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Nearly 100 credit union leaders gathered in Rockland recently to gain new insights, hear from the League and Synergent’s Senior Leadership Team, and network with peers. As a call to action at the 2018 Management Roundtable, the League’s President/CEO, Todd Mason encouraged attendees to “own your moment!” It was both a reference to the underlying message of the new statewide awareness campaign, and for Maine’s credit unions to strategically strengthen their market share, member relevancy, community involvement and agility. Mason also stated that “with the collective scale represented on the Synergent platform, we have the power to truly move the needle together.”
“Seize the moment” was the message delivered by Chris Dollar, advising credit unions to take advantage of their cooperative status and its positive impact, especially with the younger generation. “As you plan for the future, member benefit should always be the driving factor in every decision” said Dollar. “For growth, first focus on your current field of membership, second on expanding your field of membership, and last on mergers,” he went on to say. Dollar recommended additional key strategic moves including: utilizing the advantages of “cooperation”( i.e.,CUSOs, shared branching, collaboration models), investing in branches, products, and services that can be safely and soundly provided with the temporary break in regulatory activism at NCUA and BCFP; and looking at areas that you may be missing in delivery of credit union services.
The first day of the roundtable concluded with the League’s Senior Leadership team answering questions from Mason. The leadership team shared plans for chapter engagement, advocacy initiatives, new product and service offerings, culture development, and more. Evaluations praised this approach with people commenting: “it was a nice, refreshing change,” “engagement with the panel was great,” and “it was beneficial to find out what everyone does.” As Mason announced the endorsement of Shawn Moody in his run for Governor, he was praised for “understanding that not everyone agrees with lobbying or endorsing but explaining the why it is important to do it and the process used.” Supporting the “credit union party” will always be the goal of the League.
The program continued with a presentation from Don Arkell, with Don encouraging credit unions to start a business lending program. If you’re not currently doing it, “start with income/rental property” but you should “dip your toe in” urged Arkell. Because the dream of millennials is not the same as other generations, there is a huge opportunity with rental property. “A credit union that is a community lender, made a deal with the community to lend to business, make sure you are doing that,” Arkell stated. Arkell went on to share that 34% of the US workforce does not draw a wage from an employer—they are essentially self employed business owners that need to be served by the credit union. Arkell stressed that “a strong business lender needs to have strong business services.” He encouraged credit unions to build relationships with their business members. The strategy for developing business members includes: understanding your local market, knowing your business owners, knowing the economic factors in your area, and developing a credit risk statement with your board. Arkell concluded by encouraging credit unions to have a business hunter in their credit union—be in the community as the hunting cannot be done by the front line!
Erin Coleman of Filene Research Institute shared the importance of a strong culture with attendees stating: “developing a clear, effective strategy is essential to the success of every credit union.” “Culture matters because in the absence of policy, culture is what guides decision making and the stronger the culture the better the performance,” Coleman stated. She also shared that branch managers need to target their message based on the branch they serve, being adaptable to their members’ needs. Coleman encouraged credit unions that want better performance to begin by developing a strong culture.