By Frank J. Diekmann
Here’s a bit of what’s been said that’s worth sharing during the last month or two during Zoom meetings and webinars:
Worried About the Newbie CU-bies
While the quick pivot to the virtual environment has generally gotten good reviews, one person said she has this concern when it comes to new employees.
“I think about the number of young people who got their first job at a credit union in the last year,” this person observed. “They’ve become part of the CU movement during a pandemic. What is that like? What is the opportunity to catch the credit union bug and to bring them into the CU movement? They’re not getting to connect with bosses. There is no normal onboarding, no human connection.”
The Verdict on Virtual Exams
During one recent Zoom meeting, there was discussion among participants about what their virtual exams by state/federal regulators had been like since the pandemic began. The verdict: It’s generally gone not just well, but often better than in-person exams. If you’ve had a different experience, I’d love to hear from you.
We Take it For Granted, But It’s Pretty Cool
Few things have gone from cool new lid status to old hat faster than the technology behind video conferences and Zoom meeting. All of us take the technology so for granted we forget just how incredible the technology can be. There’s no better example than the recent Global Women’s Leadership Network “breakfast” webinar during which there were more than 750 participants from 36 countries on six continents participating.
Not long after that “meeting” I listened in as the CEOs of CU organizations in Australia, Poland and Brazil participated in a live discussion (so somebody was up in the middle of the night).
The implications for “field” of membership and “community” are profound. In both cases, geography has quickly become the least important factor.
A Reminder
Observed by one person during a recent webinar discussion related to the pandemic: “If the last year has done anything, it has been to be a reminder of the why credit unions are here.”
Retaining the CU Vet-bies
Another sign of the people are experiencing the pandemic in far different ways can be seen in employment. While countless Americans have lost their jobs, many others remain in high demand, and that has credit unions on both the offensive in attracting talent and the defensive in retaining it.
Here are two interesting points made during one recent online discussion:
Q: How are your retaining top talent?
CU Response: For us, let’s talk about the mortgage arena. The demand for talent and availability of talent has been a challenge. We have moved some of our positions to be permanently remote. The processors and the underwriters have their choices. We have told them we’re OK with working remote. It means you can go nationwide and also focus on cultural fits. That’s been a positive change. There are situations where it’s hard for people to physically get to work due to children or other challenges. But if they don’t have to drive to work it expands the workforce.
We continue to look at the opportunities in the talent market. We also search wider areas for talent. (The pandemic) has allowed us to step back and ask how do we evaluate success? We always talk about performance evaluations; how effective are they. Also, if someone is not immediately in the line of sight, how do we know how they are doing? So it’s forcing us to go through processes for each position to narrow down the criteria we are using for recognizing the great work employees are doing, and to provide coaching where we need to.
Q: How do you make sure you retain talent with your competitors after them, as well?
CU Response: It’s something all of us are competing against. It may be a cop-out answer, but when you talk about culture that culture has to be strong whether in the office or at home. You have to make sure that our culture is being felt. You have to be taking care of compensation and benefits, but also the things you don’t always mention that are part of culture and experience.
The Insomniacs of Credit Union Land
In nearly every webinar I’ve seen there is usually a poll question, and nine-times-out-of-10 the go-to question is this: “What keeps you up at night?” (Funny, but “having to pee” is never one of the answer options.)
In the most recent webinar in which I saw the question being asked, 31% of respondents said “financial viability” of the credit union has them losing sleep. What was really interesting, however, and perhaps it had something to do with the audience, but an equal number said the ability to “serve the underserved” had them lying awake.
A CFO’s Concern
One CFO recent expressed during an online discussion on members’ financial well-being that it was hard to “focus on the data in being an active part of members’ lives and not just think about the traditional issues,” especially during the pandemic.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of the new book, ‘501 Name Tags: Everything You Need to Know About Business Can be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” For info: www.501nametags.com.