leaders of the pack STU ROSS STU / SHUTTERSTOCK with baby boomers on the cusp of retirement, the search for tomorrow’s leaders promises to be challenging, with the possibility that the very existence of the ceo position could undergo reinvention. by alexandra samur

ill Kiss and Jeff Shewfelt the double-CEO arrangement permanent, of G&F Financial Group receiving its blessing. (32,000 members, $2.1 Credit unions like G&F have faced, or billion in assets) sit side- are facing, tough challenges recruiting new by-side on a couch in what top leaders. Why? Executives are often was once supposed to be drawn from the more senior cohort of the the office of the CEO. The workforce, once they’ve received years of understated meeting room training and experience and developed the overlooks a towering construction site — the relationships necessary for the C-suite. Bcompany’s brand new head office in Baby boomers currently make up the bulk Burnaby, BC. Doubling the footprint of of this class but are readying for retirement G&F’s headquarters, boosting it to 2,790 en masse. With a flourishing economy, square metres, the new head office sym- this puts even middling leaders, who may bolizes the company’s impressive growth not have the experience or host of skills under Shewfelt’s and Kiss’s direction. In needed, in demand. Some pundits predict the past seven years, under their joint lead- that the boomer retirement wave will create ership, the credit union’s assets doubled to a leadership vacuum, allowing executives $2 billion from $1 billion as has its number of branches, all 16 of which are located “ceos are not born, in Metro Vancouver. Interestingly, becoming they are forged.” co-heads of G&F was never - chris catliff part of the credit union’s succession plan. When it came time for the board to recruit a new to request higher salaries. With fewer CEO, the job was posted and the credit leaders to go around, this makes the chal- union undertook a nationwide search. lenge of CEO recruitment for smaller credit While that was underway, Kiss, who was unions even more worrisome. Executive previously the organization’s CFO, was recruitment, now and in the future, will named interim CEO. Kiss had worked require ever more flexibility and ingenuity closely with Shewfelt, who was an expert on when it comes to succession planning. the sales and administrative side, for more G&F showed such flexibility by, in its than 15 years under the credit union’s two case, making the CEO position a perma- previous CEOs. Therefore, it seemed only nent team effort. “If an external person natural to Kiss that the two should combine comes in, you see a lot of disruption in the their complementary areas of expertise team; a lot of them leave,” Shewfelt says, and share the interim position. From the recounting the conversation he and Kiss start, the synergy was apparent; the pair had with the board about both stepping up soon approached the board about making as co-CEOs: “If you believe in the culture

Mar/Apr 2019 17 and the strategy, then by putting existing CEOs together is unlikely to a facilitator, a consensus builder,” says Kim the two of us in that role, we should work. Experience and trust, of course, Andres, a consultant who has worked with be able to accelerate the progress,” are paramount. credit unions for more than 30 years. “The he told the board. Over the years, word has spread breadth of responsibilities that you have Beyond sharing a title and an about the success at G&F; Kiss and as a CEO today requires that you have a lot executive assistant, Shewfelt and Kiss Shewfelt say they have spoken with of specialists on your executive team and don’t share much else. They have kept many interested credit unions — a you might not be that specialist yourself,” number, purportedly in the double digits, Andres says. which they do not want to disclose. They Heidi Schofer, president of the board of remain optimistic that for some the directors at Horizon Credit Union (5,197 structure may be the perfect members, $263 million in assets) in solution in making a big Melville, Sask. agrees. “Looking at the list job more manageable. of reports that the CEO was responsible for “If a cooperative 10 years ago and what they’re responsible leadership model can’t for now — it’s almost tripled,” Schofer says. work here, where the heck The evolving job of the CEO has would it work?” Kiss asks. impacted credit unions in smaller commu- nities like Melville. In organizations with The rural landscape fewer staff, the CEO role can involve more The scope of the CEO role has changed operational responsibilities. It can also significantly over the past few decades result in CEOs taking greater responsibility and those changes have accelerated with for the development of vision and mission increased regulatory oversight and the statements as well as long-term corporate their old offices and have different sal- digital disruption overtaking the financial strategies, particularly in circumstances aries. Counter intuitive as it may seem, services industry. Certainly the role has where board members may lack in the Kiss and Shewfelt attribute the success of become complex, obliging incumbents necessary size, expertise or experience. the arrangement to their differences and to have, or otherwise procure, increas- The long list of qualifications presents disagreements. “The real strength is that ingly specialized skillsets while often additional challenges for credit unions we have two different personalities, two outsourcing them. As a result, the CEO in rural or remote areas trying to attract different mindsets,” Kiss says. “We agree position “is now very much about being a qualified CEO. Schofer recalls previous on where strategically we need to get to but we think we should “while some candidates were take different paths to get there. So that’s the very much interested in being value in the conversa- tion that we have.” the ceo of a credit union with Still, there’s a lot that can go wrong small-scale assets, they were when two become one. There are numerous really not interested in living examples where the dual-CEO system has in small-town saskatchewan.” fallen apart, as blow- – heidi schofer outs at Blackberry, Chipotle, Whole Foods and Deutsche Bank can attest. And though it works well for them, Kiss and Shewfelt are cautious about recommending the model. For one, timing and circum- stances are key; testing the leadership model during BILL KISS JEFF SHEWFELT LAUNI SKINNER CHRIS CATLIFF HEIDI SCHOFER CO-CEO, G&F CO-CEO, G&F CEO, FIRST WEST CEO, BLUESHORE BOARD PRESIDENT, a merger and forcing two FINANCIAL GROUP FINANCIAL GROUP CREDIT UNION FINANCIAL HORIZON CREDIT UNION

