Diversity Insight: The strategic importance of many perspectives
If credit unions want to do a great job in four areas of big opportunity—and others—they’ll need input from leaders with a variety of life experiences.
The communities many credit unions serve today have evolved over decades. Whether employers of select employee groups CUs served in the past have closed or the communities that surround them have changed demographically, most credit unions are working to serve a different group of people—from age, race, socioeconomic and other perspectives—than they did in the past.
Consider that by 2044, the U.S. will have a minority majority population and that, for many areas, the only thing propping up population growth is immigration. Think about how millennials are carrying more debt than any other generation, will have a tougher time getting credit and have different priorities compared to previous generations. If credit unions want to attract new members (and loans) going forward, they need to better understand the perspectives of these unique groups—and others.
If you find yourself working to serve a changed membership, your credit union has two choices: ignore the changes and continue to target the members you know best (probably people like you) or get serious about serving new groups by adding new perspectives to your strategic conversations, to better help your organization understand the best way to reach and serve them.
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