By John Oliver
Credit union boards spend 95 percent of their meeting time literally picking the past to pieces. Even at so-called annual strategy retreats, most board conversations are about numbers, budgets and tactics. There is a huge disconnect between what the law says is one of credit union directors’ most important responsibilities—ensuring the long-term, ongoing viability of the organization—and what actually happens in the board room.
Directors do not need to talk about whether or not to hire a new loan officer, for example. That is a ground-level decision. Director conversations need to be ratcheted up to the 30,000-foot level to look down into the organization and determine how to best put resources to use to ensure ongoing viability. They need to talk strategy, positioning and how the credit union is going to stay relevant.
For example, a strategic discussion the board should be having at most credit unions is that the member base is aging along with the credit union. Younger generations are not using traditional financial institutions the way their parents did, if they use them at all. This does not bode well for the future relevance of credit unions who don’t embrace strategic planning as an ongoing—monthly—board process.
Directors shouldn’t be asking, “How do we grow the loan portfolio 10 percent next year?” Instead, it is their legal responsibility to ask, “Just because today’s member likes us, will tomorrow’s?”
John Oliver is president of Laurel Management Systems, Inc., Palm Springs, Calif.
Make sure your volunteers join Oliver as he teaches how to embrace the future through strategic thinking at CUES Director Strategy Seminar, June 20-22, 2012, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Learn to design and implement a year-round effective and measurable strategic planning process that becomes part of your credit union’s culture.
