Power of collaboration

A recent TED Talk Radio Hour discussed the power of collaboration and how momentous projects have been accomplished through the efforts of many people. Throughout the stories, a central theme emerged that collaboration cultivates communities. It’s simple, really. People gather to contribute their time and energy into a project that they find valuable. This idea is not new, but could provide an idea to help credit unions increase their community presence, acquire new member accounts, or even launch a new initiative.

Simple examples

The non-profit organization in charge of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, was founded with the purpose of giving everyone access to a free encyclopedia. Their mission was to provide a platform for regular people to provide valuable content on the web for free. Over the years, Wikipedia has grown into one of the top ten most visited sites in the world. With over 80,000 contributors working to provide content for free, Wikipedia is one of the largest collaboration projects today.

Another large collaboration project is captcha codes, the random order of alphanumeric characters that you enter into a website to prevent automated programs, or bots, from abusing large-scale account creations or ticket sales. As Luis von Ahn, the creator of captcha codes, and his team thought more about the few precious seconds being wasted by millions, they looked for what problem their tool could help solve. Today, captcha codes crowd source human brainpower to digitize books.

Von Ahn’s latest project is Duolingo. Duolingo is free website that teaches subscribers a foreign language. In exchange for the free service, the subscribers contribute his or her time towards the enormous effort of translating the Web from English to every other major language. As the lessons become more difficult, small samples of website copy are integrated into the lessons for translation. Von Ahn reports that with millions of users, the rate of accuracy is just as high if a professional translator was hired to translate one article, yet the power of collaboration allows this process to work much faster and more cost effective.

How can collaboration affect credit unions?

Credit unions are a warehouse of data and information. Additionally, credit unions already have a substantial following of people that if brought together could contribute to something great. Tying these two valuable pieces together creates a powerful opportunity to drive a new initiative through collaboration.

For example, USA Today has reported that the financial literacy of young adults is at an all-time low. Credit unions have the ability to provide the education necessary for basic to potentially advanced financial understanding. Reaching out to influential business leaders in the community to arrange a time for them to visit the branch and hold a small meet and great could be a great way to provide the education needed. In turn, the credit union is receiving great exposure and fostering trust among potential new member accounts.

A second collaboration effort is to source what motivates members or what they could stand behind. The rewards program, Buzz Points, focuses on shopping locally. Research has shown that “go local” campaigns keep more money in the community, and in fact, Civic Economics reports that up to 58% of the profits a local business makes stays in the community. That is more than twice as much as a national chain’s contribution. A Buzz Points user is a key contributor in the campaign by simply choosing to shop at a local business. In return for his or her purchase, points are given out that can later be redeemed for gift cards back to the businesses they support. The rewards program provides a technical incentive that is attractive to a younger generation, but also allows credit unions to become the face of a larger community effort of keeping more dollars local.

Collaboration is a power tool that has and will continue to drive large projects. The few examples given are only a small set of many ideas that have made greater impact on others, and each credit union is going to have its own set of ideas and goals. But keep in mind that as the day fills itself with unanswered emails, long meetings, and new problems, a few minutes from a handful of people can lead to big changes.

Holly Watson

Holly Watson

Holly Watson brings 5 years of experience to the small business marketing and online communication field. Prior to Buzz Points Holly managed the marketing communication and events for a local ... Web: buzzpoints.com Details