TALLAHASEE, Fla.–Credit unions were urged to view the turbulence of 2020 as a chance to grow and to identify increasingly superior ways to serve members and not as a setback during the League of Southeastern Credit Unions’ Southeast Leadership Development Conference Virtual Experience.
The two-day event attracted 60 professionals and volunteers from credit unions affiliated with LSCU, with insights shared by nine speakers and a panel addressing the theme of leading through uncertainty.
“We know the past year has been a draining one for our credit unions,” said LSCU CEO Patrick La Pine. “Our hope is that credit union leaders leave our SLDC sessions with a renewed sense of hope and purpose for the future of both their credit unions and the industry overall.”
According to the LSCU, most SLDC speakers acknowledged the challenges 2020 has thrown at credit unions. But Speaker Amy Downs, president and CEO of Allegiance Credit Union, urged attendees to view these challenges as a way to explore their own resilience.
“We’ve all been through difficult times; and it’s been that way since the beginning of time,” Downs said. “Bad things happen, but it’s how you react to them that matters. The key is to react with resilience. I believe the best path is not just to bounce back, but to come back even stronger.”
Downs was one of the last survivors pulled from the rubble of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed a total of 168 people. The bomb detonated while she was going about her workday as a teller at what was then Federal Employees Credit Union. It killed 18 of her 33 co-workers.
“Those of us that were remaining, we knew one thing: we wanted to survive,” she said. “The bombing was more than one moment and one day. There was a ripple effect that lasted for many years. But despite our grief and overwhelming challenges, we had to get really good at setting goals and action steps. We didn’t have time to play victim. We had to take responsibility for what happened to us.”
Like Downs, the LSCU said remaining speakers shared their belief that through stellar leadership, credit unions could come out of the challenges of 2020 stronger than ever. They shared expertise and messages of hope in areas including reaching out to Gen Z, advancing diversity and inclusion in today’s credit unions and the market outlook beyond 2020, the association added.
Besides the speakers, attendees also enjoyed more than four dedicated exhibit hall hours, networking options, virtual cocktails and BINGO, prizes, fun and more – all intended to inspire attendees to tackle the challenges still before them in the year to come.
“We need to get comfortable being uncomfortable,” said SLDC Speaker Dr. Samuel Jones, CSP – consultant, executive coach and founder/CEO of TransFORM Now Inc. “Being uncomfortable encourages us to continue to stretch and grow. Your members, they need you to be flexible. They need you to become comfortable being uncomfortable – because they need you to help address their ever-changing needs.”