By David Tuyo, CCE, AIF, CIMA, MBA
What’s next in credit union innovation? Is it an amazing new technology, or a product or service no one has thought of?
I think you’ll be shocked by the answer. What we as a credit union movement need to do is build a culture of innovation by going back to basics. And by basics, I’m talking about what, or rather whom, we built our movement around: the people.
It’s easy to get distracted by regulations, system changes and technology updates, but we have to remember what’s at the core of our success. The credit union movement was founded on a principle of people helping people. There should be nobody better at understanding what people want and who they are than us.
The Federal Credit Union Act says that every credit union exists to provide credit and promote thrift. We’re there to make sure members of our community have access to loans to fulfill their needs and wants, and to also promote thrift and member savings, to help them reach their personal goals.
So how do we begin to build this innovation-focused, member-centric culture in our credit unions?
I like to look at things outside of the industry to help me better frame the question to find creative solutions. My kids are in a wide variety of activities—something different every day, from piano and karate to soccer, golf and tennis. But what do they do every week? They have to go to practice. At practice, they are coached. Their coaches teach them how to get better.
Practice is exactly what your credit union needs. You can develop a perfect strategy to develop your culture and become more member-focused, but without actual practice, the execution of the strategy will be lost. Assign coaches within your credit union, and then practice the strategies you’ve identified to become more people-centric. For example, if you want to make your lending process more personal and individualized, have your front-of-line staff practice the questions they can ask to learn how to better serve your members. Use the lessons learned from these practice sessions to continually improve your culture.
Finally—and this is probably the most important thing to remember in today’s world—we have to start having fun again. We need to take ourselves less seriously. The regulatory burden and all the change going on in the world is, of course, very serious. But Sam Walton said, “Swim upstream, go the other way, ignore the conventional wisdom.” Warren Buffet, the second wealthiest person in the world, follows the same philosophy of going against the grain. Instead of tightening up our services and making it more difficult for members to get the service they need, we need to keep our eyes open and pay attention to what our members are saying—and we can have a lot of fun doing so.
Right now we have a historic opportunity to stand out in the financial services industry. Let’s take advantage of that, with authentic leadership that encourages practice and fun while always remembering the core of our business—the people.
David Tuyo is vice president of solutions at Lending Solutions Consulting, LLC, Elgin, Ill.
Hear more about how to develop a strategic “back-to-basics” approach during Tuyo’s session at Execu/Summit, March 10–15, 2013, The Westin Snowmass Resort, Snowmass Village, Colo.
