3 minutes
From the editor
Are you currently making personal and professional resolutions? At CUES, we get a jump start on the new year because our fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
We set our company-wide and individual goals in August and September. By the time Jan. 1 rings in, we’re well into fiscal 2017 and already seeing results from our planning and work.
In addition, with a young child, I tend to set certain personal resolutions and goals at the start of the new school year. For these reasons, January can feel a little anticlimactic. But I still relish the opportunity to pause and reflect. A few months in, how am I performing at my individual goals for the year? What have I accomplished already? What needs my focus now?
January is also a great time to think about education and learning goals. In my new role, I am dedicated to honing my leadership skills and have identified several resources that can help (including WOCCU’s Global Women’s Leadership Network).
If your goals include improved leadership skills, I have some resource suggestions from CUES. Two of our free, online-only columns are designed to provide a quick leadership boost: Leadership Matters and NextGen Know-How. With such provocative topics as “Is Your Head in the Sand?,” “What CEOs Don’t Know Can Hurt Their CUs,” and “4 Signs You Should Not Be a Leader,” you’ll find yourself thinking about them long after you finish reading.
Laurie Maddalena, a leadership coach and former CU exec based in northern Virginia, does an outstanding job writing the NextGen Know-How column. In this month's magazine, she authored “A 2017 Career Roadmap”. “If you don’t know what the career goals are for each of your employees, finding out should be one of your top priorities in 2017,” she writes.
A CUES membership makes a tremendous gift for your employees and shows them you value their professional development. And our members-only webinars are a popular benefit. This month we present “Get Your C-Legs: Living at a Strategic Level.” Because the skills that make managers perform at their best are different from those required of an effective C-suite leader, this webinar is ideal for newly promoted executives or those who simply want to be more forward-focused. I’ll be signing up! If you want to attend, visit cues.org/webinars. (If the topic seems familiar, it might because it’s based on a 2016 CU Management article).
If 2017 is the year you decide to make an investment in yourself, take a cue from CUES member Stefanie Rupert, CIE, president/CEO of $980 million Collins Community Credit Union, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In “Innovation Incubator,”, she describes her experience at Strategic Innovation Institute™ and concludes with a powerful statement: “This course is expensive, but certainly many of your board chairs and directors like mine feel you are all worth the investment. It’s our bravery and stamina that will carry the credit union mission to unbelievable heights, but not without continuous lifelong learning.”
Happy New Year! How will you invest in yourself and your team this year? Tell me at Theresa@cues.org.
Theresa Witham
Managing Editor/Publisher
