A high-fidelity informationtechnology organization has minimal amounts of unnecessary noiseand distortion and an accurate frequency response to the strategicdirection of its credit union.

The credit union industry should expect its IT teams to becomehigh fidelity, not just a needed cost. We need IT organizations inour credit unions that help us amaze our members.

There are four elements to building a high-fidelity ITorganization:

1. The ITO has a deep understanding of the quality of the memberexperience across all physical and digital channels; the ITO knowsthe “moments of truth” where we can delight or disappoint themember.
2. The ITO has capable project leadership talent; the projectmanagers are leaders that can defend and implement a project'svision, and the PMs are advocates for the business unit's vision,not for technology for the sake of technology.
3. The technology strategy clearly supports the credit union'sbusiness strategy and focuses more on building integrationcapabilities rather than building the end user solutions.
4. The ITO is a compelling work environment, where each ITprofessional believes she or he is in the middle of vital work andhas a deep affinity for the credit union's business.

Understanding the member experience across physical anddigital channels. In 1988 my first CIO gig was at SeattleChildren's Hospital & Regional Medical Center. The ITO wasbusiness office-centric with a focus on revenue cycle, admissionsand scheduling. The ITO's empathy for the clinical side of thebusiness was low. We needed to change this fast.

We did this with two actions: First we challenged ourselves thatour 2,000-plus employees would, within six months, be able to saythey “loved” working with the ITO. Second, we became clinicalanalyst-centric rather than developer centric. To strengthen ourclinical analysts' capabilities, we recruited lab techs, RNs andeven became among the first hospitals to have an MD on the ITstaff.

We changed the atmosphere of the ITO from financial operationsto include clinical operations. Fast forward to today and we seethe health-care industry still working to implement electronicmedical records. Those ITOs with clinical experience empathy aregoing to do well.

We followed a similar path at BECU, starting in 1999. Weselected a path of buying software rather than building it,developing competence in integration and strengthening our businessanalyst team. Today, our BA team is generally in the center of oursupport to the BUs.

Our BAs are often former bank or credit union professionals withexperience in lending, member care, call centers, collections, etc.We have a deep empathy for the business of the credit union. Our BAteams help the business units to better understand the capabilitiesof their specific applications. Our BAs are also involved withvendor user groups.

Leaders need to ask, “What is the atmosphere of your ITO?” is itfocused on technology or on amazing our members?

Read More: Project leadership capabilities … Excellent projectleadership capabilities. Let me say right off, we rejectedthe PMO (project management office) model. Research indicates a PMOis often where relationships die, visions die, and bureaucracytakes root. PMOs can also become process factories rather thanoutcomes champions.

There are also two types of PMs. The first are projectadministrators with their credentials, work breakdown structures,flow and pie charts. This skill set often leads to lots of work andno tempo; perfection over outcome, and every barrier seen as huge.The second type of PM is an outcomes leader with the ability tohelp the BU team craft a compelling vision for the outcome and thendrive for results.

It took us several years to discover how to recruit projectleaders vs. project administrators. These folks can work with theBU to develop a compelling vision for the project, can keep thevendor and all stakeholders focused and committed to the vision,and actually deliver an outcome.

Another discipline we implemented was what we call “outside-in”thinking. This means we always start with the member experience wewant to improve and then work backwards to the solution thatachieves that vision. A project worth doing is a project with acompelling vision. We would suggest there are two meaningfuldrivers for a project: to improve the member experience, or toreduce costs. OK, I hear you. Compliance would be a thirdreason.

The final test of your PMs is while they may be on the ITObudget, the BUs love working with them, trust them and seek themout.

Develop a technology strategy that helps keep the ITOfocus on the member. If you ask developers at BECU whattheir primary job is, they will tell you building integrationapplications designed to improve the member experience. Our recentimplementations of an affinity pilot with Starbucks and personalfinancial management software provider MoneyDesktop demonstratedour integration capabilities. Both companies were impressed withour speed of integration.

We also track IT projects separate from enterprise projects.Both set of projects deserve transparency and accountability. Butwe try to avoid IT projects from getting in the way ofhigh-priority enterprise projects.

The financial services industry has a significant softwaresolutions vertical market. We believe we should not custom-buildsoftware, but instead be highly capable in integration. Integrationis often the secret sauce to agility.

Read More: A compelling work environment…

The ITO is a compelling work environment. Ourindustry needs top IT talent in order to implement most of ourstrategies. Too often we believe the myth that we are at adisadvantage in recruiting IT talent. The Seattle area includesheadquarters for the following: Expedia, Costco, Alaska Airlines,Weyerhaeuser, Nordstrom, Starbucks, PACCAR, Amazon and Microsoft.Google also has a growing presence. There is no shortage of verycool IT opportunities.

Look around your own market. You might be surprised. It onlytakes one or two good people to make a huge difference in yoursmaller shop.

We have taken the approach that the “soft stuff” is the mostvaluable stuff. The human spirit is attracted to purpose, teamautonomy, healthy accountability and believing we are all in themiddle of vital work. Credit unions have great purpose. We own theethical high ground in financial services. Offering candidates achance to work with contemporary technologies in an environmentthat offers a meaningful purpose and the team autonomy to have funsucceeding has proven to be a key to recruiting and retention.

Over the years, I've learned that building a compelling workenvironment is my most important duty. It should be the mostimportant job of every leader.

By now you may be asking where is the stuff about architecture,cloud computing, mobility, security, co-sourcing, virtualization.We all do this stuff. But too often the technology of the day iswhere many IT professionals run to avoid the hard work ofrelationships, understanding and communicating the direction of thecredit union, and orchestrating the ITO toward the memberexperience. We need to deliver both.

The four principles briefly described here have proven to be asound foundation for building an ITO that is highly relevant to thecredit union and is a cool place to work for an ITprofessional.

The credit union industry should be or is aspiring to be a muchlarger market share for retail banking services for the UnitedStates. An ITO that is focused on the member experience asmuch as on technology will be a valuable asset for all of ourcredit unions.

ButchLeonardson is CTO and SVP of information technology at BECU in Tukwila,Wash.