I recently served as the MC for CU Conferences' "Reaching Your Members in the 21st Century" event at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando. While the conference theme was "Reaching Members," the clear, underlying current in every session was a more urgent question: "How do we build resilient, future-ready organizations?"
This question was echoed in fantastic sessions on Leadership from Tim Quinn, Crisis Communications from Jennifer Vickery, Social Media law from Ethan Wall, and Storytelling from Jennifer Esperanza, PhD. Every speaker, in their own way, was addressing the accelerating pace of change.
This set the stage perfectly for my two sessions, which were designed to provide an end-to-end framework for this very challenge.
In my first session, we focused on building a resilient strategy. But as every leader knows, a great strategy is only half the battle.
In my second session, "Implementing Initiatives That Drive Results," we confronted the single biggest reason great plans fail: The Execution Gap.
The Execution Gap: Why Great Strategies Fail
Every board member in the room knew the feeling. A brilliant strategic plan is approved, only to gather dust or fail to deliver the expected results.
This is the "execution gap." It happens because the high-level plan is never translated into clear, measurable, and accountable actions for the organization. The board is left in the impossible position of governing activities instead of outcomes.
So, how do we close this gap? We must build a bridge. We need a "Common Language for Results."
The Framework: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
To close the execution gap, the board and management need a shared language focused on outcomes, not just effort. The session detailed the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework as a simple, powerful system for this.
- An Objective (O) is the qualitative, aspirational goal. It’s the "what". A great example from our session: "Become the primary financial partner for young adults (18-30) in our community."
- Key Results (KRs) are the quantitative, measurable milestones that prove the objective has been achieved. They are the "how we know". For example, a KR might be, "Increase new checking accounts for this demographic from 500 to 750 this quarter."
The Handoff: Where Governance Meets Management
This framework creates a crystal-clear handoff between the board and management.
The board and C-suite agree on the "what" (the Objective) and the "how we'll measure it" (the Key Results).
Management then owns the "how we'll do it". They design the Initiatives—the specific projects, tasks, and programs—to drive the Key Results.
The board doesn't need to approve the project (e.g., "Launch a 'Student First' digital campaign"). They just need to see how that Initiative logically connects to the Key Result ("Increase new checking...").
Shifting the Board's Conversation
The real power of this framework is how it fundamentally transforms the board's conversation.
You stop asking, "What did you do?" (a laundry list of initiatives). And you start asking, "What was the result?" (a focused review of outcomes).
This system connects our entire philosophy into a single, powerful loop. Your Strategy (Business Model + Scenarios) forges the Strategic Objectives. Those Objectives become the "O" in your OKRs. The OKRs are the engine of Performance. And the board's review of those results is Modern Governance.
It creates the three things all high-performing organizations need: Focus, Alignment, and Accountability.
As a special thank you to CU Conferences for hosting an outstanding event, and to all the attendees who shared their insights, we've made our Living Strategy playbook and free access to our CU 360 platform available as a resource.
You can access them here: www.glattconsulting.com/rm
If this topic resonates with your credit union's challenges, schedule a private consultation to discuss how our strategic frameworks can help.
