One thing I am always open to is admitting when I am wrong. As I’ve gotten older and matured as a leader, I’ve had to look back at things I’ve said and re-think them. There have been many times as a youthful leader I started a sentence with “I’ll never…” and found myself eating those words. Most of the time, it’s not because I was wrong per se, but because as I’ve invested in myself through reading, working with coaches, and personal growth, I’ve had to change my mind on certain things. What worked for me 10 years ago doesn’t necessarily work for me now.
One of those things I’ve had to change my mind about I want to share with you today. It’s the concept of “growth.” WE NEED TO GROW! Your credit union needs to grow! “Growth” is a loaded word that can have many meanings.
For example, “you need to grow as a person.” Without context, that could very well be a recommendation to gain weight. Jeff Siegler explores this thought in a recent article on this very subject as he explores the “growth” of cities from a planning perspective. “Eating garbage food and being sedentary is the easiest path for a person to grow, but we all know that such growth is quite unhealthy. We don’t need to be fitness experts to understand that this behavior would have seriously negative impacts on the health of an individual. Simultaneously, a person could increase their weight by strength training and eating a higher protein diet. Muscle increases are shown to increase metabolism, bone density and lead to an overall higher quality of life. A person could grow fatter or more muscular, but we would never equate the two as being the same.”
As the chairman of the planning commission for my city, in hopes that we will “grow” I’ve had to take a hard look at the meaning of growth. I realized our city does not need to grow big. We don’t need to grow for growth’s sake. In fact, I’ve embraced our word of the year at YMC and replaced the word growth with “vibrancy.”
Siegler shared these wise words on “growth” that, while meant for city planning, applies directly to the growth strategies we often consider as credit unions: “Not all growth is good, and far from it. Quality is the crucial component to consider, because, just like a person, a community can expand without ever improving. In fact, when a city or town grows without giving credence to quality, they are most likely declining. Paving new roads does not make a community better, increasing the number of national chains does not make a community better, building more auto-centric vinyl subdivisions does not make a community better. Yet, these are all economic development policies that most places adhere to. These are growth strategies, not improvement strategies, and blindly adhering to growth policies is insane.”
Membership growth or asset growth alone for a credit union doesn’t mean quality. Adding a new mobile app does not make a credit union better. Building a new branch does not make a credit union better. It could be a good growth strategy, but it doesn’t mean an improvement strategy. Growth and improvement must go hand in hand if you don’t want an endless cycle of courting a new member only to have them roll off the books and close their account within a short period of time.
Let me share these words again: “Blindly adhering to growth policies is insane.”
What does this mean? Perhaps your strategic planning session this year needs a fresh look. Perhaps the strategies you are implementing need to be discussed and questioned. Perhaps the tactics of those strategies should also be reviewed. If you need a fresh voice, we have facilitated many strategic planning sessions for credit unions who have found themselves stuck, and we can help you too. Ready? You’re just one email away from getting unstuck and seeing a more vibrant credit union!
