The Board Chair’s Guide to Zoom Meetings

21July2020

By Kevin Smith

Board Chair’s Guide to Zoom Meetings

Let me guess … your board meeting has gone digital and virtual, right? Lucky guess or what?!

Credit Union Board Chairs – Let’s talk about that move to virtual. Let’s talk about what that means for you and how things need to change.

Let’s be clear. This move is not like moving to a different meeting room while your board room gets painted. This isn’t a simple change of physical space. The meetings will need to be managed differently and more carefully.

As you probably already know, it’s going to take a while for everyone to get used to this. Be patient but not so much so that you let things fall through the cracks. Discussion may be clunky as only one person can speak at a time. This tends to make people stay more silent than usual. That may be a welcome relief from Chatty-Charlie but your quieter board members are likely to go invisible altogether. That’s not acceptable.

10 Critical Elements of a Board’s Role in Crisis Management

25June2020

By Tim Harrington

1. Take the moral high ground. Do what is right. Stay true to your “Moral Purpose” and it’s focus towards your members, employees and community.

2. Keep people’s health and safety first.

3. Be proactive. When signs of a crisis arise, start asking the tough questions of each other and of the CEO. Gather additional information as necessary.

4. Be nimble in changing board processes and roles: new committees, virtual meetings, on-line votes, etc.

5. Support the CEO. Ask “what do you need from the board?”

6. Be prepared to temporarily redraw the line between Governance and Operations if necessary. This line is not fixed. In good times it should give the CEO great leeway. But it may shift toward operations in crisis.

7. Keep the full board apprised, not just the chair, executive committee, risk committee, etc.

8. Speed up every process you have. Immediacy is essential.

9. Over-communication is better than under communication.

10. Know that at the center of every catastrophe is the seed opportunity.

How to Spot a Board in Trouble (An Incomplete Listicle)

18May20202 Comments

By Tim Harrington and Kevin Smith

This is not a comprehensive list. In fact, we’d like to hear from others the things that they’ve seen or what they look for. We’re sure our smart readership has some things to add. This is also not a checklist. We’re not suggesting that once you’ve identified all eight of these you’ve found your troubled board. (Notice that some of these are countervailing.) But these are things that show up regularly and have been present when dealing with troubles.

How to Spot a Board in Trouble

Opportunities Amidst Crisis: Build a More Trusting Team

15April2020

Leaders can strengthen their teams and develop higher performance and more trust during these times of crisis. The “rules” are different and generally looser now as we all try to adapt. By showing staff that they have the leader’s full support, you can foster necessary innovation and raise the level of trust that will last long past the turmoil.

By Kevin Smith

Building Trust During Crisis

It’s easy to get caught up in the adrenaline and momentum of “putting out fires” during a crisis, for everyone involved. It’s also easy for leaders to get tunnel vision in this mode of operation, focusing on the details of the operational. It is important during this time to occasionally step back and reflect on the important in the big picture of things and not just the urgent.

One area of opportunity is in the development of trust among your teams.

Covid-19 has caused all of the rules to change in a very short amount of time. We’re all learning. We’re all adapting. And certainly, your staff is being challenged in many ways, perhaps in ways that are bringing them together to rely on each other to a much higher degree. That’s a small amount of silver-lining that is of value, but let’s look beyond that as well.

This crisis environment is forcing credit unions to examine their products and services to find new ways to serve members, for new ways to help them out, to provide value. Necessity is truly the mother of invention here. Many of the old ways of thinking have been pushed out the door as you figure out what to do.

On the Board Improvement Highway, The Onramp and the Offramp are Equally Important

19March20202 Comments

On the Board Improvement Highway, The Onramp and the Offramp are Equally Important

Onboarding and offboarding of directors is crucial for boards with an Infinite mindset and goal for improvement. Often onboarding gets lip service and a little attention while offboarding is virtually unheard of. These steps help create a positive governance culture and a higher performing board. Presenting comprehensive information with support, and asking the right questions are the ways to unlock the power of these.

By Kevin Smith

Board Improvement Highway

It’s a simple metaphor. Really. Credit union board service is a highway journey for which we must have an onramp and an offramp. But here’s the deal – too many credit unions, boards and directors only pay attention to the “highway” part of that. Some pay cursory attention to the onramp and MOST ignore the offramp completely. To extend this metaphor (reductio ad absurdum) to the ridiculous, it’s as if the board-mobile slows down a little bit, barely long enough for you to get in, but only opens the door for you to drop and roll on the way out. Sheesh! All to the detriment of the board. (In the next episode – is your board-mobile a 1972 Cadillac, a 1986 Chevy Chevette or a 2020 Tesla?!)

