How Interra Is Advancing Its Purpose Journey

Key Results from Disruptive Strategy

Key Takeaways

• Interra Credit Union is focused on how it can remain relevant a decade from now.
• Senior team shares a common language around problem solving.
• As a purpose-driven organization, future scenarios are viewed through a new lens.
• The team is actively reimagining and rethinking how to meet members where they are.

Several years ago, the five-member executive team of Interra Credit Union ($1.7B, Goshen, IN) participated in Sustainable Business Strategy, a virtual-learning experience offered by Callahan & Associates in collaboration with Harvard Business School Online.

One of the key learnings from that initial course was that Interra needed to rediscover what it means to be a purpose-driven organization and give its entire team the shared language and tools needed to think differently. “It really launched us down the purpose journey we’re on,” says David Birky, Interra’s executive vice president & chief strategy officer.

The next phase included sending all 17 of Interra’s senior leaders through Disruptive Strategy, another course offered in collaboration with Harvard Business School Online that helps credit union leadership teams learn new tools to meet the strategic challenges of a disruptive world and build a practical strategic framework for applying and managing them.

“The biggest benefit has been our senior team thinking differently about the problems our members face and how we can provide solutions,” says Birky. “That common language and the strategic framework learned during Disruptive Strategy are still being actively used and referenced two years later at Interra.”

While launching new products or specific practices wasn’t the goal of the course, Interra has found that its team’s learnings have led to several concrete results as the cooperative moves forward on its purpose journey to meet members where they are.

For example, CashIN — which provides small-dollar loans of up to $2,500 for Interra members with approvals via smartphone in as little as 60 seconds — was implemented and is housed within the credit union’s foundation. Members simply log into online banking via smartphone or computer and answer six questions to apply for this payday lending alternative. If approved, the cash is deposited directly into their Interra checking account. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with approximately 2,700 CashIN loans made in just 10 months for a total of $3.7 million loaned so far. “Housing this in our foundation allows us to shine a brighter light on the program,” shares Birky.

Interra is also in the process of utilizing its foundation to stand up an alternative auto lending program, which will be based on relationships instead of credit scores. “Each of our senior department heads thinks about success differently now,” says Birky. “Understanding why members hire and fire us and looking more closely at their jobs to be done – whether with us or a competitor – has driven a complete overhaul and redesign of our deposit products.”

Unlike attending a retreat or reading a book, which can have short-term impacts, Birky has found that the learnings from Disruptive Strategy continue to be referenced on a weekly or even daily basis, shaping and changing the way Interra’s senior team thinks about what it means to be relevant. “It’s been transformational in the thought process of our senior team,” says Birky.