Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

It is that time of the year again. I need your help. 

What will be your credit union's biggest three challenges in 2016?

What will be your three biggest personal challenges in 2016 as a leader?

What will be your staff's greatest challenges in 2016, as seen by you?

You can give me your feedback here. (Polldaddy.com)

I'll compile, synthesize and share the results. Here are the results from last year.

2015 Credit Union Challenges

The question was a simple one: What will be your credit union's biggest three challenges in 2015? Here's what you said, visually.

Here's the actual list of responses, with the weighted average:

1. Loan growth: 24.7%
2. Regulatory burden: 24%
3. Membership issues: 12.7%
4. Technology: 7.1 %
5. Growth: 3%
6. Competition: 2.6%
7. Net margin: 2.6%
8. Security: 2.3%
9. Culture 2.3%
10. Costs, capital, leadership, talent interest risk management and time management round out the rest. 

The second question was a bit more personal.  I asked folks what their biggest personal challenges would be in 2015?  What would affect them in a negative way? You may want to sit down. It isn't pretty.

2015 Personal Challenges for Credit Union Managers 

Here are the answers, again with the weighted average:

1. Time management: 15.3%
2. Lack of resources: 10.3%
3. Regulatory burden: 9.1%
4. Leadership/management (or lack thereof): 8.7%
5. Culture: 6.6%
6. Communication: 5.8%
7. Morale: 5.8%
8. Training (or lack thereof): 4.6%
9. Burn out: 4.6%
10. Change management: 2.9%
11. Accountability: 2.9%
12. Rounding out the rest? Vendor management, prioritization, board of directors, strategy, collaboration, security, patience and the economy. 

Finally, I asked folks what they thought their staff would  struggle with in 2015. You might expect a similar list as above. You'd be wrong. 

2015 Staff Challenges, as Seen by Managers

Here are the answers:

1. Lack of training: 14.2%
2. Regulatory burden: 12.1%
3. Adjusting to a new sales culture: 9.6%
4. Embracing change: 7.5%
5. Management/leadership: 6.3%
6. Loan growth: 5%
7. Need for efficiency: 5%
8. Workload: 5%
9. Cost of living: 4.6%
10. Competence: 4.6%
11. Membership: 4.2%
12. Culture: 4.2%
13. And rounding out the rest of the list: Communication, competition, technology, lack of resources, morale, succession planning, and work/life balance. 

As you can see, the results are fascinating. I think every leader should see these graphs. 

But I'm more interested in seeing how the results shake out for 2016.  

Again, I need your help.  You can access the survey here.

And please share it with anyone you can think of.  Here's the link: http://demangone1.polldaddy.com/s/2016-challenges.

Again, I'll compile, synthesize and share the results.

As always, many, many thanks!