Just like people, businesses struggle during times of uncertainty. And after the year of uncertainty we just had, those credit unions that are looking to find success in 2021 are working on increasing resilience.
“Today, 80% of the work is centralized. It comes in a more traditional command and control structure,” Joe Perfetti, innovation fellow with Duke CE and RH Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park lecturer noted. “As we become more agile organizations, the unit of work going forward is going to be the team.” So what are the hallmarks of credit union resilience?
Perfetti says the three things a resilient credit union needs are realistic optimism, agency, and hope.
Realistic Optimism
Realistic optimism is all about setting realistic, attainable goals for your credit union.
The face-to-face aspect of your credit union’s business will likely never go back to the way it was. The COVID-19 pandemic still affects the daily operations of most businesses. And even if it didn’t, out of both necessity and convenience, credit union members of all ages are learning to embrace and even prefer contactless and online operations.
This means your 2021 goals will have to take these new preferences into account.
Agency
Realistic optimism and agency go hand in hand.
Many people all over the world have experienced great losses in agency this year – they lost jobs, houses, savings, and even loved ones. So giving your employees and members some of that agency back in 2021 should be a top priority.
Fostering agency and realistic optimism means giving your employees the tools and opportunities to work on problem-solving. Whether this means creating a space, either physical or digital, where employees can voice concerns and questions, and then offer possible solutions.
Team-building exercises and peer-to-peer discussion groups can help you, the credit union owner or manager, see the day-to-day struggles your employees are facing. And many times, these groups can come up with a workable solution much faster than you can.
A note on agency for your credit union members: the online solutions that have been implemented at credit unions across the country last year are also giving your members their own sense of agency. They may not be able to control how many paychecks they got last year, but they can now choose from a variety of easily accessible digital solutions to stay safe and increase their financial stability and education in the coming year.
Hope
Hope is the third hallmark of credit union resilience. As the vaccines are rolled out and credit union management choose to invest in upgraded solutions that make jobs easier and less stressful, this atmosphere of hope not only boosts workplace morale, but it also leads to better customer service.
Credit unions are unique beacons of hope for their communities in ways that big banks are not, because your credit union’s success is directly tied into the success your community has as well.
Spreading hope in the workplace is as easy as creating a recognition board, where employees and members can shout out exemplary behavior and customer service. Other ways include promoting and supporting charitable opportunities that are meaningful to your staff members.
When your credit union and its employees have hope for the future, it creates resilience.
Digital Solutions for Credit Union Resilience
IMS offers an array of digital solutions that help take care of the things you and your staff need, so you can focus on the big picture.
IMS’s Private Cloud Services Include:
- The premiere backup solution for credit unions
- Enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-a-Service
- Disaster recovery solution that provides immediate access to your data, connectivity to your third-party vendors, and branch communications
- Core Hosting
- Complete virtual workspace, delivering desktops and hosted apps
- Colocation services to make sure your data is always available
Browse these and other offerings here on our website or contact us today!
