GLASGOW, Scotland–An update on the rapid and ongoing growth of the Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN) was shared with attendees at the World Credit Union Conference here, which is appropriate given the role the World Council played in its creation.
The update, along with a look at what is going on at present and what the future might hold, were offered by Eleni Giakoumopoulos, director of the GWLN, and Mai-Linh Hoang, VP-corporate strategy with Collins Community Credit Union in Iowa.
The Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN) was launched in 2009 when a group of women from Latin America who were attending the World Credit Union Conference in Barcelona asked the World Council about placing a focus on helping women to advance. The WOCCU officials were all male, and as Giakoumopoulos related, the women said they were seeking a “forum to come together in a safe space to learn from one another, guide one another and help one another to push each other forward.”
Then WOCCU CEO Brian Branch took the idea home and in conjunction with Sue Mitchell, who became its founding chair, the GWLN was launched.
The Network has surged since then, with 155 sister societies operating around the world and on six continents. The first Sister Society was founded in San Francisco in 2012, and among other things the organization now offers membership, scholarships and empowerment grants, networking and sister society engagement, and thought leadership. Like the GWLN itself, the sister societies are also open to men.
The Vision
According to Elani Giakoumopoulos, director of the Global Women’s Leadership Network, the organization’s vision can be seen in the graphic below:
Giakoumopoulos said Sister Societies were meant to show the bonding and connectivity, not just among women and members of the sister societies, but with local communities, as well. Indeed, Giakoumopoulos listed more than two-dozen community organizations in the U.S. alone to which sister societies have provided support.
“The initial focus in the U.S. was on empowering women to advance to more leadership roles at their credit unions or cooperatives,” said Giakoumopoulos “But they also seek to further the global mission by making a local impact, in addition to the focus on both personal and professional development.”
Today, Giakoumopoulos said one of the changes brought forth by the pandemic, video calls, has actually helped connectivity, and she noted there are often calls between sister societies on different continents as other perspectives are shared.
Groups Get Launched
“There have been meetings of sister societies in which the launch was 10 people, and others where there have been 100. “There is no one standard formula,” said Giakoumopoulos. “The sister societies work in the way they want it to work. We have seen some sister societies where there has been one leader, where there have been one or two co-leaders, and others where we have had five. It takes a lot of different people coming together. Many times, it isn’t just about the professional speaker. It could be about women coming together and volunteering their time for their communities. For me, that is often a very big part of it.”
The Hawkeye State Story
Sharing the perspective from Iowa’s Sister Society was Mai-Linh Hoang of Collins Community CU.
“The GWLN brought a Sister Society that I never knew I needed until I did,” said Hoang, “Until GWLN, I had many mentors and allies, but they were all male. Sue Mitchell told me ‘You really need to diversity your network. I didn’t know why until I had my first child. People didn’t really know what I was going through. GWLN brought me that diversity.”
Hoang credited CCCU CEO Stefanie Rupert with launching the Sister Society in Iowa, which Collins Community CU put together on its own using internal resources because it was looking to move quickly.
The Next Steps
“We are now at the point of asking what are our next steps. What’s really great is the GWLN as a network provides a lot of different resources,” Hoang stated. “So, you have access to all of the Sister Society leaders across the globe. You can have them come to your sessions because virtual is such a big thing now.”
Hoang said the different sister societies across the U.S. have all been looking to do something a little different.
“We focused on women’s professional development. Others focused on volunteering. There is no right or wrong way to launch a Sister Society, it just takes someone to raise a hand,” she said. “The other thing to remember is it doesn’t take a lot of funds. You don’t need any money. You just need a group of women and your allies who have that common cause. It’s not difficult to start, but it’s important to align your resources. For me it was really about creating that network and women I could reach out to when I needed advice.”
Session Topics
Hoang said among the most popular topics, especially with younger leaders, has been creating a personal board of directors.
“That can be personal and professional people,” she said. “Just think about your closest five or six people, and they don’t have to be female. The key is to make sure that they are different. You will have some people in your corner who will always support you no matter what you do. But you also have to have someone who will challenge you. They may not be your favorite person because they ask difficult questions. You want a wide range of people who can offer advice.”
DISC Assessments
The other topic that has been popular, said Hoang, has been conducting DISC personal assessments which help identify dominant traits and offer insights into how to better communicate with others.
“There is always a fine line for women in the workplace over communicating or being seen as too assertive,” Hoang added.
Giakoumopoulos said other popular sessions have included how to handle salary negotiations and how to build a personal brand (although that is not something that is thought about in every culture).
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