Hello Young/Emerging Leaders,

The Credit Union Young Leaders of Manitoba (CUYLM) Executive Team invites you to be part of our 2024 Mentorship Program which facilitates formal mentorship relationships between credit union employees across Manitoba. The program’s goal is to create opportunities for young/emerging leaders to connect with mentors to strengthen and build connections, deepen their networks, develop leadership skills, as well as share knowledge and experiences.

Are you a young/emerging leader in your credit union? Are you self-driven to engage in a mentoring relationship? Are you seeking mentorship as part of your development journey? Then you are encouraged to apply to become a mentee.

All mentors are leaders in the Manitoba credit union system, many of whom have previously served on the CUYLM Executive Team. Collectively, the mentors have experience in a wide range of areas.

Important Dates:

• Now until March 6: Application Period

• March 15 to November 30: Mentorship Period

Learn More & Apply

The application process is now open. Please visit the Mentorship Program page on our website to learn more or go directly to the Application Form. Deadline to apply is March 6, 2024.

Questions

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

CUYLM Executive Team

Following a successful 2021 inauguration, the CUYLM Mentorship Program officially kicked off its second year on April 21, 2022. Young and emerging leaders, as well as employees within the Manitoba credit union system (mentees) began their mentorship relationship with subject matter experts and established leaders (mentors) from other Manitoba credit unions, with focus on increasing knowledge, sharing experiences, developing leadership skills, and building connections.

At the kickoff event, mentees were encouraged to drive the mentorship relationship by determining their desired areas of growth and development, as well as working efficiently with their mentors to accomplish their goals. Mentees and mentors were provided with resources such as the mentorship guidebook and goals worksheet. They were also encouraged to build rapport, communicate effectively, set ideal targets, and create a comfortable meeting environment to ensure approachability, openness, and confidentiality.

On September 21, 2022, CUYLM held a virtual networking session with the mentors and mentees. The respective groups, in separate breakout rooms, shared their experiences and lessons learned from the mentorship journey, and expanded their networks. CUYLM also used the opportunity to obtain feedback and ensure that the mentorship program ended its second year successfully.

Conversations with mentees revealed that the mentorship program assisted them with their professional and personal growth. They affirmed that their mentorship relationship involved collaboration, information sharing, organic discussions, and judgement-free conversations. These aided them through role transitions, conflict resolutions, time management, and career trajectory. The mentees acknowledged that their mentorship relationships were more valuable than anticipated.

The mentors asserted that the mentorship program was an excellent way to give back to the system, and some of them expressed their interest in mentoring throughout their entire career. While CUYLM alumni mentors appreciated the opportunity to stay connected to CUYLM and its initiatives, non-alumni mentors, especially those who had been with the program since its the inaugural year, agreed that the program was a nice way to make connections and meet new people. They affirmed that each mentee’s style and preference was different, and they as mentors continuously learned to adjust accordingly. They also stated that they enjoyed behavioural-based conversations which focused on personal and professional development.

Special thanks to CUYLM executive committee for organizing a successful networking event. Gratitude also goes to the facilitators and participants of the event.

To learn more about CUYLM Mentorship Program, you may reach out to CUYLM Committee.

Hello CUYLM Members,

On behalf of the Credit Union Young Leaders of Manitoba (CUYLM) Executive Team, we are thrilled to share some exciting news with you.

CUYLM is launching a new 2021 Manitoba Credit Union Young Leader Mentorship Program. The program is focused on facilitating formal mentorship relationships between credit union employees across Manitoba. The goal of the program is to create opportunities for young leaders to connect with mentors to strengthen and build connections, deepen their networks, with a focus on developing leadership skills and sharing knowledge and experiences.  

Objectives of the Program:

• Increase engagement and connection with CUYLM and others across the Manitoba credit union system; and

• Increase knowledge, develop skills, and retain young leaders within the Manitoba credit union system.

All mentors are leaders in the Manitoba credit union system, many that have previously served on the CUYLM Executive Team. Collectively, the mentors have experience in the following areas: Commercial/Agricultural Lending, Policy & Procedures, Sales & Relationship Management, Executive/Senior Management, Retail Branch Management, Financing Restructuring, among others.

The matching process will be facilitated by the CUYLM Executive Team. Through the application process, prospective mentees will provide an indication of their priority development areas. Matches will be based on aligning successful applicants with mentors whose expertise best aligns with their selections.

Young leaders seeking mentorship as part of their development journey are encouraged to apply to become a mentee. Please discuss with your manager.

The Mentee’s Role

• Establish objectives/structure of your mentorship (to be Mentee driven, but mutually agreed);

• Actively participate in sessions and commit to regular sessions, including preparing agendas to facilitate the topics/discussion. The expectations for meeting time is a minimum of 60 minutes per month, with meeting frequency and length to be mutually determined by each mentor/mentee.; and

• Provide feedback to the CUYLM team about the progress of the sessions/relationships.

