Our Work

We delivered our report today.  We have reviewed the financial (Ken you will be interested to know that financial the world around are prepared the same way – we were able to decipher most of them without the assistance of our translator).  We have talked to the Chair of the Board, the CEO, and the accountant in detail.  Working with a translator adds an interesting twist to everything.  Each question has to be well thought out, but even so sometimes the answers don’t relate to the question at all and you are sure something has gone astray but what…one quick question that we asked took us in to a 2 hour discussion around share concentration…we thought we were talking about conflict of interest.  These questions are the best.  It from here that most of our aha moments have come.

We are pleased with our findings, we have been able to identify several areas that the credit union will want to be aware of going forward, and hopefully this information will be of value to them in the future.  We have also learnt so much. 

Luckily we worked on our report late last night, the plan was to have time today to do it at work but we ended up spending the day doing member visits (much more inspiring) and only arrived back in the branch 15 min before the board was due.  No worries we would present a high level overview, we were good to go. 

I may have mentioned once or twice that traffic in UB is insane, several of the board members were caught in traffic so we waited… the room was sweltering, sweat was running in rivulets down my back, the room was silent, everyone sitting smiling at each other, small talk an impossibility with only one translator in a room of 8 people, and then inspiration struck.  One of the key areas that we had been working with the credit union on was member engagement.  Before leaving home I had downloaded several pictures of Integris Credit Union staff in the community.  I booted up my computer, hooked up the projector and put on an impromptu slide show.

The first slide to appear was a picture of us in the Canada Day Parade. We had made a float that featured the International Year of Cooperative.  After explaining what a mascot was and why we had chosen a squirrel (they save for hard times) we were off.  Pictures of “Stasher” in the parade, at the dog sled races and downhill skiing were followed by pictures of the branch which had also been decorated for IYC.  The ice was broken, questions came fast and furious, how did we participate in our community, what value did this add, what could they do? 

The rest of the board arrived and we presented our report.  We talked to the risks around high share and loan concentrations, we reviewed policies and procedures and recommended that several new policies be developed, we touched on financial and provided advice on a couple of complex HR issues.                                                     

But when all was said and done and the Chair of the board was thanking us, she shared that what had been the most valuable for her was been able to talk to someone, to share her ideas and concerns, her dreams and her fears.  To learn that there are so many others out there just like her, asking the same questions, looking for the same answers.  

She said that she felt “inspired”, she had identified 3 key areas that we had addressed as her priorities and would be implanting plans to deal with these issues.  But she also said that she had learnt from us the even though they do “serious work” it is okay to have fun, that laughter in the work place is a good thing, and that it is important to take the time to find out what is important to your members and then to work together with them to try and help them achieve their dreams. It is important to remember that you are a co-operative, owned by the members for the benefit of the members.