Credit Union Management

Become a Media Darling

Professionals in all kinds of industries often mistake diligence for luck when it comes to media relations. Like any business relationship, your connections to the media -- be they local, regional or national -- must be nurtured. In addition to frequent (and legitimate) contact, you must take the time to educate yourself on what it takes to become a go-to source for reporters. When the time comes, knowing how to approach media with your story idea is paramount. Here are three pointers to keep...

Big Ideas Under the Big Sky

Building for the Future

Across the credit union movement, approaches to facilities strategy are in flux. Some institutions that depended on a large network of full-sized brick-and-mortar branches in the past are re-imagining themselves after the dual traumas of the economic meltdown and the assessments they had to pay to strengthen the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. Other credit unions launched innovative facilities strategies years or even decades ago, foreseeing a time when they would have to be creat...

Click to Join

It's no secret that in recent years, credit unions have been racing to expand their fields of membership. They've changed their charters to open their doors to entire communities, added select employee groups, bought bank branches. Consumers are caught in an ever-tightening time squeeze. At the same time, they've become used to technology and associate joining something with clicking a mouse a couple of times; the fact that a social networking site and a financial institution are two very dif...

Cues Evote(Tm): Elect and Educate

Electing and educating new board members is an on-going challenge for credit unions. From administering the election in an objective manner to educating new board members on the workings of credit union boards, the entire process is time consuming and complex. However, as with most challenges, the reward for the board's efforts area will pay dividends in creating a successful board. By looking to its bylaws, the board will find policies for the nomination period, the number of days the electi...

Cues Hears From Industry Experts

Cues Skybox

Do Your Homework

Before deciding to close a location a credit union should do its homework to make sure the move will not only help it weather its short-term slump, but also make sense in the context of a more digital future. Coastal Federal Credit Union doubled the size of its network from 11 to 23 branches between 2003 and 2007, only to close eight of those branches over a recent 15-month span. The closures were the result of expiring leases coupled with new evaluation criteria for branches developed in 200...

Filling the Gap

In every credit union, there is a gap between what employees know and what they can know-between what they are doing and what they need to do. Andrew Janning works in that gap as AVP/training and quality at FORUM Credit Union, Indianapolis. Janning's purpose as a staff development professional, and the purpose of the proprietary staff development programs he and the CU have developed, is to offer employees the educational tools and opportunities to fill performance voids for the CU and its 27...

Getting to Know Your Segs

According to Char Shinn, a CUES member and 30-year CU veteran who joined $273 million Oregonians Credit Union as VP/business and community development last August, the CU has thousands of select employee groups (SEG). So, she and Emily Spall, marketing outreach coordinator, embarked on a Business Partner Road Trip, otherwise know as 100 Companies in 100 Days. The pair are a bit surprised at the level of buzz they've generated. As a result, the CU has expanded relationships with existing SEGs,...

Letter to the Editor

Max Checking Helps Cu Add 50,000 Members

Visit Lake Michigan Credit Union's Web site, and Max Checking will be front and center on the home page. The program is also prominent in the CU's print, radio, television, billboard and in-branch advertising. And front and center in all the advertising is the number 4 -- as in 4% APY. Lake Michigan CU Director of Retail Strategy Bill Clancy points to that number as the main reason the credit union has grown from $1.3 billion in assets and 122,000 members, to $2.2 billion in assets and 172,00...

Retain Rising Stars

Rethinking Branches

Editor

Show Me a Sign

Initially used in retail spaces and airports, digital signs are increasingly finding their way into credit union branch lobbies, drive-throughs and ATMs. CUES member Linda Douglas, VP/marketing at $580 million/85,000-member Michigan First Credit Union (CU), Lathrup Village, MI, says digital signage is a great way to integrate branch merchandising with product and brand awareness in a tech-savvy way. Douglas says one of Michigan First CU's most successful campaigns using the signage was the la...

Thorny Questions

As many corporate credit unions go through the painful process of reorganization and recapitalization, the leaders of natural person CUs are mostly in watchful waiting mode. They aren't cutting ties to their corporate yet, but they are checking out alternatives for the liquidity, investment and operational services they happily used from their corporate before the economic crisis exposed the corporate system's financial weaknesses. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas has replaced the corpora...

Women in the Boardroom

Work Sweet Work

Facilities planning often hinges on complex, expensive decisions involving branch locations and building architecture, but smaller-ticket considerations -- from workstation display policies to lunch room features -- also have an impact on employee productivity and satisfaction. A good starting point is the brand and culture the credit union aims to foster, suggests Andrea Simler-Degolier, retail coordinator, CUES Supplier member DEI Inc. Workspace display policies often come down to managemen...