Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

Organizations are funny things. Employees come in and move out, yet the organization remains. This applies to all employees, including the organization's leadership. 

How do you develop and nurture the next generation of leaders?  If you're looking for ideas, here's a wonderful article from Slate, which highlights GE's leadership program. 

I recently visited Crotonville’s 59-acre campus and sat in with a group of about 80 midlevel GE executives who were beginning a two-week session. The class included both men and women, of widely varying ethnicities and ages. They’d been sent here—on the recommendation of their superiors—from GE units all over the world. The only thing that united them was that the company felt they possessed superb managerial potential. Or, more simply put, as one Crotonviller said to me: “This is where you go to get promoted.”

Over the next fortnight, these handpicked protégés would be coached on topics ranging from corporate finance to presentation skills to emotional self-regulation and mindfulness. They’d receive one-on-one counseling sessions tailored to their own strengths and weaknesses. They’d socialize over team-building activities in converted barns, walk together on beautiful hiking trails, and eat group meals in the dining hall. On this, their first day, seated in an amphitheater classroom with their name placards before them, they were being led—by GE’s chief learning officer, Raghu Krishnamoorthy—through a discussion about the nature of GE’s corporate culture.

Granted, GE has more than 300,000 employees. There are few companies on the planet with their resources. That being said, any company can make a commitment to develop tomorrow's leaders. 

So, just a closing thought for today. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well does your credit union develop its next batch of leaders? 

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