By Frank J. Diekmann
Innovation is the “modern art” of business strategy. Much talked about. Often debated. Frequently misunderstood. And no two people seem to agree on what they’re seeing. Even those who see the value in the end-product will tell you the whole process can be pretty abstract.
This week CUToday.info has partnered with the Filene Research Institute to feature some of the outcomes of the innovation process as part of what we’re calling “Innovation Week.” We’ll be featuring five different projects that have been created by five different teams from Filene’s i3 program.
Our reason is this. i3 stands for Ideas, Innovation, Implementation, but at most credit unions when and if innovation ever takes place, it’s really more like i2, with the all-important implementation piece never being executed. That leads to something much worse than just a new idea potentially going wasted. It can lead to everyone souring on the whole concept of innovation, to the waste of time and the members’ money, to creating a culture where staff sees no reason to suggest an idea or even think innovatively, and to the credit union becoming stale.
Forget innovation; at that point, it’s stagnation, and we all know what’s the next step to come.
Our focus is on actual ideas that teams have created and either implemented or are seeking to implement. These are their ideas, but they can be yours, too. Our idea is to bring this to the CUToday.info universe to demonstrate first, that innovation can be much more than the buzzword du jour, it’s a process with real outcomes; and second, that those real outcomes include products and services that can make a difference for both credit unions and their members.
The five different stories that are part of Innovation Week will appear in The Feature on CUToday.info; the first story can be found here. Make sure to stop back each day for the newest innovation, along with other related content, such as this piece by the Filene Institute’s Andrew Downin.
And now for some things that are completely different…
- In the course of a rather rambling presentation, I heard a CU conference speaker recently offer these observations: “When you want to ruin someone’s day, start humming the song ‘Seasons in the Sun’”; sharing details of his personal genome, he noted that “what makes you you is less data than a DVD of The Hangover,” and in related news, shared with his audience genome findings showing that he is prone to “wet earwax.” I thought this kind of over-sharing was the reason social media had been created.
- Picked up this piece of trivia at another meeting recently: “If you took everything stolen from Walmart in a year and totaled its value, it would be the 800th largest company in the U.S.”
- This observation was shared by Anne Legg during a discussion on big data at the recent MountainWest Credit Union Association conference in Phoenix: “When members are asked if they had to choose just one delivery channel, they say it’s online. When you survey your staff and ask them what members would say in response to that question, they will answer, ‘The branch.”
- Speaking of branches, the FDIC recently published a report that found physical branches have staying power. The report notes that while the rise of alternative banking methods have reduced customer’s day-to-day dependence on physical branches, more than 6,000 FDIC-insured financial institutions continue to operate 94,725 brick-and-mortar branches. And, although the number of branches has fallen 4.8% since 2009, there are more banking offices per capita than in 1970, a time when many of today’s alternative banking methods were not even envisioned.
- One final note: CUToday.info sends daily news headlines to more than 8,000 people every day. It’s the freshest, most comprehensive report available to CU community leaders every morning. If you’re not receiving it, drop me a note at the email address below, and we’ll add you to the list. You can always opt-out later, but we’re pretty confident you’re not going to want to.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also the author of two books that can be found at www.cathoderaysbook.com and www.thebawlgame.com.