Top-Level Takeaways
- Credit Union of Texas launched a leadership program in June for managers and senior leaders.
- Management employees rotate through departments for two years; senior leaders commit to a five-year plan of graduate-level education and more.
Credit Union of Texas ($2.4B, Allen, TX) is turning challenge into opportunity when it comes to identifying, developing, and keeping rising leaders. Last June, the credit union launched Pathways, a leadership development program chief operations officer Angela Faust describes as a “programmatic approach to succession planning.”
Pathways currently has six participants evenly divided between management and senior leadership tracks. Faust says the credit union plans to add four more employees to the management track and two more to the senior leadership track early next year. Then, it plans to add a new group of up to four employees to each track every other year after that.
Increased Opportunities
According to Faust, the program is the brainchild of CEO Eric Pointer, who early last year challenged his senior leadership team to implement it. The CEO didn’t want to focus only on senior leadership, though, he wanted to ensure the credit union had a deep bench of talent across all levels of management.
“We knew we needed to implement a management training program that would develop employees for a future in leadership and set them on a defined career path,” says Faust, who has been with CUTX for approximately 18 years and became COO last year.
The program requires a serious commitment of time on the part of the participants and resources on the part of the credit union. Management track participants leave their roles, which could leave departments shorthanded; however, CUTX backfills those roles, essentially over-staffing the organization by the number of employees in the program.
“This is an additional expense, but it’s a strategic move in the right direction,” the COO says.
Meanwhile, senior leader participants stay in their jobs while taking on graduate-level coursework and specialized training in such areas as risk and compliance, finance and investments, business data intelligence, and operations.
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This interview has been edited and condensed.
Participants in both tracks can earn promotions during their participation. In fact, the credit union has already promoted one participant, Craig Chambers, to vice president of engagement.
Turning Jobs Into Careers One Track At A Time
The senior leader track is a five-year program that includes a formal financial education program in partnership with the ABA Stonier School of Banking, where they gain essential senior leadership financial services knowledge and skills. Participants also are eligible to earn a company-paid MBA through the Cox School of Business at SMU in Dallas.
The management track is a two-year program that requires rotating for a few months at a time through the following departments: branches, marketing/engagement, member services, sales and service, and operations (including human resources, compliance, support services, digital services, IT, and collections.)
Participants must achieve certification from each of the departments and are eligible for a management-level promotion upon completion of the entire program. Along the way, they also receive increased industry knowledge and additional learning opportunities through management training conducted by the CUTX leadership team.
According to the program details for Pathways, employees who participate in the program must remain employed with CUTX for at least two years after completing the program. Meanwhile, they can take a promotion within the credit union if the opportunity arises.
Check out the program details and application for the management and senior leader tracks of CUTX’s Pathways program. Click here to the view the management program information. Click here to view the senior leader program information.
That’s OK with Will Garvey, who joined CUTX as a community engagement officer in September 2020 and now is a full-time participant in the Pathways program’s management track.
“These days, many young professionals switch organizations often to advance their careers or expand their experience,” he says. “Pathways offers a whole new perspective that you cannot obtain through a traditional career path. Pathways makes CUTX a place where professionals can grow and develop. From an employee’s perspective, having the opportunity to work in so many different areas while staying invested in the same organization is invaluable.”
Garvey says the program is mutually beneficial; Faust concurs. She says most people want to feel they have a purpose and are working toward something. Pathways helps employees build a growth mindset and allows them to experience areas of the credit union they otherwise would not have the opportunity to.
“This is how we turn a job into a career,” she says.
The Highest Score Wins
Faust says there’s been a lot of interest in Pathways, and the application process has been competitive, particularly for the management track.
Employees must submit an application and a written recommendation from their manager. Each management track applicant is then interviewed by all the vice presidents, and each senior leader applicant is interviewed by the entire C-suite.
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“All applicants are then scored and ranked uniformly so it’s a fair process,” Faust says. “Highest score wins.”
As the program progresses so does managers’ understanding of the process itself, Foust says. For example, they’ve learned they might have to ask questions that delve into maturity and other personality traits during the interview process to ensure participants are ready to step into a leadership role.
Engage Employees; Improve The Organization
According to Faust, CUTX set out to create a program hyper-focused on succession planning and preparing the leaders of tomorrow. At the time, it wanted to empower staff members to explore their own interests and talents.
“Someone might think they want to be in finance and then learn they have a love of marketing,” the COO says. “We believe putting the right people in the right places is crucial to success. When employees are happier, they are likely to stay with the organization and help it grow.”
Jessica Rapoza-Hansford, a management track participant, says identifying rising leaders and giving them the opportunity to grow can help them discover things they didn’t know about themselves. She says she’s developing leadership skills essential to helping CUTX achieve its strategic goals and vision. But the program has changed her on a personal level, too.
“Being selected to participate in this program and given the tools and support of my leadership and peers has greatly improved my confidence in the workplace and has helped me feel comfortable breaking out of my shell,” she says. “This knowledge, experience, and newfound confidence have greatly affected my mindset, and I’m excited to see how this opportunity will influence both my professional and personal growth as I continue to progress in the program.”
Key Takeaways: Enthusiasm Leads To A Third Arm
Although the program is still new, Faust says CUTX leaders have already learned three key takeaways from their experience:
- Allowing future leaders to see all departments in the credit union breaks down silos and creates better employee and member experiences.
- Investing in future leaders will pay dividends almost immediately.
- Employees are hungry for the opportunity to grow.
Faust adds that CUTX executives have been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm surrounding Pathways and have responded by creating a third arm called Career Pathing, in which the Competency Core software plays a major role.
CU QUICK FACTS
CREDIT UNION OF TEXAS
DATA AS OF 12.31.22
HQ: Allen, TX
ASSETS: $2.4B
MEMBERS: 154,599
BRANCHES: 20
EMPLOYEES: 514
NET WORTH RATIO: 10.3%
ROA: 0.87%
“Competency Core allows all employees to create a career path, get an assessment of their skills, and build towards their goals within the company,” Faust says. “We’re excited to see how this helps with employee retention and improves our overall goal of creating a workplace where employees feel seen and know that they have a future with CUTX.”
Credit unions that choose to implement a program like Pathways should know that its rewards come only with time and work.
“The program takes focus,” Faust adds. “This isn’t something that can be rolled out and left to go on its own. It takes active participation and management from participants and senior leadership.”
The program is in its second year, and results so far have been encouraging, Faust says.
“Participants have been learning from senior leaders, managers, and one another,” she says. “If they were to leave the program today, I think they would leave with a respect for all roles at the organization and the ability to problem-solve at a higher level.”
She also says program benefits have the potential to extend beyond the walls of CUTX.
“We hope to establish a strong pipeline of future leaders who can make CUTX successful and possibly be thought leaders in the industry as a whole,” Faust says.
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