By Karen Hodgkiss
Les McKeown is president and CEO of Predictable Success. He is the author of Predictable Success and The Synergist. In a recent interview, McKeown described the components that contribute to predictable success.
It’s interesting how the word “predictable” has such negative connotations. The thesaurus includes “banal,” “boring,” and “humdrum” as synonyms. But add the word “success” to create the phrase “predictable success,” and the meaning is transformed into something much more desirable. After all, who wouldn’t like to be able to predict success with some certainty?
Consider the life cycle of an organization as similar to a human life cycle. In the early stages, a start-up grows very quickly, but the growth may not be very controlled or coordinated. McKeown’s grandson, for example, can stick his foot in his month, but staggers around the house when he tries to walk. As organizations age, they gain control but lose flexibility. The definition of flexibility here includes creativity, innovation and a spirit of entrepreneurship. Control includes processes, systems and repetition of methodologies. The ideal is to achieve an appropriate balance between flexibility and control where systems are not driving out your ability to innovate, and innovation is not driving out your ability to grow and scale the business.
An organization’s ability to reach predicable success and stay there is predicated on its people and leadership. There are three leadership styles that contribute to varying degrees of predictable success:
- Visionaries get an endorphin rush from big ideas and starting new initiatives, but get antsy when forced to pin things down. A leader like this keeps your credit union flexible, but doesn’t allow the systems to get put in place that will support scaling.
- Processors can lead organizations to become arthritic over time. They may be characterized by the layers of bureaucracy they’ve implemented that squeeze out all risk. This lack of flexibility chokes off opportunities and growth.
- Operators are the folks who want to get on with it and get the job done. They are not interested in brainstorming or charts and graphs, but respond to clear, task-oriented direction. Operators are valuable within your employee ranks, but may struggle in a leadership role.
In such a highly regulated industry as financial services, it’s likely there are plenty of processors in your executive and board ranks. Credit unions that make space for visionaries and draw on the best both styles have to offer will be on their way to predictable success.
Karen Hodgkiss is a freelance writer.
Join McKeown for his session “Transcendent Leadership: How to Lead Your Credit Union to Predictable Success” at CUES Symposium 2014: A CEO/Chairman Exchange, February 2-6, on the Big Island of Hawaii. CEO and board chairs attend CUES Symposium together to build and improve this key relationship.
