A new perspective will enhance your member experiences

Recently while working to help a credit union stimulate their loan production it was discovered that part of the problem was due to their inability to process consumer loans quickly enough – members were expressing interest and submitting applications but it was taking way too long for them to get processed and closed so members were dropping out and going somewhere else. In my meeting with the leadership team, the VP of Lending chimed in, “Oh, I’ll fix that. I’ve got some ideas.”

Ut-oh, I thought … that comment reminded me of a famous quote from Albert Einstein: Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which they were created. In other words, if the VP of Lending created the culture that was producing such destructive inefficiencies, she was probably not going to be the person to resolve them. The solution, instead, would have to come from someone outside the realm of her idea-generation.

Many organizations suffer from this issue but only a few realize it in time to produce positive change. The few successful credit unions go to extensive measures to make sure they get various perspectives on operational and procedure challenges and then implement a rigorous vetting process before deploying the most appropriate solution. I had a boss who used to remind me to “ready, aim, fire” instead of “ready, fire, aim”; in other words, make sure you know what you’re aiming at before firing off a solution.

If your credit union suffers from insufficient execution – i.e., loan production, cross-sales, experience scores – you likely need to look at your processes from new, fresh perspectives to make sure you’re aiming at the right solutions. Here are some tips from those aforementioned successful organizations:

• Start by gathering as much data as you can produce … data about your volume, transaction times, resource allocation, and quality of work among others. Some of it may need to be collected manually and require additional work on the part of those involved in the process. Other data may be available through your technology although an IT technician may need to get involved to abstract it. However you need to do it, your first “perspective” should be through the lens of data. What does your data tell you is currently happening?
• Solicit input from the employees who perform the task in question every day. Find out from their perspective what’s working and what the inhibitors are. If you’re experiencing a high dropout rate on consumer loan applications, talk to your frontline loan officers and back office underwriters. Ask them why they think it’s taking so long to process an application and what do they think needs to be done to expedite the process. Our employees have great ideas and generally want to see those ideas implemented to make their jobs less frustrating and more successful, so ask and listen to them.
• Observe what those loan officers and underwriters are doing and flow-chart the process. Oftentimes, execs think they know what the process is but, after sitting down and observing what’s actually going on, they realize that a completely different process is being followed. Further, they may realize that observing five different loan officers will produce five different processes. And they’d never know that if they assumed the process and didn’t actually observe and map it.
• Get input from the most important component in this effort – your members. And don’t just ask them if they’re satisfied; that’s too shallow. Ask them what they liked about the process and what they didn’t like. Ask them if they’ve experienced a similar process at a different financial institution and what they liked about that one. Finally, and maybe most important, ask them what they would improve if they could so they would do business with you again if they have a similar need. Don’t just rely on esoteric satisfaction scores; get detailed specifics about the member’s experience.
• Find out what other financial institutions are doing. It’s amazing to me how many VPs of Lending don’t know about the lending performance and capabilities of the banks and credit unions in their marketplace. They don’t know if the other guys take applications online. They don’t know how their turn-around time compares to the others. They don’t know if the other guys have remote signing and closing. It’s not always easy to learn about the competition but every effort should be made to learn as much as possible before establishing your standards and processes.
• Another source for perspective would be to look at other industries to see what they’re doing. You may not be able to totally emulate how Quicken Loans processes their loans but you may be able to garner some best practices. You probably can’t afford a contact center the size of Zappos, but you may be able to benefit from following some of their call-handling processes. You probably can’t afford to realize the levels of satisfaction and loyalty that Ritz-Carlton enjoys but you can likely learn from the success of their problem resolution processes. Your members are comparing you to service levels in other industries; now is the time for you to do it, too.
• Lastly, I noted above the need to ask your employees for their perspective; however, you should also ask input from employees who do not perform the function or process you are looking to improve. Talk to employees who are new to your organization, especially those who recently worked at high-performing service companies, like Home Depot, Gap, and Red Robin. Some people refer to these employees are “curious employees” – those who want to know the why behind what they are expected to do. These employees can add a tremendous perspective because they’ll ask the greatest question of all: why are we doing it this way?

Only after conducting extensive research to gather those various perspectives on your current processes should you begin to brainstorm potential solutions. This way, any and all possible solutions will be evaluated on their merits and not just on random ideas. The solution’s foundation should be based on facts, not what your VP of Lending thinks is the best way to fix production problems.

“Ready, aim, fire” means you should make sure you know what you’re aiming at before firing off a solution and that means doing your homework and conducting thorough research before implementing any solution to improve inefficient processes, especially those that directly impact the member experience.

If your credit union needs to address inefficiencies in delivery and enhance your member experience level (and who doesn’t!), my firm would welcome the opportunity to share with you our process for helping. Please contact me at probert@fi-strategies.com or 636-578-3280.