Governance During Crisis: Some Thoughts on Board Leadership Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak

18March2020

Governance During Crisis: Some Thoughts on Board Leadership Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak

Please have a look at the article that we wrote for Credit Union Times:

https://www.cutimes.com/2020/03/18/governance-during-crisis-some-thoughts-on-board-leadership-amidst-the-coronavirus-outbreak/

Shared vs. Classical Leadership & Challenges in Governance

18February2020

Shared vs. Classical Leadership & Challenges in Governance

Shared leadership is what credit union board members should practice but it’s rarely an idea that individuals coming into board service have a strong history with or understanding of. Intentionally opening up this as a discussion and reviewing expectations can be a tremendous asset towards effectiveness.

By Kevin Smith

Recently, as part of my regular nerdy reading, I came across this distinction between Shared and ClassicalLeadership as drawn out by Nemerowicz and Rosi, in Education for Leadership and Social Responsibility (1997). I came of age really only knowing the classical definition of leadership as they’re presented here.

Nemerowicz and Rosi, Education for Leadership and Social Responsibility (1997), London, U.K.: Falmer Press

It was in the context of Herbert Thompson’s dissertation, Governance as Stewardship (2015), that the significance of this distinction for credit union board members became more apparent to me. Thompson notes, “In many cases, new board members, come to their first nonprofit governance experience with only a classical leadership understanding and cursory practice with operational/administrative boards” (43). Thinking back over my years of working with boards, this idea (of shared leadership) has been floating under the surface, and been mostly presumed but unsaid. This is a concept that is important to note and should be called out, brought to the surface and addressed more matter-of-factly.

On the Rebound: Challenges in Hiring a CEO

23January2020

On the Rebound: Challenges in Hiring a CEO

One of the most valuable and challenging actions a board can take is to hire a new CEO. Many credit union boards face replacing long-serving CEO who came up through the ranks from when the organization was much smaller. In this environment with a relative lack of experience the board may end up with a “rebound” CEO who isn’t a good fit and doesn’t last.

By Kevin Smith

There’s a scenario that I’ve come across a couple of times this year in credit unions, and I’ve heard of others. It seems to be a trend or at least a microtrend.

Here’s the scenario: A credit union has a long serving CEO, someone who often started at an entry level position and rose through the ranks to become the Chief Executive. After many years, or decades at the helm, the CEO retires. Nothing novel here (though the mere talk of it is enough to make some board members and board chairs start to sweat). And indeed, the board and the CU make not just average level efforts at succession, but really do take this seriously in order to make sure that they have the right fit in the next generation leader for their shop and for their members. They work hard at it, get industry research, sometimes hire a headhunter, make all the right phone calls and references, yadda yadda yadda. In other words – they do what they were supposed to do.

But here’s what happens: The new CEO lasts for roughly a year, give or take, and is gone. “What happened,” you ask? The response is often a range of stunned and unclear responses. “It just didn’t work out.” “It wasn’t a good fit.” “We thought we had a good cultural fit but it wasn’t.” Or even, “we don’t know what the heck happened, but it was a train wreck.”

I feel for these boards. I really do. Often, their good faith efforts really should have paid off with a good fit. But they didn’t. It all went sideways.

That New Car Smell and Invisible Customer Service

16December2019

That New Car Smell and Invisible Customer Service

Not all customer service needs to be red carpet, or concierge service. Sometimes invisible customer service is the best and what the customer wants. Credit unions may need to consider whether their members need much more than this in general.

By Kevin Smith

That New Car Smell and Invisible Customer Service

Yes. This is my actual car. Pretty, isn’t it?

So, I just bought a new car recently, a 2020 Suburu Outback. And in case you think that this sounds a bit bragg-y, this car is a replacement for a 2006 Minivan with 165K miles, a rebuilt transmission, and in my favorite color (my favorite color = paid for). No, I’m not a new car every year kind of guy. For anyone that knows me this is a “no kidding” moment if there ever was one.

I’ve been reflecting on the experience of buying a new car and how much that’s changed over the years, even before the Minivan. And I’ve been comparing this with my experience working with credit unions as they try to engage with their members and compete with other providers.

Are Your Board Members and Your CEO too Chummy?

14November2019

Are Your Board Members and Your CEO too Chummy?

Board members and the board chair can compromise their ability to hold the CEO accountable if their relationship is too close, or too friendly. Directors should reflect on that relationship and how to manage that tight rope walk, managing extremes. By Kevin Smith

Did you have a gut-level, visceral response to my title? I mean, beyond your mocking me for using the word “chummy”? Often when I ask this question, I can see the reaction in the eyes of the audience. There’s usually a couple of noticeable responses in the eyes:

1. Hmmm…I never thought of that before. Let me think about that.

2. How dare you? That’s an insulting idea.

3. Holy Toledo! That’s us!