MACON, Ga.-Twenty years after starting a career in credit unions, Roy Bibb has a much different perspective of the CEO's role now that he's sitting in that chair.
"When I was a teller at State Employees Credit Union in (Raleigh) North Carolina, I thought that when you're the CEO you have it all figured out. But you don't," said the new leader of MidSouth Community FCU, who started in his role Jan. 1. "You are not the person who always knows exactly what to do. What you are, really, is the glue that holds the credit union together. You keep teams working efficiently and well together, you keep communication open, you get the right people in the right roles and utilize the most skilled staff in each key area of the credit union. You can't know it all."
Bibb said that after working his way through the ranks to finally become CEO it can be easy, for a moment, to get caught up in the title. However, he said, those kinds of thoughts should be quickly dispelled. Bibb first became a CEO at Central Georgia Regional in Macon, Ga., in 1999, a role he filled for eight years before moving onto Robins FCU, Warner Robins, Ga., where he was VP of branch services for six years prior to making the switch to the $174-million MidSouth.
Good CEOs, said Bibb, must always "know what you don't know" and should continue to improve their knowledge and skill. Bibb said he tries to do that through networking within the CU community and with vendors, by reading, and by working on individual skills. Bibb, too, meets with a leadership coach once a week, as do all members of his management team.
Meeting With A Coach
The coaching will improve the skills of management first, and then leaders will provide that same coaching to the rest of the staff. Bibb believes strongly in investing in his team at all levels. "The credit union is only as good as its people."
What the coach has taught Bibb is that he has to become more comfortable with accepting that the CEO may not always check off a lot of completed tasks each day.
"I have learned that I need to get better at understanding what is a successful day for me," said Bibb. "As you work your way through the ranks, often your day is filled with completing tasks. I know I walk out of my office at night now sometimes thinking I did not get a lot done."
But Bibb is getting better at understanding he has done a lot in a day, just not the same sorts of tasks he did for the last six years.
"I am getting better at seeing that I have invested in the credit union. I may have spent hours with staff helping to solve problems, building better working relationships among teams, and made some key decisions. The results of the things I do as CEO don't always show up immediately, they often come down the road. I am getting more comfortable with that."
