One of the most distinctive differences I've found betweencredit unions who are thriving in the new economy and those who arecontinuing to struggle to grow is the thinking of the CEO and theboard of directors.

A lack of growth is usually blamed on the economy or unforeseencircumstances, but the fact of the matter is, credit unions thatare thriving are being led by thinkers who are thinking forward,progressive and willing to make necessary changes to be morecompetitive.

Conversely, those credit unions struggling to grow or evenshrinking in membership or asset size or even loan volume sufferfrom self-created obstacles I call small thinking.

The following areas of small thinking can creep into any creditunion. See if any of the following small-thinking mentalities havecrept into your credit union and are holding you back.

Sacred Cows

When working with credit union clients on strategic planning Iroutinely ask about the board's sacred cows. Usually the firstresponse is, “We don't have any.” After a little probing, I findsacred cows such as; name changes would never be considered, achange in membership is resisted but may be acceptable as long asthe foundation remains the original SEG with significant boardrepresentation, social media marketing shifts; I've evenheard resistance to changing the restaurant the board eats at priorto the planning session. “It's tradition.” How can progress happenwith such anchored thinking?

Sacred cows are usually anchored in the past or a board member'spet interest. Change is happening in the new economy at the speedof thought. What we used to measure in years and months now needsto be reviewed in days and hours. To thrive in the new economy andbe proactive in your service to members, self-created obstaclesonly make the challenge for success that much greater. It begs thequestion: if you are always looking to the past, how can youprogress forward?

CEO/Board Disconnect

Thriving credit unions tend to have unity of thought at the top.The majority of the board opinion leaders and the CEO are on thesame page as to where the credit union needs to be heading and howto get the credit union to that destination point. With unity comesmomentum. With momentum comes confidence. With confidence comessuccess.

When a board and the CEO are pulling in different directions,want to progress at different speeds, or have a much differenttolerance for risk, there is no momentum building because there isno unity of thought. Therefore, the credit union struggles to finddirection and battles are waged over minor issues to where meetingsliterally become exhaustive.

I encourage all credit unions boards of directors to have aconversation with their CEO to determine if everyone is sharing thesame vision and roadmap. Unity of thought, effort and commitment atthe top creates a better opportunity for a credit union to achieveits full potential.

Crisis Management

Over the last few years many credit unions have felt underattack from regulations changes, regulator demands, the GreatRecession, growing member expectations, rapid technology changes,and shifts in their local competitive environment. This confluenceof issues created an all-hands-on-deck crisis management mode forexecutives and the board. This prompted many board discussionsabout fees, staff changes, budgets and “how to stop the bleeding”of resources.

Instead of being a temporary condition to get through roughwaters, some credit unions I've been involved with have establishedthe crisis management behavior as the new norm. A crisis mentalityis all about looking at the short term, looking at how to show animmediate positive blip in reports, and losing focus on the visionof where the credit union needs to be heading.

A CEO is responsible for developing her management team tohandle the responsibilities of the short-term issues. Themanagement is responsible for creating a solid work environmentwhere employees deliver great service to members and perform soundbusiness practices under any circumstances.

The CEO and board of directors are responsible for the visionand direction of the credit union. When the CEO and board becomemore concerned with small thinking and micro-managing details ofthe credit union, they have lost focus and have essentially “takentheir eyes off the road.” That is how accidents happen at the wheelof a car, and at the helm of a credit union.

Russell J. White is a consultant andspeaker from Lake Wylie, S.C.