Ancin Cooley, Principal of Synergy Credit Union Consulting, joined us at the CUES conference in Detroit to discuss the building a credit union for the future.

Credit union culture, philosophy and working through vulnerability are a few of the topics discussed on the way to understanding where we’re all going together and how credit unions can grow in the future to better serve their members. Listen today! Money, I’m Home!

 

[transcript]

00:06 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Welcome on in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson and we have a wonderful podcast. We’re coming to you from Detroit at the CUES Future Summit 2020. And it’s a wonderful opportunity that leaders come together to learn a little bit more about themselves, as well as really picking up their business and helping members succeed. And joining us today is Ancin Cooley. Ancin, you are a principal at Synergy Credit Union Consulting. And I just listened to you, and I’ll tell you what, it’s such an invigorating presentation that you have. To me, really it reflects about personal, as well as business, for success. So, tell us a little bit about how you started.

00:46 Ancin Cooley: We started 10 years ago. I started off my career as an examiner, not 10 years ago as an examiner, but I started off my career as an examiner, then went to work for a CPA firm. And what I realized about CPA firms is that they were charging credit unions and small credit unions and banks exorbitant hourly rates that they really couldn’t afford. And so, I said to myself, “Maybe I can provide more value at a lower cost.” So, 10 years ago, I started Synergy Bank Consulting and Synergy Credit Union Consulting. And so here, we’re working with Synergy Credit Union Consulting, and we’re just here, we provide strategic planning, internal audits, board training, governance training, supervisory committee training.

01:28 LJJ: What is really interesting is your talk resonated with me because you really talked about foundation and the foundation for success. Credit unions obviously are here to help their members succeed, but to do that, there are some very specific thought processes that you have. Tell us a little bit about that.

01:49 AC: I think that there has to be an intersection between profit and mission. And what some managers do, they focus too much on profit or short-term gains as opposed to building a brand around their mission that will lead them to longevity within the credit union space. And so, some of the things I talked about today, which was risk management, brand management, and strong governance being the pillars of credit unions being able to survive and thrive over the next 10 years.

02:23 LJJ: One of the things that you really focused on was thinking about that long-term focus to help members succeed. So, an individual … And I think … You tell me, you’re working with credit unions and banks, the credit union mission is to really help someone get on the right path to financial success.

02:45 AC: Absolutely. I think in some ways, when you look at a credit union, you have different people that are involved. You have numbers people, you have people that are really just trying to run bank lights, if you will, and then you have true believers. And, if you have an organization that has too many of either one of those, you have problems. There are too many true believers, they’re going to give loans to everyone without the proper risk managements because they believe in the members and they want to help them and things of that nature, and you’ll have a lot of past dues and you have a lot of charge-offs and things of that nature because they’re not considering the risks involved. But then you have a person that’s too numbers-driven, they’ll forget about the mission, and with them forgetting about the mission, they lose sight that mission achieves brand, and brand drives deposit growth, brand drives loan growth. So it’s kind of like this ecosystem where you need to have individuals pulling at both ends of the spectrum to push the credit union going forward.

03:49 LJJ: And it sounds to me like culture is so important there. When you travel around the country, do you see that where there’s success in businesses that have a strong compass, a strong culture for their team to follow?

04:05 AC: Yes, it starts with the CEO. I talked about vulnerability being a strength of strong leaders. CEOs and managers who have the self-awareness to realize where they’re strong, but also where there’s weaknesses in themselves and in their work chart. They seek out consultants and seek out help and thought leaders to help, I guess, fortify some of those weaknesses. They were the strongest credit unions that I’ve come across. The more insulated credit unions become, the more fixated on the past or fixated on the wins that they’ve had in the past, as opposed to seeing the future and how they can be prepared for it … That’s where you run into issues when people are just kind of looking backwards in a lot of ways.

04:52 LJJ: You mentioned … We’re here at a leadership conference, and anybody who’s listening, the ability to understand and dig a little bit deeper with the word “vulnerability,” because normally you would say, “Wait a minute, that doesn’t make sense. I want to be a strong leader. I don’t want anyone to see me looking weak.”

05:14 AC: Right, there is strength in vulnerability, because the truth of the matter is that none of us are perfect. And so the more we open up … Especially from the top-down, you create a culture where people say, “I’m good at this, but I’m not as good at this, and I need to work on it,” or, “I’m not good at this, and I need help from you to support me in a team.” It creates more collaborative environments. Credit unions that operate in silos where the people have pointy elbows are some of the worst credit unions. Credit unions that know how to get into a room together with white boards and attack tough problems and work collaboratively through vulnerability are some of the strongest credit unions.

05:55 LJJ: When you look at the future, technology is changing so fast, so rapidly … How is it that not only the credit unions can keep up, but members, and even understanding what’s the newest service that might be offered?

06:12 AC: I think in some ways, and this is more of me kind of opining my opinion, I think that credit unions are always going to be, in some ways, a little behind the curve on technology, but where they make up the ground is through their heart and their brand. So, for example, there’s places in New Orleans that you can call ahead on your app and you can order the food, right? And you go pick it up. But, then there’s places that you go and you sit and wait because there’s a person there you want to see, and they do it just the way you like it, and you’re willing to wait that extra time and maybe forgo some of those efficiencies because of the experience that you have and the emotional connection you have to that business’s brand, and that’s where we differentiate ourselves in the credit union space.

07:00 LJJ: So, when you hear the words “digital transformation,” you’re saying, “Hey, you have to keep your heart in this.”

07:07 AC: Yes, you do the digital transformation, you make sure that you’re not way behind the curve, you make sure you’re watching the investments, making sure that you’re looking, like I mentioned, voice, I think credit unions need to start looking into voice and …

07:23 LJJ: Like Alexa?

