Telling the Credit Union Story with Tansley Stearns of Backbone Coalition & orsa credit union

Text Transcription

Intro: This is Believe in Banking, a podcast series for decision makers, influencers, and leaders, featuring experts taking on the financial industry’s most pressing issues with insight and empathy. The podcast features information and conversations designed to enlighten and empower.

Gina Bleedorn (00:17): Welcome to our Believe in Banking podcast. I’m Gina Bleedorn, president and CEO of Adrenaline.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (00:23): And I’m Juliet D’Ambrosio, Chief Experience Officer at Adrenaline.

Gina, today we have a very special guest, Tansley Stearns, who is the president and CEO of orsa credit union and also the Backbone Coalition leader. If our listeners don’t know, Backbone is a coalition whose purpose is to unite credit unions across the country in the goal of championing everyday Americans by providing financial options that help to put people and communities first. So they are doing collaboration, coalition building on a broad scale, unlike any that we have seen before. We are so excited to welcome Tansley to the Believe in Banking Podcast.

Tansley Stearns (01:15): Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor.

Gina Bleedorn (01:17): Tansley, I had the honor of meeting you at the “In the Cellar” event for which you and the credit union are key sponsors. That event was wonderful in and of itself benefitting… What’s the correct way to say it? It’s youth mental health?

Tansley Stearns (01:35): So we are focused on mental well-being and the proceeds go to Children’s Miracle Network hospitals with that focus. Children’s Miracle Network hospitals are a core area that credit unions give to on an ongoing basis. And what’s special about “In the Cellar” is this opportunity to really be focused on mental well-being.

Gina Bleedorn (01:56): I love that, Tansley. It struck me then just what a purpose-driven leader you are in all of the things that you touch – certainly at the credit union and at events like “In the Cellar,” but then definitely at Backbone, which we want to focus on diving into more today. Can you tell us about Backbone, what was the impetus? What is the mission? And what is really happening at Backbone that you now have two dozen or more organizations participating and growing? Tell us about it.

Tansley Stearns (02:29): We’ve been joking in credit unions for years about being the best kept secret across our great country. And while it’s humorous, I think it’s time to stop laughing and start doing something about it. That’s really what Backbone is all about. We were noticing that there was some negative earned media happening a couple of years ago, and I was talking with some of my peers and saying, “Gosh, this is really what we’re best at in the world is coming together and collaborating. It’s one of the gifts of our space. What if we focus that energy on ensuring that every American knows they have a financial best friend to walk with them?”

We had an opportunity at America’s Credit Union Roundtable to be on a panel. My friend, Linda Armyn, who’s the president and CEO of FourLeaf Federal Credit Union and I shared this idea. We had enough energy in the room for about 11 of us to start this coalition, and it’s really very simple. We want to tell the credit union story, to make sure people know about it, and we’re doing that in partnership with an organization called Bryson Gillette. They’re experts in storytelling, and they’re helping us to come up with themes, to share stories across those themes, and make sure that credit unions are not a secret any longer. And Backbone is closing that gap.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (03:49): Tansley, what a cool way of starting a coalition, which sounded like it happened sort of live and in an organic way as part of that roundtable where there was enough energy and enough interest for people to express the desire to come together. And I’m so curious about why now. You mentioned that credit unions are sort of the best kept secret. We have traced through data just the awareness of Americans and their understanding of even what a credit union is, who it’s for and why they exist. But I’d love your perspective on why it is particularly critical now for the credit unions to come together and to communicate through storytelling the value that credit unions can have in people’s lives?

Tansley Stearns (04:41): It’s urgent, and we must be impatient with progress because human beings are suffering. There are financial challenges facing Americans every day that credit unions are the answer for. And if people don’t know we exist, we can’t be that answer. And that’s why I don’t think it’s funny anymore. It’s why I think we have to be very serious about it. And it’s such an opportunity. The other thing that we know to be true is that if we don’t tell our story, someone else might. It is our responsibility, and it’s not boasting. It’s not bragging. It is doing right by Americans who need that financial best friend. This is why credit unions were created. And we have this opportunity to ensure that that secret isn’t kept and that when people are looking for their first home, they think of a credit union first. When they start that first account and they are saving for the very first time that they think of a credit union first.

