Here’s One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Succeed in 2020

What have you done this year? Was it different from what you did last year? Was it more of the same? Most importantly, did it help you achieve the results you wanted? If not, what are you going to change next year to make sure you don’t repeat that lack of success? Maybe you’ve spent the last few weeks—or the last few months—racking your brain and trying to figure out what needs to change.
Some changes are easy. Others are more challenging. Fortunately, one of the easiest changes is also one of the most effective. You need to get a fresh perspective. I know that sounds simple, but I can tell you from personal experience, it works.
Earlier this year, I realized I was stuck. I had been working with the same coach for more than five years. While he had helped my team and me achieve great things, I realized that we all needed a different point of view. I needed someone who could look at us with new eyes, someone who would ask new questions and encourage us to try different things. With that in mind, I started working with another coach over the summer. Just as I hoped, the creative floodgates opened. New questions and new ideas gave me the fresh perspective I was looking for. It did the same for our team.

If you’re feeling stuck, here are some practical suggestions to help you get out of that rut:

1. You’ve had the same voices for too long.
   If your sounding board always includes the same voices, voices that are as close to your brand and organization as you are, you’re probably not getting outside of the proverbial box very often. Like I did with my new coach, you need to add a fresh voice to the mix and allow them to ask new questions. Many times, looking at the same things from a different angle can reveal answers that have been in front of you the whole time.
2. You only have one voice.
   While some credit unions have too many voices, your credit union may not have a sounding board at all. There’s you and the board—and that’s it. If that’s the case, find someone (or a network of people) you can run ideas by, and give them permission to ask you in-depth questions that will get you thinking about things from a new perspective. While this may seem like a minor change, it has the potential to produce major results!

Even at YMC, where everything we do is based on the power of relationships, we like to shake things up from time to time. Sometimes that means collaborating internally so we can get different ideas and opinions from our teammates. Other times, we will shuffle our five client-facing marketing experts and let them work with new clients for a while. These strategic changes keep things from getting stale for us or our clients. When we refuse to settle for “business as usual,” everyone benefits from the fresh perspectives.
What about your credit union? Could a fresh perspective energize your team as it prepares for 2020? Perhaps our team could help you find that perspective. With more than a decade of experience under our belt, we can take a look at the patterns that are shaping your decisions and offer an objective point of view that can make 2020 your best year yet! If you want better results in the coming year, now is the time to implement the changes that will make those results possible. Remember, you repeat what you don’t repair.