The commander of an army would never enter a battle without a strategic plan. As a credit union leader you know the importance of planning. Use your Statement of Commitment to complement your strategic planning process. With your Statement of Commitment in hand, begin your strategic planning by taking a closer look at your credit union’s:

• Products and Services (Refer to section 1 of your Statement)
• Do you have services for each income level of your membership?
• How can current services be improved upon?
• If you find gaps, what new services should be added, and when?
• Member Education (Refer to section 2 of your Statement)
• What financial management programs do you offer your members or the general public?
• Do you offer or participate in educational programs at your local schools?
• Do you include financial educational information in your newsletter?
• Democratic Principles (Refer to section 3 of your Statement)
• What kind of volunteer opportunities exist? Are there enough? Are they being utilized?
• What are you doing to encourage members to run for the board or other committees?
• What is being done to ensure fair representation on the Board of Directors?
• How involved are your credit union’s staff and Board in the committee process, both internally and externally and can they be doing more?
• Diversity (Refer to section 4 of your Statement)
• What is the demographic makeup of your members? Do your staff, management and volunteers reflect the diversity of your membership?
• How is their diversity being promoted to the membership and the community?
• What are you doing to promote more diversity in credit union leadership?
• Support of the Credit Union System (Refer to section 5 of your Statement)
• Are you active in your state League or CUNA?
• Do you support your Corporate, CUNA Mutual, National Credit Union Foundation, World Council of Credit Unions and other system organizations?
• Are you participating in chapter level efforts, and can you be doing more?
• How active are you at promoting credit unions on a political level and can you be doing more?
• What local, state or national committees or credit union organizations are you, your staff, management or Board of Directors participating in and can you be doing more?
• Community Service (Refer to section 6 of your Statement)
• Whether you are a closed or open charter credit union, you still have a presence and responsibility within your community. How have you met that responsibility and can you be doing more?
• How actively involved are your credit union’s staff, management and Board of Directors in the community(s) you service?
The most pressing reason for developing a strategic plan is to provide a sense of direction to everyone involved in your credit union.

Copyright © 2009 - Credit Union National Association, Inc.