Five Steps to Creating a Digital Culture

When asked “In the past year, which method did you use most often to manage your bank account(s)?” consumers responded as follows: Mobile (apps on smartphone or tablet) – 45% Internet/Online (Laptop or PC) – 27% Branches – 14% (Oct 31, 2022 – American Bankers Association) This statistic says a lot! Mobile utilization is the preferred method…

Read More

Financial Literacy vs Financial Wellness – a Consumer’s View

Credit unions and banks across the country have financial literacy on their to-do list, but what consumers need/want is a roadmap to financial wellness, not just financial literacy. Well, what’s the difference? Financial literacy is about understanding money basics. Typically the curriculum includes topics like “how to balance your checkbook,” “what is a savings account,”…

Read More

Make your Strategic Plan a Hero’s Story

When doing a strategic plan, most organizations really are good at thinking with aspiration, hope, and promise. Where the “failure” happens is on the execution of the plan. If you think about engaging movies, they all seem to be stories that include a variation of the hero’s journey. “Lord of the Rings”, “Star Wars”, and…

Read More

Five Strategic Questions for the Board and Senior Management

It’s a strange time for credit unions. Credit unions face unprecedented pressures from regulators and examiners and capital pressures for net interest margins and fee income. Often they don’t benefit from “economies of scale” or the resources, people, and capital, to invest in the infrastructure demands of vendor due diligence, regulatory compliance, or technology demands…

Read More

Moving From Incremental to Transformational Growth

Too often, I see organizations that keep getting in their way. They celebrate mediocre performance, average results, and incremental growth. Occasionally I find an organization that is satisfied in just cruising slowly into obsolescence, unwilling to admit what is happening to the company. Today’s competitive, fast-paced business climate does not tolerate mediocracy for long. Companies…

Read More

Is your Credit Union’s Org Chart Strategically Aligned?

Is your credit union organized for today’s consumers? Unfortunately, credit unions are often “stuck” in an organization chart that reflects the business of the past, not the company of the future. But what needs to change? Too often, the credit union’s org structure is aligned historically based on legacy roles and job descriptions. The problem…

Read More

Leadership – “Its Lonely at the Top”

This saying strikes a chord and gets especially real when we are fond of the people you lead. It is difficult to keep business and friendship separated, and when we fail, the consequences are painful for all parties involved. So, how do you create a work environment that leverages the power of people who enjoy…

Read More

Strategic Planning is Like Running a Half-Marathon

Strategic planning for a lot of companies is an annual exercise in thinking big, dreaming of possibilities. Unfortunately, for a lot of these organizations, strategic planning stops there and this annual ritual that when the ritual is done, everyone returns back to business as usual. Let’s stop for a minute to really understand what strategic…

Read More

Strategic Planning is the Easy Part

Working with organizations across the country, I see a familiar process when doing their strategic planning. A typical process I’ve observed is loosely following these steps: Once a year a strategic planning event is scheduled with the Board and a few key executives The event starts with a “state of the industry today” presentation, typically…

Read More