By Ted L. Thames
Most of our management time today is spent dealing with immediate operational challenges. Liquidity is improving but funding costs remain high. Uncertainty about home values and consumer confidence continue to slow member borrowing. New membership is difficult to attract and member loyalty continues to slip away in a hyper-competitive environment. Fraud risk is increasing and expensive to mitigate, and there is always another audit to prepare for.
Often, little time is left for strategic discussion or disciplined planning. However, the process of strategic conversation and longer-range focus remains critical to future success.
In fact, many of our immediate challenges are a direct result of a lack of multi-year planning and strategic focus. And the big losers in this process are the members themselves. Members do not understand the growing day-to-day pressures we face, nor do they care. Members are increasingly looking for value.
It's time to take a new look at strategy and planning–a look that will lead to increasing value delivered to members. Value is what will truly differentiate us from our competitors. As you look toward board-management planning discussions this year, take the time to ask yourself these 10 very basic questions–the answers to which can lead you to a new level of clarity and alignment.
- Does your organizational purpose or vision continue to be relevant and energizing to management, staff and board members?
- Does the organization have a clear member value focus?
- Is your credit union's business model aligned with the value focus?
- Are specific operating strategies clear, relevant to current external conditions and aligned with the value focus?
- Are financial goals and objectives aligned with the value focus and operating strategies?
- Is the organizational structure designed to leverage your credit union's human and financial resources toward meeting strategic goals and objectives?
- Are management roles and accountabilities clear and aligned with the value proposition and is there sufficient skill and experience to develop and maintain forward momentum?
- Are operating budgets, staff resource allocations and capital investments aligned with the value focus and strategies?
- Are management and staff incentives aligned with strategic objectives?
- Is there sufficient ongoing management dialog to keep initiatives on track, face difficult issues, eliminate barriers and maintain momentum?
The answers to these questions can be the beginning of meaningful dialogue that will become the basis for a successful, ongoing strategic planning process.
For the next several weeks we will take a closer look at each of these critical questions.
I know you will find that this is not an easy process. The questions are serious and often difficult to answer for many reasons. Many credit unions have fallen into a pattern of an annual planning retreat process that builds incrementally on the year before. While we see the external environment changing dramatically, nothing significant changes internally.
In light of the big extreme changes in the marketplace—and even within the industry of late—it will pay big dividends to take a serious look at the future and make the changes necessary to thrive.
Ted Thames, CCE, is owner of Q10 Resources, a strategy development and planning firm dedicated to the growth and success of credit unions. He is also a credit union strategic planning specialist affiliated with Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. Ted can be reached at 903.343.1176; tthames@q10resources.com or tthames@crnrstone.com.
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