Across all of our lives, we have joyful and dark moments. And all of those have financial implications and foundations and credit unions stand into those in a way that no other financial institution does. And again, we can’t stand in the way that we do if people don’t know who we are. I was actually on a trip to talk about Backbone at a credit union event. And when I got in my Uber, the person asked me why I was there and I said, “Well, I’m headed to a credit union event.” And he asked, “What?” And I said, “I’m headed to a credit union event.” And he said, “What’s a credit union?” And that’s the challenge. And we want to get to a place with Backbone where when we get in an Uber, the person is saying, “Oh my gosh, my credit union helped me buy my first home. My credit union ensured that I have a really sound retirement plan and savings.” All of the things that we can do. And that’s what Backbone’s all about. And it’s why it’s urgent right now because Americans need us.

Gina Bleedorn (06:41): Tansley, you mentioned earlier some of the negative press. Can you dig into a little bit about what you think credit unions have historically and/or are currently up against not only in the lack of awareness as the story you just told illustrates, but just assumptions, stigma, and in some cases, just ignorance and lack of knowing. What are some of the barriers that credit unions are up against in changing perceptions?

Tansley Stearns (07:16): One of them is that credit union leaders are incredibly humble and so focused on doing really great work and helping the members in front of them. And we forget to step back and say, “This is remarkable. People need to hear about it.” We sometimes undervalue storytelling and some of that’s structural. When you think about how credit unions began… I’ll give you the example of the first credit union I worked for. That credit union served Macy’s employees. And when someone got hired at Macy’s, the person in HR said, “Gosh, we know you want to get paid. Let’s open your account at the credit union and that’s where your direct deposit will go.” You don’t need to be great at storytelling when that’s your business model. Of course, the world has changed a lot. There are a lot of other choices. Generally, credit unions have a broader opportunity to serve more people, and we must invest in storytelling and marketing and public relations as business partners for the organization.

We often frame storytelling and marketing and public relations as nice to haves during times where resources are more abundant. My belief is that we must invest all the time in the same way that we do technology, human potential, and all of the things that make our organization successful. This is a business partner to ensure our long-term success. And that will help people to know that credit unions are digitally forward, that we partner with fintechs, that we are easy to use, that we do collaborate. And that means that there are solutions we come up with that other financial institutions might not. That we are not for- profit financial cooperatives, and that means that we are the very best choice for Americans for their financial futures.

All of those stories that may not be told, we’re responsible for telling. And the coalition believes that we must tell it not just once, not just twice. It must be something we are telling over and over and over again. What I always say to my team at orsa is by the time we’re tired of telling our story, people will have just started to hear us. And that is the responsibility of credit unions to make sure that Americans have that financial best friend that they deserve.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (09:38): Tansley, I’m so interested in the word that keeps coming up that you’ve mentioned so many times is storytelling and our story. And the idea that story has been sort of a soft art. Like if you’re good at communications, that’s great. It’s a dot on your resume, or it’s sort of a nice to have in terms of business impact. So I am just curious about how Backbone is turning the impact of storytelling into real impact for the credit unions that support, but especially for the people that you are serving. So that’s 1A of the question. 1B of the question is, why is a story more powerful when told together like in coalition, like in Backbone, than for example, orsa telling your story, Navy Federal Credit Union telling its story, then the individual stories that each institution can tell.

Tansley Stearns (10:42): We believe, as I said earlier, that collaboration is one of the gifts of our industry. So to your second question, I’ll start there. It’s so important because it’s a magnifier. It’s also surprising and delightful to human beings. I love when someone hasn’t heard about credit unions before, and I talk about Backbone or other collaborations. People’s eyes get big and they are so curious about a movement that would be willing to walk together in the way that credit unions do. And that points directly to this purpose-driven approach. It’s also a magnifier. So I’ll give you an example. Here in Michigan, unfortunately last year, we had a terrible ice storm in our northern region and orsa has several branches in that region. We stood into that. We walked with our members from the moment it occurred for months as people were finding resources and making sure that their homes were cared for and all of the things that it takes to move through that journey of a disaster.

We share that story. And of course, Michiganders will be interested. It would be unusual though that we might get national coverage about that. Through Backbone, we know that credit unions around the country do that work every single day. It’s who we are. And Schools First and Redwood Credit Union in California have done so much during fires to stand with their members. Our friends, Four Leaf in New York have stood with their members through hurricanes. Now you can see a very robust and deep story of credit unions around the country during the darkest moments sticking up for their members and ensuring that communities thrive. That’s going to get national coverage and that’s the power of the coalition coming together.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (12:30): Tansley, the power of the coalition coming together, which is really what you’re unlocking, makes me think so much about why credit unions exist, period. It’s people helping people. And so that idea that the more people can help more people becomes exponential in terms of delivering on purpose. So in my professional background, way back when I was involved in a big public and private initiative, and it involved a lot of coalition building. This was in the Pacific Northwest in Seattle doing a rails to trail project. What I witnessed there was the municipalities, governments, developers, the corporate sector, the utilities that supported them –all of these bodies with their own agendas and their own personalities had to come together to agree and support a broader vision.

