I am blessed with the task of manning the helm of a small
credit union. My education, experience
and career path has led perfectly to this station, and I am grateful for the
chance to make a difference in the lives of our members. I am also totally overwhelmed, overworked and
burnt out. This seems to be a common
symptom of credit union leadership in the present day. We are tired of fighting.
The economy and investment market have had us in a corner
for years now, diminishing our income to the point that we have to resort to
fees we otherwise would have been poking fun at banks for. The NCUA has at the same time decided that
while we are in the corner and on the ropes anyway, it would be a great time to
relentlessly punch us in the kidneys.
The assessments over the same challenging timeframe have siphoned off
any remaining net income we have fought tooth and nail for.
The saving grace through all of this has been the one-two
combination of an increased need for our members to borrow (and conversely the
tightening up of credit from banks) and the fact that the large banks have
painted themselves as the villain with little help from us whatsoever. Thanks B of A!
What I have seen as our small window of opportunity to
strike fast and get off the ropes is the need for people to feel comfortable in
this time of financial crisis. People
are scared. Banks are scared. Credit Unions are tired, and a little punch
drunk maybe, but we are ready to stand up and fight for our share of the market
and make people feel better about the future, at least so far as their finances
are concerned. We are like Rocky Balboa,
smaller than our competition, driven by our hearts and old fashioned in our
techniques, but unwavering in our spirit and unwilling to succumb to the
fear. We are truly poised to make a heroic
11th round comeback. Problem
is, some of us don’t realize the bell is about to ring.
I have been watching the Olympics, like most of us, and I
have noticed a lot of the runners in the middle distances and sprints come on
strong in the final tenth of the race. Sometimes
it works, often it doesn’t. I have heard
several different announcers as they make the post-finish comments stating “if
only there were 3 more yards she would have been able to take the gold” or “he
just ran out of track to catch the leader.”
Having energy left to kick in ten yards after the finish line really
does no one a bit of good. I am
terrified that is the eminent story for credit unions in the current market. We are so late to start our kick that the
banks have figured out how to turn it back on and are already three strides
ahead to start with. It is time to run
forward. Time to make some noise. Time to get realistic about our past attempts
to sell ourselves to the public and realize that we need to make a valid effort
at it now or never. The American people
are ready for a REAL feel good story about the future and about their finances.
We are that story, at
least we can be if we take time to tell it.
It isn’t that we don’t have the collective talent, or
capital, or opportunity. In most cases that
I have seen, we are just too damn busy adjusting the starting blocks and
fiddling with our shoes to focus on the race.
We are constantly burdened with new and changing regulation that after
hours of reading and interpreting doesn’t really change a thing about how we
serve our members. We are busy sorting
through hundreds of emails, sales calls and ambush visits from vendors to ever look ahead to see where we are going. We are told to do this for Gen Y and that for
members who still want paper statements and this for our internal staff to help
them feel better about telling the members that they should not want paper
statements…all the while the track is getting shorter and the banks are getting
back into their stride.
What we need is a big adrenaline boost. What we need is a tanker truck full of 5 hour
energy. What we need is a reminder that
for just a moment it is OK to take the focus off of the NCUA, CUNA’s newest
training product or the vendor wanting to sell you new lobby TV programming and
to put the focus on ourselves. We need
to look at the bigger picture, just for a moment, and realize that we need to
race ahead and push through the finish.
The CU third party vendors and all of the latest and greatest new
products and initiatives that take up our time and fog our focus will still be
here in a year, and will be much more attractive after a period of growth. It is ok to say NO. It is permissible to put them to
voicemail. It is advisable, hell it is
downright vital, to kick in your final lap energy now and work on your internal
signage or whatever you are spinning your wheels on later. (so long as you are
in compliance)
I am tired of being tired.
I have had it with getting my wind knocked out every time I get back on
my feet. I have had enough of hanging on
the ropes, and looking around only to see my fellow CU leaders there with me, tired and ready
to drop. I am ready to start my kick, if
I’m going out its going to be swinging.
Where are those red
shoes…
