SAN DIEGO–Making an improvement in your organization does not mean that your work is done; it just means it’s the first step in identifying the next steps toward improvement. That and other observations on leadership and management are offered here by Ted Bilke, president of Symitar, as part of CUToday.info’s The Corner.
CUToday.info: What intangible of leadership is most difficult to convey or prepare for?
Bilke: Successful leaders learn to be good listeners and ask just enough questions to get people to open up and share what’s on their minds. Customers will tell you where there pain is and oftentimes what you can do to address it. Employees will tell you what’s working and what’s not within the organization. We all want to solve problems, but oftentimes we don’t listen long enough to truly understand what problem we need to solve before jumping in with solutions that miss the mark.
CUToday.info: Are you a fan of a management book or books? If so, which have resonated with you and why?
Bilke: My favorite author is Geoffrey A. Moore and my favorite book of his is Inside the Tornado. This is a timeless classic that is a great primer for getting product to market and maximizing the market potential through all phases of the product adoption cycle. I keep a couple copies in my office and hand them out to new managers. I’ve been doing that for years.
Another great read that is required reading for our managers is The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford published in 2013. This book takes the concepts from The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt and updates the story to an IT, DevOps environment. It is a must read for anyone in operations or development.
CUToday.info: Innovation: four syllables getting all the attention. Deservedly so, can you really drive innovation? Or is it coming at the cost of implementation and delivery?
Bilke: Yes, you can drive innovation, and not at the expense of implementation and delivery. I believe that innovation, implementation, and delivery all go hand in hand. A mistake I often see being made is an organization assuming that because they made some improvements, they’re done. The reality is you’re never done! There is always room to improve, and that improvement comes through continuously looking for ways to leverage technology, people, and scale. Coming up with an innovation is simply the first step. Innovations need to be turned into actions to bring about meaningful organizational change.
CUToday.info: If you could go back and talk to You On The First Day On The Job, what advice do you share?
Bilke: Focus on what you can control or influence and ignore the rest – it’s just noise.
CUToday.info: My Keeps-Me-Up-At-Night concern is? Why? And My-Let’s-Me-Sleep-At-Night optimism is?
Bilke: What Keeps-Me-Up-At-Night? My concern is that the music will stop! Symitar has enjoyed tremendous organic growth through its long history of converting an average of 25-30 credit unions a year. We have over 650 credit unions running the Episys platform and another 160 running CruiseNet. We are known for the quality of our implementations, service, and open-system flexibility. I worry that as an organization we will get too comfortable with our own success.
My-Let’s-Me-Sleep-At-Night? Knowing that at Symitar we have a culture of doing the right thing, doing whatever it takes, and having fun!