At some point growing up, most children play the popular playground game of follow the leader, in which everyone in line does what the first person in line is doing. The game is fun, in part, because you get to go where someone else has gone, do what he or she is doing.
Mentoring programs take the children’s game to a more serious level. More novice executives are paired—or pair themselves—with experienced leaders from whom they would like to learn, whose career path they would like to follow, and/or whose leadership style they admire.
The idea of following experienced hands is as old as carpentry, where apprentices have long learned at a craftsman’s side. Formal mentoring relationships in the American business world developed more recently, and picked up popularity in the 1930s, when enterprises like the Jewel Tea Company implemented a program that assigned each entering executive to a senior manager who served as a guide for his early career.
NASA took the mentor concept [now called Enhancing Mission Success—A Framework for the Future] to new heights in the 1970s by pairing employees and managers—and scientists and executives—with their replacements. This helped ensure that scientific and leadership know-how and style, as well as NASA’s mission and culture, passed more effectively to new generations.
Helping new generations is one reason CUES member Mike Valentine, CEO of $1.5 billion Baxter Credit Union, with 340 full-time equivalents and 135,000 members in Vernon Hills, Ill., followed the NASA example and developed an in-house mentorship program two years ago.
Productive Pairings
The credit union’s “Top Talent” program pairs employees who have high potential with senior executives.
“Each year, 12-13 employees are selected, and everyone in senior management mentors a person (never a direct report) for one year. Then we switch,” Valentine explains.
Management participates in annual organization talent reviews and through that process, high-potential employees are identified. The senior leadership team applies an additional filter to the high-potential list to select the Top Talent team, and “competition is so tough that just because you’re in one year doesn’t guarantee you’ll stay in it,” Valentine notes.
Mentees receive education on a personal level and absorb the senior manager’s experience and leadership style, he adds. “It’s more on-the-job leadership training, but it’s really helpful to get different perspectives, especially from a variety of leaders.”
In addition, Valentine notes, Baxter CU has a dedicated talent management department that focuses on career development, leadership development and new hire training/onboarding. The department—staffed by four full-time and a part-time employee—facilitates Top Talent and the mentoring program that’s open to all employees.
Valentine admits that what makes an in-house mentoring program great can also make it challenging. “Though we don’t pair direct reports, being a mentor or mentee inside can get a little awkward, especially if a mentee applies for another job,” Valentine notes. “The program encourages honest, open communication and evaluates positions fairly. It’s working great, and we are evaluating the perceptions and the program so we can continually improve the experience.”
Valentine wanted to provide a formal mentorship program in part because of what he’s gained from his mentor. Several years ago, Valentine sought a mentorship from Vernon Loucks, retired CEO of Fortune 500 company Baxter Healthcare, one of the CU’s select employee groups.
“I had informal mentors throughout my career, and have informally mentored others, but I wanted something more formal,” he explains. “Loucks came to mind as a leader I admire and someone I’d like to emulate, and he’s become kind of a lifeline for me. I can call to get advice sometimes, even if I don’t always use it.”
The pair gets together two to three times a month for breakfast with no agenda.
“I ask and he offers advice; sometimes I take it, sometimes I don’t, but it’s always great to discuss it,” Valentine adds. “In addition, Loucks is the person I can go to, which is important for a CEO because as CEO you can’t always ask advice freely, where you don’t look vulnerable for asking, within your organization, your peers, your board. With my mentor, I have someone ‘safe’ and experienced with whom to bounce ideas.”
It’s a sounding board that, Valentine adds, he wishes he’d had throughout his career. “I think, how much better I would be if I had had a formal mentor throughout my career, because you get skills and leadership styles that you could otherwise only get through experience,” he says. “And, as a mentor myself, I am able to share insights, gained through experience, with future leaders. Preparing them for the future is also preparing my credit union, and our industry, for a better future too. Isn’t that what a leader does?”
Guiding the Next Generation
Preparing future leaders for the decisions of the future has rarely been more critical, agrees CUES SVP/Chief Operating Officer Barb Kachelski, CAE, who directs the organization’s new mentoring program for CUES NextGen members. Tomorrow’s credit union leaders will face new regulations and increasingly complex and competitive pressures, challenges that could benefit from some experienced advice, she notes.
At the same time, in the next five or so years, much of that sage advice will not be at credit unions anymore because a significant number of senior executives are preparing to retire. “New generations are moving up to replace them in large number, and CUES has recognized mentoring—to NextGen members—as a way to provide those new leaders with experience,” Kachelski says.
In recognition of the coming leadership transition, the CUES Board of Directors modified the organization’s mission three years ago to emphasize reaching future leaders—young managers and executives—with a $99 NextGen Membership that offers access to CUES’ professional development and leadership training opportunities, including elective participation in CUES’ mentorship program. (To learn more about the program, read “Preparing the Next Generation,” at right.)
