BARCELONA, Spain — A trio of New Zealand credit unions that merged have hit upon a unique way to settle which CEO would take the helm of the consolidated institution: none of them.
Instead, the board of the merged CU, now known as Credit Union North for its location on the country's north island, hired a new CEO from outside credit unions (but with a background in cooperatives). The three CEOs now lead three different internal functions: Finance and Administration; Operations, and Marketing and HR.
Of the 25 credit unions in New Zealand, Credit Union North is the second largest at NZ$115-million in assets and 32,000 members. A shared branch network in the country offers 250 points of access.
Speaking to the World Council of Credit Union's World CU Conference here, Janet Gibb, general manager-human resources and marketing, shared lessons the credit unions learned in the process of merging.
Among the first moves the CUs made was not to await completion of the merger to get a feel for the other CUs' work environments. Instead, said Gibb, said workers spent several weeks working in other CUs to get to know cultures and other members.
But even with such steps, Gibb noted there remain difficult issues. "Once you merge, instead of being a colleague, boards and managers suddenly feel they are in competition, and it can create tension," said Gibb, adding a number of employees who previously reported to her now report to one of the other former CEOs, which created some loyalty issues.
Passion for doing right by members, too, said Gibb, can lead to pricing decisions that may seem right for the member but which are not right for the institution.
"It can be hard to get staff to see you can't run a credit union if it doesn't make a profit," said Gibbs.
The three credit unions created committees to hammer out uniform policies, with the biggest challenge coming in lending, said Gibbs. Another lesson learned: even after policies were agreed to, some were implemented faster than others.
Like an Australian CU that spoke to the same meeting on the issue of mergers, Gibb said "it was the smallest things that turned into the biggest issues." Case in point: the color of the uniform blouses that would be worn by front-line staff.
"Get rid of the ego, keep the emotion out, and be prepared for the unexpected," said Gibb, noting that among the "unexpected" encountered by a merged Credit Union North was discovering one loan manager had been committing fraud.
Other notes: "It's ready, aim, get on with it. It's not aim, aim, aim... Staff wants to see progress, even if they don't like change."
• Communicate all the time, even if you don't have anything to communicate. Show the big picture and let people know where they fit."
• Make good business decisions. Gibb shared that that could mean her own job is in jeopardy, telling her Barcelona office she was awaiting word on whether consolidation of management would include her position.
