Guest Author Paul Lucas: Hard Knocks - BIG Lessons

Paul J Lucas, national marketing and branding consultant and frequent CU Journal contributor, wanted to share some thoughts on brand management for credit unions. Visit Paul's website at pauljlucas.com,email at paul@pauljlucas.com or call (202) 320 5759 to learn more.

Hard Knocks - BIG Lessons

Late this summer HBO aired this year's "Hard Knocks" show about the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League training camp. Watching the series it became apparent that the basic building blocks of a winning team are universal - whether you’re on the football field, growing a company or building a successful credit union brand. 

David Levitin, a neuroscientist and author of "This is your brain on music" estimates that it requires 10,000 hours of practice to master any craft. Studies of professionals from composers, to NBA players, to ice skaters show that it takes roughly three hours of practice a day, 20 hours a week, for 10 years to achieve the level of expertise we associate with world class. The next time you're tempted to think a top athlete was born lucky think about all the hard work it took to turn luck and talent into success. 

Remember the old joke: one man stops another man on the street to ask, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" The other man answers, "Practice, practice, practice." As managers it's much easier and a lot more fun to fall in love with hot new ideas than to keep slogging away at the same old basics day after day. The challenge is that those new ideas won't start yielding results until they become those old basics you keep slogging away at. 

A successful organization is seldom built on innovation. Watching the Bengals prepare for the upcoming season I identified eight critical elements in their quest to become a winning team: 

1. Leadership - without it numbers 2 through 8 are just exercises in frustration 
2. Preparation 
3. Focus 
4. Execution - especially doing the little things right constantly 
5. Follow-through 
6. Accountability 
7. Getting everyone working off the same strategic plan 
8. Having the right people in the right places 

Are you sitting there thinking you could have written that list off the top your head? Bottom line, knowing what needs to be done and making it happen are two very different things. Most successful CEO's I know would willingly mail their annual business plans and strategies to their competitors. Why? Because they know it's what you do every day in the trenches that counts. 

So ask yourself: 

A) Does your staff consistently up-sell the values and benefits of your credit union? 

B) Do you have a brand strategy that everyone clearly understands, right down to knowing how their individual efforts help drive your brand efforts? 

C) Can every staff member name the values, benefits and features of your CU? If they can, keep up the good work. 

If they can't, it's time to get in the huddle and make it happen.