For credit union executives, the start of a New Year generally spawns a period of intense introspection into how to improve on a variety of issues from the previous year. Of course you want to generate more revenue and grow your member base. Surely you want access to the latest and most efficient technologies. Certainly you want to create happy, productive and loyal employees. What if I told you that there is a secret sauce to achieving all of the above? It's called company culture, and it can be a real game changer.

We've all heard and many of us have affirmed that culture eats strategy for breakfast (as first attributed to Peter Drucker). The reason: People are loyal to culture and it is more resilient than strategy. In other words, your culture is your brand! Strategies can be copied, but no one can copy your culture. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial as a credit union executive to be intentional in designing initiatives that improve your credit union's culture.

When looking closely at your strategic business plan for 2016, I encourage you to evaluate whether what you've outlined is even feasible given the current culture you've created. Do you have a culture plan? Make no mistake, you are significantly responsible for the happiness, productivity and mindset of those working under you. If you can identify areas of dissatisfaction, underperformance or even complete failure, working to create a dynamic culture shift can have a positive effect on overall output. To effectively institute such profound change, there are steps that must be methodically followed in order for it to last and truly move the needle. Frankly, the process could take years.