LEADERSHIP INSIGHT
Member growth begins with the experience people choose again.
Member growth is easy to treat as a scoreboard. New accounts go up, and the organization calls that progress. But an account count alone does not tell us whether members are finding value, returning when they need help, or building a relationship they would miss if it disappeared.
NCUA’s latest second-quarter data offer a useful prompt. Membership grew in aggregate across credit unions over the year, while membership at the median credit union declined 0.6 percent. That contrast does not tell us why membership changed at any particular institution. It does remind leaders that a strong system-wide total can sit beside a very different experience at an individual credit union.
The leadership question is not only, “How many people joined?” It is also, “What happens after they do?”
A person may join for a loan, open an account, or respond to a promotion. Whether that first interaction becomes a lasting relationship depends on the experience that follows: how clear the next step is, whether a handoff works, whether help is easy to find, and whether the credit union delivers what the member came for.
Those moments are spread across teams. A membership process can depend on marketing, digital access, branch or contact-center support, operations, and the systems that connect them. A loan journey may involve application design, underwriting, communication, funding, and service after the loan closes. Members experience the whole journey even when the organization manages each part separately.
That makes the member journey a useful leadership lens. It helps professionals see how a choice in one area affects the member’s experience elsewhere. It also gives an aspiring leader a concrete way to contribute beyond a job description: notice a friction point, check it against evidence, bring the right people into the conversation, and recommend an improvement.
Start with curiosity, not an assumption that members are leaving because of one obvious problem. Look at approved member feedback, process data, service trends, or the perspective of colleagues who handle the handoffs. Ask where the experience becomes harder than it needs to be, and what evidence would show that a change helped.
Growth becomes more meaningful when it reflects a relationship members understand, use, and choose again. The strongest recommendation may not be another campaign or product. It may be one clearer handoff, a more useful next step, or a service experience that earns a member’s confidence.
IN THE KNOW
Two signals that make member growth worth a closer look
Membership grew across the system, while the median credit union lost members.
NCUA’s September 23 release on second-quarter state-level data says membership grew in aggregate over the year ending in Q2 2026, while membership declined 0.6 percent at the median credit union.
These are two different views of the industry. Neither tells you what is happening at your credit union, or why. Together, they raise a useful question: Which measure would help your organization understand whether people are joining, staying engaged, and returning when they need the credit union?
Loans grew, and delinquency also moved higher.
NCUA’s September 14 system performance release reports that loans outstanding rose 4.9 percent year over year in Q2 2026. The system delinquency rate was 0.96 percent, up 6 basis points from a year earlier.
These national figures do not predict a specific credit union’s results. They are a reminder to consider growth and member capacity together: who is being served, what the credit union is learning about member needs, and how lending growth is being managed.
ONE MOVE TO MAKE
Map one member journey.
Choose membership or a loan. Trace the experience from the member’s first step through the next important handoff and outcome.
What the member is trying to do.
Which team or system owns the next step.
What the member needs to know or do next.
Where a delay, unclear instruction, or handoff might create friction.
Check one possible friction point against approved member feedback, process data, or a colleague’s frontline perspective. Avoid treating a guess as a finding.
We could improve [step in the journey] by [specific change]. We would watch [measure or feedback] to see whether the experience improved.
If you are preparing for broader responsibility, bring the map and recommendation to someone who understands another part of the process. If you lead a team, invite a colleague from another function to map the same journey with you.
A FINAL NOTE
Growth is experienced one interaction at a time.
A system-wide trend can give us context. A member journey helps us ask what that context might mean in practice.
This week, choose one journey—membership or a loan—and look for the handoff that deserves a closer question.
Where would you start?
Until next time,
Keep Ascending.
Reply and tell us: Would you start by mapping the membership journey or the loan journey—and what would you want to understand first?