By Kelly Schmit
Volunteers are expected to be involved in a credit union’s strategy development and prescribe a course into the future, John Oliver, president of Laurel Management Systems, Inc., told CUES’ Directors Conference attendees last month. But what is strategy, exactly? According to Oliver, it’s not financial and business planning, but understanding the needs of the marketplace and how your credit union will meet them. A strategy is the purpose or the message of your credit union—where your credit union is going and why, Oliver explained. “As volunteers, you are responsible for giving your employees and members a purpose to follow,” he said. “Be passionate about why your credit is here with a guiding principle, and make sure everyone knows their role. “We are a very over-banked society and you need to meet your market’s needs through strategic leadership—which involves the application of the most simple economic theory, the allocation of limited resources or ‘deciding what to do and not do,’” he explained. According to Oliver, strategy development starts with holding the current business model up to scrutiny:
- Understand your value proposition before you question its sustainability.
- Understand your culture.
- Research, research, research and base decisions on hard data.
- Understand your markets.
- Look at opportunities to drive the organization; don’t problem solve since that is tactical.
“Members want different business models as time goes on, so part of strategy involves hard work and asking difficult questions: Why did our members come to us vs. someone else? Why do they stay with us? Is there anything we could have done that we didn’t to keep them?” Oliver said. “These questions will get to the heart of your business model.” Credit unions can’t be all things to all people. We must focus on what we can do best and crush it!
Kelly Schmit is CUES' marketing coordinator. Read more coverage of Directors Conference in "Creating a Culture of Innovation," and "Absolute Honesty." John Oliver will lead CUES Director Strategy Seminar June 17-19 in Hot Springs, Va. Directors Conference 2015 will be held Dec. 6-9 in Orlando.
