Sarah Snell Cooke CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle, according to a CUNA-provided transcript, recently made the following statement at the CUNA Community Credit Union and The Federation 2015 Annual Conferences:

“I spent this last year asking questions, listening to people finding out what leadership meant … I have some thoughts about what I observed over the last year. Some of them are negative I'll just tell you right off the bat, but I want to be transparent about them because if you don't get them out on the table it's kind of hard to fix them.

“We here at CUNA, I observed, are bloated, top heavy, siloed, and inefficient. Those are things that I observed over the last year … that too often our priorities are all over the place. We have so many priorities. There's an old quote from somebody that if you have too many priorities you have no priorities. We're not focused. What is that one mission? What is that one place you're going?”

Refreshing. Honest. Eye witnesses described his admission as well received by a pleasantly surprised audience.

Yet CUNA immediately contacted CU Times to challenge the accuracy of our reporting, ultimately saying he misspoke. We kept the original statement but updated our reporting to add that.

WHY?!?!?!?!?!

That statement has to be the most open and honest comment from CUNA in some time. It's laudable and shows integrity to admit the hard stuff and have the difficult conversations. CUNA members and probably more than a few nonmembers had a glimmer of hope for the organization that was foundational for credit unions. Not to mention hundreds of attendees cannot unhear that, whether Nussle misspoke or not.

Companies have life cycles. CUNA is 81 years old. It is a mature organization. At that point any organization can become inefficient. Structure and resources, human and otherwise, need to be overhauled to ensure future viability for the greater good. Business life cycle theory exists because it's a pattern among organizations; CUNA is not immune.

And that's OK. To deny it is naiveté at best, death at worst.

business life cycle CUNA has many good people with whom I've been working for more than a decade. They've also let some good people go. It's sad and unfortunate. Not only does it affect the people who are out of work, but also those who remain without their colleagues who've sat by their side while battling bankers or even just the sleep deprivation that comes with being a new parent.

CU Times has survived that environment; it was extremely unpleasant for a few years with furloughs and layoffs across our then-parent company. A new administration came in and truly breathed new life into our company. It wasn't perfect, but we kept our heads down, did our jobs, and came out on the other side much stronger for it.

A couple months back, I sat down with Nussle for more than an hour. In the past, he had built an entirely new trade association on the foundation of industry dissatisfaction and stole members away from that maturing competitor.

That doesn't have to be CUNA's fate. I really hope it's not, but the more nimble and direct membership organization, NAFCU, is not going to sit idly by. No. 2 is always hungrier than No. 1.

Despite rejecting the CUNA System Structure and Governance Task Force recommendations, CUNA has made a start by streamlining $1.4 million out of the operating budget this year. Nussle also announced member credit unions would see a dues reduction in 2016 after several years of increases reaching $26.4 million in 2014. No details were released about the dues reduction.

But that's the easy part, even if it doesn't feel like it.

The hardest part is creating the value that members feel is worth paying a dime for. So far, CUNA has shot down the recommendations handed to them after months of hard work by the task force gathering information about what the members wanted. The same thing essentially happened with the Renaissance Commission in the 90s.

CU Times hosted a poll that drew 682 responses, 34% in support of rejecting the task force recommendation to separate CUNA and league membership, 38% expressing disappointment, and 26% exploring their options. A simple dues cut won't cut it

Instant Insights /

CUNA, Don&rsquo;t Kill Your Own Revival

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