A message for HR leaders

On the final day of America’s Credit Unions’ 2024 HR & Organizational Development Council Conference Wednesday in St. Pete Beach, Fla., the human resources (HR) and organizational development professionals gave up the mic.

Credit union leaders from multiple disciplines shared insights about what they want HR leaders to know about their side of the business.

The panel, moderated by Coastal Credit Union Chief Administrative Officer Mia Perez, featured Heritage Family Credit Union Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Christine Messer, Connect Credit Union Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Cynthia Ryan, State Employees' Credit Union President/CEO Leigh Brady, and Suncoast Credit Union Vice President of Enterprise Applications Christopher Ortega.

These leaders have seen significant shifts in necessary job skills over the years.

“I can train anybody to do accounting work, but the leadership side is difficult,” Messer says of how finance leaders require more sophisticated leadership skills today than in the past. “It’s hard to teach people how to engage with employees for retention and growth. CFOs also have to be more strategic thinkers. It’s not just about what the data is showing us, but where the data is going.”

It's similar in operations, where Ryan says it’s getting more difficult to fill roles in the branch and contact center.

“Things have changed considerably for operations people. We’re asking them to cross-sell products, communicate, and use new technologies,” she says, noting the biggest skill gap she sees is digital literacy. “We need them to bring in money and sell products. It’s much harder to find someone with all those skills. And how do we increase productivity without having to add new people? We’re upscaling our team members for additional roles as technology allows us to do some of the automation faster.”

Ortega is also looking beyond skill set when hiring people in technology roles.

“What I really want from our HR partners is to figure out if potential hires fit with our group and culture,” he says. “We’re looking for people who emulate that walking in the door. I’d rather take somebody with a lesser skill set because I can teach that. But can they fit within the credit union and our team?”

Brady, named State Employees’ CEO in June 2023, seeks lifelong learners who are disciplined, driven, and persistent. Even if people have these traits, she says some CEOs “don’t have a lot of emotional intelligence in dealing with people. They’re great at strategy, numbers, and knowing the return on assets, but not so great at dealing with people. A lot of CEOs aren’t servant leaders. They get to the CEO spot and think, ‘Oh, I’ve made it. I’m in the corner office. I’m great.’ But your job as CEO is to serve people.”

Advice for HR leaders

When asked what they want their credit unions’ HR leaders to know, the panelists said the following:

Messer: “Retention isn’t always great. Sometimes we take folks across an organization and find their fit versus finding if they’re a good fit for the credit union. We want people to stay with us, but we want the high performers who want to be here and will improve the credit union movement. If they’re not performing to their job description, we need to help them move on.”

Ortega: “Make sure the people we bring in respect diversity, and that we overly communicate how much we believe in diversity. We have people from all over, and we respect everybody we have. When we hire, we need to make it a point that we don’t tolerate intolerance.”

Ryan: “Communication is the most important thing. And retention is important, particularly with key leadership. There’s going to be turnover in branch operations and contact centers, but key leaders who leave really disrupt the business. We need to engage those folks and find ways to retain key leaders.”

Brady: "The first thing I want to say is thank you. In the last few years, we've overhauled our benefits, and I'm thankful the HR team didn't walk out the door. And now we're going through an organizational-wide compensation study. It's a lot. CEOs should say thank you for everything you do, because your job is not easy."