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While Jim Bouchard and Crystal Jonas’s educational sessions took attendees down different paths, they both led to the same destination. From strategies for becoming an effective leader, to ways your CU can utilize the strengths you already possess, the common theme that connected both presentations is what exists at the heart of each credit union – the “people helping people” philosophy, and the commitment CUs have to the communities they serve. Bouchard and Jonas’s sessions complimented one another, and highlighted the importance of leading by example, elevating your staff, and identifying your CU’s advantage – your culture.
Jim Bouchard’s interactive session, 8 Strategies For Effective CU Leaders, focused on how to be the leader others respect, trust and admire, and featured the three characteristics a genuine leader must possess in order to inspire others - courage, compassion and wisdom. “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders,” stated Bouchard. Bouchard’s session pulled from his 30 years of practice, study and training in martial arts and as his role as a Sensei, which literally means, “one who went before.”
For Bouchard, the most effective leaders are those that are able to share power despite their own fear or insecurities– a feat that takes moral courage. He explained that throughout his career he elevated his own students, some beyond his own rank. “Lead by sharing,” Bouchard explained, “If you bring your people up, they will bring you up in turn.” Bouchard also discussed the importance of developing your CUs intellectual capital – your front line staff.
Bouchard concluded his session with a reminder of what makes CUs so remarkable – our “people helping people” philosophy. “For CUs there exists a human element- it sets you apart from other financial institutions. Don’t let anything replace that human interaction.” Bouchard’s final piece of advice; “Learn more, listen more, and fear less.”
Crystal Jonas, long-time credit union member, published author and international speaker, served in the United States Military for over 10 years before transitioning her focus to helping people be inspired and inspiring others to do meaningful work. Her session, Your Credit Union’s Culture IS Your Competitive Advantage, provided attendees with the tools to leverage the extraordinary power of their CU’s people and purpose to take their CU to the next level of success.
Jonas began by asking attendees to consider a time they were struggling emotionally, and a person who was there to support them. She instructed the group to write down what they would like this person to know about how they had helped them, and then encouraged everyone to go home and actually send this person a letter. She then asked attendees to reflect how many countless CU members they have helped – with a car loan, or some other service. “Think about what your office would look like it, if for every member you helped, they wrote you a letter. You could wallpaper your office.” The bottom line, Jonas explained, is that by simply thinking about kindness, compassion and service to others we are prompted to literally be this for others. As a result, the “people helping people” becomes part of our identity.
For CU staff the “people helping people” philosophy is engrained in everything we do, but what happens when we are faced with a difficult coworker or member? It is times like these that we “have to think about who we are, our corporate culture, our corporate identity – all of which is unwaveringly –people helping ALL people, not just some.”
Jonas went on to explain that CU staff is willing to do what’s difficult because the work matters so much. “There’s a huge connection between people who feel part of a community at work, and employees who are fully engaged.” The best way to engage employees, Jonas explained, is for managers to give their staff the autonomy and freedom to figure out their own ways of connecting with the community and how they can best embody the “people helping people” spirit. Jonas closed the session with a final piece of advice, “Go back your CUs and discuss how your CU embodies the 7 Cooperative Principals – and share those stories. Your stories are your culture.”