Friday 15 July 2011

HONORARY DOCTORATE

Yesterday I attended Staffordshire Universitys graduation ceremony to receive my honorary doctorate degree. As Lou Reed would say "just a perfect day". Sunshine, lots of smiling faces, and a very proud and humble CEO of The Hanley on stage to receive my awarded degree. It was a real privilege to be there and to be recognised in this way, a testimony to all my colleagues at The Hanley over the past 9 years who have worked tenaciously to do the very best for our customers and members. I was struck by the professionalism of everyone involved in the organisation of the event and by the delight amongst my contacts and colleagues in the University's Business School at the achievement of all their students. These are tough times for the higher education sector, on the cusp of a radical shift in funding. The need for a demonstrably excellent student experience and strong employability credentials will be distinguishing features in an increasingly competitive university sector. From my own exposure to Staffs Uni over several years ( and many more to come I hope) this particular organisation will "shine" and future students are in good hands.

Monday 11 July 2011

NAMES MAY CHANGE BUT.......

On Friday I played in the annual Building Societies Association golf day at the Leicestershire golf club and managed to win the event with the lowest net score (66 as you ask). The trophy I won is a handsome, silver "layer cake" engraved with winners dating back to 1930 when a gentleman named C.O.Marshall from the Abbey Road building society won the event at Walton Heath golf club. Since then the list of societies engraved on the trophy include Colchester Permanent, Huddersfield & Bradford, Middleton and the Burnley as well as more recent "plc converters" such as Woolwich and Halifax. The rich history of the mutual sector is always engaging but the list of names also reminded me that , despite media coverage to the contrary, the consolidation of our sector is not a new phenomenon. Building societies have survived and thrived through market turbulence and many boom & bust cycles. More UK adults than ever before do business with mutuals, and although the flavour may change the mould is still fit for purpose.

Friday 1 July 2011

BOARD STRATEGY AWAY-DAY

We have just held our annual Board "away-day" to review our strategy and agree priorities for the coming financial year which starts on 1st September. You could be forgiven for thinking that a strategy for a small building society right now can be summed up in one word....Survival...However, we like to think we can do a bit better than just survive, and in any case the survival instincts of small, local mutuals over the past few years since the "credit crunch" and through the recession have been commendable. If this era in financial services has taught us nothing else it must surely be that big aint necessarily beautiful. The author Peter Drucker once commented that " strategy is not about forecasting the future,it is about understanding the future implications of todays decisions". None of us can claim to be experts in predicting what the future holds but we can strive to make decisions for this business which put us in a strong place as the future unfolds. To do that we need to identify our strengths and play to those, evaluate the likely risks we face and create a range of products our members will want. We also aim to be distinctive in the way we deliver service. No amount of TV advertising by large banks proclaiming their commitment to outstanding customer service can guarantee the much-desired reputational enhancement for those banks, but it is curious to watch our large plc competitors try to mimic the way we do business. Our strategy day was challenging, thought-provoking, interactive, productive and enjoyable. Easy for me to say that I know, but the acid test would be, what would a Hanley member think of our day-long discussions had he/she been an observer?My firm belief is they'd have been reassured and impressed by the conviction and the vision shown by the Hanley Board.