Your Marketing Needs More Fiber

By Tammy Douglass

Your marketing needs more fiber, Bo McDonald and Mark Dudley told attendees of a recent "Doing it Different" meeting held in Raleigh, N.C. And marketing fibers are not all created equal, emphasized McDonald and Dudley, president and business development manager for CUES Supplier member Your Marketing Co., Greenville, S.C.

"Your marketing needs more relevant fiber," they told attendees. "What does fiber do? It's an impactful little grain that keeps your marketing consistent."

According to McDonald and Dudley, relevant marketing:

• includes a call to action;
• takes into account your target audience;
• answers "what's in it for me?" (the credit union); and
• meets members where they are.

To check if your marketing is impactful, ask yourself the following questions, McDonald and Dudley suggested:

• How does it impact the member?
• Do you fill a need?
• Did you make an emotional connection?

Finally, they offered these tips for being consistent with your marketing:

• Have a plan. Follow the plan. Trust the plan. Avoid abrupt, unnecessary changes.
• Know your members.
• Make sure your message is the same across all media.

Tammy Douglass is CUES' director of member relations, southeast.

CUES School of Strategic Marketing will be held July 16-18 in Seattle.

We're Proud to Work for You

By Kristin Ryan

When a top executive from a credit union on the last day of last week's CEO Institute III choked up because he'd had a revelation on his work/leadership style, I knew, deep down, that CUES' three-year CEO Institute program we deliver not only brings forth the best content money can buy, but is also truly changing lives.

Held at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, CEO Institute III is about strategic leadership development. After personally attending this past week, there is no doubt in my mind we are fulfilling that tag line. The week makes attendees stop and reflect on their leadership. It is full of leadership case studies and one day takes the group out to Falls River for teamwork and a ropes course.

Everyone made it over the wall (see photo at right). The group was cheering the entire time and felt very accomplished in the end.

Which, of course, they are.

The executives I met at Darden were some of the nicest and most intelligent people I've ever met. They welcomed me as a part of the group from the first day. There are such wonderful people in the credit union industry, we should all be proud to work for them. I am.

Kristin Ryan is CUES' executive education and meetings manager.

Learn more about membership in CUES.

Old Friends Made New Again

By Lisa Hochgraf

Back in 1996, my husband Clark and I went to Spain to visit friends I'd made as a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Valencia in 1987. During the last dinner together as a group before we left, Clark spent a lot of time with the dictionary. When dinner ended, he said, aptly, "Amiguitas antiguas, nuevas otra vez"--literally, "dear old friends, new again."The amiguitas (from left): Carmen, Lisa, Lola, Inma. The cow mat was a parting gift for this girl from Wisconsin.

This June Clark and I will be heading back to Valencia (with our eight-year-old son in tow) to reconnect with the "amiguitas" and meet their children. Now it has been 25 years since my first visit and, I must say, the idea of reconnecting with these people who have had a significant impact on my personal and professional life is very appealing.

I expect going back will charge me up with new ideas about the value of having an international network, and give me the great satisfaction of seeing new friendships formed as the children get to know each other. Maybe I'll even look up the sources I interviewed during the 1996 trip, when I wrote a story about Spanish credit cooperatives, largely tied to Valencia's great agricultural economy.

This year, CUES is celebrating its 50-year milestone. Charter members, long-time members and new members alike are getting a chance to write in and reflect on what they have found valuable about being part of the network. Join them in making your dear old friendship with CUES new again!

Email me or put your thoughts in the comments. And be sure to join us at at CEO/Executive Team Network in November, where the significance of the anniversary (and the retirement of long-time CUES President/CEO Fred Johnson), will be marked in person. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you.

Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.

Directors Face Increased Responsibility, Liability

By Richard C. Powers, MBA, LLB

Board responsibilities have changed since the recent financial crisis. Regulatory amendments and increased risk brought on by the mortgage implosion, industry corruption and misjudgment, and general economic downturns have influenced the modern governance model. The two areas most affected are the transparency and accountability of decision making.

But, the increased scrutiny, and responsibility, goes beyond the board as a whole. The changes also mean an increased responsibility, and liability, for individual credit union directors. In today’s society, the credit union is going to get sued by someone at some time, over some real or perceived “wrong,” and if an organization is sued, individual directors will likely be sued as well.

Areas of potential individual director liability include, but are not limited to, errors and omissions and wrongful acts by directors, the board or credit union leadership, as well as vicarious liability—that is, directors are being held responsible for the errors of employees and other volunteers.

There are several ways directors can meet and surpass the new levels of scrutiny while protecting the credit union, and its individual directors, from risk. For example, indemnification insurance for directors is a must, as is keeping up with new regulatory requirements for individual directors. For example, meeting the new NCUA requirement that directors demonstrate a “working familiarity of basic finance and accounting practices.”

Richard C. Powers, MBA, LLB, is the National Academic Director, Directors Education Program & Governance Essentials Program, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto.

Examine all the duties, risks and liabilities today’s credit union directors face with Powers at CUES’ Directors Leadership Institute: Governance June 3-6, in Toronto.

Great Directors Ask Tough Questions

By Les Wallace, Ph.D.

The 21^st century dawned like an angry hydra-headed monster attacking every known enterprise on the planet. Credit unions weren’t spared as some unthinkable failures drained member value and challenged assumptions about our models.

In this challenging business environment, credit union directors are working harder than ever to navigate uncertain territory, act as the trustees of a sizable financial enterprise and deliver on their member promise. A passion for the credit union movement is no longer sufficient to provide the competent oversight necessary to be successful.

These times demand that boards assess how they stack up to known elements of high performance governance, and evaluate if they’re capable of governing through uncertainty while meeting their members’ greater demand for value.

A good assessment centers on each director’s ability to ask themselves, each other and management tough questions. Here are just four of the many board members should be asking:

1. Has our board established the clear director competency profiles needed for good governance? Do we adhere to and enforce those competencies?
2. Do our directors have a rigorous self-assessment routine that helps them continue to build capability as individuals and strengthen the board as a whole?
3. Have we recently challenged our strategic thinking model? Does our strategic plan reflect the bold, far reaching objectives that members are looking for in terms of service, technology, products and wealth management?
4. Does our committee structure reflect our strategies and 21^st century expectations?

Les Wallace, Ph.D., is the president of Signature Resources Inc., in Aurora, Colo.

Learn more questions Dr. Les Wallace suggests credit union directors must ask to evaluate their board’s governance, and build upon the competencies and best board practices required to be successful in the 21^st century at CUES Director Development Seminar, Sept. 12 - 14, 2012, in Savannah, Ga.