Creating the leaders of tomorrow

Times Reporter   

 

Having the opportunity to become a leader in your workplace is something that can be both terrifying and gratifying. It’s also a way to really learn about you and your skills, strengths and weaknesses. 

At Chinook Credit Union upper management knows that finding the leaders of today will help the business and clients of tomorrow, and that’s part of why they have the Chinook Young Leaders (CYL) program available to their staff. 

“Chinook and the Credit Union system really recognize there is a need to keep young leaders in all of our organizations involved in order to be successful,” said Keith Richard, vice president of credit for the Credit Union.

“The demographics are changing and it’s important to take individuals like those (in CYL, to get) involved in our organizations and involve them from the ground floor including being part of the strategic planning, the business planning to help our organization be successful.” 

The idea and mission behind CYL is to foster the growth of young leaders within the organization by focusing on personal development, leadership skill development and mentorship while upholding the values and strategic direction of the credit union. 

The group is made up of six individuals all under the age of 35. To be eligible applicants must be a Chinook Credit Union staff member, they must strive to be in a management or leadership role, and must pass the interview and application stage, of course. Successful applicants are then welcome to a three-year term on the CYL team. 

“We provide them as an executive direction, directly out of our business plan. So we take some of the goals and items that we want to accomplish in a year and we assign it to this group. It takes them out of their everyday position and allows them to contribute to the success of our organization even more,” said Richard. 

Being a member provides an opportunity to give them additional training, education and professional development and it allows them to experience more of the business. The team also gets to learn more about strategic planning and development projects and CYL gets a voice at the board table.

“They are really contributing to our success,” said Richard. 

One of this year’s projects is to create a formal mentorship program, taking mentees and mentors and assigning them based on the needs of the individual to provide the mentee with direction and help them with their professional development wherever they have a need. 

Another initiative is the lollipop moment. The lollipop moment is a way for people to recognize others in the organization who have the everyday leadership, life-changing skills the Credit Union is proud of. 

“The real driver behind that is recognizing everyday leadership which again we’re trying to get away from the fact that it’s just a title. It’s everything, it’s how we treat each other, it’s the influence we have and recognizing that you do have the ability to make change,” said Allison Phillips-Stringer, people solutions analyst and CYL chair.

Phillips-Stringer is in her final term with CYL, and couldn’t express her appreciation enough for the program and for the opportunity to be a part of it. 

Trish Romanchuk, manager of marketing and CYL co-chair, said she thinks it exhibits something neat about the Chinook Credit Union culture that they are using CYL to develop the leaders of tomorrow that are emerging now, and are also developing their leaders that are going to be the mentors.

“We actually see this as an opportunity to be a learning point and a growing point for them as well,” said Romanchuk. 

“Our leadership has such an impact, everything from the attitude on the front line, to their supervisors a couple levels up that are influencing them. If they’re not doing their part it comes down and it completely has an effect on those people that are facing our members,” said Phillips-Stringer.

“It really allows them to understand what our business is doing and how we can improve it and we position them to do that, where they have every opportunity to come back to the leadership table and make suggestions that will make us better,” said Richard.

The opportunity to be a part of CYL has presented the team with the chance to be creative, and implement things that will last past their term on the team. 

For example, the Mantra Monthly newsletter which was created, connects everyone with what’s happening, and allows each level of staff insight into the CYL and into the Credit Union as a whole. 

Each member of the CYL team is inspired to do something better in the organization, which is part of why they do it. There’s the business side, but it is also all about having fun. 

“The more you have a desire to come to work and be part of a group like this, the longer you’re going to stay,” said Richard.