credit Union, Merritt Island, Fla.
