Pay for Performance and Reputation Risk

An increasing trend in the financial services sector is “pay for performance.” This practice shows up in several formats: Commission – rep is paid a percentage of balances acquired Incentive – rep is paid per closed referral Bonus – rep is paid based on goal performance over a set period (per month, quarter, bi-annually, annually)…

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Leadership: Don’t leave it to Amateurs

If you were to describe your leadership style, what would you say? If you were to define the leadership style of your credit union, what adjectives would you use? Like it or not, we all have a leadership style, and if your credit union has not defined their preferred leadership style, you have many varieties,…

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The Basics of a Successful Career

We enter the business world with the expectation that we are starting up a trajectory that will always climb to the next promotion, a continual progression of responsibility and authority. This belief is a myth. Rarely is a career path a constant climb up the ladder? A career path is a “hero’s journey,” one beset…

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Seven Steps to Collaboration in Disagreement

When all parties are agreeable, collaboration is easy. It is when the parties are not agreeable that a leader goes to work. Disagreements can come from many sources and for many reasons, but the key to connecting opposing positions starts with understanding all sides. How can a leader create a collaborative effort when disagreement is…

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Leadership and GPS – “Recalculating”

Life would be great if we had a “life GPS.” You know, “Darn, I missed that exit,” followed by an immediate “recalculating” from a calm voice. It didn’t matter how I failed to follow instructions; the beautiful GPS voice kept me from losing sight of my goal and helped me readjust my tactics with that…

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Great Endings yield Great Beginnings

Change is in my DNA. We don’t need to face change; we also need to embrace change. If you feel your credit union or CUSO needs to look at change differently and would like the steps to implement change,  my core competencies include the following:Digital transformation – building a digital strategy, the tactics, the organizational…

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Leaders Don’t Listen? Really?

Condoleezza Rice once said, “When you’re in a position of authority, you need truth-tellers around you.” Did she hit the mark? You bet.First, let us agree that one element of leadership is the authority. To be a leader, you must have some authority. This authority isn’t determined by power but by your ability to motivate,…

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Branching Strategy, It Starts with the Member

Historically branches are seen as transaction channels. Today, this view of branches has changed and continues to evolve. Members and potential members like the convenience of brick and mortar, they like the demonstration of financial strength and security. Still, the truth is, they rely less on branches for their daily, weekly, and monthly transaction business…

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Change Leadership in 8 Steps

All teams have three participants: change agents, change neutrals, and change resistors. The key to leading change is empowering the change agents, influencing the change equivocators, and helping the change resistors understand the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Here are the critical steps to leading change. First, identify who fits into these categories because…

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