3 minutes
The first decade of the new millennium required big shifts in top leadership. What's next?
Credit Union Management magazine’s Web-only “Good Governance” column runs the first Wednesday of the month.
The year 2000 dawned like an angry hydra monster battering every known enterprise on the planet—governments, financial institutions, communities and credit unions.As everyone recoiled and repositioned during the first decade of the new millennium, it soon became clear that leadership from the top of any enterprise—governance in the case of credit unions—must recalibrate what it means to be prepared, stay relevant, and be nimble in the new normal.
The governance journey into 2050 is already taking shape in the form of early pressure points that will quite likely result in governance models and performance expectations being radically different than we now know. Let’s take a peek.
Transparency: A huge lesson learned from the financial and governmental crisis of the early 2000s was that people are now suspicious of business as usual and are demanding increasing transparency and greater risk management. By 2050, I predict, this will result in unheard of levels of constituents peering inside the workings of boards of directors—not only within publicly traded companies, but also governments, professional associations, foundations, and credit unions everywhere. Information in real time about performance and decision-making will make boards of directors feel like they are working in a glass house.
Competence: Boards of directors will be required to be “governance practice” certified. Experience will count, and “credentialing” governance literacy and competency will be less demanding than passing the bar exam, but still more formal than it is today. A governance credential will find its way into even the most local of community-based boards of directors—constituencies as well as directors and officers insurance will require it.
Virtual meetings: Face-to-face board meetings will be more rare and only for constituent meetings or strategy sessions, if then. Even the most local of boards will be using technology to meet virtually most of the time rather than driving across town. Yes, it is possible to govern this way—plenty of folks are doing it now with quarterly face-to-face meetings and the rest virtual. The regulators will be forced to catch up with meeting requirements.
Diversity: Every governing body will reflect the diversity of its constituency. No more conversations about recruiting minorities or women because the concept will be foreign to the business world. A true rainbow of members reflecting a board’s constituency will be standard practice and it will be unheard of to have a bunch of old, white guys as the board.
Youth: Connectivity, advanced learning models, and activism will ensure younger board members participate in governing bodies—as valuable assets not simply token representation. As younger members join your credit union, they will demand voice.
Real-time member measures: The days of doing one or two member surveys every 18 months will be replaced by instantaneous 24-hour cycles of measured and inclusive feedback from members. The chief informatics officer will report directly to the board—not the CEO or chief operating officer. Big data will be king.
Enterprise complexity: The small mom-and-pop credit union will be the exception and then only during a startup phase. Size will matter most in 2050 as a critical mass of resources and savvy is required to navigate the new world. Although large and national may define the enterprise footprint, customized and niche value will be delivered. This requires governance competence to handle extraordinary complexity with markets, members, products and services.
Les Wallace, Ph.D., the 9Minute Mentor, is president of Signature Resources Inc. He is co-author of A Legacy of 21st Century Leadership and author of Principles of 21st Century Governance. He is a frequent speaker and consultant on leadership.