Important Dates:

• Now until May 21: Application Period

• May 21 to May 31: Applications Reviewed by CUYLM and Mentorship Connections Formed

• June 1st to November 30th, Six-month Mentorship Period

Mentorship Objectives will be agreed to by the mentors and mentees as part of a Mentorship Agreement. These objectives will be tailored to the mentee’s leadership development aspirations. Examples of objectives could include:

• Gain understanding of the process of strategic decision making & project management plans;

• Create a goal setting plan and define steps toward fulfilling it;

• Learn about coaching and accountability methods and apply those methods in your role.

The application process is now open and available on our website. Visit the Mentorship Program page to learn more, or go directly to the application form.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Hart Garfield at hgarfield@acu.ca

Thank you,

CUYLM Executive Team

The 2019 CUYLM Conference (Discovery: Next Generation Leadership) brought together over 90 Young Leaders representing credit unions and system partners from throughout Manitoba for a busy day-and-a-half of learning, self-discovery and networking.

The conference opened with the State of the Manitoba Credit Union System address delivered by Garth Manness of CUCM. Manness touched on the economic picture for Manitoban credit unions, regulatory modernization, the evolving expectations of members, new credit union competitors, and other challenges and opportunities credit unions face going forward. He emphasized that Young Leaders are in a unique position right now to bring new perspectives and mindsets that will be of value to their credit unions as they bridge to the future.

Barry Christiansen introduced Young Leaders to Insights Discovery, a psychometric tool that helped attendees discover their preferred communication styles, strengths and value they bring to a team. Each Young Leader received a personal profile filled with detailed comments about their leadership style and tips for development. After reviewing their profiles, attendees engaged in a series of interactive activities designed to put their new knowledge and awareness into practice.

The conversations continued at Torque Brewery, where Young Leaders had the opportunity to make new friends and connections, take a tour of the brewery, and have some fun.

The Human Library session was an opportunity for Young Leaders to meet with experienced mentors from the credit union system and ask questions. In small groups, attendees took turns conversing with twelve mentors (Executives from the credit union system). The room was filled with lively conversation as learnings and ideas were exchanged.

To wrap up the conference, attendees worked in small groups to tackle some of the challenges facing the credit union system and brainstorm possible approaches to them. Some of the challenges attendees looked at were the changing workforce and necessity of new skillsets, developments in the regulatory environment, new competitors moving into the banking space, and ways credit unions could collaborate even though many are moving in different directions. Afterward, Young Leaders made short presentations about the ideas their groups had generated.

There were many valuable takeaways from the conference. Attendees left with plenty of new ideas and perspectives to consider, a bigger picture of the credit union system and its future, and a deeper understanding of leadership and strengthening relations, and connections to other driven and inspired Young Leaders throughout the system.

Members of CUYLM had the opportunity to attend the National Young Leaders CU NEXTGEN session, part of CCUA’s National Conference for Canada’s Credit Unions in Winnipeg on May 5-6, 2019, along with other young leaders from across Canada.

CU NEXTGEN, designed exclusively for credit union young leaders, was a 1.5 day session that emphasized skill development, knowledge application and networking opportunities, and featured speaker Drew Dudley, of Day One Leadership.

Called one of the most inspirational TED speakers in the world, Drew Dudley is on a mission to help people discover the leader within. With more than five million views, his TED talk “Everyday Leadership (The Lollipop Moment)” redefined leadership — it’s not a characteristic of an elite few, but one that lives within all of us. Through his high-energy talks, Dudley shares practical and actionable insights on creating cultures of leadership that lead to higher levels of pride, productivity, and happiness. He empowers audiences to believe that they are leaders and gives them the tools needed to make a difference.

Drew guided participants through a deep dive of six key leadership values, and presented ‘The Leadership Test’ - an easy-to-apply approach to consistently engage in positive leadership behaviours. Key values Drew explored were: impact, growth, courage, empowerment, class and self respect.

Shellyna Lipic and Kevin Baun, CUYLM’s Executive Committee Chair and Vice Chair, had the opportunity to represent CUYLM at the Credit Union Central of Manitoba (CUCM) conference in Brandon on March 22nd, as well as at the University of Winnipeg’s Co-Op class that same evening, which made for a very busy day!

Credit Union Central of Manitoba

Shellyna and Kevin were able to mix and mingle with executives from Credit Unions across Manitoba, discussing and challenging interesting topics that are relevant across the Credit Union system.

The topic that our Chair and Vice-Chair discussed in their group was “What is one assumption we have that we should challenge, and what that would look like?”.

The solutions the group came up with aligned greatly with CUYLM’s own initiatives: Empower existing staff, provide financial literacy, and promote co-operative awareness in the community.

Shellyna did a fantastic job representing CUYLM by speaking for our group’s challenge and solution at the podium for all to hear.

The audience also had the opportunity to hear David Dern of www.cdfcanada.coop. We are going to be in touch with him about opportunities for young leaders to make a difference outside of MB (stay tuned).

University of Winnipeg – Co-Op Class

Shellyna and Kevin also met with other credit unions and co-operatives to share who we are, as CUYLM, our mission statement, and our background. We heard from the students on their own innovative co-operative ideas.

The night finished with mingling, asking and answering questions, and encouraging students to seek out their local credit union for a career path.