Move Over, Innovation. Its Time for Purpose: CO-OP THINK 16
May 4, 2016 10:04 AM
From left, THINK 16 co-hosts Sara Critchfield and Scott Bales interact with author and speaker Gary Vaynerchuk.If youre getting a little tired of hearing about innovation, theres a new buzzword in town, and it just happens to be one credit unions have embraced from the very beginning: purpose.Indeed, the movements people-helping-people mantra is freighted with purpose, and its a message that is all the more resonant right now, noted Samantha Paxson, CO-OP Financial Services chief marketing officer during the kick-off of the credit union service organizations THINK 16 Conference.Not only is purpose the umbrella term for CO-OPs series of corporate responsibility programs that were introduced Tuesday, Paxson said, Purpose is why we do business. It should be the basis of everything we do. Being purpose-driven can be profitable. Innovation makes this go. Helping people is our purpose, and innovation solves problems and helps us get there. By positioning ourselves as a purpose-driven industry, it is never business as usual.
Living Up to People Helping People
Paxson said the digital transformation of the economy also is increasing tension among consumers. The financial services industry knows a lot about the impact of technology. McKinsey Global Institute says we are in a period of transition and churn. Credit unions should be helping people adapt to this time of transformation. How can we help people today? The formula is simple: purpose plus innovation equals opportunity.She advised CUs to embrace digital media to speak to people where they livewhich drives another key buzzword: convenience. Reduce the number of steps someone needs to do to join your credit union, she told the audience. We need to get ahead of fintech competitors or they will get to people before we do. We need to stop finding reasons to say no and start finding reasons to say yes. We should always look to help people in the smartest way with the best tools available. This will differentiate credit unions from competitors.
How to Be Worthy
Sara Critchfield, founding editorial director of Upworthy, is serving as one of two co-hosts of THINK 16 this week. She asked attendees to come up with one word to sum up their credit union, and suggested they think of the purpose behind what they do. When founding Upworthy, we decided most media organizations had lost their purpose and were chasing trending topics. We wanted to only publish stories that were important. We grew quickly because our fans shared our content at an alarming rate, which shows the power of word-of-mouth advertising. That is important to credit unions, who feel banks have unlimited marketing budgets.According to Critchfield, there is no bigger reason for members to share their credit union with their friends than the fact CUs have a purpose that resonates. Even toilet paper tries to attach itself to a bigger purpose the environment, fighting breast cancer. The good news is credit unions are not toilet paper, they have a purpose. Credit unions stand for something. Lead with purpose on your front page, because 99% of people do not visit the about us page on a credit unions website.
Connection is the Key
Scott Bales, global futurist and digital strategist, and involved in founding Innovation Labs Asia, Moven and Next Bank, is co-hosting THINK 16 with Critchfield. Bales said the world is standing on the cusp of an exciting time. Credit unions forget they have a competitive advantage over the tech startups, and that is the connection they have to people. Credit unions have a 100-year head start over Lending Club and similar companies. A big bank might have 50,000 employees, which gives them 50,000 potential ideas, but the institutionalization of those big companies prevents ideas from being shared. Credit unions are more nimble, and most know every employee as well as the CEO.
When Your Purpose is Questioned
Ted Gonder, co-founding CEO of Moneythink, said the company was started in 2007 to restore the financial system of the U.S. through youth financial education. We had a simple idea: bring financial education to teens in need, he related. I was a college student in Chicago and saw a need in the neighborhoods near my school. Moneythink has since gone national: 30 chapters in 16 urban areas, more than 10,000 students served, 60 partner schools and more than 1,000 mentors trained.Moneythink got a big jolt a few years ago when research found financial education explains only 0.1% of the variability of consumers good versus bad financial behaviors. Of course, this was disconcerting, Gonder recalled, but we knew anecdotally some of our students did experience transformational results from our training. We realized the traditional approach was transactional and informational, rather than transformational. To transform our students, we had to meet them where they were, check our assumptions at the door and let them become what they want to become.Our organization had to undergo a transformation seven years in, said Gonder. We had to rethink our strategy. It was hard change, but it was worth it because schools and students now seek out Moneythink. It was not easy, but it was totally worth it. Simple ideas can change the world. Financial education will continue to grow, but only will be as good as the products that are available to people.
Who Are You?
Ask a roomful of credit union executives what their biggest challenge is, and compliance is likely to be one of the most popular answers, but one entrepreneur and author suggested credit unions have a much scarier problem: the fact that most people dont even know what a credit union is.People still do not know what credit unions are, so there is a problem, said best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuk. Compliance is not an excuse. Credit unions need to tell people what they believe in. Organizations need to reward people for having ideas, and individuals need to put their big boy pants on and make things happen.Vaynerchuk advised executives to figure why so many people in America do not know what a credit union is. You have to have the attention of consumers before you tell a story. Many people watch TV on their own time, fast forwarding every commercial possible. Millions of dollars are wasted creating and distributing commercials that people do not watch.Credit unions that havent embraced evolving social media platforms will miss the boatthat is, if they havent already. Credit unions lived through a four-year window where their biggest competitors banks were the biggest evil. And they missed that opportunity. He said technology is a gateway drug to peoples attention. Time is becoming the No. 1 asset. People would rather receive a text or e-mail so they can respond on their time, rather than having to answer a phone call.
