Thriving in a Team Environment: Leading the Finance Team to Support Credit Union Strategy

Karen Bankston
December 20, 2007 | COMMENTS

In today's hypercompetitive environment in the financial services arena, effective teamwork can provide a significant competitive advantage by putting the combined talents of individual credit union employees to work for a common purpose. Team members must build a foundation of trust, and they must be willing and empowered to hold everyone on the team accountable for doing his or her part. Attitude is another necessary ingredient for successful teamwork. Even a team with a seemingly perfect blend of expertise and skills won't succeed without a shared, “can-do” attitude and a commitment to work together to improve the credit union. A team that has taken the time to build trust and maintain a positive attitude is more likely to engage in productive confrontation that draws out the best ideas and hones them into workable solutions.

Team members must learn to communicate effectively with each other and with others in the credit union. Clear communications requires acknowledging that other people, based on their personalities and past experiences, have preferred ways of interacting with members, coworkers, and managers. By learning about and accommodating those differences in communication styles, teams can be more productive in contributing to the credit union's overall success. Leading and participating in teamwork may require specific training on communicating, building trust, empowering employees, and engaging in productive confrontation. Celebrating team successes reinforces this effective approach to doing business in a way that reflects the credit union movement's philosophy of “people helping people.”

This white paper explores how the chief financial officer or manager can create and maintain a team environment and lead the finance team to support credit union strategy. The approach described here does not pertain only to the finance team—it can be applied to a team of any size, from any department, or the whole organization.

This is the executive summary to a new CUNA CFO Council white paper by Karen Bankston entitled “Thriving in a Team Environment: Leading the Finance Team to Support Credit Union Strategy.” Read the complete paper and others in the white paper section of the CFO Council website.