By Andrew Downin
I’ve heard countless reasons why credit union leaders think they can’t innovate: we don’t have the staff, we can’t get sufficient funding, we just aren’t comfortable taking risk.
The comments aren’t surprising. Stories of individual credit unions attaining innovation success are few and far between, but don’t be discouraged. As an industry we’re slowly finding our way.
You don’t have to trek the innovation path alone. While an individual institution may not have the resources, focus, or risk appetite to make solitary leaps of progressive advancement, a huge opportunity exists for collaborative innovation. Through collaboration, risk can be distributed, resources can be shared, and greater impact can be achieved.
For over a decade, 200 of the brightest minds from the credit union movement have joined the collaborative community of Filene Research Institutes renowned Filene i3 innovation program. The goal? To develop innovative solutions to the most pressing consumer finance and credit union challenges. And, there have been some big successes along the way.
Debt in Focus (now SavvyMoney) was developed by Filene i3ers who saw that consumers wanted confidential and actionable online plans to pay down debt. Prize-linked savings accounts including Save to Win were brought to scale with the help of Filene i3 and now are legal at the federal level. Savings Revolution took the popularity of reality television shows like The Biggest Loser and applied it to families who competed against each other to see who could meet their financial goals. The list of cutting-edge solutions goes on and on.
Participants in the Filene i3 program learn what we call the Filene Method—a proven way to identify and solve problems using the human-centered design philosophy that states all innovation must be centered around the needs of the end user. But the i3 program is much more than just an intensive education program. It can be you credit union’s outsourced innovation department. Here’s how:
Encourage one of your credit union employees to apply for Filene i3 – What better way to be a part of collaborative change then to participate in our movement’s foremost innovation program? Applications for the 2015 Filene i3 class are now open at filene.org/innovate and run through May 15, 2015.
Participate in a Filene alpha lab prototype test – We take the most promising innovations developed in i3 and test each of them further with a small group of eight to ten credit unions. It’s your chance to literally be on the leading edge of innovation without bearing all of the risk yourself.
As part of CUToday.com’s Innovation Week, you’ll be introduced to the latest Filene i3 innovations and will hear firsthand from some of our current and former i3ers. My hope is that you’ll be inspired to learn more about the program and encourage a colleague to throw their hat into the i3 ring. They might just be a part of the next big credit union collaborative innovation!
Andrew Downin (linkedin.com/in/andrewdownin) is innovation director at Filene Research Institute and can be contacted at andrewd@filene.org or 608.661.3746