By Sarah Snell Cooke, Principal, Cooke Consulting Solutions

US credit unions would do well to remember where they came from rather than thinking themselves superior to the fledgling movements around the world.

Drawing on his World Council of Credit Unions experience, Unitus Community Credit Union President/CEO Steve Stapp warned, “We’re really not realizing our potential as credit unions.” He pointed out during a panel discussion at the May 8 Underground Collision hosted by Mitchell, Stankovic and Associates that the Guatemalan credit union community joined the forces of 18 credit unions under one umbrella, and it’s growing 20% year over year, compared to the 20-year growth of American credit unions from 5% to 6% marketshare. “They’ve created a movement, and it’s a social movement for them,” Stapp shared. “It allows them to leverage democracy which they really don’t have in their country.” US credit unions are taking this power for granted.

Don't miss this earlier content from the May 8 Underground Collision on collaboration and mergers.

Guatemala doesn’t have many clean areas, so this group of credit unions created a park. Stapp explained they saw a need in the community, and they’re fulfilling it. In the US, credit unions name stadiums after themselves; how’s that really helping the members, Stapp questioned.

Southwest Louisiana Credit Union President/CEO Ronaldo Hardy pointed out that Facebook has been successful because it’s high-tech in addition to social. “We see organizations that are marrying these two together, and they’re finding great success,” he said. “I believe the next leg of our journey is in social connections.”

The problem is that the credit union community has a fragmented identity, split up into 5,909 pieces.

The credit union message is getting lost in to jumble, CUToday.info Cooperator-in-Chief Frank Diekmann offered. A lack of faith hangs over the credit union model, while people are scurrying for what the next big thing in banking, whether eyeing fintech or fintech buying a bank.

He added that credit unions have an inferiority complex, and, “I think credit unions have gotten tired of their own message.”

However, Diekmann said, the storytelling is important. “Before you can tell the story to members, you have to tell it to your employees, and before you can tell it to your employees and you have to tell yourself.” Reinvigorating that message is critical, because when the employees are jazzed, they don’t feel like they’re selling something: They believe in it.

Without getting back to those roots, though, Stapp said, “When we don’t have this collaboration we develop everything everyone else is doing. How do we find a different way of doing this?”

Sears and Kmart say changing coming, but they did nothing about it and they got disrupted into extinction, Diekmann pointed out. “The last thing people want is disruption; they want you to be their financial day spa.”

Talking about avoiding being disrupted is great, but the key is making things happen, Hardy emphasized, and that can be difficult in the current circumstances. “For us to get things done and move forward, we needed to do some work to diversify the board,” he explained of his credit union. “If you can communicate the value that’s going to come down the line, it will be easier.”