Your credit union doesn’t need to jump off the bridge

I am sure that everyone has heard their mother (father, teacher, aunt, uncle, grandparent) say, “If your friends jumped off a bridge would you do that too?” Most often, this question is met with eye-rolls and irritation from the person it was being said to. Or, possibly, a sarcastic remark (something I know nothing about, of course).

As a grown up, this dilemma doesn’t go away, and it has a tendency to show up in our work more often than we may realize. For me, this has been incredibly apparent while my team has been eyeball deep in rebranding work. We knew going into this project that it was important for us to stand out and be different from the credit unions and banks in our area – and there are a lot of them in Seattle. I find myself looking at everything we do and have done and ask, “Why?” continually. “Why do we still have check writing stands in our branches?” “Why do people go to our website?” “Why do we have teller lines?”

Some of these questions have good answers that coincide with the direction we are going now. Some do not. I have made it my personal mission to eradicate “because that is what the other financial institutions do” from our mindset. What was right yesterday is not necessarily right today, and what the members wanted last week is different from what they will want tomorrow. We need to be prepared for the future and constantly asking ourselves, “Why” (and all of those other “W” words).

I came across a quote the other day (probably a Facebook meme or something, I can’t find it again now) but it said something along the lines of, “Just because everyone is doing things one way doesn’t make it right. And, just because no one is doing something doesn’t make it wrong.”

With our new branding, we worked with local bands and artists and had them showcase their talents to show what truth means to them (Verity means truth). We essentially handed over our brand to these artists and had to have faith that it would fit us and resonate with our audiences. We only launched last month, but the results so far are promising. This isn’t really a common practice in our industry, and no one is doing anything like this in the Seattle area. Does that mean it is wrong? No. Is it right for everyone? No. Is it the right approach for Verity? Yes.

There are still plenty of things we are doing at Verity that we need to examine to see if it is a “because everyone else does it” or “because that is the way we have always done it” item. And, making a commitment to this approach means we are signing on for a way of thinking – this isn’t a project that is ever really “done.” But committing to asking the question means we are committing to being exceptional and really doing what is in the best interest of our membership.

Do you take the time to ask “Why?” enough? What are you doing wrong just because everyone else does it? If all the other credit unions decided to jump off of a bridge, would you jump too?