Dan Clark has long been involved in assisting boards in their quests for greater productivity. Hundreds have engaged Dan for various projects, including the Board Packet Weight Loss. That project has removed hundreds of unnecessary reports and information freeing directors up to focus on top priority information.

Now, in a partnership with BoardEffect, your board’s routine reports and other information can be delivered electronically. We call it E-Governance. The information your directors need to have to be informed about your organization’s performance and status is delivered without paper, envelopes and postage.

At www.danclark.com, click on services and learn more about it.

Bring us into your credit union on the World Wide Web! Seems logical enough. Credit unions are selecting more and more Webinars from their Leagues and other associations. In the comfort of office or home, the material is delivered with sight and sound, and no travel. And one registration can train one or more. Those public Webinars offer great advantages but often prevent attendees from asking questions pertinent to their situation.

A private Webinar is the answer. You can bring into your credit union just about any topic on our long list of topics with great cost-effectiveness. A DCA professional will deliver a topic in 45 – 75 minutes, and use the remaining portion of the two-hour block to answer questions and cover issues specific to your credit union. At just $990, a private webinar fits nicely between the impersonal public Webinars and the cost of sending one person out, or bringing one speaker in.

If there is just one area that volunteer credit union directors lack the education and training the most, it is in the ability to read the financial statements. That was and still is the goal of the program. The program takes the student through the typical balance sheet and explains assets, liabilities, and net worth. Dan then explains a short list of essential ratios, where they come from on the statements, and why they are important. What makes this program truly unique is that is does not involve numbers; that is the key to the program’s success with volunteers from all sizes of credit unions. And, no math is required.

The DVD runs 2 hours, 48 minutes, giving the student plenty of time to absorb ‘foreign’ material and come away with a conversational-level knowledge and an improved ability to participate in discussions and debates about ALM decisions. For reinforcement, the package includes the sound track on three audio CDs students can listen to in the car for reinforcement of the concepts. A fifth disk in the box contains the study guide and bonus materials, documents and articles of interest to CU directors. Read more about the benefits and contents HERE.

• Very engaging speaker.
• The workshop met my expectations because “I was able to get information that will allow me to become an effective coach.”
• Mr. Clark was very knowledgeable and presented well.
• Dan Clark is very effective.
• It was inspiring.
• Brought to light fresh perspectives, approaches …
• I feel empowered to take on a role of “coach” as opposed to always “advising.”
• Very interactive — funny and great info.

• Wish more of my board was here.
• It met my expectations because I got a “better understanding of the roles of Boards.”
• I have started the forward focused meetings and have felt much better about them. I am more committeed now to continue along that path.
• Before the session “I knew very little about what boards do and now I know what should be expected.”
• Very good and effective speaker.

The current national movement for financial literacy is a non-event in credit union-land. Credit unions have consistently made member education part of their service efforts to their members since the beginning, about three-quarters of a century ago. Many other non-profit organizations, such as Consumer Credit Counseling Services, also provide education because their tax exemptions (and contributions) provide room in the budgets to do it. For-profit organizations cannot afford to do it because consumers have been loath to pay for it, no matter how much they need it.

Experience shows that literacy is one thing. Changed behaviors is another thing. One way credit unions are enhancing their educational efforts is through financial coaching. Financial coaching differs from credit counseling in one important way — the intent. The intent of credit counseling is to help the member get out of financial trouble. Financial coaching’s intent is for the member to prevent financial trouble and to begin building wealth. Financial coaching is the bridge between remedial credit counseling and investment planning.

The use of professional coaches is becoming mainstream — common people are finding the value for all sorts of life’s concerns and financial issues will be a growing consumer demand. Credit unions can position themselves to take advantage of that growing demand and the trust that members have in them by getting a jump on the financial coaching business.

Dan Clark, seeing the need for credit unions to get more involved in financial coaching, to own that service, has spoken to national and regional groups about it. More than that, he has invested in providing the training to credit unions who want their employees involved. A series of workshops are planned for 2007, and the firm offers private workshops to credit unions.

Learn more by visiting FinancialCoachTraining.com