For Rebecca Reynolds Lytle, senior vice president of lending atSan Francisco Federal Credit Union, truly effective leadershipboils down to doing the right thing and treating others as youwould like to be treated.

“I get a thrill being able to make a positive difference in thelives of others and to be in a position to help someone whether amember or co-worker is very satisfying,” said Reynolds Lytle. “As Italk to folks here as we work on solutions, I always ask what's theright thing to do and tell them there's our answer.”

As she dreamed of going into business with her CPA father, thelatest Women to Watchrecipient got her start in financial services in high schoolworking part time on “the dark side” at a bank.

“It's funny. My mother, a longtime member at Pasadena FederalCredit Union takes credit for my current career,” she said. “Shetalked about credit unions a lot from when I was younger, but Ididn't really understand the difference until I started working ata credit union in 1994. That first year was quite a culture change,but once I got that shift in focus on people rather thanshareholders, it was like stepping into the light and I'd never goback to a bank.” 

Always excited to learn and up for a challenge, Reynolds Lytlevolunteered to take on duties no one else wanted, which helped hergain practical experience in understanding the big picture of howdifferent functions impact other areas and the credit unionoverall. 

“I think I've done every job you can in a financial institutionwith the exception of the CFO, CEO and internal auditor,” saidReynolds Lytle. “By no stretch of the imagination am I a micromanager. All my people own their area, run their shop. My role isto get people what they need to get their job done, ensuring theyhave the additional resources and support to make the workhappen.”

She added that the trust, sense of ownership has gone a long wayin fostering an environment where everyone feels valued, which canpave the way for greater innovation.

“Innovation is simply bringing to life a new idea. The key ismaking it happen. You can think of innovative ways to solveproblems, but if you can't bring it to life then it's just a bunchof ideas. It goes back to if it's the right thing for the creditunion and the member then we need to make that happen in a way thatis efficient and easy. If it isn't easy for the member and staff,then it simply won't work. So we are constantly challengingourselves to create and bring to life functional ideas that can beacted on.”

Since joining the $767 million credit union in 2010, she haslead the charge to rethink everything in lending from targets andgoals to system enhancement to help make obtaining a loan lesscumbersome. Reynolds Lytle has also been credited with spearheadinga new taxi medallion loan program with the City of San Francisco.The pilot program was created to allow taxi drivers over 65 toretire from driving and sell their medallion to a driver on thewaiting list.

By exploring the possibilities. she helped get agreements inplace and forged a unique partnership with San Francisco FireCredit Union and San Francisco Police Credit Union to participatein the purchase of medallions. Through 2012, the new program hasresulted in over $50 million. Other initiatives she has beenparticularly proud of include outsourcing real estate servicing,implementing an online real estate loan application system,implementing an online consumer loan application system, creating apaperless lending environment, implementing a credit riskmonitoring system, creating a work-out loan program, and improvingmonthly reporting on all lending channels.

The focus on simplifying the loan process and making it moreconvenient for members has resulted in loan production and loangrowth more than doubling in the past three years. Theloan-to-share ratio has swelled from 34% in 2009 to 48% in 2012,with loan growth in excess of 19% (net of participations sold) anddelinquency below 0.30%.

“It has to be easy for our members to do business with us orthey won't,” said Reynolds Lytle. “The taxi medallion programrepresented a new small business opportunity for the city and a $50million line of business for the credit union in just a year andhalf. I challenge my team to be very critical of our process andmake sure that the back office side takes on the complexities whilethe front member-facing side is easy. We want them to be excitedand enthusiastic when talking to members so we keep the processsimple, automate when and where we can.”

To that end, the team has been working toward going paperlessand 2013 plans include making changes to re-engineer its creditcard program and business services and think of new ways to meetthe credit needs of its members.

“We've tackled some huge challenges on how to make things easierfor members and for our staff but I believe what we do here as acredit union can make such a difference for people that not tryingto improve cannot be an option,” said Reynolds Lytle. “I'mpassionate about what I do and that we can make whatever it ishappen. So it's a matter of seeing it, taking all the ideas fromthe collective brain trust we have here and the result is farbetter than anything I could've imagined on my own. I might plantseeds but everyone contributes to cultivating what it grows into. Ijust sort of give advice, direct traffic to help it along becauseit is very much a team effort and that works.”

Never one to be content with the status quo, she added there isa need to constantly reevaluate, revamp and rethink everything,even those programs that have been working well. She added thatsort of value-add thinking goes a long way to helping credit unionsedge out the competition.

“When I think of competition I think in terms of delivery,” saidReynolds Lytle. “Consumers want instant gratification and we ascredit unions have got to be there ready to deliver across whateverchannel the member prefers.”

“I learn something new each day,” she said. “Sometimes whathappens in a lot of credit unions is that 'new processes' aresimply procedures layered on processes that have been there foryears, rather than building a process where none existed before. Wehave to continue to question whether the whys behind our policies,procedures are still relevant today and management has to have thewillingness to hear and act on those questions. There is a wealthof information in our staff on how we can do business better andyou may be surprised by what you hear but it's important to take itto heart and make changes to get the results you want. Maybe takeanother look at ideas that didn't work a few years ago, they maywork today because we have the technology or resources availablenow.” n