WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The National Association of Credit Union Chairmen's 31st Annual Chairmen's Roundtable Forum which opened at the Williamsburg Lodge October 17-20 had a unique twist over past editions.
For the first time, a guest speaker, Dan Clark Associates President Dan Clark, was tapped for the general opening session. During an interactive session, Clark challenged the 150 attendees to stir things up.
"There are three ways to a better board meeting–better governance, better chairing and better information," says Clark. "Don't be afraid to challenge the status quo. Strategic planning should not be an annual event but regular and ongoing. Are you looking beyond five years out and thinking in terms of 20-30 years from now what the communities you serve will look like, how your credit union can survive? If not, there is work to be done."
Clark says better governance starts within the boardroom and to the degree that the board delegates operational authority, the power over means, the board's meeting is freed up for the board's needs. The board's role is the "ends" in terms of developing and managing consistent cohesive policies, processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. He adds that the CEO's role is the "means" in terms of operating policies, strategic planning with the board and business planning–long range and budget period ends to achieve. He says that the challenge for credit union boards is to reinvent their board governance through policies and practices–moving from a managing to a leading board, that empowers their executives and enables their credit unions to respond quickly to changing member needs and markets.
"No one likes to be micromanaged," said Clark. "Let management drive the bus without a backseat driver. Check the business plan, give the keys, check the progress reports–don't waste board meeting time on operational issues that fall under consent or management control. Spend that time having strategic discussions as a way to preserve a place in the communities you serve and the economy for your credit union and the movement as a whole."
Clark adds that by having the guidelines to clarify and separate duties and help people make decisions consistently provides the foundation for teamwork between the board and CEO that will go a long way in moving the credit union vision forward.
From adopting their own informal rules of order, to changing up the board meeting agenda, chairmen were advised to question and dig deeper.
"Start your meetings tackling the big ideas, the strategic discussions–don't ask what happened this week or last month, discuss the vision, strategic plan–use the windshield more than the rear view mirror because you have a responsibility to future generations to challenge the 'we've always done it like this' way of thinking and see where your credit union is headed," said Clark. "Lots of boards say they want to be visionary then they get bogged down with small and short term issues. We need to start thinking more with our right-brains and think creatively and innovate."
He adds that applying a "no fluff" strategy of an average board meeting time of an hour can help keep board meetings from being derailed by time-wasters and distractions. Clark says streamlining opportunities also exist for board agenda packets, which is designed to prepare directors to participate in the board meeting. Items included should be relevant to the meeting itself. Removing the nonessential items can not only reduce staff time in packet preparation but also inspire study and allow directors to spend more time focusing on long-term and strategic issues.
"Take about 20 minutes of every meeting on one piece of your vision or 20 years in the future," said Clark. "Some of the major questions you can discuss are will credit unions be relevant after 2030–or any financial institution after 2050? It may be a dying industry so what do we become?"
Clark further challenged credit union boards to write their own less formal, more flexible rules of order that best suit their unique credit union needs.
"You can if you so choose set up an independent directors meeting that is just directors learning from each other without the CEO present where you talk about little things, share information and ideas," said Clark. "Just make sure your CEO understands what it's about. It isn't a decision meeting so there should be no record of it. It is just a get together opportunity where directors can ask each other questions
they might be embarrassed to ask in front of the executive staff."
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