Member satisfaction: that's all that really what matters, right?
Talk to any credit union exec for longer than the time it takes for a drive-by high-five and you'll hear about how "satisfied" the members are, or about the CU's Net Promoter Score, or their Yelp rating. So we're in agreement, it's all about the satisfaction?
"Satisfaction doesn't mean squat."
Mick Jagger? Nope, Steve Farber.
Farber is an author and consultant who has spent a lot of time with a lot of companies and concluded that a lot of conventional wisdom is a lot of outmoded assumptions. And a big one of those, he says, has to do with how satisfied the members are.
Farber, a former VP with the consultancy owned by management guru Tom Peters, noted his former boss rose to prominence in part with his insights on the importance of customer satisfaction. But the world has changed, even if some execs aren't just behind the curve, they're three exits back.
A Radical Leap
"In the 21st century... there's almost no correlation between customer satisfaction and repeat business. There's no correlation between customer satisfaction and word of mouth," argued Farber. "It's because customer satisfaction has become the baseline expectation. There's no longer any competitive advantage in creating a satisfactory experience for our members. I'm not saying it's not important. I'm saying it's so important it's just the entry to the game."
Farber, the author of "The Radical Leap" and founder of The Extreme Leadership Institute, argues the bridge to real connection with members (and the resulting growth) is the other "L" word: love. "When they love us it's because of the relationship that we create, how we anticipate and meet their needs. That's where the good stuff comes from; that's where the loyalty comes from."
Farber shared his "love" perspective at America's Credit Union Conference in San Francisco last week, so I know what some of you are thinking. And so did he. "This is not some California, touchy-feely, hoo-ha crap," he stressed. "There is science behind this."
What that science shows, Farber contended, is there are four things everyone at every CU must be doing in order to not just be "extreme" leaders and drive satisfaction, but also to ensure they're around for ACUC's in the future: cultivate love, generate energy, inspire audacity and provide proof.
Farber acknowledged that the word "love" when used in a business context "makes a lot of people squirm. But if you think about this rationally, you'll find it's not only not inappropriate it's the foundation of any great, thriving business."
"If you buy this argument that we want to create an environment for our members that they are going to love, then let's trace it back," said Farber. "The only sustainable way to do that is to create a culture where our employees love working in it. If you don't love the work yourself first, is there any way you're going to create an environment that others love? To say that love has no place in business is just plain insane."
Farber offered up a number of questions for CU execs he said "demand to be asked and answered," including:
- Why do I love this business/idea/product/colleague/member, and how do I show it? "The more difficult it is to answer this question, the more important it is to ask it. This is meant to inspire yourself."
- How do I generate energy? "People who are dead create clones and it translates throughout the organization. I can walk into the lobby of a credit union or a place of business and tell in 30 seconds if it is exciting and energetic, or if it is a morgue."
- What do I/we really do here? What's the higher meaning and purpose of our work?
- How do I inspire audacity. "I define 'audacity' as a bold and blatant disregard for normal constraints. It's not 'think outside the box,' it's 'What box?' If we really take this seriously, it's thrilling, it's exciting, but it's scary. But we tend to take fear as a sign something is wrong, but it's a natural thing."
- "Do I really want to do this?" If the answer is no, that's cool. If the answer is yes, then where do we start?" You start with the Golden Rule, he said, even though it's not even expected in the business environment. "The exceptions to this are the extreme leaders. The paradox is the greatest leaders make others greater than themselves."
A Kick Of A Shift
n At ACUC is was impossible not to notice another cultural shift in the U.S. — the growing interest and even passion for the World Cup. The host Hilton Hotel's lobby was often crowded with people watching matches, even when the U.S. wasn't playing. And when the U.S. played it created a situation meeting planners could not have envisioned a year ago — attendees either skipping a session or watching the game on mobile devices while the session was going on.
It seems the U.S. is getting a little closer to the experience had at a World Council meeting in Ireland a decade ago when the home country's "lads" surprisingly advanced and an announcement was made the rest of the day's meeting schedule was being cancelled so everyone could watch the match.
Frank J. Diekmann can be reached at
