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That New Car Smell and Invisible Customer Service

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

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.

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Are Your Board Members and Your CEO too Chummy?

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!  

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Have You Researched the DNA of Your Board?

Have You Researched the DNA of Your Board?

Board turnover doesn’t always mean that the board evolves or changes. Slow replacement of directors can mean that the “old” culture of the group, get rooted and, well … stuck in the DNA of the board as a whole.

By Kevin Smith

Wait! … Before you @ me, I’m not talking about individual board members, or anything resembling violations of privacy, et cetera. Don’t go calling HR on me! I’m talking about the board in its corpus, as a whole, as it were.

Picture the scene:

Location: A credit union board room.

Facilitator (to the nine board members in the room): “Tell me how your board has evolved over the years. I see a lot of boards that are still focused down in the weeds of operations instead of at the strategic horizon. How’s your board?”

Board Chair: “Oh, well, we’ve evolved a lot and come a long way. We’ve got two new board members, and they’re young Millenials. As a matter of fact, we can say that our board has changed over completely from the original members in the last 20 years. With our merger of five years ago we also incorporated two board members from the merged credit union.”

Facilitator: “That sounds great. So, I see your board has a credit committee and a delinquency committee. Those seem a bit too operational to me. What’s the thinking on those? How do you keep those strategic?”

Board Chair: “I thought those were required. We’ve always had them. They help keep us informed of how things are going.”

The correct translation of that last phrase is, “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

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Ratio: Forward Looking to Backward Looking

Ratio: Forward Looking to Backward Looking

Too many credit union board members spend too much time looking at what happened last month, last quarter and last year. In the current environment of uncertainty and volatility, directors need to be able to spend as much time as possible on strategic thinking. Looking ahead to your “big picture goals.”

By Kevin Smith

Today we’re going to talk about a new ratio. Yeah, if it’s the credit union industry we do like to talk about our ratios, don’t we?! But this one might be a bit different than the financials that you’re used to seeing.

Let me ask you a question: How much time do you, as a board member, spend dealing with things that are strategic and future oriented? How much of your volunteer time are you using working on, or planning for the “beautiful future”? Dreaming of what your credit union could be and working towards that?

How much time are you spending looking at the strategic?

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Balanced Scorecard and CEO Oversight

Balanced Scorecard and CEO Oversight

The Balanced Scorecard approach provides boards a range of variables to measure success. With a mixture of financials, strategic values of the organization and others, this provides more confidence in their assessments. When boards and CEOs collaborate to establish these measurements, it also helps clarify the plan for all involved.

By Kevin Smith

Board members: how comfortable are you in your role as evaluator of your CEO? More and more I’m hearing discomfort among directors about how they assess the performance of the CEO. And it’s no wonder, the more complex the industry gets, the more information the board has to digest, the more difficult it is to keep up with … well, … everything! Add to that the fact that very often, credit union board members don’t come from the financial services world in their professional backgrounds. Of course, none of this means that these are bad directors, or that they don’t offer a world of value to the strategic thinking of the credit union. But it DOES mean that directors these days need to make sure they’re using the right tools, and getting the right kind of information/education to keep them current to good work in an efficient amount of time.

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Best Practices in Board Recruitment … Part (n+1)

Best Practices in Board Recruitment … Part (n+1)

By Tim Harrington and Kevin Smith

Board recruitment should be an ongoing process, a continuing cultivation. Everyone is super-busy, so making this as streamlined as possible for recruit-ers and recruit-ees is imperative. Building business card solutions and one-click information can do this.

As part of our roles for TEAM Resources we get the great privilege to spend time with credit union staff members, executives, CEOs and volunteers on a regular basis. Sometimes that’s part of individual consulting with organizations and sometimes while speaking to groups at trade events, conferences, schools, etc. And while we think we have some pretty great ideas about how to do things, we have to admit that we get a lot of great ideas and information from high performers who show up at these programs.

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Are You Holding Executive Sessions … Regularly?

Are You Holding Executive Sessions … Regularly?
By Tim Harrington and Kevin Smith

At times directors should meet without the CEO or others present. This is an opportunity to raise questions or concerns in a closed environment. This session allows the board to maintain independence from senior management. Done regularly it is part of the culture. Done too rarely and it creates concerns.

Executive sessions or closed meetings, are an opportunity for the board to meet confidentially, with only board members present. Though the board may choose, or not, to invite others to attend.

Executive (in camera) Sessions

*For the folks out there who are nerdy about language like me, these sessions are also called in camera (literally in a chamber) sessions. Our good friend Latin rearing its head here. And I think it may be obvious why that may be a very confusing term that is no longer used in this day and age of viral video and smart phones with cameras, especially since we’re referring to a meeting that is closed. – Kevin

We believe you need the Executive Sessions. Periodically and routinely. The board needs the opportunity to have confidential environment, where only directors are present, so that people can speak freely. This may be about board challenges or governance issues, CEO compensation, or performance. It may concern the auditor’s report, or it may simply happen regularly to reinforce the idea that the board is independent of management and that there will be a place to express concerns.

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