CALGARY, Alberta -
That's according to author and business growth guru Michael Treacy, who maintains that businesses need to grow 4% to 6% per year just to sustain their health. Greater growth will build the "muscle mass" needed to increase market share and better serve clients, he said. Anything that grows less than 4% risks going the way of the dodo.
"Growth is a discipline more than a strategy," said Treacy, the author of "Double-Digit Growth: How Companies Achieve It No Matter What." "Commit to superior member value in every thing you do."
Such commitment isn't easy, especially for CUs that misunderstand their specific niche they occupy in the marketplace. Too many pursue competitive prices and hassle-free service in attempting to develop their growth strategies. It's by concentrating on the results members expect that credit unions can prosper, Treacy said. Such an approach is foundational to the movement's natural market advantage.
"Remember that banks are in the business of selling products, and behind every product lies a problem to be solved," said Treacy, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management. "In attempting to emulate successful institutions we've forgotten who we are, and without concentrating on member expectations, we become mere shadows of much stronger competitors whom we will never catch."
From Treacy's perspective, U.S. credit unions are "in dramatic decline, and 'dramatic' is the only appropriate adjective." From the consultant's perspective, however, there are lessons to be learned from the way WOCCU helps develop credit unions in emerging nations and the way those fledgling institutions meet the needs of their members. Personal involvement and close attention to member needs make such credit unions indispensable to their members, a lesson in service from which all credit unions can benefit.
"There are a great deal that young credit unions in evolving markets can learn from older credit unions in mature markets," Treacy told an audience of 2,500. "But mature credit unions also can learn from the younger credit unions and rediscover their roots. It's the easiest way to see what had made them relevant to members in the first place."
