Young Professional Leadership and Career Development in North ...

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Through our journey, the SYLN has developed the following initiatives: • Vision and mission statements. • Constitution (including organizational structure). • Chair/Vice-Chair/Executive Committee member duties and responsibilities. • Decision-making process for network leadership. • Succession plan for the Executive Committee, which includes three-year terms, as well as an application and voting process to elect new members. • National Scholarship Program (which includes mentorship). • Social networking site opened to all Servus Credit Union staff. • Monthly Servus Young Leader Spotlight section on social networking home page. • Annual opportunities for Executive Committee influence at the national conference of Credit Union Central of Canada (Servus Credit Union provides complete scholarships for Executive Committee members in the second year of their term). • Budgetary responsibilities. • 35 Under 35 Leadership Retreat. • Grassroots SYLN meet-ups in localized areas and at individual branches have begun to spring up, offering mentorship opportunities for current Servus leaders to share their experiences with SYLN members. • Local groups have begun holding regular lunch-and-learn sessions to share knowledge, and have participated in community- based volunteer work to build relationships. The success of the SYLN has been attributed to the following: • My initial passion and advocacy for the creation of the network. • A group of young leaders within the credit union who were able to put previous cultural differences aside and build an industryleading young leaders development program. • A champion for young leadership development stepped up at the senior leadership level. • Buy-in at the executive leadership team level. • Recognition that engaging with, and building up, future leaders in the organization was critical to ensuring the success of the credit union. • Autonomy was provided to encourage fearlessness in creativity, while accountability was retained for the decisions being made. 10
Areas of improvement over the SYLN model include: • Build a vision early on to serve as a guide for leadership. • Establish meeting and team norms at the very first gathering. • Organize a team- building event as a way to build relationships if teammates are unfamiliar with one another. Benevolent Oversight: A Corporate Leadership Training Program—CU SoCal Ever on the hunt for improvement, the leadership team at CU SoCal uses a semiannual internal service survey to evaluate areas of change that management needs to address. Several employees used these surveys, as well as staff meetings and the annual meeting, to request a leadership training program that would prepare staff at the credit union for future management positions. The Service and Development department grabbed on to these comments and decided to implement a program in order to improve retention and employee satisfaction and reduce the need for Possibly the most important part of the training program is outside hiring to fill management positions. In 2008, Ismael that it is self-directed. Munoz, vice president of Service and Development, set out to create a training program that would adequately prepare employees for a future in management. It was not a small task. In the end, the training program was a dense 14-page document packed with instructional requirements, lesson guides, and an accountability form. However, as you will see, the program is a robust survey of management and leadership principles, credit union operations, and practical training for the employees who enter the program. But possibly the most important part of the training program is that it is self- directed. A candidate who decides to participate in the program must submit a one-page proposal to his or her direct manager, the senior vice president of his or her business unit, and the vice president of Service and Development. The candidate’s memo must include a summary of the reasons for his or her interest in participating in the leadership training program, including the benefits to the employee, his or her work teams, the credit union, and the community. This is significant because an important part of meaningful leadership training is self- selection among candidates. The best candidates for leadership are individuals who are proactive, self- directed, and willing to invest serious time in their development for a leadership 11
Page 1 and 2: Innovation Brief Young Professional
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgments Filene would like t
Page 5 and 6: normative/cultural frame The former
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary and Commentary by
Page 9 and 10: About the Authors Matt Weidler Matt
Page 11 and 12: Young Leaders Network (SYLN) is tha
Page 13 and 14: Figure 1: Checklist for Starting a
Page 15 and 16: of collaboration among young leader
Page 17: In retrospect, some of the delay in
Page 21 and 22: Industry and General Business Expos
Page 23 and 24: sense of worth, and it renewed a se
Page 25 and 26: The truth is that when you set a vi
Page 27 and 28: vice president of HR for her consid
Page 29 and 30: This is why I created this brief wi
Page 31 and 32: Endnotes 1. Daniel Goleman, “Lead

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