Focus your strategic thinking

Each credit union has its own approach to strategic planning. Yet despite differences in methods and outcomes, focus proves to be one of the most important drivers of a credit union’s strategic success.

And while the fundamentals of strategic planning—objectives, strategies, measures, and timelines—haven’t changed, what is different is the viewpoint of strategy, particularly when balanced between the CEO and board.

“Planning and execution are what we do as managers; that’s our job,” says one credit union CEO from Colorado. “We noticed the greatest benefit when our strategic process became more about ideas and less about numbers. Our focus shifted away from the balance sheet and toward the whiteboard.”

Find your focus

Successful organizations over time are those that:

• Select a handful of strategic focus areas.
• Move forward and measure those extents relentlessly.
• Recognize that year-to-year strategies may change so long as progress continues toward the areas of focus.

One Southeastern CEO shares that his credit union learned the strategic power of “no” in its quest to gain clarity and focus. “As we scrutinized what we could do, we asked ourselves what we should master initially. Our inventory of strategic priorities shortened from 10 to two. By saying ‘no’ to eight priorities, we said ‘yes’ to two primary areas of focus. As we finish our two, we can set our sights toward the others.”

How are these credit unions establishing more focus in their strategic planning processes? Three significant practices surface.

1. Substantial discussions

Most credit unions dedicate part of each board meeting to strategic trends. Some survey board members ahead of time for their areas of interest. Others focus on different departments or functions. And some credit unions review information from conferences.

But they don’t simply share information for general interest and updates. They systematically and substantially discuss ideas, issues, and trends.

While examining each trend, CEOs inform their boards how that development might affect current strategy and any action the credit union is taking or considering. This way, strategic updates focus on actions and decisions rather than a string of industry occurrences.

For formal planning sessions, many credit unions engage outside facilitators and experts for assistance. Some credit unions retain economists, technology experts, or marketing authorities to gauge the broad direction of financial services and courses they might follow.

Often, credit unions invite strategic facilitators for their impartiality, lack of bias, and skill in ensuring that a thoughtful, balanced, and action-oriented discussion ensues.

With or without an outsider present, strive to dedicate the most substantial discussions to trends that represent opportunities for expansion and refinement of your operations and chances for strategic success.

2. Next-level questions

Most strategic meetings center on next levels of success. Invest some time to discuss the main objectives and goals for the coming year, but devote more time to address opportunities and decisions necessary to lay the groundwork for the next several years.

One West Coast CEO explains, “Our discussions shifted from asking, ‘What are we doing to serve several hundred thousand members?’ to ‘What must we do next to serve one million members?’”

The board chair of one of the nation’s largest credit unions also describes the importance of being future-focused in deliberations as a board and with the CEO.

“As we grew, we rapidly recognized we could not inspect every operational aspect. It was too much to understand,” the board chair says. “While studying new housing permits and traffic patterns might be interesting, our board partnered best with our CEO in ensuring the strategic focus was making progress and the CEO’s attention to detail delivered the projected results.”

3. Strategic education

For credit union leaders to continue thinking strategically, they must educate themselves strategically.

At the practical level, executives and directors should subscribe to industry publications and take advantage of industry webinars and conferences. This provides leaders with information, networking, and a chance to learn about success in financial services.

Some credit unions require leaders to take part in schools and institutes that conclude with a designation or degree. More than an investment in the leader’s education, this presents an investment for members.

“If we continually strive to provide relevance and excellence to our members through products, services, access, and experiences, we should provide the same for our members’ elected and professional leadership,” says a Texas CEO.

Authored by: JEFF RENDEL. Jeff is a certified speaking professional and president of Rising Above Enterprises and a contributing author to 2018-2019 CUNA Environmental Scan (E-Scan).