NAPERVILLE, Ill.-A cooperative business model brings CUs competitive advantages over banks when it comes to setting strategic direction, according to the Institute for Strategic Learning.
John Redding, president, believes having a volunteer board provides the consumer/member perspective that is much needed in strategic planning meetings and brings some healthy tension into discussions. "Volunteer directors are generally not financial services experts, which we think is good. It brings a different viewpoint-the voice of the member is right there."
Senior Consultant Craig Younkman, who has facilitated many CU strategic planning meetings, said the board perspective often checks or balances the operational viewpoints of management. "And we often see the board present the perspective of members and then management discusses how to operationalize those needs. I think this leads to a higher level of performance for the credit union."
But having two markedly different viewpoints in the room can bog down planning with questions and debates, admit the two ISL execs. But to ensure both sides work in a common direction, ISL holds an advance planning meeting with the board and management two months prior to a strategic planning session.
Not About SWOT
"There we ID the most crucial strategic issues facing the credit union, the tough-choice decisions, and boil them down to the carefully worded specific issues that need to be answered," said Redding. "So during strategic planning we are not wordsmithing vision and mission statements or doing SWOT analyses. We walk out of the strategic planning meeting with clarity on the most important issues affecting the future of the credit union."
Younkman added that without the pre-planning, strategic sessions "flounder. You would spend your time wandering in the wilderness looking for what the real issues are and that is not what should be done in a strategic planning meeting. We front load that work so we are focused in planning sessions on a limited number of issues that are critical to the improvement of the credit union."
Redding also noted that the extra meeting establishes joint ownership of the planning process. "It becomes more of a 'one-team' framework, which is key to success of the whole planning process."
For info: Institute For Strategic Learning:
