Strategic speed
How credit unions can apply the same agility of their pandemic response to ongoing execution
When credit union leaders could finally take a step back and consider all the changes made in short order to serve members and protect staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they may have surprised even themselves with the agility and flexibility demonstrated in that response.
The challenge moving forward is how to apply the same adaptability to confront competition and disruption in the financial services sector and to seize new opportunities. Given the tendency among some credit union leaders “to hang their hats on stability and conservatism,” the nimble response to the pandemic across the industry could be a dramatic watershed moment that facilitates more acceptance of the ongoing need for organizational agility, says John Oliver, principal with CUplanner, Palm Springs, California, and lead faculty of CUES School of Applied Strategic Management™.
“Strategic agility is what markets are demanding. The notion that we might have to reinvent ourselves is tough to deal with, but the pandemic has pointed [out] that need even more,” Oliver says. “I hope the mentality has shifted with the realization that we can innovate and serve people in different ways, especially with the speed of evolution in shifting consumer behaviors likely to be a permanent trend.”
continue reading »
