How Helping People Helps the Credit Union

I love to find ways to connect my personal and professional life. At the end of the day, I want to inspire kindness. I’m also very passionate about credit union principles and philosophy. I admire how we use our business model for the greater good. So, I’ve come up with a way to combine my passion for credit unions with my love for helping people. This campaign will promote the credit union philosophy of “People Helping People”, engage employees, and in the end, provide a positive return on investment.

Helping People

How does the act of kindness align with our core values? It’s the credit union philosophy of “People Helping People”. It can be as simple as giving a compliment, sending a thank you card, or volunteering your time and talent. The act of kindness carries an immediate benefit, not only for the recipient, but for the giver and those surrounding, as well. Kindness is contagious. During this campaign, we will share and promote stories of caring and compassion through press releases and social media.  

A random act of kindness is not a new concept. It’s one we’ve shared many times within the credit union community. Credit unions have a long history of working together. We collaborate. We share. How does collaborating with other credit unions and businesses align with our principles? It’s one of our cooperative principles, “Cooperation among Cooperatives.” This becomes evident, even as I am working on this project. Credit union advocates have reached out to be a part of this campaign, share ideas and encourage–simply to help people.

Empowering Employees 

It doesn’t matter who you are, you can make a difference. Everybody can contribute by serving others.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best, “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” This campaign would allow every credit union employee to be reimbursed for performing a random act of kindness; essentially, credit unions would be sponsoring kindness. Pretty amazing, right?

What is the value of empowering employees to commit random acts of kindness? Empowering brings out the best in our employees and showcases their potential. Bottom line, a happier, more engaged employee will increase sales and motivate others. To measure the impact of this campaign, we will make an assessment of employee morale before and after. We will survey the staff to determine how they perceived the campaign and what impact it made on them.  

Measuring Success

When you engage in activities that help your community, consumers follow. A positive relationship with the community will increase competitiveness, build connections, and boost our community profile. According to the Nielsen Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility, consumers today are more socially conscious and willing to switch brands to support companies that support the community. It’s not the reason we’re socially responsible, but it’s a great benefit. We can reap the rewards from our positive actions by giving back to the people we serve.  

But how will we know if we’ve been successful? We will measure engagement through social media campaign analytics and surveys. We will also measure membership growth and products sold. An increase in membership will equate to an increase in awareness and an increase in products sold will equate to an increase in loyalty. In the end, we will be successful if we can inspire kindness in our community.

Helping others makes us feel connected. As part of the credit union movement, we can help others and help each other by participating in this campaign. Hopefully, we can work together to inspire kindness, empower greatness, and show concern for our communities. People Helping People…It’s Who We Are! 

Melissa Frey