I am currently in Annapolis serving as the lead instructor for America’s Credit Unions Management and Leadership Institute, and something happened this week that caught my attention.
During one of my workshops, I break the group into small teams and ask them to come up with the five most important characteristics of an ideal leader.
I’ve been doing this for decades and have collected thousands of team reports. This week, for the first time, the top characteristic was authenticity.
I’m not quite sure what is driving that. Is it a reflection of the culture of leaders in the credit union industry? Is it a response to the leadership examples we are seeing in society right now? Could it be a broader shift in what people value in a leader? I don’t know. It may also be that as artificial intelligence becomes more common, genuine human connection becomes more valuable. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts.
One of the presenters, my good friend , Anthony Demangone, shared a powerful idea: “Micromanage expectations, not execution.” The foundation of accountability in four words. Pure brilliance.
He also described what he calls 2×2 meetings. In a one-on-one conversation, the leader shares two areas where the employee is doing well and two areas where they need to improve. Then the leader asks the employee to do the same thing in return: share two areas where the leader is doing well and two areas where the leader could improve. That takes the conversation beyond feedback and turns it into mutual accountability. Anthony nailed it again.
During a panel discussion, Lisa Florian, the President & CEO at Clearview Federal Credit Union, said that she attends every new-hire training.
She understands how important that is to successful onboarding, and she knows her presence sends a message about their culture. Even though she is extremely busy, her comment was simple: “I can make time for that.”
I wish more senior executives understood the importance of that idea. It closely parallels one of my maxims: the customer experience will never exceed the employee experience. If you treat your employees with respect and kindness, as Lisa does, they are far more likely to treat your customers with respect and kindness.
And finally, there was a discussion about impostor syndrome. Several CEOs admitted that they sometimes do not feel fully capable of running a large organization. Here is a secret: a lot of people feel that way. I have been honing my craft for more than 30 years, and I still feel intimidated and in over my head. I do not think that is entirely a bad thing. In many cases, it is what keeps you learning, improving, and pushing yourself to get better.
Those are a few of my takeaways from day one of the conference. I will share more insights after day two.
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