By Michael Hudson
In "Culture as Competitive Advantage," I wrote about how companies like Zappos align their strong culture with a strong strategy to create long-term success. It works because when everyone connected with the business—employees, customers, suppliers—has the same expectations and beliefs, they become part of the story and help to expand the impact of the business—defining and defending competitive position.
Putting this idea to work in your credit union starts with understanding the connection between culture and strategy, as shown in the diagram below, and then assessing where your credit union would fall.
When culture is strong, there is an alignment of words and actions. Team members are committed to the credit union because they know where they stand and recognize that they are part of something larger than themselves.
Combining your culture with a long-term strategic focus creates engagement and provides a context within which the team and the credit union can respond to the ever-changing marketplace more effectively.
Your ability to effectively create this alignment within your credit union will depend upon your effectiveness in executing the 5 Essentials of Culture (depicted in the diagram below).
ins at the top with clearly defined values—not just words on a page, but values that are actually lived on a day-to-day basis. That means they guide decision-making, are consistently applied, and that your commitment to them is unwavering.
Next comes a shared vision—a clear, focused, concisely articulated vision of where the credit union is heading and what it will take on the part of the team to get it there. This vision needs to be regularly communicated, continuously reinforced and regularly celebrated.
The key people responsible for making this happen are the engaged leaders—the people who champion the effort every day and look for ways to strengthen the connection between your culture and your strategy. These people are the caretakers of the process who make it a priority to create visible results that are recognized regularly.
Equally important is making the commitment to have the right people in the credit union—those who fit with the culture and are willing to commit to achieving the strategy. This means if they don't fit and/or they aren't willing to commit to the strategy, then they need to be moved out of the organization.
Focused effort is the last essential—taking action each day to create the desired state and being vigilant in focusing on the things that matter instead of the things that distract. The key is to be judicious in pushing out the irrelevant distractions that often dominate in organizations where the commitment to culture is not strong.
The Bottom Line: One of the contributing factors to the long-term success of credit unions has always been the opportunity to align culture and strategy to create powerful impacts for your members. Though things have changed within the industry and the marketplace, this opportunity still exists and can be captured and exploited through focused effort. Step one is assessing where you are, defining the gaps that need to be closed, and making the difficult decisions to take action.
Michael Hudson, Ph.D., founder of Credit Union Strategy, has been a credit union member for more than 50 years (since he was three months old). He facilitates strategic planning processes, leadership retreats, and team building experiences for credit unions across America.
