Our friends at Credit Union Magazine featured an excellent article on their website today. The article—Think Outside the Cube by Libby Vertz—shares insights on innovation from Michael Spink, Communications Manager with Local Government Federal Credit Union and a Filene  i³ participant.

This Q&A piece deserves a quick read. It covers Michael’s thoughts on  i³ and the secret to being innovative.

Below is only a snippet from the article, so be sure to read the full article here.

Michael Spink, communications manager for Local Government FCU.

CU Mag: What’s one innovative effort taking place at Local Government Federal?

Spink: At Local Government Federal, we’re changing the way we think. We want to handle all our endeavors in innovative ways—from how we market products and go about operations to how we look at compliance and regulation.

It’s time to actually poke our heads out of the trench and really look at the bigger landscape. It’s a different world since we jumped into our foxholes a few years ago.

CU Mag: How will this benefit your CU and members?

Spink: It will make our credit union healthier and more efficient, and will increase the value to our members. We’ll also have a greater ability to respond to member needs more quickly.

On a grand scale, the benefit is a stronger credit union movement overall. The more we each honestly look at the new landscape, the more we’ll all learn about navigating within it.

What do you think… are credit unions too slow in implementing innovation and change? What’s your secret for being innovative?

Severe storms and tornadoes have recently devastated communities which credit unions serve. As we mentioned in our previous post—Concern for Community: Credit unions and post-disaster community recovery—there are several disaster recovery resources available to credit unions.

Today we’d like to share another resource.

CUNA Strategic Services (CSS) and Agility Recovery—a CSS provider—are teaming up to help leagues prepare their credit unions before, during, and after a tornado strikes. See below for the message Wes Millar, CSS Senior Vice President, sent to credit union leagues Friday afternoon and click the link to download the Tornado Preparedness Checklist.

Are your credit unions prepared for severe weather?

According to AccuWeather.com, it appears the severe weather that has devastated communities from the Plains into the East over the past few weeks is going to continue.

Credit unions need to take steps to mitigate risks and protect their assets.  Agility and CUNA Strategic Services has provided a Tornado Preparedness Checklist for you to share with your credit unions.

Attached you will find a message ready to post to your website and include in your upcoming newsletters that will provide valuable tornado preparedness information.

Now that my two-year-old says “oil spill” as soon as she sees the news, it’s safe to say that the oil spill in the Gulf has had an effect on almost everyone.  As the news continues to cover the damaging effects, BP and other organizations attempt to overcome challenge after challenge to stop the spill.  So, what can your credit union learn from BP?  Public relations? Disaster preparedness? Maybe. I’d say a lesson in risk management.

Long before the first drop of oil leaked into the Gulf, BP was aware of a potential issue.  However, the likelihood this issue would become a big reality outweighed taking measures to prevent it.  What didn’t weigh into BP’s scenario planning was the catastrophe that could result if the very unlikely occurred.  Defining the risk one step further as costing the organization more than $100 million per day and causing degradation of wildlife, local businesses and public opinion could have changed the perspectives of some to fix the issue even if the chance of a spill was extremely low.

In your credit union, do you have a potential “oil spill” where chances are slim that anything could expose the problem, but if something did, the damage could be catastrophic for your credit union, your members or even your community?  Take a lesson from BP, and address those issues.  Even BP’s peer organizations have learned a lesson as Exxon Mobil, Conoco Philips, Chevron and Shell are committing $1 billion to a rapid response plan for Gulf oil spills.  All of these organizations have disaster recovery plans.  They take additional precautions because they now know the magnitude of damage an unlikely occurrence can have, and can no longer ignore the small chance of it happening.  Lesson learned: BP and credit unions can avoid “oil spills” react more effectively with sound disaster recovery and rapid response plans, but can prevent with some truthful what-if scenario planning.

BP is an organization that credit unions can learn valuable lessons from.  What else do you think credit unions can learn?

