CHICAGO–The World Council of Credit Unions’ Global Women’s Leadership Network held its first annual Executive Readiness Summit here with an objective of cultivating more women for leadership positions within credit unions.
“In 2015, we concluded research with Filene Research Institute to understand what was precluding women from summiting the C-suite. One of the challenges we found is the pipeline problem,” Calyn Ostrowski, Worldwide Foundation executive director, said during her opening remarks. “Women often start working for credit unions in lower-level roles and departments that do not lead directly to the executive suite. Simultaneously, conversations with credit union recruiters and HR directors noted the difficulty of identifying women to join the pipeline for open C-suite positions.”
Thus, the Executive Readiness Summit was born.
Why does this matter? asked WOCCU.
“Women control 80% of the global wallet,” Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO of Empowering a Billion Women by 2020, said during her presentation at the Summit, “but 91% of women feel advertisers don’t understand them. That kind of disconnect can break a business and more women in C-suite positions can help fill that gap.”
SuiteTrack Managing Partner Erin Wolf, the facilitator of the two-day summit, said she believes the unwritten rules of business may be holding women back from the C-suite. “While 70% of smaller credit unions may be run by women, only 14% of the billion-dollar credit unions are led by a female CEO,” she said.
Eventually women may be able to change some of the rules, but, “Before you disrupt the rules, you have to know there’s a game going on,” Wolf said of her 10 Unwritten Rules. Among those rules: always raise your hand to get picked for a team, and, if you’re 20% ready, you’re 100% ready. Wolf stated that women often make sure they have all the skills necessary before moving into a higher position, whereas men are entirely confident at 20% readiness.
A panel of experts tackled the preparations necessary to summit the C-suite, including Korn Ferry Senior Leader Mike Juratovac; Korn Ferry Principal Amanda Boron; CommunityAmerica Credit Union CEO Lisa Ginter; and Collins Community Credit Union Chair Marsha Schulte.
During an executive leadership climb, Ginter advised attendees to always identify and then fill the skill and knowledge gaps you find. Boron added it’s critical to have multiple sponsors to absorb input from a variety of viewpoints.
In response to a question from moderator Angela Russell, CUNA Mutual Group manager for diversity and inclusion, Juratovac said that the skills and competencies he’s looking for when it comes to “executive presence” during a credit union CEO search is the ability to 1) create a high-level team, 2) work at the board level, and 3) drive and execute on strategy. It’s important however, Schulte added, to make sure once you get to the C-suite you don’t run yourself ragged and into health issues as she did, WOCCU reported.
During a Tuesday morning keynote, CU Innovate CEO Stacie VanDenBerghe referred to the 1967 Boston Marathon in which Kathy Switzer was the first woman to register under her own name and run, despite the race director trying to yank her off the course. Among her leadership lessons were: Never let anyone intimidate you, work for and with people who believe in you, know your value, no one will believe in you if you don’t believe in you, never stop learning, and you don’t have to be liked to be respected.
To help start summit participants on their journey to the C-suite, WOCCU reported that everyone completed and received the results of a DiSC assessment, which helps determine your personality style and its strengths and weaknesses to work on. Wolf and the group discussed and analyzed these reports at length. Additionally, attendees were provided a Personal Action Plan to guide the way to the C-suite Summit.
“Our goal is to maximize your talents so you can be equipped with skills that make you bigger, better, and bolder leaders tomorrow; ultimately leading to an increased ready-now and ready-soon pool of C-suite candidates,” Ostrowski said.
The GWLN Executive Readiness Summit was sponsored by PSCU, CUNA Mutual Group, CUNA, Numerica Credit Union and CUES.