65 young leaders from credit unions across Manitoba gathered at Stride Place, Portage la Prairie on Thursday, September 21 for CUYLM’s 2023 think tank. This event concluded our four-part series on Exploring Generational Dynamics in the Credit Union System.

In three webinars leading up to this event, participants learned about generational dynamics and characteristics, including commonalities and differences within generational demographics, how different generations of co-workers approach work and career, the dynamics among our members and their life stage needs, and more.

The aim of the think tank was to discuss what we’ve learned through the webinar series and how we can apply these learnings to attraction and retention strategies for staff and members.

Participants split into groups that were each given a unique case study to consider, and the groups brainstormed actionable strategies and solutions we could implement today. The case studies sparked many thought-provoking discussions and questions and challenged young leaders to think about how we can drive change within our own credit unions. The groups then each presented their solutions and insights to the other participants.

Following the event, the CUYLM Executive Committee compiled key insights and takeaways into a summary document that we distributed to all participants. We encourage young leaders to share and discuss these takeaways within their credit unions. For more information about the summary document, please contact us.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this series. We hope you found it as informative as we did! 

“Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely connected.”

— Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations

The world today is a global village. CUYLM is proud to foster a multicultural environment, evident by the diverse composition of our group. As young leaders, we hold the potential to change the way we see things, the way we respond, the way we innovate, and thus, change the world we live in. In a step toward harnessing this power of diversity, CUYLM organized its first Culture Café.

Culture defines who we are as individuals, be it history, geography, food, arts, family, customs, or traditions. One of the best ways of learning about an individual is by understanding their culture. Having a one-on-one interaction is a perfect opportunity to hear peoples' stories, share yours and ask questions! Through Culture Café, we aimed to promote sharing of cultural information in a safe space and respectful manner that encouraged curiosity and knowledge acquisition.

As part of this activity, three CUYLM Executive Committee members, Connor Gosen, Kawsar Jubair, and Yomi Oduwobi, shared their experiences and knowledge of their respective cultures from the United States of America, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Archana Krishnan facilitated and provided insights into her culture from India.

Topics included common misconceptions, what is considered respectful and disrespectful, sports, arts, education and gender roles, as well as how we could use this knowledge to build trusting relationships with our team and community members. During this discussion, we discovered that despite the differences in cultural backgrounds, factors such as movies, food, and sports bind people together universally.

This activity helped our team bond with one another, understand our peers better, acknowledge the importance of diversity and inclusion, and the vast potential that cross-cultural awareness holds for creativity, collaboration and success.

If you are inspired by this activity and decide to incorporate it within your organization, please share your experiences with us at cuylm@cucm.org and tag us on your social media posts!

Don’t forget to check out our welcome kit for an overview of what CUYLM offers!

2022 CUYLM Executive Committee

To learn more about our Executive Committee, please visit this link.

CUYLM was fortunate enough to have four of its committee members attend the CUNextGEN Intensive as part of the National Credit Union Conference in Toronto that took place April 29-May 1.

The CUNextGen started early Sunday morning at 7 am with breakfast and registration. Attendees were assigned to tables with 6-7 other young leaders from across the country. Megan Mitchell facilitated a workshop labelled “The Art of the Possible”, which was designed to teach us how to increase our creative influence and effectiveness! Megan tasked each table with their own question where Young Leaders spent the remainder of the day using the “FourSight Framework” as a process to follow and ultimately come up with a solution to the question given at the beginning of the day. It was great to learn about the 4-step process, then to put it altogether:

• Clarify - Identifying the Challenge

• Ideate - Generating Ideas

• Develop - Turning Ideas into Solutions

• Implement - Making it Happen

Each group was tasked to use the “FourSight Framework” to come up with a solution to the question they had been assigned, and then presented the solution to the rest of the group on Day 2. Given the short amount of time to prepare for the presentations, it was amazing to see what each group came up with as a final product! It definitely goes to show how passionate and creative our Young Leaders are from across the country.

At the end of day 1, we had the opportunity to take part in a “Human Library”. Each of us had the opportunity to pre-select five industry leaders who we wanted to learn more about – with a rotation every 20 minutes. It was interesting to hear their ideas and perspectives on all the ongoing opportunities the CU system is facing. Some of the questions asked were:

• How is your credit union dealing with the notion that CU’s are turning into banks?

• How do you see the CU System in 5 years?

• What has your career path looked like to get to where you are today?

Over the course of the 2 days, we had many chances to network with other Young Leaders and meet people from all across the country. It was a fantastic experience to connect with people and to share perspectives and ideas.

Overall, this experience made you realize that every credit union has its challenges, and there are so many bright minds within the CU System. It was exciting to see how many people are so passionate about helping members with their finances, and ultimately want to provide them with the best service possible. It was mind-blowing and exciting to see the BIG ideas that so many of these young leaders have. It makes you us feel good about going back to our individual CUs and getting more involved to make a greater impact.

CUYLM is offering a similar workshop on May 17, as our annual “Think Tank”. We encourage all Young Leaders to get involved and be part of the future of the CU System.

2018 CUYLM Committee Members,

Brad
Marie
Kevin
Shellyna

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.

CUYLM was granted an amazing opportunity to facilitate one of the breakout sessions at this year’s convention. Our Committee Chair Emma Lafreniere and Co-Chair Jody McPherson along with Jay Murray, CEO Mid-Atlantic Corporate Federal Credit Union led the discussions of Millennials: Reshaping the Workforce to a group of Executive and Board Members of our Manitoba credit unions.

It is predicted that, by 2025, three out of every four workers globally will be Millennials. Credit unions will need to build ways to identify talent, as well as encourage and promote our future leaders. After all, the young credit union professionals of today are our future leaders of tomorrow.

We were excited to also represent CUYLM in the annual trade show. We encouraged our seasoned leaders to share their knowledge by giving away a mentorship breakfast. We were enthused by the amount of participants that entered the draw who were eager to share with us young leaders. We look forward to sharing more information from that session at a later date.