MADISON, Wis.-What does credit union collaboration have to do with unicorns, leprechauns and bigfoot? One of the four actually exists.
"You hear a lot about collaboration, but you don't always see it," said Ben Rogers, research director at the Filene Research Institute. "It sounds wonderful, but when it's time to go out and actually find it, that's often a harder task."
Mythical creatures aside, collaboration actually can happen, and Rogers offered some tips as part of a recent webinar from NCUA's Office of Small CU Initiatives.
Rogers pointed out that Filene's research often reveals that the perceived benefits of collaboration are less than the perceived costs of collaboration, which creates a barrier among CUs. He stressed that before collaboration can even begin, CUs need to find the right partners-a process that includes determining the purpose, structure and scale of the collaboration.
While finding partners "should be the fun part," said Rogers, it's also important for CUs to have conversations internally and with partners about how to best manage control issues associated with collaboration, including costs and each side's responsibilities in that realm.
Avoiding The Bog
Once the partnership has been formed, advised Rogers, CUs should formulate a statement of purpose so that "once you get bogged down in the details, as you no doubt will, you can go back to that and say 'This is what we agreed to at the beginning.' "
It's imperative that credit unions establish protocol up front so that when disagreements arise, policies and procedures to deal with that are already in place, along with measurement metrics to determine the collaboration's success rate, as well as determining if others will be invited to join the partnership, he advised.
Everyone needs to check their egos at the door, said Rogers, and that includes CEOs and other senior managers. Not only is the collaboration more likely to be successful that way, but it also validates having those complaint and dispute-resolution policies if egos become an issue.
Key Issues
Rogers also offered key issues to be considered during collaboration. They include:
* Information technology and trust are key to any successful collaboration
*Is one side willing to be the junior partner?
*More attractive pricing points are needed from the vendor community and CUSOs in order to stoke collaboration.
*CUs must identify and promote collaboration success stories.
Finally, Rogers advised that collaborations take place in steps, not leaps, and that "being severely risk averse may be the biggest risk of all."
