Innovation Still the Right Thing for Credit Unions

“Innovate or die” still stands.

That catch phrase—going back at least two decades—has been used to encapsulate the idea that innovation holds the key for a company's survival and growth in the fiercely competitive market. In 2007, Hayagreeva “Huggy” Rao was quoted in an article saying that even though the high importance of innovation “is a truism,” it’s so important to an organization’s lifeblood that “there is nothing wrong in harping on it.”

A professor at Stanford University and lead faculty for CUES’ Strategic Innovation Institute, Rao said in that same article that innovation becomes possible only when an organization’s culture encourages new ideas. “To state the obvious, the CEO need not necessarily be the most brilliant, or most original, mind in a company,” he explained. “He, or she, has to welcome suggestions from employees at all levels."

How are you going to ensure that new ideas are welcomed at all levels of your credit union in 2017 and beyond? Here are three suggestions:

1. Take stock about where you are in terms of innovation. Use the 15 questions in "Self Assessment: How Innovation Adept are You?" from Robert B. Tucker to rate where you and your team members are in your ability to innovate. President of The Innovation Resource Consulting Group, Santa Barbara, Calif., Tucker will speak about “Leading Ahead of the Curve” at CUES’ Directors Conference, slated for Dec. 11-14 in Maui.
2. Track—and then talk about—the learning of your team members. CUES Learning Tracker helps CUES and CUES Director members keep the good ideas coming by automatically tracking their learning activities on the CUES website when they are logged in. Importantly, CUES Learning Tracker’s bookmarklet tool also allows self-reporting for online learning activities outside of cues.org. The results can also be monitored by team leaders and those supporting board members to facilitate dialog about how that learning might best translate into incremental innovations that will better serve members.
3. Use tools to analyze the market and position your credit union in it. All of us in the industry read every day about the latest in payments, regulations and mergers. It can be overwhelming to think about how to sort through the available information and choose the right course for your credit union. Key CUES programs, including CUES’ flagship CEO Institute, new Payments University (now in development with CUES Supplier member CO-OP Financial Services), Mergers & Acquisitions Institute (now in its second year) and Strategic Innovation Institute, provide participants with tested tools for analysis, critical thinking and decision-making.

With innovation so key to your organization’s future, I hope you’re taking time to make new ideas a part of your daily efforts. Let me know how you think CUES can help.

Christopher Stevenson, CIE, is SVP/chief learning officer of CUES, a Madison, Wis.-based international membership association focused 100 percent on credit union talent development.