Can Credit Unions* restore faith in the ethical standards of financial institutions? (*Now with Royal approval)

The Duchess of Cornwall gave her enthusiastic support this week to the work of Credit Unions and their role in providing financial services for the most vulnerable.

Thursday was International Day of Credit Unions, with activities across many countries, to recognise the achievements of this distinct kind of institution.

Belonging is at the heart of Credit Unions: customers belong as members and investors, they share ownership and benefits of the fund, as well as a voice in the decisions around it. They are mutually-owned, ethically-run, and locally-based.

In contrast with the recent scandals around PayDay loans used by the most financially and socially vulnerable to tide them over week-on-week. With compound interest of up to 4,000% this left people with impossible debts.

Ethics - and commercial sustainability - have no place in this practice. Under pressure from public and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Wonga recently wrote off £220m of debts for 330,000 customers. 

The Credit Unions show us a different model: one in which ethics, commerce and financial services are easy partners.

Shared ownership means shared accountability, creating a powerful sense of belonging. 

Purpose is twinned with ethos, giving people principles to believe in and a reason to commit.

Belonging is not just about what you are doing, or how much money you are making: but who you are serving, and why.

Mutual support, strong principles, sharing, exchange and interdependence are all features of this kind of belonging.

Ethics benefits too. When people feel they belong to something they commit more firmly to its principles.

When people belong they do the right thing because they want to, not just because it says so in the rules.

The theme of this year's ICU Day is "Local Service. Global Good". The World Council of Credit Unions says this “emphasizes credit unions' positive impact in their communities and around the world” 

In the UK there are 524 Credit Unions with £1.1bn worth of assets and almost 1.5 million members, of which the Duchess of Cornwall herself is one.  

The Duchess said: “Credit Unions serve people, not profit” and could be “a real force for change in the financial landscape”.

They are growing in popularity in the UK, though just 2% of population are members. Although returns on savings are low, the appeal is in mutual support, with members borrowing and lending through the fund. Gateway Credit Union in South Wales reports significant growth.

In the US, Credit Unions are used by 46% of adult population with strong regional brands.

Mazuma Credit Union, based in Kansas City, exudes the power of belonging. Respected for its great work with the communities it serves as well as a great culture for the people who work within it, it has achieved consistent growth and stability through the recession.

Public faith in financial institutions crashed after a host of ethical disasters. Even the Co-op, the paragon of ‘good business’, is sullied by the scandals around the previous CEO and revelations about failings in Governance.

Are the major financial institutions are too big to be held accountable?

Can Credit Unions set high standards of ethics, and help restore confidence in finance houses?

Mark Lyonette, chief executive of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited says “Credit unions are a very good way of keeping banking in check.”

The unique ethos and structure of credit Unions must be welcome to the FCA. In its earnest efforts to improve standards of ethical conduct in financial sectors it stresses

“Treating customers fairly remains central to our expectations of firms’ conduct, that firms put the well-being of customers at the heart of how they run their businesses.”

Let's hope that the ethics of Credit Unions, and the spirit of belonging, can imbue shared accountability across the financial sector.

We surely need it.

Do your customers, employees and investors all feel they belong to your organisation?
Does everyone in your business uphold its ethics?

Talk to us about how to create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

www.belongingspace.com

twitter@IsabelBelonging

NonBelonging and NewBelonging: Rewriting the rules in a spirit of adventure

A most interesting angle on Belonging from Andy Swann, the plucky fellow who has set himself up as I am The Work Project.

This is the challenge he has set:

  "Can I go a year working outside the usual structures of work and  still make a living?"

Is this, essentially, NonBelonging?

Here's what he says so far:

"The Work Experiment involves a few different elements. To fully question what work is conceptually and emotionally, the structures we put around it, the mechanisms it perpetuates in our lives, how it continues to evolve and how it could perhaps be changed for the better, I need to change my relationship with work.

As of today, I'm not employed. I have nothing lined up but an open mind. I have enough money in the bank to last around one month. I'm very comfortable asking for what I need, so I'm equally comfortable being asked. I'm now working solely within the parameters of the work project."

And here are his guidelines:

"- I won't charge a pre-determined rate or fee for my work.

- For any work I do, all I'll ask is that the value I create is recognised.

- Recognition doesn't have to be purely financial (although it will need to be sometimes), it can be in value - products, services... anything.

- I'll work anywhere, consider any offer, but reserve the right to say no.

- I'm open to going anywhere in the world and will listen to any offer or idea. The aim of the experiment is to see whether this unstructured approach to work is sustainable and personally more fulfilling."

Not content with that Andy found himself twiddling his thumbs and noticing that his Twitter followership was still only around 500 despite pretty decent networking. 

So he put out a message to appeal to his next 100 Twitter followers, promising something good.

Here's what he says happens: 

"Within minutes I'd amassed well over the 100 followers I needed for the project and was hit by a wave on enthusiasm, constructive comment, sharing and interest. 

I was pretty taken aback and I now had a responsibility to deal with it all!"

Having identified the first 100 followers he sent an introductory tweet asking

"How can I support you?"

  And within 72 hours Andy had etablished #100connections, a bubbling community of talent and goodwill, exchanging ideas and support between each other - the Twitter equivalent of the barn-raising scene in Witness, the whole village pulling together to build a barn in a day.

He's gathered more support for this community from his discussions at the Culturevist event this week, with a like-minded bunch who put culture before the tasks of an organisation. 

What a great paradox. Someone who appears consciously to be NonBelonging, is working to several of our core principles of Belonging:

- Purpose (test whether he can go a year outside the usual structures of work and still make a living)

- Ethos (fairness, hardwork, openness, spirit of adventure)

- Community (offering support)

- Camaraderie (easy exchange, wanting success for each other in the team)

- Appreciation (recognising value, openly acknowledging help)

I'm intrigued. What does he belong to? Himself, or everything, or nothing?

So I'll be catching up with Andy later this month to find out what Belonging means to him and how his experience relates to our research - watch this BelongingSpace for an update.

Wishing Andy every success with his adventure. What a refreshing inspiration for a Friday.

Do you want to Belong or NonBelong?

What makes Belonging work in your organisation?

Find how we can help you create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

Follow us on Twitter for #Belonging insights

@IsabelBelonging

And you can offer Andy work (within his parameters) at

andy@iamtheworkproject.com

@AndySwann

What do I belong to?

Hello,

I'm Isabel.

I belong to my family, I belong to my friends, I belong to my community.

I still belong (the ties of camaraderie) to the company I've spent five great years with, and I'm now setting out on my own new adventure.

I belong to my children's school. I belong to London. I belong to Britain, I belong to Europe.

There, that's already enough to start a few conversations.

Human beings are tribal creatures. Our individual identity is marked by that of the groups we join: our collective achievement is made up of many individuals' efforts. We share characteristics, excitements, frustrations; work towards a common purpose, vision and ethos.

I belong to musicians (a sensitive tribe with tendencies to perfectionism), parents (trading patience with indulgence) and those who love laughter (a more maverick bunch).

21st century life requires us to belong to many tribes at the same time. This brings fruitful interchange as well as tricky issues. Societies and nations have developed complex systems to manage both, some more even-handedly than others.

Belonging, and NOT belonging, raises big challenges for organisations and employees.
It is a theme for our times, at the heart of many business issues:

• What happens after a merger or acquisition? The conflict of belonging has been the downfall of much-lauded mega-deals.
• What about companies whose main business is outsourcing: if your uniform says one name and your pay packet another, what do you belong to? This confusion can dilute effort and effectiveness.
• How can organisations include remote, dispersed and isolated employees?
• In global businesses, with hundreds of thousands of employees in many countries, across different cultures, departments, disciplines... how best to ensure the healthy interchange between all those internal tribes?

  

These are not small issues. Nor are they soft. 

Belonging is hardcore. 
Businesses lose and make vast amounts of profit based on the success of belonging as much as the strength of their product or distribution. 

The old cliché that  'Culture eats strategy for breakfast' 
has a load of mangled half-chewed-and-spat-out business disasters behind it as evidence of truth. And belonging is behind most of them.

And it's not just money that's at stake. Public bodies, charities and voluntary bodies all seek to serve their purpose through the collective efforts of their people. A clear sense of belonging, of how all the tribes come together, is vital for success.

Having spent most of the last 20 years helping companies (big and small, parochial and global) to make their culture work better, and led new thinking on values, ethics and purpose, I've been more and more bothered about the big questions at the heart of this:

• How do we belong? 
• Does belonging mean 'membership' or 'ownership', or a dance between both?
• How does an organisation invite people to belong, and set out the terms of being part of it?
• How do individuals choose what to commit to? 
• How can organisations uphold common belief and purpose, maintain standards and ethics? 

I don't believe there is a single 'Belonging model' that clever consultants can shove companies into. 

I don't believe there's a simplistic answer. 
It's complicated. And individual.

I do believe that there are common themes for any organisation. 

I know the parameters for how belonging works - and how to strengthen it when it fragments. 

The shape of the model, and the most relevant methods for strengthening Belonging, will vary for each company.

I've identified some of the main reference points - but I want to pin down more detail and nuance.

So now I'm putting my efforts where my mouth is and investigating this more thoroughly.

I'm just setting out, excited by how much there is to do. 
Of course, as well as seeing new insights, I can see all the things that I'm not. (Oh dear, I did say I belong to Britain - national characteristic self-deprecation?)

I want it to be thorough and rigorous, with a clear tune (Ah yes, the musician speaks...).

And I want it to be meaningful and useful (Hmm, parenthood).

I believe that belonging matters. 

I believe it's in our interdependence (not our independence) that we can really make a difference.

And that's how organisations and individuals - and communities and nations - can all flourish.

I'll be sharing much of my thinking as I go as an open-brain process on  http://www.belongingspace.com/    

It's a space to think, a space to exchange, a space to read, a space to challenge, a space for all things belonging.

I'd be delighted to hear from any like-minded souls, and any organisations who would like to give an interview.

And meantime, if you'd like any help with how to create a stronger sense of belonging in your organisation, drop me a line at isabel@belongingspace.com

That's hello from me and the Belonging Space.

What about you?

What do you belong to?

How can we can help you create a sense of Belonging?
Drop us a line, we'd love to chat.

isabel@belongingspace.com
www.belongingspace.com

Follow us on Twitter for #Belonging insights

@BelongingSpace
@IsabelBelonging