As a leader, it’s so easy to get comfortable. The status quo is comfortable. You can minimize the inconveniences. You easily hand off the stuff you don’t want to do or don’t like to do. You’ve found a good rhythm; you enjoy your groove, and you never want to leave your spot.
You’ve found that magical place commonly referred to as a “velvet rut.” It seems like a nice place to be, but the comfort you feel tricks you into thinking you’re not stuck.
Stoicism teaches that the velvet rut is also a death rattle, for as soon as we stop growing, we start dying.
Seneca once said, “No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.” Seneca often wrote about the importance of adversity. While we as credit union leaders may want to shy away from the discomfort of adversity and the fear and uncertainty risk brings, you’re wasting the opportunity to make life-changing impacts through the service of your credit union.
What decision that could bring your credit union growth are you delaying because it gives you some discomfort? Dig deep and ask yourself, how are you holding your credit union back because the fear of the unknown outweighs the big reward you, your team, your members and your community could be enjoying?
“Marketing” is in our company’s name, and it is our flagship service to credit unions, however, our real value comes from helping you ask the challenging questions that lead you toward answers to what is standing in the way of your credit union’s strategic growth.
Credit unions must recognize that they need to be challenged to achieve meaningful change and succeed. We will relentlessly question everything to dig down to your root ‘why’ and help you focus on that to get unstuck. Credit union strategic planning should get your leadership team thinking from various perspectives, rigorously probing critical growth opportunities, and take action with accountability.
An actionable credit union strategic planning session will work with your leadership team to outline what success looks like, who owns what projects, and identify upfront what could be holding you back from achieving your goals. In short, we’ll help get you out of that velvet rut.
My passion is hauling credit union leaders out of the velvet rut and finding success using our time-tested process to get real results. Are you ready? Let’s talk.
