CUES 71: The Magical Point of Confluence Between Diversity and Inclusion, an Interview with Jerlando Jackson
04/19/19 • 21 min
Our guest, organizational scientist Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Ph.D., lives by the mantra, “Organizations are made up of people. It is the people and their decision-making that we want to change.”
The Vilas distinguished professor of higher education and the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jackson starts off the show by defining the difference between “diversity” and “inclusion.”
Diversity, he says, includes the full spectrum of human differences, such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic situation and political beliefs. He also says it’s valuable to consider lifestyles, family composition and education level.
“Inclusion is very different,” he explains. “It is not simply compiling a list of diverse characteristics, but rather an ability to cultivate a sense of community. An inclusive organization promotes and sustains a sense of belonging. It values and practices respect for the talents, beliefs and backgrounds as well as the ways of living” of its customers and staff members.
The magic comes from committing to both diversity and inclusion, according to Jackson. “When an organization commits to diversity and inclusion, it manifests itself through a bold mission, strategic priorities and high impact practices to support a diverse workplace and leverage the effects of diversity to achieve a competitive advantage with a highly skilled workforce and a capacity to relate to the full spectrum of customer.”
What’s the first step if you’re thinking of launching a D&I program at your CU? Jackson recommends an assessment of your culture and readiness.
In the show, Jackson also provides: five ways you’ll benefit from prioritizing D&I; five roadblocks you’re likely to encounter when launching a D&I initiative; and three powerful statements worth considering about D&I.
Links:
- JCF LLC
- Email Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Ph.D.
- Coming soon: Organizational Disparity Institute
- Inaugural Diversity Insight column, “Not Intentionally Inclusive = Unintentionally Exclusive”
- Subscribe to CUES content emails to get a link to our monthly Diversity Insight column delivered to your inbox
Our guest, organizational scientist Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Ph.D., lives by the mantra, “Organizations are made up of people. It is the people and their decision-making that we want to change.”
The Vilas distinguished professor of higher education and the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jackson starts off the show by defining the difference between “diversity” and “inclusion.”
Diversity, he says, includes the full spectrum of human differences, such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic situation and political beliefs. He also says it’s valuable to consider lifestyles, family composition and education level.
“Inclusion is very different,” he explains. “It is not simply compiling a list of diverse characteristics, but rather an ability to cultivate a sense of community. An inclusive organization promotes and sustains a sense of belonging. It values and practices respect for the talents, beliefs and backgrounds as well as the ways of living” of its customers and staff members.
The magic comes from committing to both diversity and inclusion, according to Jackson. “When an organization commits to diversity and inclusion, it manifests itself through a bold mission, strategic priorities and high impact practices to support a diverse workplace and leverage the effects of diversity to achieve a competitive advantage with a highly skilled workforce and a capacity to relate to the full spectrum of customer.”
What’s the first step if you’re thinking of launching a D&I program at your CU? Jackson recommends an assessment of your culture and readiness.
In the show, Jackson also provides: five ways you’ll benefit from prioritizing D&I; five roadblocks you’re likely to encounter when launching a D&I initiative; and three powerful statements worth considering about D&I.
Links:
- JCF LLC
- Email Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Ph.D.
- Coming soon: Organizational Disparity Institute
- Inaugural Diversity Insight column, “Not Intentionally Inclusive = Unintentionally Exclusive”
- Subscribe to CUES content emails to get a link to our monthly Diversity Insight column delivered to your inbox
Previous Episode
CUES 70: Best Practices for Modern Credit Union Contact Centers, An Interview With Terri Panhans
The focus of credit union contact centers has changed a lot in 20 years. While once they emphasized helping members perform transactions, today they focus on helping members deepen their relationships with their credit unions. Our guest in this episode is Terri Panhans, VP/contact center solutions for CUES Supplier member Harland Clarke based in San Antonio, Texas. Panhans talks about how things have changed and what the changes mean in terms of the skills contact center agents now need, how to measure call center performance, and more. Special thanks to our episode sponsor, Harland Clarke.
In the show, Panhans says the contact center of the past was “more transactional in nature, really more viewed as a back-office function—one that was necessary, but it wasn’t perhaps driving value or being a part of the strategy of the credit union. Now I see that it is evolving into an engagement center and members’ expectations really drive that. ... Many times, they will define their impression of the credit union by the experience they have when the contact the call center.”
Panhans provides two great checklists in the show—one for the skills credit unions should look for when hiring contact center agents and another about things to consider regarding contact centers when setting a credit union’s overall strategy.
The show also busts the myth that younger members don’t ever want to use the phone to talk with their financial institutions. Panhans says, “The desire among all generations of a personal interaction with their financial institution ... has never been higher, especially in the event of an emergency or an issue or needing to specify a problem outside of the self-service channels.
“You need to offer the channel of choice and your members are going to decide which one that is,” she adds. “You can’t pigeon-hole or put members into one channel and expect that just because that’s what you think they should use, they will.”
In the show, Panhans also describes key performance measures that work well for today’s contact center and how to collect those measures.
Be sure to tune in to the full episode!
Links:
Next Episode
CUES Podcast Episode 72: CDFI Status Is a ‘Carrot’ for Innovation—and a Possibility for More CUs Than You Might Think, an Interview with Jamie Strayer
Many mainstream credit unions have long thought that community development financial institution status wasn’t something they could or should consider. Our guest, Jamie Strayer, ICUDE, would beg to differ.
Founder of CU Strategic Planning, Tacoma, Washington, Strayer says CDFI status is a great thing for CUs’ ROA, members and communities, as well as for U.S. taxpayers. Strayer knows a lot about it because she has helped CUs get $103 million in CDFI funding in the last 10 years.
“That funding produced $5 billion in loans that the credit unions otherwise would not have done,” she explains. “High-yield lending with every penny covered by loan loss reserves drives ROA.
“And this is where is gets really good,” she adds. “That ROA allows them to grow faster. They can accept more deposits while preserving their net worth. When they approve those loans, people tell their friends and family, ‘That credit union gave me a loan. You should go there.’ The organic growth occurs without spending more money on marketing. This program is rocket fuel for growth for credit unions.”
Strayer also says that the CDFI program reduces the number of people on federal entitlements. If a CU can make a car loan to a low-income worker, for example, that person may be able to stay off unemployment.
“CDFI status is the carrot for trying something new and even inventing new financial products,” Stayer adds. “What’s to prevent a credit union from trying something new when they’re not going to lose even a penny?”
The show also gets into:
· The difference between CDFI status and a low-income designation
· The seven criteria for CDFI status—and how CUs almost always automatically qualify on six of them
· Statistics about how much CDFI status boosts CU ROA
· What to consider before applying for CDFI status
· The current political situation around the CDFI fund
· The most inspiring CDFI project Strayer has worked on in her career
· What you’ll get if you attend Strayer’s session at Execu/Net in August in Big Sky, Montana
Links:
· U.S. Treasury CDFI status
· NCUA low-income designation
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