Client Results Achieved by Haines Centre for Strategic Management
Industry Type | Location | Public/Private | Annual Revenue | Length of Engagement |
Credit Union (FF) | California | Public | Not-for-profit | 5 years |
From: A small company charter credit union. | To: The fifth largest credit union in California. |
Business Problem | Solutions | Major Results |
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Testimonials
“The clarity, focus, and simplicity of the Centre’s approach is extremely effective. The commitment to the Plan and the clear accountability have made implementation a resounding success.” CEO of Credit Union
When Steve first consulted to this credit union 5 years ago, the senior team was disjointed and working towards different goals. As their CEO pointed out, they had started to loose momentum and were “getting lazy” about strategic planning and about following up on their goals and strategies. She went on to say that “One of the benefits of Steve’s work is that the cost is reasonable, because you actually do a lot of the work yourselves. Not only does this create strong buy in, and a sense of ownership, but it also reduces the number of hours that Steve has to work with the company. Each year we get better at the process, and learn more about how effective it can really be.”
While this organization had done strategic planning before, they had never really owned the process. The previous strategic plan had been crafted by an outside consultant and was so complex and so impacted by the consultant’s own personality that the plan felt foreign and the company did not feel they owned it at all.
This credit union has now become so successful at implementing the strategic plan and tying goals and objectives to each department and to financial incentives that it has not missed a major goal in years. Furthermore, the credit union is constantly able to increase the difficulty and complexity of the goals to keep them challenging. Basically, they have become so good at tracking and measuring success that has become next to impossible to fail.
Overall, the senior team finds that the Centre’s planning process takes time and commitment, but it is well worth the effort. The plan has been great for teambuilding, as a lot of the work is organized around teams, and they document their teamwork as well. The planning process has been pushed down so that whole departments are responsible for success – not just management but line and support staff as well. This has increased acceptance as well as enhanced teamwork, and according to the VP of Marketing, it has “turned all the babble into specific action items.”