Publications | DDJ Myers

Part 2: New Rules for CUs—Is Your Board Aligned and Ready?

By Peter Myers

In our most recent post, we were encouraging boards, like the organizations they oversee, to reevaluate some of the standard practices that have always informed their business (like members no longer coming into branches). Historically, that would have been a crazy suggestion. Following suit, what are the unmentionable topics boards should discuss? We believe board composition and succession is one of them.

The Board Alignment Assessment provides an objective framework for boards to have grounded conversations about board best practices. The idea is not to score 100% on everything but to assess alignment on the variables that influence and impact board performance.

Part 1: New Rules for CUs—Is Your Board Aligned and Ready?

By Peter Myers

Brace yourself. Data, one of the biggest influencers of our time, has a few lessons for us that may be bitter to taste and even harder to swallow. Nonetheless, we hope the lessons stimulate your appetite for action.

A few dynamics are becoming more critically important as we reconsider processes in response to COVID-19. Something has to change drastically in the conversations regarding board composition and succession.

Everything needs to be reevaluated to construct a sustainable new normal. Some credit unions have to make the difficult choice of closing branches and furloughing staff; one CEO plainly said, “It sucks … and we’re embracing the suck.” This situation is requiring credit unions to innovate new ways of doing the basics. Some of these new practices will stick, such as metered remote workforces, and some new practices will likely not stick, halting expansion plans.

Three Execution Elements Your Strategic Planning Likely Overlooks

Published on October 13, 2020

Be sure you have planned your actions, examined your assumptions and had a conversation about potential obstacles.

Partnering with credit unions on strategic planning, we see various kinds of plans, initiatives, focuses, projects, goals, visions, missions, concentrations and implications.

Organizational Alignment Part 2: Case Studies and the Important Secrets They Reveal

Published on November 19, 2020

By Peter Myers, Senior Vice President, DDJ Myers, Ltd.

One of the most important growth strategies a credit union can implement is a routine test of the degree of alignment within the organization. But oftentimes, this is a poorly executed or entirely missed opportunity at many institutions. The Harvard Business Review study, The New Game Plan for Strategic Planning, found that 84% of respondents ranked “management alignment” as the most important task, with only 41% saying their organization performed it well. In my last post, I addressed new approaches to alignment, and methods for measuring them. Here we’ll review two case studies on credit unions that assessed, clarified, and planned for improving their alignment.

Organization Alignment Part 1: Work Toward the Ends, Not Managing the Means

Published on September 3, 2020

By Peter Myers, Senior Vice President, DDJ Myers, Ltd.

Employee engagement, satisfaction, and internal Net Promoter Scores are now common practices; even the NCUA is focused on increasing its employee engagement. As a consulting partner with a talent–management focus, we’re all in favor of organizations improving their cultures. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” right?