One of the questions that usually comes up from a credit union’s leadership team is, “what's the difference between a highly effective client that implements your programs, and a less than effective client that implements your programs?”
And the answer is simple, but it's not one that perhaps everybody thinks would be the answer. It comes down to three things. The difference between effective and ineffective is:
- Leadership
- Coaching, and
- Accountability
Let me lay them out for you one by one.
The first thing is leadership.
When it comes to leadership, you are going to be taking your credit union somewhere it's never been before - into a new vision of itself.
And to do that, it requires leadership. That means employees have to trust their leaders and follow them to some place that even the leaders have never been. So, leadership development is a critical part of what we do. And it is a big difference between those who succeed and those who don't succeed.
You have to have leaders that are willing to make hard decisions, see everything through to the end and develop trust among their employees by constantly doing the right thing and leading to different and new ways of thinking and acting.
The second thing is coaching.
Coaching changes behaviors. Training shows you what you should do, but coaching makes you want to do it. Because if I know my manager is engaged in the transformation, then I'm going to be engaged in the transformation. But most managers don't know how to coach. In fact, a lot of managers haven't even been trained to be good managers, much less have been trained to coach. And so, if we're going to create a culture of high performance and we're going to create a dominant member experience, then we're going to need highly effective coaches. Which is one of the reasons we’ve been so successful in helping credit unions build a culture of high performance over the years. Because a lot of what we do focuses on coaching.
Then lastly, accountability.
A lot of people want to talk with me about incentives, and that's okay. Incentives have their place. But you show me what you're willing to hold people accountable for, and I'll show you what you really believe is true. In other words, we'll incent people to do things that well, we wouldn't fire you over.
We don't incent people to come into work on time. We don't incent people to be in balance. We don't incent people not to smack somebody in the nose, right? But we will hold people accountable for failure to do those things. But what happens when all we do is incent behavior, but we won't hold behavior accountable when it's not in alignment with our culture? You simply won't get the culture you want.
Incentives work. It's just a shame that they do. People believe what's important by what you're willing to hold them accountable to. Many credit unions start out saying “we want this to be a successful implementation,” but when it comes down to it, 12 or 18 months later, the excuse is “well that's just Jim, that's just Rick, that's just Jane. You know what? She's never going to change. And you know what? She's going to be retiring in a few years anyway. Uh, let's not worry about it.” But you and I both know that what you're willing to accept is going to become your standard, and it will define your culture.
So, without leadership, coaching and accountability you're not going to create the culture that you want to create. Don't make that mistake. Take this advice from someone who's been working with credit unions for a long time and seeing the difference between those credit unions who successfully create the culture they want, and those who fall by the wayside because it gets hard.
Contact ServiStar Consulting to Transform Your Credit Union’s Culture
If your credit union is looking to reshape its culture around service, sales and leadership, ServiStar Consulting can help. Since 1998, we have worked side-by-side with credit unions to build and sustain a culture of high-performance. To learn more about how we can partner with you to create a culture of high-performance, fill out our digital contact form or schedule a call today.