I was amazed and very honored to have a front row seat at what consensus and coalition building looked like. I would love to hear your story of what the practicality has looked like of building a coalition from the ground up. Backbone didn’t exist. Now it exists. What was the work that went into it? Give us a little bit of that behind the scenes.

Tansley Stearns (13:52): I love that question. First of all, I think it also ties to your earlier question about storytelling being a soft art and how you convince people to invest in this. So I believe that this coalition came together because really brave human beings were willing to say that we must invest in storytelling. This is absolutely a fundamental business driver for credit unions. And we can see the implication of not doing so, which is we aren’t growing as much as we could be, and together we have an opportunity to do this. And so part of what I think made this coalition begin was folks like Linda Armyn and Bill Cheney stood with me very early and said, “This is important to our organizations.” And credit unions pay close attention to people like Bill and Linda and what they are willing to stand up with matters. And so I think that was a big, big deal. And I’m so grateful that they were willing to take that risk with me.

Secondly, there was a burning platform. We are in this moment where it is so critical in a very noisy world. And I think more and more leaders across our movement are seeing that marketing and storytelling are critical and that there is a gap. And I think one of the things that is so powerful about credit unions is that we are a coalition naturally. We believe that our best ideas are amplified and made stronger when we do things together. So we’re ready for that. I also believe that this is about being willing to try something and move quickly, even when people are doubting it, because I want to be clear that as loudly and passionately as Linda and Bill said, “Let’s go.” There were certainly others that were saying, “Oh my gosh, this is another one of those zany Tansley ideas.” And I believe so strongly in this.

And I am willing to say, “Gosh, it may not work.” We may come back together and two years from now say, ”Here’s what we learned.” And the reason I’m able to do that is my board. My board sees the purpose of our organization, certainly as first standing with Michiganders and ensuring that their impossible dreams come to life and that we’re igniting joy for them. And they also talk about in their ends, which is how they describe their vision as our commitment to the credit union movement more broadly. They believe that credit unions should not be the best kept secret anymore, and our movement will thrive when we are telling stories. They see the investment in storytelling as being critical. And so their belief in me, in the broader movement, and their commitment in that way was also an enabler. So there were a lot of factors that made this work.

I also want to give a lot of credit to Bryson Gillette. They have continually showed tremendous value to the coalition in helping us to better shape our stories. We get together as a coalition twice a year, and we did that in December. I heard loudly from the CEOs in the room that while they didn’t join Backbone for their teams to get stronger at storytelling, they are seeing that they are getting stronger because you say the word storytelling, and to your earlier question, it sounds soft. It sounds like something that we do with our kiddos before we took them in at night, and we do. And what I know about human beings is this, from the time that human beings were communicating with one another, we learned and carry forward our values, what we believe came together through story and that’s so powerful.

You think about product or a service, that doesn’t move people. What moves people is this credit union, when my home was on fire, made sure that I had the resources that I need. When there was a government shutdown, my credit union was standing with me and making sure that I had the resources that I needed and these darkest moments of my life and the joyful ones. That’s the power of a story is that those stories ignite people to think of a credit union first and choose them, and that’s what we’re all about.

Gina Bleedorn (18:04): Well, two points, Tansley. One on your zany ideas, here’s to the crazy ones, right? Those who are crazy enough to change the world, they are the ones who do. So supportive of zany in that way. And second on storytelling, I do believe we’re headed into a new realm. There are literally Chief Storytelling Officers. That’s an actual job that’s emerging. So I think we are crossing that threshold of realizing the importance of building. It connects to purpose to culture, to communications, to marketing, to brand, to everything in between. And along those lines, you just went through a very unique journey at Community Financial, changing your name and brand to orsa. At Adrenaline, we do that for a living. We just met you. You did it largely internally. We didn’t work with you on this and the journey really was a beautiful one. Can you talk about that journey, your decision at the credit union to change the name and then how you communicated it out? And did any of these learnings from Backbone inform your approach?

