It has been a year since my trip to Bologna when a group of 15 Vancity staff studied co-operatives in this region of the world where co-ops are modern, big, profitable and also progressive and responsible. A new group of Vancity employees just wrapped up their adventure in Italy and from those I’ve spoken to, it sounds like they’ve had an equally amazing and inspiring time. Bringing back this knowledge and experience to strengthen our own financial co-operative is incredibly important as Vancity gets more in touch with its roots and focuses on our new vision of Redefining Wealth.
A couple of weeks back, Corporate Knights released a list of responsible companies in Canada and the top three are all co-ops. Vancity ranked third behind Mountain Equipment Co-op (Canada’s equivalent of REI) and The Co-operators, a large national insurance company (whom Vancity sold its Insurance division to last year).
In thinking about co-ops in a 21st Century context, it seems to me focusing on the seven co-operative principles and our system of governance is a bit of a non-starter. It is my opinion that as co-operatives, we should be adjusting our message to fit with the times. The co-operative message will still resonate with some, but I think that to many it seems outdated and esoteric. People don’t get excited about governance, or voting for a bunch of people for a Board when they don’t really understand the role of a Board or the impact of their vote.
But there is an increased consumer focus on the behavior of the companies they deal with. Social connection equals social responsibility and people can learn more about the behind-the-scenes actions of companies than ever before. Through social media, people are used to participating, and co-ops can offer ways to participate and engage that perhaps other companies cannot.
In Vancouver, where the term 100 mile diet originated, I think we have something in common with the locavore movement. Eat local, shop local, keep your money local. When Vancity talks about Redefining Wealth, to me that’s what it means. Profits can go to shareholders in another part of the country or world, or the profits from your bank accounts, mortgage, investments and credit card can stay local and be invested back into your neighbours and community.
Vancity has become a slang word for Vancouver and the idea of “keep your money in Vancity” seems like a strong value proposition.
In the art of acting there is a practice of memorizing your script and stage directions and character attributes perfectly so you can forget it all and improvise knowing you have that base to work from. I would say the same is true here. Internalize the co-operative principles, live by them, socialize them within your co-op, and then forget them and start improvising so you can increase the relevance of this movement to fit into today’s modern, connected world.
PS: I must credit Morriss and Gene for their posts that inspired me to write this.
I was fortunate enough to be on the selection committee for a new agency of record for Vancity. We have a wealth of very good agencies here in Vancouver and Vancity wanted to ensure that we have the right partner to help us move forward towards our vision of Redefining Wealth.
Redefining Wealth is our vision of growing wealth for our members in a way that directly benefits our communities. We have only started communicating it publicly, and the first place it shows up is in our new Annual Report. The title is obviously provocative, intended to get members questioning what we’re doing and reading on to discover what Vancity’s doing for the “wealthy”.
As we embark on this journey, we met with many agencies in Vancouver, some very large and some very small. It was a great process, helped by a consulting firm, Reynolds & Fyshe. Dan and Mike (Reynolds & Fyshe) helped us steer a transparent, fair, thorough selection process that focused mostly on fit. This was not a beauty pageant where agencies simply wowed us with some superlative work (although we did get to see lots of great work), but a process evaluating our DNA to ensure we found a real partner in our mission.
In the end, we were very excited to discover our amazing fit with local agency, Wasserman + Partners. They demonstrated amazing knowledge of our brand and alignment with our vision. Their work resonated with us, they asked profoundly good and tough questions and have demonstrated real business results with their other clients. It doesn’t hurt that they are a member of our credit union and have been since they launched. They show a deep understanding of iconic local brands, and Vancity is an important player in that field.
I know W+P from their work on the province-wide projects they do on behalf of all BC-based credit unions (see their TV ads). They have been the agency for Credit Unions of BC for over ten years, and their knowledge of this sector is a real plus. I have seen their work get stronger and stronger and the results of their work break through barriers identified as chief obstacles to increasing credit union membership. I have seen the early results of their upcoming campaign, and it is truly impressive.
So, a new chapter opens in the storied history of Vancity. I feel very fortunate to be able to play a role in all of this, and am excited to roll up my sleeves and work with our new partner, Wasserman + Partners.
For the last two Septembers, Tim McAlpine, Gene Blishen and I have planned and put on BarCampBanks here in Vancouver. We have been discussing what to do this year and we think it’s time for new blood.
So here’s the deal: I’d love someone to step up and take over the planning of a BarCampBank here in BC. It’s a great event, but the three of us feel like we’d be re-hashing old territory and some new energy and ideas need to surface.
Leave a comment if you’re interested, and we’ll go from there.
In 2008, as the financial crisis was beginning, I remember thinking that it was going to be an amazing learning experience working at a financial institution through an economic crash.
Well, it turns out I was right.
The last eighteen months or so have been challenging, fascinating, frustrating and highly educational. I have been able to make progress on some amazing initiatives that perhaps I otherwise might not have, and watched others slow down to a crawl. I have learned a lot about my own abilities and limitations as well as my sense of intuition and common sense.
And then, just in the last couple of months, things have begun to shift. Things are getting clearer and easier. It’s very much like a fog has been lifted, and I can see the horizon again.
