Unless the Milwaukee Brewers come calling for him to play asshortstop, Patrick Basler, president/CEO of Chicago-based FirstFinancial Credit Union, has found his niche by helping consumerschange their perceptions of credit unions.

A longtime lover of jazz, Basler played the saxophone and wentto college as a music major. Realizing early on he didn't want tobe a starving artist, he switched his major three times. and itturned out that business, finance and marketing struck just theright chord.

“I'm excited about the opportunities that credit unions have tofinally take some market share from banks. As technology evolves,it levels the playing field,” said Basler. “We can compete if weleverage technology, keep talking to younger members communicatingthat maybe a megabank is not the best place for their money andcredit unions are a great alternative.”

The Trailblazer 40 Below added that the competition haschanged.

“The competition is whoever out there that provides the mostconvenient access to products and services that best meet consumerneeds,” said Basler. “Look at American Express and Walmart'spartnership to offer the Bluebird account, our competition nowincludes big box stores that consumers view as a one stop shop. Soyour competition is not just that bank down the street or youronline competitors, but anyone offering and delivering thoseproducts and services consumers want. Consumers are very astuteabout researching and finding the right products and services forthem, so our challenge as an industry is to adapt to an environmentthat changes so quickly as far as delivery channels, technology,and overall consumer expectations.”

For the past five years Basler has been doing just that as heset high service delivery expectations, challenging everyone at the$62 million credit union to think outside of the box for consumersolutions.

It has resulted in initiatives ranging from data processingconversion and integration of tablet technology in operations, tothe elimination of all paper documents for board meetings andmobile apps. In addition, First Financial CU has become portable inits service delivery from opening accounts to making the loanprocess more convenient for members.

“In defining innovation, there's a great variant of a quote bymusician Charles Mingus – Anyone can make the simple complicated,creativity is making the complex simple,” said Basler. “So usewhat's been developed and ask simple questions. Our latest mobileapp enhancement came about through a conversation that startedwith, 'wouldn't it be cool if I could apply for a loan and sign allthe documents without ever leaving my couch, or wherever I'mat. A bit of brainstorming the details to confirm the ideahad value lead to the important first question of 'why can't we dothat?' I try to live life with as few regrets as possible sodo my best to strike that balance between avoiding mistakes and notbeing afraid to take chances.”

A believer that good ideas come from across the organization,Basler has been particularly proud of strides made in training anddevelopment.

“I got my start at a $20 million credit union and having theopportunity to help people, that's what really motivates me.Helping others better themselves whether it's staff development ormembers' financial success, is what I most enjoy, having theopportunity to make a difference.”

With a focus on education, Tuesday mornings have been dedicatedto full-staff training and development. The offices are closed for90 minutes to focus on product & service training, and ideasand projects in the works are discussed as a way to ensureengagement in the process across the organization

“If you want to foster an environment of true innovation thenit's important to have an open door policy. We have regularbrainstorm sessions where no idea is a dumb idea. We ask is itsomething valuable to the organization and then put in thecommitment of time and energy to make it work,” said Basler.“Sometimes the simplest thing you can do to encourage everyone toshare their ideas is to look at doing more to empower your staff.For example, if they aren't trusted to reverse a $25 fee then whywould they feel they could be trusted to come up with an idea thatwould significantly affect the business? Staff needs to know thatyou value their input so they make use of that open door policy orsuggestion box.”

Any success the credit union has experienced Basler said hascome from the dedication, input and effort of the team.

“Instead of centralizing efforts we made a shift in our businessmodel to decentralize,” said Basler. “Over two-thirds of ouroffices are one-person locations within our SEGs. To make thoselocations full-service, our employees need to have a high level ofknowledge and be empowered to make decisions. In today's societyconsumers don't want to be passed along to someone else. We've beenable to keep a very personal approach, and utilize technology toefficiently deliver those products/services. We've grown andserved more members without lowering our serviceexpectations. Staff training has been critical to thatsuccess.”

He added not to underestimate the value of realcollaboration.

“What I've learned is that sometimes, especially with ourlimited resources, there's no way around finding an outside partnerto get that idea out to market,” said Basler. “There are a lot ofcredit unions facing the same challenges. Imagine what we couldaccomplish if we found more ways to really collaborate and partnerfor solutions?”

He added that while it's important to celebrate successes it isequally important to move on quickly to the next idea.

“The world is constantly changing so you have to keep beinginquisitive,” said Basler. “You don't need to have all the answersjust know how to find them to accomplish your goal.