07:23 AC: Like Alexa.

07:24 LJJ: Or Siri.

07:24 AC: Start registering their credit union’s name, invoice and start developing some capabilities, because here’s the thing, if credits unions are always behind a gun, meaning, “Oh, let’s do video, let’s do Instagram, let’s catch up.” What if credit unions start preparing for the next thing, which is voice, now, so that in the three, four years when it starts becoming more prevalent, we’re actually on par with everyone else, let’s … with voice, let’s be ahead of the curve perhaps.

07:51 LJJ: Well, and it’s really funny, if you think about the keyboard, you showed a graphic that was just so funny to me, it was the bus scene, and the top picture was all of the riders and passengers reading newspapers, ignoring each other’s company, but reading newspapers, right in front of their face, and then the next below is today, and everybody is, it’s earphones, looking at a screen, same exact body language.

08:21 AC: Exactly.

08:22 LJJ: Amazing!

08:22 AC: It’s one of those things where people, especially as you get older, you like to ask nostalgic about the way you think things were, and so we people used to communicate more, people used to talk more, everybody’s in their phones now. Look at the picture. People were looking down at a particular medium, which was newspapers, ignoring each other still, right? And so, I think the more things change, more they stay the same.

08:47 LJJ: Right, right … Which really does bring back the point about that human connection and why that is so rare and important. What’s the favorite part of your job?

08:57 AC: Being able to fly into a city, help a smaller credit union or help any credit union really figure out how to make their next steps or achieve their goals, being honest where credit unions is fulfilling for me to take a risk. When I stand in front of CEOs and say, “Hey, you know, you’re not supposed to be in the room with your supervisory committees, or you know you need to be more vulnerable.” Not pandering to them doesn’t necessarily help my pocketbook, if that makes any sense.

09:31 LJJ: Sure, yeah.

09:32 AC: There’s some, just, but for me as an individual and as a consultant, I have to be authentic. And, what I’ve learned over the last 10 years is that by being the best version of myself and being honest, I end up working with people whose values align and we do better business together. If I pander to you and then tell you the truth and tell you who I was, and then I get in your institution, we’re going to clash. I’m not going to be happy, you’re not going to be happy, that’s why I put my … Somebody watches me on the stage, that’s the person you’re going to get. When we’re communicating, if you find value in that, we’ll be fine. If you don’t find value in it, just like some people do, as soon as the thing is over, they hit the door and it’s like, “Woah, I wouldn’t let that guy 100 yards in front of my … into my credit union,” because having someone in your institution that is technically sound, understands culture, understands strategy is vulnerable.

10:31 LJJ: Sure.

10:32 AC: And so that’s what we bring to the table, and that’s one of the things I enjoy most is just helping credit unions and being honest with them.

10:40 LJJ: Well, I’ll tell you, I think everybody was the most excited too about mama’s gumbo recipe.

10:46 AC: Yes, yes. [chuckle]

10:47 LJJ: It must be famous.

10:49 AC: Yes, I give it out. She teases me about it. It’s pretty good instructions too, it’s not just, it’s like …

10:55 LJJ: Oh good, okay.

10:55 AC: It’s not just step one, it’s like step 1A…

10:57 LJJ: Alright.

10:58 AC: 1B, 1C, and if you, she’s retired now, so if anybody wants to Facetime, she will walk you through the …

11:05 LJJ: Serious?

11:05 AC: Yeah.

11:06 LJJ: That would be so much fun.

11:07 AC: She’ll help you and she’s like, “Oh yeah, you bought the burned roux.” [chuckle] You know what I mean? She’ll love it, she enjoys it. As long as you catch her after she does her morning gardening, and she’d be okay.

11:17 LJJ: Right. Okay, and can anybody get that gumbo recipe?

11:20 AC: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, you just email me at [email protected].

11:25 LJJ: Alright, that’s awesome. Hey listen, we love to end our podcast to find out a little bit on a personal note, was there ever a time that someone brought to you an “aha moment” about financial education where you just learned, “Oh, wow!” And that stuck with you?

11:40 AC: Yeah, my grandfather, Monroe Cooley, Pickingham, Mississippi, he taught me the value of self-independence and self-reliance, he was a small business owner. He owned the only shoe repair shop …

11:54 LJJ: Oh awesome!

11:54 AC: In Pickingham, Mississippi.

11:55 LJJ: You know what? My grandfather was a shoe repairer.

11:57 AC: Was he?

11:57 LJJ: Yes.

11:57 AC: That’s awesome, that’s awesome.

11:58 LJJ: I have his hammer.

12:00 AC: We have that, we still have the old shoe, shoe …

12:02 LJJ: That is so great.

12:03 AC: Yeah, that’s cool, that’s an awesome coincidence, right?

12:05 LJJ: Yeah, isn’t that great? That a world!

12:06 AC: Yeah, the name of the store was A Stitch In Time Saves Nine.

12:10 LJJ: Oh, that’s great!

12:11 AC: Yeah, I can see it now, and I would work in a shop, and that’s where my entrepreneurial spirit came up and just self-reliance. He grew his own garden, he just did things in a way that made me feel more self-empowered, and I wanted to fulfill it. And I think that credit unions give individuals that same ability to be self-empowered through financial literacy and through the products that they provide.

12:35 LJJ: That’s awesome. What a great story.

12:36 AC: Thank you.

12:37 LJJ: Ancin Cooley, thank you so much for being with us today.

12:39 AC: Thank you so much.

12:40 LJJ: Money, I’m Home, thank you for joining us. We’d like to thank Jake and Aaron for their production skills as always, and we’ll be back next week, and we are from the Future Summit CUES 2020. Thanks for being with us.

[music]