A Side-Effect: Growth by Living Our Mission

Have you ever tried to lose weight? If so, you’re not alone – scores of people are hard at work trying to reach their target weight before hitting the beach this summer (myself included!)

Most people try one of two approaches when it comes to weight loss. The first is the “quick fix,” unsustainable diet or “too good to be true” program such as replacing all meals with juice or limiting daily calories to just 1,000. This approach generates positive results in the short term but ultimately leads to disastrous, long-term yoyo effects.

The second approach isn’t as flashy or extreme, but certainly more sustainable: The “lifestyle change” combination of eating healthy and exercising regularly. This more moderate alternative puts the emphasis on health and well-being. Why then do so many of us try the quick fix approach? It’s probably because the diet seems quicker and easier than the lifestyle change, despite its poor track record.

Believe it or not, credit unions can learn a thing or two from dieters. We all have organizational goals, like growth – but growth for the sake of it can’t be our focus. When it is, we run the risk of cutting corners and sabotaging our long-term success to see instant results.

On the other hand, when we focus on our own organizational “lifestyle change,” growth tends to happen as a side effect to a mission-based strategy. A healthy lifestyle for us as credit unions might look like living our mission to better our members’ lives, truly striving to meet their financial needs and ensuring that we are attracting and serving the right members in our communities.

As we think about growing sustainably and effectively, not just today but for our long-term fitness, there are two key questions we must consider: Are we reaching the right humans and are we meeting their needs?

Who Do We Serve? Reaching the Right Humans

The foundation of our success or failure as credit unions lies in living our identity. The first credit unions were created for those who had no access or affordable access to financial services, according to the World Council of Credit Unions. Today, it’s easy to get distracted trying to reach consumers we’ve decided we want at the expense of those underserved consumers for whom we are the best and often only option.

Growth will happen organically as a side effect of ensuring we’re serving the right people, much like weight loss occurs organically as a side effect of the right lifestyle. And there’s no shortage of people in need whom we can serve.

Here are three ways to ensure we are serving the right humans:

1.  Proactively seek young people. Despite their status as the largest generation, and the one with the most purchasing power, credit unions attract Gen Y the least: Only 26% are credit union members (compared to 33% of Gen X and 38% of baby boomers), as noted in the Filene report “What Millennials Want: The Future of Millennials in the Credit Union System” (Turner, 2015). As these young people struggle to balance their financial goals with an average student debt load of $37,000, credit unions have a huge opportunity to help Gen Y feel at home with them. For this to happen, we have to speak their language and be intentional about marketing to their demographic. If you’re interested in more ways to reach young people, check out a Young Adult Advisory engagement to ensure you’re effectively reaching the next generations.

2.  Target outreach to underserved parts of the population. Take a moment to think about the communities you serve. Who are the people that could be considered underserved? Perhaps they are minorities, non-citizens or low-income households. In keeping with our mission, how might we as credit unions help better the financial lives of everyone in the areas we serve (not just those who are currently members)? Consider implementing programs to reach minority households or lend to non-citizens. The opportunity to serve those whom banks have left behind is huge – and enables us to live our mission while also growing our membership base.

3.  Look inward: Don’t forget your own people. As credit unions, we think and talk often about our members – and there is one type of member we cannot forget: Our staff members. It’s not a secret that most tellers aren’t bringing home six figures – in fact, some of your staff members may live paycheck-to-paycheck or at the poverty level in your area. Take time to consider your people and the ways the credit union can best support them. Investing in your staff will ultimately elevate the entire organization. Filene is thrilled to share an Employer Sponsored Small Dollar Lending program that could help bridge the gap.

What Do We Offer? Solving the Human Problem

Once we have the right people in the door, the next important step to credit union growth is to ensure we’re offering products that meet their needs. It’s tempting to keep legacy products and services around because of the way we’ve always done things. However, critical to living our mission and growing as organizations is ensuring what we offer actually meets the needs of the real humans we’re trying to serve.

Global industrial design company Ideo created a concept called “human-centered design” in its work to help organizations innovate and grow. Human-centered design argues that successful ideas must be desirable, feasible and viable. It’s tempting for us to start with feasibility and viability when we’re thinking about meeting our members’ needs. Do we have the capacity to create a new product? Will regulation allow it? Is it too risky?

In the human-centered design methodology, however, desirability is the real starting point. After all, if no one wants the products and services you offer, what good is feasibility or viability? We can’t solve the problems our members face without first putting ourselves in their shoes and understanding the human perspective. If we’re effectively meeting the needs of those we serve, growth again can be a side benefit to successfully living the purpose of the credit union.

Your own staff, especially frontline, can be a wealth of knowledge about what consumers want – and so can your actual members. Use all the resources at your disposal when designing products and services to meet members’ needs.

Living Our Mission Leads to Growth

Ultimately, embracing our identity as credit unions is the strongest strategy. It’s easy to get caught up in the here and now, but we must remember to look at the road ahead with our long-term glasses. Investing in the future may not give us short-term gains but is critical to both our ability to serve our members and grow.

Just as a healthy lifestyle is conducive to a healthy weight, a healthy mission-based credit union strategy is conducive to sustainable growth. As we take action to further our mission, we’ll find growth comes naturally.

Ultimately, the number of members at the credit union is just a number – far more important is the impact you have on those people. In the same way, as you head off to the beach for your summer vacation, remember that the number on the scale is just a number – and you are so much more.

Lauren Culp is Manager for The Cooperative Trust. She can be reached at laurenc@filene.org.