And I wonder if any of you have felt the same way.
My guest will be Ed Brett, who is the Manager, Ecommerce Channel at Westminster Savings Credit Union here in the Metro Vancouver area. We’ll be talking about 2010, the opportunities, the challenges, the things we’re happy to leave behind and the things we’re excited to dig into.
You can call us at 917-889-7767 and join the conversation once the show begins. Talk to you then…
UPDATE: You can listen to the archive of episode #6 here:
Each one sent adds $1 to a donation pool at the Foundation, and senders can decide whether they want to support enterprising nonprofits, housing and homelessness or food security. It’s all contained here on a description page on ChangeEverything.ca.
I hope it’ll be an engaging way for people to connect over the holidays while supporting local issues.
Selfishly, it’s nice to see our main website and ChangeEverything.ca work together. For me, it’s putting together the pieces we already have to work harder together.
One area of Vancity that I’m excited to get more involved with is the Vancity Community Foundation. I didn’t have much to do with the Foundation until fairly recently when I chose them to receive the donation made in my name when I was named GonzoBanker of the Month back in March.
And then recently, I went to their 20th anniversary celebration, and was in awe of what they accomplish in our communities every day. Brave, inspiring work that reminded me of all the reasons I work at Vancity.
Here are those videos, and I urge you to check them out.
Community Stories
History
Donor Stories
I have written before that one of the main things I love about doing what I do at Vancity is that it is an organization whose presence would be sorely missed by many in our area if it were to disappear. It is an organization that matters, which is not a sense I’ve ever had about the companies I’ve ever worked for before. It is a profound thing.
I’ll be writing more about the Vancity Community Foundation soon, we’re about to launch a very cool way to support their work.
As I was getting ready for work this morning, I looked at my computer a little bleary-eyed and saw this tweet from Jeff Stephens. It was a nice way to start the day.
A few weeks back, Bank Technology News told me I had been named one of the top 10 innovators of 2009. I was humbled, kind of in disbelief, honoured and thrilled.
One of my fellow credit union bloggers, Matt Davis (otherwise known as the Credit Union Warrior) recently approached me with the idea of a site where 12 credit union champions would surface relevant, inspiring and forward-looking online content for the rest of the CU world. It was an intriguing concept and I was truly honoured to be among the initial people he approached.
Well give the guy like 10 days and he’s gone from running the idea past us to launching the damn thing.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the CU Water Cooler, bubbling up the best credit union content.
The site is simple. The 12 editors each tag content on delicious, and the site aggregates it all together. There will also be blog posts and radio shows, where we touch on issues affecting credit unions. Matt’s initial post sums it all up way better than I ever could.
Major kudos to Matt for making this happen. I can see this is the start of amazing things Matt will do now that he’s joined Filene to help credit unions across the globe learn about, implement, and create financial services innovations. Pretty cool stuff.
Check it out, bookmark it, follow it on Twitter, subscribe to the feed and join in the conversation.
PS: Sorry it’s been two whopping months since my last post. I blame it on lots of activity, both professional and personal. Leave a comment to let me know you’re still reading…
BarCampBankBC2 took place today. Tim McAlpine, Gene Blishen and I decided to make it a lower key, locally-focused event, given the economic times. It took place in the Vancity board room, and about 25 people from FIs and FI-related organizations took part in the conversations. The conversations focused a lot on co-operation, and, as often happens at BarCampBanks, the participants were mostly from the credit union world.
We talked about co-operation amongst co-operatives, about innovating new products, about channel strategy, about pulling together our members’ data to help them understand their finances more easily.
As I reflect, I think the main theme that emerged was the implicit or explicit barriers that are in place in our various organizations that hinder innovation, agility and sometimes even common sense. In some ways it was a ‘grass is always greener’ conversation where smaller organizations envy the resources bigger organizations have, and larger organizations envy the agility and lack of silos in smaller organizations.
It was a pleasure to discuss the issues of the day with some Twitter friends, including @eddron, @wendyholm, @dcesarini, @currencyTim, @pennyminder and @ebrett. Almost all of whom were at BarCampBankBC last year. So, I think we’re safe to say we’ll do it again next year. Perhaps same place and same weekend…
The wifi was spotty, and the conversations were involved, so there wasn’t a lot of Tweeting, but the Twitter tag was #bcbbc2, if you want to see the commentary.
On a personal level, BarCampBankBC2 marks the end of one of the busiest periods in recent memory for me. Starting with buying our house, going to Bologna, moving, launching the League of Kickass Business People in Vancouver, Ivan starting Kindergarten, finishing a major business case to revamp our intranet and bring enterprise 2.0 to our organization, writing an online service experience strategy, driving Vancity’s co-op week activities, plus some critical business issues at work and, oh yeah, my day job. Summers are usually a little slower, but this one was jam packed, almost all with outstanding items, but slightly more than my plate could hold. It’s one of those times where I’m excited about all the different things I’m involved with, but I’ve still been looking forward to having some of them behind me and not in front of me.
In 2008, as the financial crisis was beginning, I remember thinking that it was going to be an amazing learning experience working at a financial institution through an economic crash.
