There are potential leaders in every organization.

Is your credit union doing what it can to identify, develop, and employ aspiring leaders in the positions that best suit them and the organization?

Aaron Brown, vice president of talent and member development at $18 billion asset Mountain America Credit Union in Sandy, Utah, and Jody Larabee, senior manager of the member contact center at $1.3 billion asset Great Lakes Credit Union in Bannockburn, Ill., have implemented employee and leadership development programs to grow and retain their credit unions’ best.

“Leadership development is so crucial to an organization,” says Larabee, who with Brown addressed an America’s Credit Unions Councils’ virtual roundtable. “We wanted to be able to recognize, attract, and retain great talent. We knew we really needed to invest in the leadership of the program.”

Mountain America’s had the same goal. After building an employee experience vision and philosophy, the credit union set out to find top talent. Mountain America identifies its high potential leaders by examining ability, engagement, and aspiration.

“Figure out who has potential to take on more complexity and additional roles in the future,” Brown says, noting candidates are evaluated by performance as well as a self-assessment, a leader assessment, and a leadership potential worksheet. “Then, figure out some strong development plans for these individuals. We start to understand who our talent really is. Who’s a talent, and are they truly ready?”

But solely identifying talent is ineffective if there’s no development program in place. Therefore, Larabee says Great Lakes’ employee development program uses the following progression:

* Needs assessment. Meet with every department to identify skill gaps and obstacles preventing the organization from meeting its goals.

* Program assessment. Clearly define program goals and how to fill the gaps, establishing measurable objectives to enable progress tracking.

* Program design. “Our aim was to cultivate an adult learning environment that fosters optimal comprehension, engagement, and seamless knowledge transfer,” Larabee says.

* Program content. Develop well-rounded leaders by focusing on core competencies, soft skills, self-assessments, and weekly department overviews. The program concludes with a department charter presentation to the executive leadership team.

* Participant identification. Find a good mix of people across the organization to lead to better learning experience.

* Assessment and feedback. Evaluate program effectiveness with participant and stakeholder feedback.

* Sustainability. Evolve the program to meet the credit union’s ever-changing needs.

Assessment, feedback, and sustainability are crucial. With that in mind, Mountain America’s succession planning process includes a twice-yearly talent review to engage potential leaders, encourage them to grow, discuss career paths, and examine how the program is working.

“Our employees all want to be developed, but they don’t always know the right approach,” Brown says of Mountain America’s 3,200 staff members. “We train them on how to think about their career and their development. It gives them a sense of, ‘I can see my path. I can see where I can go.’”