Credit Union Times - January 10, 2018

A successful credit union
may offer all the latest
products, services and
technologies, but if the
employees and members don’t
acknowledge the emotional con-
nections, then these products are
just commodities.”
Mark S. Brennan, president/
CEO of Clearview Federal Credit
Union in Moon, Penn., sees “ex-
perience” as the next dimension
in the credit union’s develop-
ment. Brennan adds, “Experience
is a critical component of our stra-
The executive team and the
board of directors at Clearview
understand that a healthy future
will be built on more than prod-
ucts, services and delivery chan-
nels. They’re using “experience
strategy” as the lens to re-examine
everything they do. The Clear-
view team’s work will ensure that
the credit union stands above its
rivals in the hotly contested mar-
kets of western Pennsylvania and
Pittsburgh.

Vice President of Member Ex-
perience Renee Lucas explains
experience this way:
“Every member in-
teraction is an oppor-
tunity to see things
from other perspec-
tives. Our strategy
includes four areas
of focus across the
organization: Mem-
ber experience,
digital experience,
community/sales
experience and em-
ployee experience.”
Experience is a
theory tailored to the
times. Popularized in
the book “The Experi-
ence Economy – Work
is Theatre and Every Business a
Stage,” Professors B. Joseph Pine
and James Gilmore predicted a
next, fourth stage in the evolution
of the American economy. Essen-
tially, Pine and Gilmore argue that
after decades of advancement in
the “service economy,” service
is now as much a commodity as
products had become during the
manufacturing economy that pre-
ceded it.

If you find that
competing on price
and service alone is
exhausting, you un-
derstand commod-
ity status viscerally.
That’s the nature of
commodity mar-
kets, often referred
to as “the race to the
bottom!”
Due to commodi-
fication, Pine and
Gilmore make the
case that “memora-
ble events” are now
as important – argu-
ably more impor-
tant – than your Visa
products, checking accounts or
auto loans. If that seems like a
bridge too far, welcome to the ex-
perience economy. It’s a confus-
ing state where, according to Pine
and Gilmore, businesses “inten-
tionally use services as the stage,
and goods as props, to engage in-
dividual customers in a way that
creates a memorable event.”
The experience economy is an
especially disorienting develop-
ment for financial
retailers. We’re up to
our necks in regulato-
ry burden, technolog-
ical innovations and
threats, consolidation
and hyper-competi-
tion. But keep those
pressures at bay and
experience strategy
provides a powerful
payback.

The arrival of the
experience economy
is a game changer for
community-based
institutions – espe-
cially those that can
make a credible case
for serving the best
interests of their pub-
lic. The tools and
techniques of experi-
ence strategy provide
a comprehensive ap-
proach to differenti-
ate your institution
from its rivals. Expe-
rience dramatizes the
unique qualities of
your institution, creating a playing
field that your larger competitors
will be helpless to emulate.

Where Do We Start?

If experience is the emerging field-of-play tailor-made for mis-sion-based organizations, how do credit unions get started?

Experience Is Action

All credit unions possess credible, compelling missions, visions and values. But left alone, these aspirations are only words on a page. Memorable experiences for consumers and staff members require action and interaction. The first step to create a distinctive experience culture is simply to translate your mission, visions or values into actions.

This is the work of staff members, but especially member-fac-ing staff. Get all of them involved in the strategy. Ask them to design memorable events that will interrupt the mundane routines of financial retail with experiences that demonstrate your values. Suddenly “member engagement” has meaning. Remember, you have a fundamentally different value proposition. Don’t leave it in a binder; bring it to life.

Experience Mapping

The next step enrolls the back-of-fice in the experience. Slowly, over years, we’ve only added to our processes and procedures. Today, they are often complex, cumbersome and sometimes ignored.

They typically ask too much of our
members. And just as often, tech-
nological changes allow us to ac-
complish tasks more quickly and
efficiently, but our procedures
haven’t been updated for these
new capabilities.

Experience strategy asks that we question everything. And look hard to simplify our processes – for staff, when possible, but ultimately to make the member experience surprising, delightful and memorable.

Codify Your Experience
Culture in Systems

Now that staff is engaged and delivering compelling, differentiating experiences, and you’re simplifying many complex procedures, it’s time to also rethink “evaluations.” Let’s face it. Few are happy with traditional evaluation systems. Managers dread them as much and perhaps more than their direct reports do. They rarely add value to the organization. Experience cultures need to develop talent, not score past task performance.

In future issues, we’ll dig deeper into the specific components of outstanding experience cultures. For even the best performing institutions, experience is a change initiative and change is never easy. It requires a clear commitment from the top of the organization, determined effort to create memorable events and changes to processes and procedures to formalize the experience culture.

As Brennan puts it, “ Experience has to begin with executive and board commitment. Understanding and accepting the member experience journey is not like any other project with a beginning, middle and end. It’s a vision that continuously evolves with dedication.” n