18 Mar/Apr 2019 SHUTTERSTOCK efforts to recruit external candidates, which ended in the candidates with- drawing from the process after learning Melville had a population of just over 4,500. “While some candidates were very much interested in being the CEO of a credit union with small-scale assets, they were really not interested in living in small-town Saskatchewan,” Schofer says. Though Schofer and her board eventu- ally did find the right internal candidate to become their new CEO — Larry Yeadon — for many credit unions with smaller pools of employees to choose from, it’s rare to find that the perfect candidate just down the hall. As a result, promoting an internal candidate with an unproven track record THE PREMIER PRINT PROVIDER FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. as CEO is common but not always ideal.

From outsider to insider When an organization feels it needs a new fresh voice and perspective, an external candidate can provide that. However, regardless of the type of orga- nization, research shows that “cultural Locations in , Alberta and Ontario. fit” can make or break a hiring decision. 604.549.2350 1.800.663.9952 westkeygraphics.com A 2016 study by Cubiks Netherlands, a human resources consultancy, found that, on average, nine out of 10 recruit- ers passed over applicants who weren’t spent more than half a year on a journey BlueShore CEOs. Research on millennial the right cultural fit. to ask credit union staff how they wanted leadership by WorkplaceTrends.com Finding the right corporate culture was to articulate First West’s culture and the shows more than 90 percent of millen- a priority for Launi Skinner while she was differences and similarities with that nials — those born between 1981 and a CEO candidate. The former president culture in each region. “A big piece of 1996 — aspire to executive positions. of 1-800-Got-Junk and Starbucks US, being a CEO is developing the strategy,” In theory, there should be a surfeit of Skinner was recruited to helm First West Skinner says. “Equally important is candidates to replace Catliff when the Credit Union (247,000 members, $10 having a healthy organization: that’s the time comes. However, other studies show a billion in assets) just four months after culture, that’s the people.” majority of that generation are not comfort- the organization became a legal entity in able in taking up the hierarchical leadership 2010 following a merger. Skinner believes Forging future CEOs styles currently in place, with more than a part of the success of the amalgamation “CEOs are not born, they are forged,” third of millennials saying that they believe between and Valley Chris Catliff , the top executive at that “the CEO role will no longer be relevant First Credit Union that created First West BlueShore Financial (46,186 members, in its current format” within 10 years, a is the result of similarities in culture. It $5.6 billion in assets), recently wrote 2017 report, titled Redefining the C-Suite: was this culture that ultimately attracted in The Globe and Mail in a column Business the Millennial Way, stated. Skinner to join the credit union. discussing leadership success. Catliff So, while it appears millennials are will- It’s widely acknowledged that the attributes the success of his North ing to take on executive roles, the nature best leaders influence culture through Vancouver-based credit union to the of those roles — and perhaps the very their leadership. Starting a company-wide organization’s culture, one that appeals existence and scope of C-suite positions conversation to articulate First West’s to millennial workers. “We have the themselves — will need to be rethought and culture was an important first step when millennials joining at the branch level redefined to sustain millennial interest in Skinner joined the organization nine years and then working their way up. We’re leadership. Those efforts need to start now. ago. With multiple brands and a network seeing a really strong career path within As Andy Warhol noted: “They always say of 52 branches in regions across southern our organization,” Catliff says. time changes things but you actually have British Columbia, Skinner and her team This may bode well for future to change them yourself.”

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