By James M. Warren
As a credit union CEO for 20 years, I can emphatically say that having the right volunteers and providing them with ongoing training is a critical element of the success of every credit union. It helps each director live up to their potential and funnel the expertise they bring from other industries to best serve the members.
In an industry with 100s of billions of dollars in assets and millions of members, we have no minimum qualification requirements for those selected as board members. With that said, how can we not require continuing education for those directors? Even as a Little League coach, I was required to take continuing education courses.
We have a moral and ethical responsibility to invest and spend our member's money wisely and in their best interest. Requiring continuing education for volunteers is undeniably the right thing to do. Even the best volunteers with sound moral character and a strong sense of commitment can't be effective without good training.
Some executives believe adding training requirements will make it harder to find people to volunteer, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 63 million people volunteered last year, despite the recession. That seems like a pretty good pool of candidates to me. When it comes to volunteering for a credit union compared to volunteering for the United Way, American Heart Association or hospice, take my word for it, for the engaged director, the credit union gig is a sweet deal.
In my opinion three basic concepts are essential for effective director training:
- Purpose--to remind volunteers of our not-for-profit status and that the tax benefits should be returned to our members in the form of lower fees, lower loan rates and higher dividends;
- Risks--fundamental training on understanding a basic financial statement (as the NCUA has recently done);
- Ethics--training on the many conflicts of interest facing volunteers today and recommendations about how to avoid them.
An acquaintance of mine who is responsible for volunteer training at a credit union trade association recently made a statement that made quite an impression on me. He said, "I know 100s of very good volunteers eager to learn and who understand the importance of their roles, and then … there are 1,000s of unknowns who do absolutely nothing and don't even have a simple awareness of what is going on."
The goal of this type of training is to increase director confidence and independence, and to strengthen the volunteer's ability to hold management accountable. I do not expect this to be a popular concept with some in upper management who would rather be left to make their own decisions on credit union matters. It will also not be popular with the "1,000s of unknowns who do absolutely nothing" who serve on boards around the country. This blog is not aimed at those people; it is for those who wish to make a positive impact on their credit union and the industry as a whole.
James M. Warren is president/CEO of $1 billion Tyndall Federal Credit Union, Panama City, Fla.
Directors can sign up for a free Basic Financial Statements course, with test and certificate upon successful completion, by registering at the Center for Credit Union Board Excellence in the What's New area. Sample the whole site for 30 days by signing up for a free trial.
