As I look back at 2020, I am reminded of how quickly things can change in our world. Strategies had to be shelved as businesses shifted into a reactive mode just to sustain day-to-day operations. Already existing trends – the phasing in of digital channels, an increase in remote work – were accelerated out of necessity. “Pivot” became the governing rule, as financial institutions found out the hard way that there was no playbook for the challenges arising from COVID-19.
Many credit union leaders I’ve talked with over the past months have expressed frustration with the shortened time frames and lack of useable intel they have for making decisions. They’ve shunted abruptly from a strategic focus to responding to the crisis du jour. I can almost hear them thinking, “This isn’t what I signed up for!” Given the complexity, unpredictability, and compressed time for decision making, how do they shorten the time to action, so that they are always keeping pace with changes in the member experience?
Hard Questions, Renewed Purpose
The pandemic’s disruptions have forced businesses into serious self-examination about their very purpose. Now more than ever, all organizations must ask themselves:
1) What role are we to play in a changed (and still changing) business environment?
2) What do we need to become future-proof?
Like many industries, credit unions have had to rapidly adapt based on their leaders’ responses to these questions. There’s a lot riding on 2021 – it’s almost unfair to pile such expectations on a new year. But it’s time to make plans for growth. Time to shift to a new gear – from being reactive to being proactive. Time to take back control with a forward-facing and resilient mindset.
In the wake of COVID, contending effectively with uncertainty will become a defining trait of successful organizations. Your members will place greater value on predictable outcomes in their experiences with you, as well as on your ability to provide a sense of security. They will expect empathy, in addition to reliability. What do those look like for your members? Chances are, they look different than they did before the pandemic. This is why you can’t rely on old data (or assumptions based on old data), and you need to stay aware of your members’ expectations for the “new normal.” For example:
- What do your members want in their digital banking channels when they do business with you?
- If your members are used to friendly, personalized service, how are you able to convey that through online banking or a mobile app?
MX for the Win
One fact you have to face about this new normal: consumers’ tolerance of service that does not meet their expectations is constantly fluctuating. Before COVID, your members knew what to expect from your service, and you knew how to deliver accordingly. Now, there’s no norm or baseline against which to measure their degree of frustration! It is fluid in nature, and as diverse as each credit union, each demographic, each member and each transaction.
Because of this unsettled nature of your members’ tolerance, your priorities no doubt must continue to be fluid. You are tasked with defining and executing your credit union’s vision, but so many distractions can make it hard to develop strategy. If your focus is on internal operational capabilities, it’s NOT on the member experience at a time when sustaining and strengthening member relationships is essential.
Ultimately, agile thinking is crucial in addressing immediate needs arising out of COVID-19, using a steady stream of member insights to fuel data-driven communications and solutions. Organizations that actively listen to consumers – and quickly translate feedback analytics into focused action – visibly demonstrate their attunement to nuances in consumer sentiment. This kind of responsiveness is an undeniable competitive advantage, one that can mean all the difference in your 2021 campaign.
2020 was a year of rapid retooling in response to an unforeseeable global crisis. We all learned together that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to all of the issues exposed by the pandemic. That’s why your own Executive Leadership Playbook is unique. And if you haven’t started already, you owe it to your members to begin building it now.
So…how are you designing and informing your comeback strategy for 2021…and beyond?
–– Let us help you build your own Executive Leadership Playbook:
