Uniting the Clans: When being a hero means not going it alone

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Welcome to The Hero's Voice, where we show real-world examples of the ideas outlined in Hero's Quest, our process of building customer loyalty by being a hero to your customer or member. To find out more about Hero's Quest, just click on the link above.

Have you ever seen Braveheart with Mel Gibson? He plays the Scottish hero William Wallace, who despite the odds managed to unite various clans and successfully fight against the tyranny of English rule. He achieved what no one believed could be done because he inspired the clans to work together against a common enemy, rather than working against each other in an effort to maintain their separate identities.

I got the chance to see this same dynamic at work during a planning session for one of our clients, Eastern NY Federal Credit Union (www.easternNYsaves.org). ENY FCU serves correctional officers in the Catskill region of New York, where banking options are few unless you want to go with a big, impersonal bank. However, being able to provide personal service while offering the technology-intensive tools people have come to expect is no easy task for smaller credit unions. For this reason, Eastern recently invited another credit union to merge with them, so the planning session focused on the potential synergy of the two credit unions if they combined forces.

The session was facilitated by Frank Hackney, III of InnerShift Practices, LLC (www.innershift.com). Frank did a great job of involving the two senior management teams and board members, focusing discussions on what a merger might mean to both credit unions and their combined field of membership. For the better part of two days, Frank built an increasing bond between the two credit unions while maintaining a neutral position as facilitator. But near the end of the second day, Frank stepped out of his neutrality and said something that electrified the room:

"People will tell you that this can't be done, that you will fail. The naysayers will tell you the odds are too great, and your resources too small. The question is this: what will you tell them in response? Will you accept the challenge of combining forces so the people in your community will have the option of a financial advocate? Or will you go back to struggling to survive on your own?"

You could feel the mood in the room completely change. Two minutes before, there were two groups leaning toward integration: now there was a single group forged by the bond of PROVING they could succeed. It was amazing and inspiring to watch, and I have no doubt that if the merger is approved the integrated credit union will indeed succeed. I am also deeply grateful to ENY FCU for allowing us to be a part of the session -- for treating Creative Abandon as an ally and not just a vendor.

If your company has been struggling to go it alone in being the hero to your customer, consider the power of "uniting the clans." If you've been struggling personally to go it alone within your company, consider who you might join forces with. And if you've successfully united, collaborated or otherwise integrated with another "clan" yourself, please share your story by clicking on the "Share Your Story" link above. No matter what legend you choose to create, Creative Abandon is here to help you tell the tale.

Lisa and the Creative Abandon team