Credit Union Management

Good management techniques improve the financial performance of the companies that rely on them, according to a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute. For companies and organizations looking to improve labor productivity, better management, which often is spurred by competition, can be a more effective lever than capital improvements or even tax breaks.

Improve Meetings by Imitating George Costanza?

According to an article in the April issue of INC magazine, those who run meetings should leave the room like George Costanza, the character from "Seinfeld." George's strategy was to exit meetings the moment after throwing out a well-received witticism. Develop a sixth sense for when a major moment is at hand so that employees can walk out of your next meeting on a high note.

Management Network

Getting It Done: Conjure Up 'Service Magic'

How can a credit union add value when there are no more resources to fund the addition? In a word: magic! Service magic is different than exceeding member expectations. Service magic is unpredictable and unique. It's the response that leaves members more amazed than simply delighted. Three attributes make up the leader's method for service magic - focus, affirmation and trust.

Move in the Right Direction

At the most recent meeting of CUES' Wisconsin Council, Dale Feinauser, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, discussed how organizations could make their strategic planning more effective by setting a direction and following through. Feinauser argued that one reason strategic planning tends to be more incremental is because boards are too conservative in nature. One way to get your credit union's board of directors to explore more radical ideas, according to Feinauser, is to come ...

Canadian Credit Unions Back Virtual Banking

A number of Canadian credit unions have discovered an interesting way around restrictive regulations that keep them from operating in more than one province: virtual banking. Vancouver-based VanCity Credit Union (www.vancity.com), with $8.5 billion (Canadian) in assets and more than 300,000 members, was the first Canadian CU to take a stab at the venture.

General Management

What's in a Name?

In the modern-day business world, names - or more precisely, titles - can be quite important. Certainly, that's the case for credit union executives. Internally, upper-management titles tie into responsibility and compensation levels. Externally, titles can be a basis for recognition or prestige in the community and among professional peers. The top executives at $160 million Portland Federal Credit Union, Portland, MI, found this to be the case. Just a couple of years ago, the chief executiv...

Fading Away

Credit unions everywhere are merging, taking on additional SEGs and growing. Some of the smaller institutions have disappeared. If current trends continue, small CUs may become an endangered species. Gordon Dames, president/CEO of $1.3 billion, 170,000-member Mountain America Credit Union, Salt Lake City, says when he was an examiner in the 1970s, members expected little more than a savings account from their credit union. They often did business with both a bank and a CU. But times have chan...

Human Resources

The Perfect Path

When it comes to HR, experts say too many credit unions are still stuck in the past. HR duties may be pushed off onto someone with other primary responsibilities. Or a formal department may exist, but it's treated as unimportant and second-class. But many credit unions are recognizing the vital importance of a well-thought-out, complete human resources department that plays an appropriate role in management. Rhonda Cooke, president and CEO of Cooke/Andres of Middletown, RI, believes the perfe...

Worker's Comp Costs

Workers' compensation insurance provides coverage for the rehabilitation, recovery, medical bills and lost time of employees who have suffered a work-related injury. In most states workers' compensation insurance is required for organizations that employ one or more staff members. In the midst of growing concerns over rising costs, a group of California credit unions took matters into their own hands, joining together to form the CU Self-Insurance Group, sharing the costs - and risks - of wor...

Board

Back On the Bus

When formed in 1939, the Cornerstone Credit Union was set up to be the credit union for the staff of Microswitch (now a division of Honeywell). But when the Freeport, IL-based credit union shifted to a community charter in the late 1990s, board members realized that they had to look to the community to broaden the diversity of the board. And they realized they needed to look into more training, says Stephen Withington, member development coordinator at the $85 million credit union. The credit...

Smooth Successions

A 2003 survey of more than 700 CUs by the Credit Union National Association, Madison, WI, found that roughly 50% of top executives plan to retire within the next 10 years. This will induce a ripple effect throughout the industry. Some vice presidents will move up into their CUs' empty CEO slots, leaving behind their former positions for others to fill. And some existing CEOs and other executives will migrate over to the top posts at other CUs, also creating vacancies in their wake. Still, mos...

Operations

Time to Check In

By now every credit union should have procedures in place to comply with the USA Patriot Act. Six months after the law went into effect is a good time to review the rule's basic requirements and what your CU should be doing about them: 1. Know your reference documents. 2. Implement a customer identification program. 3. Review your verification procedures. 4. Keep records. 5. Match to government lists. 6. Provide notice. Periodic review of your Patriot Act compliance program is essential. Furt...

Prime Time Wireless

After years of hype and with costs coming down, wireless networking is becoming mainstream. Wireless is really attractive, Russell Rowe told participants in CUES' Executive Technology Forum in April in New Orleans. But make sure your credit union has taken reasonable steps to secure wireless devices, cautioned Rowe, president of Chief Security Officers LLC, Scottsdale, AZ. The risks of going wireless include having an unauthorized person view member information/transactions - or hacking insid...

Who's On Call

Members' expectations for round-the-clock access to financial services and the branch growth of many credit unions have made staffing operations for emergencies a 24/7 concern. On the technology side, CUs are looking to equip systems not maintained by vendors with the virtual equivalent of the alarms that sound at branch offices when something goes awry. IT staff have at least one advantage in their on-call assignments: If properly equipped, they can take a first stab at resolving some automa...

Cfo Focus: Low Margin Game

Once a portfolio game, the mortgage lending market now is a highly specialized group of unbundled activities with generally low profit margins for each. Credit unions have a major advantage in the mortgage game: good member relationships and generally outstanding member service. If a credit union can cross-sell members without paying origination fees to loan officers, it has a good chance for profitable origination. The best depository lenders are able to: 1. originate mortgages without payin...

Marketing

E-Marketing: Quiet Conversations

At Portland Teachers Credit Union, the key to getting direct mail response rates as high as 10% on an annual basis has not been paying more for glossy color brochures, but rather making better use of member relationship data from its MCIF provider, according to CUES member Mary Jane Campbell, SVP/sales and marketing for the Portland, OR-based credit union. Since 2001, the CU has been leveraging the expertise of its MCIF provider of six years, The Database Marketing Agency, Portland, to send m...

Through the Rain

For credit unions to fully succeed, a clear channel of communication from upper management to staff, business partners, the media and the member base is necessary. While clear communication is useful to help transmit news of everyday issues, there's absolutely no substitute for the ability to quickly and reliably reach staff when a crisis strikes. News of new products and services, a new branch opening, new technology or statements, a change in hours of operation, the arrival of new staff or ...

From The Editor

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