Tansley Stearns (19:16): We are so excited about becoming orsa. When I came to Community Financial in June of 2022, I was a big believer as I always have been in storytelling and communicating about the credit union. And as I began to do that, what was clear was there was a lot of market confusion. And I have done a lot of interviews across this great state and rarely was the reporter saying our name correctly. There’s a Community Choice Credit Union. There’s a Christian Financial that at times uses CFCU as an acronym. Across the country, there are so many financial institutions that have a name that begins with community, fill in the blank. And what we were seeing is that people were starting to get really enthusiastic about the work we were doing about some of the things that we were bringing to life.

And I actually had an executive that joined our team. This person’s mom was super excited about this person joining our team and she joined a different credit union. Now I’m all for joining a credit union, but you can see that business challenge. And so at the time that we identified that, we ended up going through a rebrand that didn’t include changing the name. So we really leaned into iconography. We have a bear that our Dream Ignitors, who are our brand ambassadors internally, they named her Daisy, which foots back to our roots as Daisy Air Rifle, which is our original select employee group, and changed the colors to orange and purple. And so that was really working. And over the course of a year, we were seeing that people would say, “Oh, aren’t you the place with the bear?” And that’s what you want to have happen with iconography. And the confusion with the name was real.

And so our board came back to us and said, “We see how far we’ve come with the rebrand and we really do believe that the name has got to change.” So to your point, we did that internally. We did a lot of work with the board to ask good questions about, what do we want the brand and the name together to feel like? What do we not want it to sound or feel like? And then what I also want to tell you is, I’m so proud of our creative team. They are incredible humans. And to your point, I want to celebrate that they did all this work internally. It’s also about our great legal team because a name is just as much about what you can own as it is about the creativity of it.

We brought several options back to the board, got some feedback, narrowed it down again, and really landed on orsa. It is about a female bear. We consider ourselves as the best friend for women and those who love them across our great state of Michigan. And the bear and orsa really represent us walking with women through their journeys. And it’s been so fun. As you know, doing this branding work and renaming, it’s unusual to do it separately the way that we did. And it’s been fun to hear our team say, “You should tell people that’s the way to do it because it’s a little easier to manage the change.”

Now, I’m not sure I would recommend that necessarily. And I do see that our team is really embracing who we are. They’re really proud of who we are as orsa. And it’s just been so fun to be able to celebrate the team bringing this to life. And now this gives us a real opportunity to be differentiated in this market and demonstrate how we can change lives across our great state.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (22:42): It’s so interesting. Tansley, to hear you talk about this process that we lead our clients through literally, like Gina said, every day, especially the legal one where you have the best name in existence, and we call it the process of heartbreak. It is the heartbreak process where all of your favorites, they’re taken. But that often leads you to think differently, think more creatively, attack the naming idea in a totally different way. And you ended up, for example, with orsa – easy to say, easy to remember. It’s short. It means bear, so it links back to Daisy, which links back to your DNA. So interesting to hear you go through this.

One of the things that I have always noted as we have worked and guided our clients through rebrand is that they always learn something. Even as you have been there since 2022. I imagine many of your peers have been there for longer, but especially the board too, that there are surprises that come up as you go through that process. And what surprised you? What did you learn about your organization or about brand or rebrand or storytelling or really anything that you had no idea about going into it?

Tansley Stearns (24:06): What really inspired me in the process was how aligned we all were, not only about the outcomes, about our values, about what matters. And that was clear from the beginning. You know this going through this so many more times than I have. It is really about how you bring those values to life, and that was so important for our board. They were so clear on that from the beginning. And that’s just really fun, I think for an organization. I believe that culture and brand are married and tied and so interconnected. And so to have that alignment was critical because that gets you to such a more powerful outcome.

The other thing that I would say to you that I just found to be so joyful was how much fun our board had with this process. They were so eager to have the next meeting, to have the next conversation. They really do believe that marketing and creativity and storytelling are fundamental business partners for this credit union. They’re invested in that and they see the value. And that’s wonderful for this organization because it will help enable our bright future.

Gina Bleedorn (25:20): Sounds like you have also a good board, Tansley. That they have a great attitude through what is not easy as you go through the process. By the way, we couldn’t agree more that brand and culture are completely linked, and storytelling is the cohesion in a way between them. As you go forward with the credit union, but also with Backbone as the coalition continues to grow, in a way you have similar missions: one being in a more collective sense, one being in the state of Michigan with your credit union of what you can do there. What’s next? What’s on the horizon? Where do you see things growing from here?

