Get a good strategy for your credit union

by CUES Skybox

by: Kelly Schmit

Volunteers are expected to be involved in a credit union’s strategy development and prescribe a course into the future, John Oliver, president of Laurel Management Systems, Inc., told CUES’ Directors Conference attendees last month.

But what is strategy, exactly? According to Oliver, it’s not financial and business planning, but understanding the needs of the marketplace and how your credit union will meet them.

A strategy is the purpose or the message of your credit union—where your credit union is going and why, Oliver explained.

“As volunteers, you are responsible for giving your employees and members a purpose to follow,” he said. “Be passionate about why your credit is here with a guiding principle, and make sure everyone knows their role.

“We are a very over-banked society and you need to meet your market’s needs through strategic leadership—which involves the application of the most simple economic theory, the allocation of limited resources or ‘deciding what to do and not do,’” he explained.

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