MADISON, Wis.–A new report from the Filene Research Institute, Designing Credit Union Culture for High Performance, describes the key components of organizational culture, and details opportunities for credit unions to foster a high-performance culture using the case of Svenska Handelsbanken—a Swedish bank whose business model focuses on holistic, branch-centric service delivery.
The new research, sponsored by PSCU, is the first output from Filene’s Center of Excellence for Organizational Entrepreneurship, which explores cooperative strategies for sustained competitive advantage and business model evolution.
“In the absence of policy, culture is what guides decision making,” writes Filene Fellow Dennis Campbell, professor at Harvard Business School and author of the report. “Name the metric and culture has influenced it.”
Why, then, do many credit unions fail to proactively align culture with strategy and its subsequent execution, asked Filene?
This question will be further explored by Professor Campbell at a Filene colloquium titled Structures for Success taking place June 14, 2016 at Harvard University. Credit union leaders representing Wisconsin-based Verve Credit Union and Sasketchewan-based Conexus Credit Union will also present new approaches to member value and growth, Filene reported.
“As cooperatives, credit unions big and small have a competitive advantage in establishing cultures that prioritize member well-being,” said Ben Rogers, managing director of research for Filene. “This is one of the hallmarks of credit unions and it differentiates them from banks, their for-profit counterparts.”
A research brief and a short video highlighting the findings can be accessed at filene.org. Filene members may download the full report after log-in. Registration for the colloquium will remain open through June 10.