Everyone seems to be talking about the new normal, and I am not a fan of “new normal.” Normalcy has always been the siren’s call to irrelevancy and plateauing for credit unions. Here are the five things your credit union needs to consider as we move out of this pandemic:

1. Branches that don’t transition to advisory centers will drive up operating expenses. Too many people have moved to mobile and online platforms for transaction services.

2. As consumers rapidly adopt touchless payment, reliance on check processing will face a more considerable headwind, but interchange income will grow. Positioning your credit, debit card, and wallet offer at the top of the wallet is a necessary initiative.

3. Performance management and leadership alignment will be more critical than ever as credit unions adopt a remote workforce. Leaders will need to learn how to lead remotely; managers must learn how to coach, manage, and build teams remotely. As people work remotely, they will need to know how to establish their values and leadership from afar.

4. With more back-office employees working remotely, the corporate headquarters will need to be reimagined. There is a real risk that many home offices will have a “very casual use of space,” If that space isn’t subleased or repurposed, it will adversely impact operating expenses.

5. There will be a spotlight on ensuring equity for all people regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. HR needs to move from HR compliance to working hard on the cultural alignment challenges across departments and divisions and actively developing systems and processes that eliminate any hiring, promotion, transferring, firing, layoffs, training, and development biases.

I believe that most credit unions’ DNA will allow these changes to happen quickly.