| Preparing the Next Generation A growing number of the seasoned credit union executives among CUES membership are mentoring the industry’s newest managers and future executives via a special mentorship program, established shortly after the CUES Board modified the organization’s mission three years ago to include reaching out to future leaders. Through CUES NextGen Membership, young managers and executives age 35 and younger, or those with fewer than two years of financial services industry experience, can request to be paired with an experienced credit union executive. Since forming the first NextGen mentor-mentee relationships more than a year ago, coordinator Barb Kachelski, CAE, SVP/chief operating officer for CUES, says both young executives and their prospective mentors have been eager to participate. “Credit union people are notoriously wonderful and are excited to participate in this all-volunteer program because they see this as a way to make sure that knowledge, and philosophy, is passed to the next generation of credit union leaders,” she says. “At the same time, the relationship provides younger professionals a sounding board outside of their own organizations so they may ask questions or seek advice on leadership, problem solving, industry issues, and career advancement.” Kachelski lines up possible mentors for a NextGen member based on the young member’s career, credit union and life goals, as well as what he or she is looking to gain from a mentor and/or wants in a mentor. “For example, we have had a few who specifically want to be paired with someone who has walked a path that is similar to theirs—such as a minority executive, a working mom who has already climbed the executive ladder, or an executive who moved out of a specific silo and into broader credit union leadership.” Once matched, a pair has an initial meeting via conference call with a CUES facilitator. Then, with a few CUES guidelines in hand, the pair is encouraged to meet for one year via phone (or in person if possible) at least monthly, with email correspondence in between as needed. CUES facilitators follow up in the first three months and again at year end to help the pair evaluate the match. Participants agree that all conversations are confidential, and, Kachelski says, they are encouraged to use monthly meetings to: 1. review the previous month’s call, emails and objectives, 2. discuss industry issues/hot topics, 3. plan leadership/professional development and career path steps and next steps, 4. talk about career path and professional development (i.e. possible next steps, either career or educational options, to achieve career goals), and 5. tackle other specific topics as needed. |
“I am one of many CEOs on the five-year plan to retirement,” says CUES member Hubert H. Hoosman Jr., a CUES NextGen program mentor and president/CEO of $670 million Vantage Credit Union, with 99,000 members, 15 locations and 415 FTEs, based in Bridgeton, Mo. “So, when CUES asked, I was thrilled because I see mentoring as a way CEOs and senior executives can build better future leaders and strengthen our movement.”
It is also an opportunity to guide and advise a younger executive—CUES member Ronaldo Hardy, the new CEO of $23 million Shell Geismar Federal Credit Union, with 2,000 members and five employees, in Gonzalez, La.
“I get to watch him follow his own footsteps to the future,” Hoosman notes. “As his mentor for a year now, I share experience, and patience, with issues he is facing. I offer a different, and perhaps broader, perspective as well as a long-term perspective.
“It is truly rewarding to see a young man grow and learn and succeed and achieve his goals,” Hoosman adds. “I am excited to see that he is a CEO of a solid credit union, and while he will be successful in any career, with or without me, I hope I gave him a little courage and provide a sounding board for him as a new CEO.”
Hoosman’s guidance has made a difference, says Hardy whose experience as CUES’ 2010 Next Top Credit Union Exec runner-up, combined with the mentorship, gave him the confidence and know-how to move up from branch manager at one credit union to CEO of another. “I knew that to move, I needed a sounding board of experience, and I’ve found one in my mentor.
“It helps to have somebody who has been where you want to go,” he adds. For example, “when I called and said I might need to make this move (to CEO), he helped me walk through that process. He didn’t give me the answer, but he gave me feedback and things to consider. That was invaluable. Now, as a new CEO, there are times I encounter a situation I haven’t seen or I need outside advice, as well as advice on navigating my career.”
The mentoring experience is not just a one-way street, stresses Hoosman. “The energy of the young is very exciting and inspiring, and being a mentor gives me a unique perspective and an opportunity to better understand his generation. I get to see that version of management again, and I have taken some of my mentee’s ideas and modified them into our plans.”
Mentor Manages Better
Fellow CUES mentor Dawn Wade-Brummett, CCE, VP/member services for $1.3 billion ORNL Federal Credit Union, with 150,000 members, Oak Ridge, Tenn., also receives as well as gives in her mentoring relationship with Heather Wood, financial center manager for $980 million AmeriCU Credit Union, with 111,000 members, in Rome, N.Y.
[My mentee] “helps me manage better because she expresses challenges and ideas that cause me to think, do we have people with these challenges, are we looking at these ideas? Also, I have people in my line of direct reports who are doing Heather’s job, so I am able to look at how her expectations, perspectives and concerns reflect in the position in our credit union too.”
Wood specifically sought a female executive and working mother who was in her general career path, through the CUES mentor program. “The similarities are not a coincidence,” Wood says. “I had a conversation with Barb (Kachelski), who got to know me, my credit union, my personal and professional goals, and the kind of mentor I wanted.”
The two had an initial meeting a few months ago with Kachelski to ensure compatibility and get the mentorship off and running. Using CUES’ guidelines as a kicking-off point, they meet once a month by phone and touch base via email and work from an outline of goals that they developed, “working on a bullet point each call, where I offer ideas and we discuss them,” notes Brummett.
Brummett “has shared her experience, and I mine, and she is phenomenal, very positive, uplifting and motivating,” Wood says, adding that she has already “gained valuable guidance, such as things I can do to best position me to move up.”
Professional development is just one area the pair is discussing. “We’ve talked about how Heather can finish her degree, and I shared how I got my masters working full time with children at home. I’ve offered suggestions on how to pick and choose and suggested the importance of discussing educational plans within your organization.”
Brummett helps her mentee juggle more effectively, Wood adds. “I love my job, but I also love being a wife and mother. Dawn is one who has learned how to juggle it all really well, so it helps me to see her path and get advice.”
Wood adds that she is excited to “follow my leader” to success, for herself and for credit unions.
“I don’t just find successful value in the mentor/mentee relationship for myself, but I see the value for the future and for our industry,” Wood notes. “I hope other executives embrace mentoring because credit unions have come so far already, and by passing knowledge and experience to the next generation of credit union leaders, think how far we can go next!”
A former editor of Credit Union Management, Kristin Gilpatrick is a Wisconsin-based freelance writer.