The MRM Team - L-R Top: Barb Bender, Debbie Michels, Bottom: Sherri Wagner, Tonna Winkers, Connie Acker

I’ll give you a hint – you probably have talked to them on the phone once or twice… 

Tonna Winkers, MRM Manager, recently sat down to answer some questions about what (and who) the CUNA MRM department is and what they do. 

CUNAverse: What is MRM? What does your department do?
Tonna Winkers: The Member Relationship Management (MRM) team handles CUNA customer service orders and questions regarding CUNA products and subscriptions.  These come into MRM in a variety of ways; phones, web, email, fax or mail.  The department is made up of a great team of five, experienced representatives, who work in a call center environment.  We answer the phones from 8:00-4:30 CST, Monday-Friday. 

Because we touch almost every area in CUNA, we’ve become known as the “go to area” when someone needs to know an answer and isn’t sure where to go for it.  While we may not know the answer, we usually know the right people that do.  Customer service jobs have a lot more variety than others realize.

What are some lessons learned over the years?
The MRM team has over 115 combined years of CUNA customer service experience.  You can imagine the lessons we’ve learned over the years!!  Here are a few of the lessons that really stick out to the MRM team:

• Remember to always be patient with customers.  Sometimes they are not sure of what they want, and need you to assist them in getting to the end result.  You have to make sure you’re taking the time to help them get what they need.
• Be sympathetic to what the caller is going through.  If it’s a problem, be quick to fix it; if a quick fix is not possible, call them back with 24 hours to provide a time frame on when they can expect a resolution or a follow up.
• How you say something matters just as much, if not more, than what you say.  Your tone can carry more of a message than words.
• I had a representative keep customer service notes that she had from 1989 that she passed on to me when she retired.  Some of these notes are “Give 100-200%” and “The caller does not always care about how much you know; they want to know how much you care!”

How can CUNA members contact you with questions?
We can be contacted a variety of ways: phone 1-800-356-8010, press 3; or email CCSOrders@cuna.com; or orders can be placed on our website too at www.cuna.org.  We’d love to hear from you!

Rachel Best

From Rachel Best:

I think we all love credit unions. Or we wouldn’t be reading this totally splendid blog, right?

In fact, I would go so far as to say that “credit union people” are more vocal about their love of their credit union than bank people.  We tell the grocery clerk about the differences between a credit union and a bank.  We say, “Hey, I get my ATM transactions surcharge-free, how about you?”  We argue tax-exempt status with our friend who works for a community bank and then make a pact to stop discussing it so we can stay friends.

I think I talk more about credit unions than astronauts talk about the moon.  When people ask me where I work, my friends all go, “Is this where you start talking about credit unions?” No joke…they actually do this.  YES, this is when I start talking about credit unions and their awesomeness.  And most of them love it (or in the case of the above community banker friend – tolerate it) because they are credit union members themselves.   For those that aren’t, I try to show them the light.  I’ve had new acquaintances and professional friends comment at the end of my credit union diatribe, “Why isn’t everyone in a credit union then?”  I tell them that they qualify and visit creditunion.coop, etc, etc. I forgo mentioning that it’s because big banks are bad. Got to keep it friendly, you know?

I lecture young cousins about where to get their first loans.  And while I wouldn’t know from personal experience, I’ve heard that bars are a great place to discuss credit unions.  Mention it on first dates – you’ll know right away if your compatible!  Who cares if it’s awkward, embrace it, it’s our duty!  Ask, “Do I look like the Little Guy when I carry this umbrella?”

If you haven’t gotten someone to say “Why isn’t everyone in a credit union then?” this month, then we’ve failed.  I don’t think we are doing our job nor our service to fellow citizens if we don’t get them to realize what they are missing.

So go out and get them champs!  If you can’t bring people to the mountain, bring the mountain to the people.

Rachel Best is the Meetings and Exhibits Manager for the Credit Union National Association. Read her last CUNAverse blog post here.