Leadership Needed Not More Hand Grenades

Throwing Hand Grenades
One of the most important attributes about leadership is the ability to provide perspective and correction. Most of us are able to see problems. Some of us probably even know people who excel at throwing verbal “hand grenades” into meetings just to see things explode. Yet, these same people often are unable to articulate viable solutions. This is because they lack perspective more specifically leadership perspective. In my experience leaders have the ability to view the context of the surroundings around them. They are able to see the map from a leadership dynamic. Critics, the mob in the corner with all the hand grenades, no matter how well intentioned fail to provide the needed advice or perspective to correct a situation. This can be seen on both the level of member interactions and on the larger level when people talk about financial services and fiscal policy.

Looking At The Situation With An Experts Eye
For example on the micro level, take a situation in which a member comes into one of your branches to apply for a $500.00 personal line of credit for personal expenses. Let’s assume for the sake of the example the loan officer looks at the situation and based on the underwriting criteria they decline the loan. What was clear to the loan officer was that the last thing this person needed was more debt. This is the pivot point on the member level. Does your loan officer ease that person out the door eager to wait on the next person or do they look at it from a leadership perspective? Make no mistake in that situation your loan officer is the leader, the expert, who can offer criticism or they can look to see how the person can make critical adjustments to improve their situation.

Suppose that in looking at the member’s situation it was clear that the member did not need to add more debt but rather needed to restructure the debt they already had. After explaining what they could do your loan officer takes an application for an internal refinance on the member’s auto loan that they had with a BigBank and the member gets approved for the full value. This allows your member to pay off three credit cards and have $500.00 for personal expenses and some extra for personal use. The end of the story is that the member was so happy they wept and said that your credit union was a blessing to them. Sound farfetched? I know of situations just like this and I am sure some of you if you asked your front line staff would also find similar situations.

One of the ways credit unions can help is by offering financial leadership when looking at our members situation’s. We need to employ a perspective that enables others to accomplish things they could not accomplish themselves. This is critical to helping to provide services to our underserved membership.

It is for this reason that credit union members and leaders need to make sure they are expressing their opinion to community leaders on how we provide financial leadership to our members. Credit Unions face increasing pressure as new proposals in Washington have language that mentions ending the credit union income tax exemption as one way to reduce the federal deficit.

Ironically it also mentions the growth of Subchapter S corporation arrangements for banks — a way to organize bank ownership to reduce tax obligations. Subchapter S banks pass their earnings along to shareholders in the form of dividends, who are then taxed as individuals. Theoretically, this can reduce tax liabilities for the bank's owners, who can use other deductions to lower their exposure.

More than ever credit unions need to be seen as financial leaders who have the ability to provide perspective and correction to people who are struggling during these challenging economic times. This means helping people of modest means as well as being able to help small business owners who find themselves struggling to secure needed capital for growth.


Practical Application:

• Have you build in systemic behaviors into your delivery channels have enables front line staff to provide financial leadership to your members?
• Have you positioned yourself as a financial leader in your local markets? In some markets the local bank branch is the only game in town.
• How have local branch managers engaged local civic leaders letting them know how you are different?