Tansley Stearns (26:00): For orsa specifically, we’re so thrilled to now leverage this brand to create even more impact. I’ve been through several rebrands, and I’m sure you’ve heard what I’m about to say so many times. You have people come and say, “Okay, now that branding is over, what do we do next?” And I always giggle and say, “Okay, branding’s never over.” We are just at the starting line, and it’s fun for me to think about. We believe similar to with our work with Backbone, we build coalitions and partnerships across the great state of Michigan. We just announced two very important partnerships, one with the Detroit Music Hall to support a new building that they’re going to be bringing to life. We also announced a partnership with the Plymouth Canton Community Schools to stand up an innovation hub that will share our name, which we’re so excited about. These partnerships allow more impact to be magnified across the state.

We know that we’re better when we have more people that want to solve big problems in unique ways. And I’m thrilled to have orsa at the front of that problem solving process and be able to have more Michiganders aware of how committed we are to their impossible dreams coming true. And when we talk about Backbone, it really is about, again, magnifying impact. We are so eager to have more credit unions standing with us. The rich stories and unique ways that different credit unions change lives is so awesome to hear about. We want more people to hear those stories, so more credit unions matters. And we are so thrilled to see more coverage coming to life. We’ve seen publications like Forbes and Parents, and it’s just a blast to hear the credit union story in places where you might not have.

The other thing that I’ll mention is that we also want to think about those other mediums. As we are on a podcast right now, we know that there are traditional forms of communication that are important to getting the story out. We also know that social media and podcasts and other venues are equally important, particularly for that next generation. My daughter, Mackenzie’s 15, she’s not going to open Parents Magazine. And so thinking about where that next generation is going to be and ensuring we’re in those venues as well is so important. So all of that is fantastic. And the last thing that I would just say is it is such a gift to be able to walk with other credit unions because every time I’m in a room with other credit union leaders, I’m learning something, we are thinking about ways that we can come together and change the world at a faster pace because we’re doing so collaboratively. And that’s what I’m so proud of as it relates to Backbone.

Juliet D’Ambrosio (28:47): Tansley, you mentioned the idea of magnifying impact and some of that happens through just pure media coverage. If you were to offer any kind of advice to other credit unions in just amping up their media coverage, their share of voice in the individual markets they share, what would you say? What advice would you give them?

Tansley Stearns (29:10): My advice is really documenting stories and asking the team to do so as well. Every single day in every one of our branches on our digital channels, we’re changing lives. We need to be sure our teams are sharing those stories with us and keeping that constant log of all those proofpoints is so critical. I also really invite credit unions to think about the themes that are most important. If you were to pull out your strategy document, we at orsa keep that on a napkin. And if I were to look at the pillars of our strategy, I want to be hearing stories across each of those pillars regularly. Then it’s about sharing them. Again, when you are tired of it and you feel like you’ve said it a million times, you’re just breaking through. And that consistent, persistent drumbeat is so important.

And then the last thing that I would say is do it together. I think it’s so critical that we are coming together and finding ways to do that will ensure that magnification happens not just for your organization, but that it happens for the broader movement.

Gina Bleedorn (30:14): One thing that’s clear, Tansley, is that you exude passion, positivity, and joy. That’s quite beautiful. That means that you are doing something you believe and that’s congruent with who you are and kudos to you for who you are and all the success that you’ve had. And we have one final question for you that we ask all of our guests. And if it wasn’t clear to the world that knows Tansley, it definitely is now that you believe in banking, but can you affirm why you believe in banking?

Tansley Stearns (30:51): Financial cooperatives are the very best choice for Americans. We were born out of the Great Depression during one of the darkest moments for our country. And in the face of that dark moment, human beings came together and said, “We will be better. I have some resources that I’m saving. You may need some resources. Let’s ensure that we do that collaboratively.” In a dark moment when people can come together and decide to create joy, that’s something I want to be a part of. And I believe it’s something that every American wants to be a part of. And that’s who credit unions are. And we must ensure that every American knows that we exist, that there’s a credit union for them because in those dark moments and joyful moments in our lives. Those financial fundamentals exist and credit unions can walk with you toward those impossible dreams.

Outro: You’ve been listening to Believe in Banking, a podcast series created to empower decision makers, influencers, and industry leaders in financial services.

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