By Ray Birch
COLUMBIA, S.C.—When it comes to their own professional educations, CU executives are looking for more training on “soft skills” that help build strong leaders, according to one education expert who believes the industry recognizes it is coming up short in that area.
“Credit unions are realizing that we have a problem within the industry—we don't have enough skilled leaders for the slots that are opening,” said Lauren DeAngelis, chief learning officer at the Carolinas CU League, which runs the Leadership Development Institute.
DeAngelis said the issue of not having enough skilled leaders to take over for retiring CEOs is being exacerbated by the pandemic, as it has led to a significant number of executives reassessing their lives and then deciding to retire.
As a new academic year approaches, DeAngelis’ insights are part of a CUToday.info series themed “Back to School” that highlights credit union professional education programs.
Another troublesome issue has come to a head, as well, according to DeAngelis, who noted that traditionally credit unions have found their leaders among those whose skills are often based in data and numbers and operations—such as CFOs or chief lending officers--as opposed to “softer skills,” such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence, situational leadership. Those latter skills, DeAngelis said, have become more critical in leading people in the current and future environments.
“Credit unions leaders have been so focused on the nuts and bolts—the transactional and operational business areas—which is obviously important for any financial institution. But if you don't have the people skills and the understanding of leadership and how to manage people…,” DeAngelis said.
Growing Demand
Strong people skills have become even more in demand, stressed DeAngelis, because the work environment has drastically changed due to COVID.
“I think a lot of our leaders, like 10 or 15 years ago, could get away with certain things,” DeAngelis said. “But the employees are in the driver’s seat today. And I'm not saying that's a good thing. But we need to know how to deal with that and be successful…It's even harder today to be a leader with this different work environment. Plus, there are different and new challenges many leaders have not had to deal with until most recently—like a pandemic and this new remote working environment. That is why strong leadership skills are very important now.”
DeAngelis said it has taken some time for credit unions to realize the importance of the soft skills and the educational courses that teach them.
“Training on knowing oneself and how to manage others…Again, today you really have to know who you are and how you can adapt,” she said.
Another Hurdle to Overcome
But before any of that can happen, DeAngelis said there has been another hurdle within many credit unions—a reluctance at times to invest in developing people.
“I originally came from the banking world, so very different organizations with different philosophies,” she said, noting banks budget significant amounts for talent development. “However, while credit unions are different than banks, they still need the same type of people to execute the work. I feel like credit unions oftentimes have been behind the eight ball when it comes to development and training of their employees and they don't necessarily see the value and the benefits. They just want to get the work done. They just want to treat their members well, which is all crucially important.
“When I first started in the credit union space 11 years ago, some credit unions understood that, but it's really been kind of a shift to get them to understand that if you're not developing your employees you're not going to be successful,” DeAngelis continued. “You're not going to grow. You're not going to be relevant. I feel like some are starting to turn the corner. They are realizing that leaders with different skills than they may have had in the past need to be in the key seats. I think that the good thing is we're going in a good direction and we're progressing and moving ahead in the development arena.”
DeAngelis emphasized, too, that credit unions are realizing soft skills can’t be taught as effectively via distance learning.
“I think a number of topics can be very successfully taught in a virtual environment,” said DeAngelis. “However, there's certain things, such as leadership development, that's not as successful that when you don't get the education face-to-face. The good outcomes here you are looking for come from the in-person experience.”
DeAngelis said she is aware the majority of professional education programs shifted online during the health crisis. In the case of the Leadership Development Institute, it extended its one-year program to two years during the pandemic so it could be conducted in-person.
“We just kept delaying it because we wanted to meet in person,” she said.
The Real Indicator
DeAngelis said the real indicator that credit unions are interested in ramping up their education for leadership skills is the long waiting list for these courses.
“It’s back to a year-long course and we meet once a month,” said DeAngelis. “We actually sold out this year, and we couldn't take anymore attendees. We already have a waiting list for 2023.”
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