Conquering anxiety during core conversions
Change has never been to known to be easy. In fact, there is an entire industry built around change management or the process of preparing your credit union’s leaders, boards, employees, and members for organizational change. Change comes in many forms, from navigating a merger or acquisition, to the conversion of core technology on which your credit union relies. While the process of selecting a new core system can be exciting for management-level staff during the initial review process, stress extends throughout the organization during implementation of the new system. Here are tips to address these potential pitfalls before they derail your conversion:
1. First and foremost, address the human side. Don’t ignore the fact that everyone knows with change comes uncertainty, and human nature is to be skeptical. As published by Booz & Company for Strategy+Business Magazine, “Any significant transformation creates people issues…Dealing with these issues on a reactive, case-by-case basis puts speed, morale, and results at risk. A formal approach for managing change — beginning with the leadership team and then engaging key stakeholders and leaders — should be developed early, and adapted often.” If leadership is 100% on board, and continually communicates and approaches your conversion in an upbeat and positive manner, you put the skeptics and naysayers to rest. By selling staff on the new technology system and hyping it up internally. Their enthusiasm will trickle down to members who will be more patient should they encounter any issues.
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