A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish

Last week during the Power Up conference, credit union directors had an open forum session. After introductions, they broke into groups of three and spent about 30 minutes talking about what keeps them up at night. The most interesting part of the day was that several groups seemed to have had the same discussion.

When the larger group came back together, directors shared their thoughts. Here is a breakdown of the conversation:

• How do credit unions attract younger members? The group talked about the real challenges that living in a rural state poses — especially when it comes to trying to keep up on technology.
• Is brick and mortar still relevant? Those present agreed that credit unions need to move forward with technology, but felt that it was important to not leave older or less technically minded members behind.
• What methods are other credit unions using for recruitment of new board members? The group shared some amazing ideas during this discussion (they’ll be the focus of a future blog). The best advice given was to always be actively looking, since you just don’t know when you might need to fill a spot unexpectedly.
• How do we get board members more engaged in advocacy? Becoming an engaged advocate is a process of education, and participants encouraged letting board members get involved where they are comfortable, whether locally or nationally.
• Can we encourage more Cooperation Among Cooperatives? During this discussion, several directors were nodding their heads as they realized that they have a lot of opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences, mistakes, and successes. Those in the room vowed to start leveraging more cooperation and working to help consumers and credit unions succeed!

Maybe you have similar concerns, dreams, or plans? We are looking at ways to find more opportunity for this type of sharing and networking for board members, while understanding that many of you work and have lives outside the credit union sector. Stay tuned, and let me know if you have thoughts!