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Over time, your credit union will need to invest in both technical and leadership learning.
A CUES staffer recently talked with a member who had been focused on technical training for employees at his credit union. But now the member was letting the pendulum swing the other way and looking for leadership training for managers and executives.
CUES’ director of professional development, Jennifer Stangl, is well aware that credit unions’ tight training budgets often drive this need to make hard choices about which training they will offer. In the first installment of her new “Purposeful Talent Development” column, Jennifer compares technical training to sharpening the “machete” that cuts through the jungle so you can effectively help members. In turn, she describes leadership training as getting out the “map” to ensure your machete-wielders actually get you where you want to go.
Over time, your credit union will need to invest in these two types of learning—and sometimes a blend of both. Let me be more specific.
Your credit union can’t exist unless it is operating in line with applicable rules and regulations. So teaching your employees about compliance is key. That’s “machete” training, like the courses offered through CUES Online University.
Still, the most compliant credit union in the world won’t succeed if it doesn’t have leaders steering it toward its long-term mission and vision. Being ready to do that requires “map” training, like the three segments of CUES’ CEO Institute, which focus on strategic planning, organizational effectiveness and leadership development, respectively.
Directors need map training, too, like CUES Governance Leadership Institute™. (Hear a webinar playback about “Fostering a Learning Board,” presented by Michael Daigneault, CCD, founder and president of Quantum Governance, CUES’ partner for governance consulting services.)
Finally, sometimes credit union employees need both machete and map learning. For example, think of your mid-level managers who probably would benefit from getting nitty-gritty knowledge from CUES Online University. Are they also ready to strengthen their management skills through something like CUES’ Vertex—a new program that assesses emerging leaders’ base capabilities, trains them, then re-reassesses them to gauge progress?
In all, your credit union’s talent development program needs to include a plan for offering both machetes and maps. Enroll in our two-segment Elite Access: Virtual Classroom course, “Promoting a Culture of Learning,” to find out about more steps you can take to increase your organization’s ability to learn.
John Pembroke is president/CEO of CUES. Since joining the organization in May 2013 as chief operating officer, he has helped launch a new direction in CUES’ strategy, branding and culture. Pembroke has more than 20 years of experience in branding and financial services. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and is a member of the board of the Goodman Community Center, Madison, Wis.
