5 ideas for now and the future

I must say it’s great to see ALL credit unions embracing the various products of the COVID-19 impact and continuing to operate within the necessary parameters. On our end, we’ve been figuring out solutions based on previously held discussions and anchoring as a place of support. Here a few things to think about…

1. Member Engagement: During crises, finance in general tends to be extremely guarded. What does means? Selling non-related loans and deposits will draw negatives. The credit union can use this opportunity to ramp-up engagement via education and entertainment. It’s no secret about credit unions’ struggle to capture the younger generations, at least in my neck of the woods. Use this as an opportunity to provide educational engagement. These topics can be tied to a wider development such as digital MBA which would cover topics such as coding, machine learning etc. It can start with what you are good at as well, such as investments and finance during crises. These are all excellent topics. On the entertainment side, the TikTok platform is extremely hot right now. Statistics from Music Business Worldwide show that the TikTok app was downloaded 2M times from March 16-22. In addition, it recorded a 27% increase in downloads for the first 20+ days in March 2020 when compared to February 2020. Utilize as you have unrequested and undeserved attention. Another extremely hot area is virtual gaming whereby Verizon recorded a 75% increase in bandwidth used for gaming in the USA with native gaming platform Twitch releasing figures reflecting a 31% increase in viewership. Partner with some streamers or related companies within your community to make it happen. While utilizing each method, ensure you concretize the current informational messages around public health. Nike recently utilized an extremely good example by using the ad message: “If you ever dreamed of playing for millions around the world, now is your chance: play inside, play for the world,” to reinforce the need for people to stay home. Your marketing team and education committee shouldn’t be asleep now but they should be driving increased awareness and engagement without any sales. Don’t fully tighten your spend but map where you spend with the outcome.
2. Staff Engagement: Financial services provided by credit unions remains essential which means that some of your staff may be required to still be at access points while others work remotely. After this period, I think every leadership team should be thinking of added benefits to staff irrespective of your financial performance as they kept the engine running. Your most important driver cannot operate unrewarded under these drastic circumstances. On the other side, staff engagement via virtual platforms should be done to keep staff motivated and mentally functional apart from the information overload and the everyday reality of having to leave home to face the high risk environment. Ideas can include using virtual challenges, gaming, digital karaoke etc., to keep your staff engaged.
3. Leadership: The focus of your organization right now should be to stabilize amidst the many unknowns with the understanding that the new normal paradigm may be different, and you need to be prepared. This would require an evaluation of your general leadership drivers and focus areas. Nobody knows exactly what the new normal may be but every leader has to be prepared to embrace whatever it is. We can term this strategic fluidity from the execution point of view. Post stabilization into this new period is where you will find your innovation. Most of your immediate responses at this point can be crisis management but do ensure they transition with a level of separation into innovation. In a situation of so many unknowns, a mix of empathy and execution will be key. Your resilience and decisions now will come into play when a level of normalcy returns. As stated earlier, nobody knows the endgame at this point but what we do know – similar to the Avengers – collaboration can be your greatest strength. You don’t have to know all the answers, both internal and external.
4. Your membership: AGMs for many organizations remain physical outlets. Host a virtual town hall meeting with your members to update on dividends and other issues needed to be discussed. Show leadership. During any crisis, people connect with confidence. They don’t expect you to know the solution but they expect a leader to take them through with the least of wounds. In the USA, there are many lessons to be learned from Dr Anthony Fauci, while in Trinidad and Tobago we have our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Roshan Parasaram. In the same manner that countries depend on these guys for the continued traits of exceptional leaders, your members depend on you.
5. Deferrals: Many if not ALL retail financial institutions are offering deferrals to their members, most needing between 1 and 3 months of assistance. Do note that the duration of the deferral must be connected to the liquidity of the credit union. This must be subject to your various forecasting models. Another aspect can be the structuring of emergency funds to do specific loans. This is to be drawn from your excess institutional capital. In going forward, these are great discussions especially for units where these practices are absent.

In my next article, I do hope that we would be discussing the current context as history, while the world would have returned to a normal level of operations. More importantly, we will be discussing numbers and impact of how credit unions won the hearts of their members while finding new love.

Remember stay safe, stay at home, and flatten the curve.