The Power of Pizza, Innovation & Service in a Time of Crisis

Working in a contact center is hard and not for the faint at heart. You need to know everything about every product, or at the very least, know where to send members when you don’t know the answer. You need to be ready for any emotion that comes your way. But you do have the potential to transform communities through this work.

Credit union leaders of today need to face the fact that money is emotional more than it is logical for many members. While our credit union employees might be members and might be struggling, they know the lingo and how the system works. Your members do not. We cannot place our own personal experience as credit union team members on our membership. (If you want to read more about the emotions related to money, check out Filene’s reports on “Generational Money Chatter,” “From Debt to Mindfulness” and “fundaMENTAL: The Mind-Money Connection.”) Our frontline team members will always be the most important asset a credit union has. We must ensure we are giving them the tools they need to continue serving members with the highest level of service possible.

So, what does this have to with community transformation? I’ll let pizza, innovation and service in a time of crisis tell the story.

The Power of Pizza

It’s a typical day in the contact center, and I’m on the escalation queue when my phone rings.

“Cortney, I need help. My member is hungry, she doesn’t have any money in her account that she can use, and she hasn’t eaten since yesterday. What can I do? She’s on a fixed income and is getting a direct deposit tomorrow.”

“Alison, can you ask her what her favorite pizza is? Once you find out, I’ll order it for her.”

I’ll never forget the pure joy on Alison’s face. She actually asked me if I was kidding, I assured her I was not. Alison’s member has also never forgotten her, or the credit union who helped her at one of her lowest points. I know this because Alison’s member sent more than one letter expressing her gratitude, surprise and loyalty to the credit union. Not only did we build a lifelong financial partnership, but we gave something to this member that she didn’t expect – hope without judgment. And it cost less than $20.

During my seven-year tenure at one of the largest credit unions in the U.S., I’ve heard it all, from the best moments in members’ lives to some of the hardest. I’ve laughed, shown concern or excitement, and even cried with members. What helped me connect with my members most was the empowerment I was offered to give back to my members and community, which, in turn allowed me to empower my team members to make quick decisions to best serve their members. Alison’s story is one of tens of thousands for this credit union.

While I’m no longer working at this credit union, I’m still serving credit unions through research, innovation and incubation driven by the Filene Research Institute. I’ve had the great privilege of working with professionals from all over the world, serving credit unions from state to state and building cultures of innovation through Filene’s research. But there’s more to be done and credit unions are just beginning to scratch the surface of ways they can help transform their communities.

The Power of Innovation

One of the many ways Filene helps credit unions build their innovation competency is through our innovation programs and Filene i³. These programs allow us to work with credit unions and leagues to bring professionals together to learn the Filene Method of Innovation. In a recent engagement with the Iowa Credit Union League, I was struck by two ideas – a “help your neighbor” program where members can donate dividends to a fund that will be used to help members in need, and CU2U, a mobile credit union to service members who have challenges with physically getting into a branch. Both ideas were born from a genuine desire to serve people better, the way credit unions can and should be serving their members. These ideas aren’t new, and they aren’t even sexy, but they are at the heart of the mission and purpose of credit unions: To provide access to financial services!

Oftentimes innovators going through Filene i³ or our innovation programming think they need to come up with the next industry disruption. When really, they need to come up with ways to best serve their members meeting these three goals (listed in order of importance):

1. Do members want, need or desire it?
2. Is it financially feasible?
3. Is it technically viable?

Yes, you read that correctly. Desirability is more important than both feasibility and viability, and is based on the concept of Human Center Design created by IDEO. According to IDEO, “Human-centered design sits at the intersection of empathy and creativity.” By taking a human-centered approach, we can help credit unions find the best ways to serve their members.

The Power of Service in a Time of Crisis

More recently, we’ve taken this human-centered focus a step further by tasking Filene i³ers with helping credit unions prepare for possible futures – for example, the future of natural disasters. While we won’t hear about their learnings until Filene’s annual conference, big.bright.minds, as an industry, we need to think long and hard about how we can be there for our communities as nature ravages homes and businesses, tearing apart families and leaving those in its path without basic necessities.

At Filene’s Research in Action event, “Oh Shoot! Now What? Technology in the Time of Crisis,” we covered topics focusing on the ways credit unions can make an impact for their members and teams in the wake of natural disasters. We were encouraged not to think “if” but “when.” Even as I write this article, the fires blazing in California are the most devastating the state has seen in its history. This problem hasn’t been solved, yet … but we are committed finding ways credit unions can truly solve their members’ problems when disasters strike.

A Shift in Mindset

The road ahead will not be easy, but anything that is worth it is rarely easy. I’ll leave you with questions to ask your credit union leaders, board members and staff:

• How would you want to be treated if you had the courage to tell the person helping you that you were hungry and didn’t have money for food?
• What would you need from your credit union if your house burned to ash?
• What will your credit union do to empower team members to give back in small ways to make a big impact?
• Are we willing to take our capital and use it to make our members’ lives better?

This shift in mindset will cost you money, but what you will get in return is so much greater than money. You will give hope, humanity and access to basic needs to your members and that is an immeasurable difference – and might make all the difference in the world.

Cortney Angeley is Impact Director for Filene Research Institute. She can be reached at 608-661-3760 or cortneya@filene.org.