Working With The Ready: Organizational Change at VSECU

Shawn Christianson
Jul 26, 2017 · 6 min read

A note from Partner Will Watson: “Typically we write about organizational operating systems and cutting edge organization design. We’ve got something a bit different this time — an article written and originally shared internally by one of our clients, Vermont State Employees Credit Union. VSECU has embarked on an organizational transformation effort to develop an operating system that supports their purpose of improving the lives of all Vermonters. The end goal is to support their iterative transformation into an organization driven by continuous, participatory improvement toward organizational resilience, adaptability, and responsiveness.

Shawn Christianson, a digital specialist at the Credit Union and a member of our Core Team, writes here about his experience working with us and watching as the organization builds its learning muscles to serve their purpose more effectively. Without further ado, we’ll turn it over to Shawn.”


Policies & Procedures

Being in the financial world means dealing with stringent regulations that help ensure safe business practices. Thus, as an industry and an organization, we are very heavy on the number of policies we are required to follow, and thus procedures that govern internal processes within this context. Our work with The Ready is focusing on creating ways we can hold ourselves to the same standard of quality and accuracy, while streamlining where possible and organizing everywhere to create a better, more seamless experience for our members.

Communication

One of the first issues within our organization that was identified as problematic was communication. This was (and still is) compounded by the fact that, as a credit union for all Vermonters, we have branches from Burlington all the way to Bennington, creating vast physical distances between staff. We started by testing a new communication program called Slack, but due to its popularity “testing” quickly snowballed into rolling it out to the entire organization.

Decision Making Rights

When you look at a company like Zappos, who has been lauded for their forward-thinking organizational structure, it’s easy to get caught up in their culture of empowered decision making which focuses on putting decision-making authority directly in the hands of their employees. On its face this framework may seem less organized and more decentralized, but the truth is, for this style of system to be effective, there must actually be more framework and structure within the organization.

So How Does It End?

The easy answer is, it doesn’t. However, we believe that we are close to making the biggest change — creating a culture in which constant, iterative change drives us to create a better company that can compete today, tomorrow, and on into the future. The effects are already being seen in how we approach a problem, look for a solution, and move towards that solution.


The Ready

Lessons from our quest to change how the world works. Topics include org design, self-organization, and dynamic teaming.

Shawn Christianson

Written by

Digital Marketer, dog dad to Gromit the boxer/lab, lover of all things political, turbocharged, or otherwise fast.

The Ready

The Ready

Lessons from our quest to change how the world works. Topics include org design, self-organization, and dynamic teaming.

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