Archive for year: 2016

We live and work in a world of constant change.  Change is continual and the nature of change is changing.  Years ago, stability used to be the driver of a successful business – prices only changed slightly, people stayed in the same jobs for their entire career…life was good!  Now, rapid technology change, global competition and changes in socio-demographic trends require credit unions to be ready for constant fast-paced change.  I asked myself recently how I can be ready for and adapt to change.  The connection I made is that I need to focus on managing my career in order to lead change within SaskCentral and the CU system.  Here are 7 tips and tricks that I have learned on career development:

1. Own it – your career is just that: YOUR career.  Career development should be employee-owned, manager facilitated and organization sponsored.  Take control of your own career.  Your manager should be there to support and challenge you and ask rather than tell you what to do.
2. You can never have too many self-assessments – In order to manage your career, you must understand your strengths, values, skills and weaknesses.  This is about reflection of who you are and what you like to do.  One easy assessment tool is to select your seven top values in your career. A few of my top values are working in a team environment, feeling challenged intellectually and having flexibility and time freedom.  What are your top values?  List them in order of importance.  Then identify those values that are aligned with your current work situation.  If one or more of your values are not being met, ask yourself, what steps can you take to move towards alignment?  It is important to look for alignment between your top values and your vision of career success.  There are many self-assessment tools available, such as DiSC Profile or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and also many free tools online that you can use.
3. Validate your self-assessments – Once you have completed the self-assessments, it is important to validate those assessments.  The key here is to ask your co-workers, manager, friends and family – people who know and work with you – to share feedback on the strengths, values, skills and weaknesses you have come up with.  Do they agree with the strengths, values, skills and weaknesses you have identified?  Ask them to identify additional areas you can focus on or additional strengths and weaknesses you might not have thought of.
4. Establish a career vision and set goals – I recently attended a career development workshop where the facilitator shared how to create a career vision and set goals to achieve the vision.  The facilitator shared an interesting perspective on how to establish short and long term goals.  She believed that career management is less about the next position you want to attain and more about building skills and experience.   Often, you may focus on achieving a certain role or position within a company, rather than focusing on the skills and experience you need to have a successful career.  Think of it this way – if your goal is to become the next CEO or general manager at your credit union, but the CEO position is filled with a younger leader who will likely be in that role for 10 or 15 years, you are likely to be disappointed because your chances of getting that position are low. The facilitator also suggested that we work on 2-3 week timeframes when setting short term goals.  This allows the goals to be smaller and more manageable.  So establish a career vision by determining what career success would mean for you.  Then use short timeframes to achieve your career success.
5. Be prepared to answer the question “Tell me about yourself” – This is a classic interview question but is one that you should be ready to answer in all situations.  The key is that rather than focusing on the position you have or where you have worked, you should come up with a 30 second elevator pitch that addresses your skills, attributes and values.  Here is an excerpt of what I have come up with to answer the question:  “I am confident individual, role model and coach who strives for excellent performance and challenges my team to meet our department and corporate goals.  I embrace accountability and openness to creative ideas so that I can encourage problem solving and work towards a culture of continuous improvement.”  As you can see, this doesn’t state that I am a senior analyst at SaskCentral.  Instead, it focuses on the skills and values of what I do in my role as a senior analyst.
6. Challenge yourself – Development of skills doesn’t occur within your comfort zone.  Once you have identified the skills you would like to develop to achieve career success, don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone in order to develop those skills.
7. Build your network – This is about getting to know people with different skills and viewpoints in order to expand your own skills and experience.  Try to expand your network further than like-minded people – look for people whose strengths are your weaknesses.  When you are building your network, it is important to have three types of people as part of your network: 1) Mentor, 2) Good listener and 3) Devil’s advocate.  Your network should include people with different perspectives and individuals that can help with various aspects of your career.

Our generation (Generation X and Y) generally looks for variety and we are likely change jobs more frequently than the Baby Boomers.  Remember that your career will be a winding path, not a linear one.  I will leave you with one last point to kick start planning your own winding career path.  Ask yourself what do you do that makes you feel most successful and fulfilled in your career?  What activities were you involved when you felt most successful or fulfilled?  Who were you working with?  What skills were you using?  If you can answer these questions, you will be able to start to understand what you will define as career success.

Ashley Kennedy, CPA, CA
Senior Analyst, Accounting & Reporting, SaskCentral

Financial literacy… It’s almost beginning to be a “catch phrase” in today’s society. Everyone is talking about it, but what are they doing to help it catch on? What does it mean? How do we promote financial literacy to the youth of today?

Investopedia defines financial literacy as “the possession of knowledge and understanding of financial matters”. It describes it further saying “it entails the knowledge of properly making decisions pertaining to certain personal finance areas like real estate, insurance, investing, saving, tax planning, and retirement.”

Financial education should be life-long; beginning with parents in the home, continuing through elementary and high school and persisting into adulthood.

If you are at this point, you deserve a gold star for listening (or reading)! Here’s why: I have done many presentations to students from grades 9 to 12 in the past few months and the one common trend I see in these classrooms is the lack of interest in the topics around financial literacy. One question I always ask the kids is “Can anyone tell me what a credit card is?” The answers to this question have proven to be very alarming and at times, comical. These kids are 16 to 18 years old and can’t confidently tell me what a credit card is let alone how it works! I can’t help, but ask… How can we expect these youth to be responsible with a credit card in a few short months when they are able to sign for their own card?

Starting at home can be the easiest and most effective way to introduce personal finance as well as the financial concepts required to give kids the knowledge and confidence to be smarter consumers into their teens and adulthood.  I have broken down a small list of ways to help kick start these life skills at home. Try some of these out, your kids (and their financial advisor) will thank you!

1. Be a savings role model.
   I’m not sure if you have noticed or not, but kids are so good at copying behaviour! Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the bad habits but they do pick up on the good habits too. Use jars to organize your household finances – divvy up the money required for groceries, gas, utilities, and entertainment to help the kids relate to the money and to see how much it costs to keep the fridge full!
2. Pay your kids cash… cold, hard, cash.
   I’m guessing you already give your kids an allowance, right? Give them the cash to earmark for either spending or saving. Give them a special jar or piggy bank for savings and a cool new wallet for their spending money.
3. Use the 10% rule.
   Teach them to split that big birthday cheque from great-grandma and immediately take 10% and put in their piggy bank to save for the future.
4. Start saving early.
   From their first allowance to the time they move out. Talk about their savings and be firm with goals they have set for themselves!
5. Come on Dad… give them some dough!
   One sure-fire way to encourage saving is to match their savings effort. Jimmy is saving for his first car, challenge him to save at least half; if he can reach his target you’ll give him the same amount.
6. Post pictures of the savings goal.
   There is nothing that makes you more motivated to save then staring at that new bike you really want! Post pictures to the fridge, bulletin board, or even the background of the computer and iPad!
7. Measure progress and give rewards.
   Create a colourful savings chart for long term savings goals. Reward progress with stickers, screen time, candy, time with friends, or even a later bedtime!
8. Teach financial concepts.
   Such as compound interest, credit cards, consumer rights, and cost of credit. These are important concepts that will ensure your kids are fit to make their own financial decisions and be a responsible consumer.
9. Introduce banking.
   Take them to meet with a financial expert at the local financial institution (like the Credit Union) to open up their very own savings account. Let them have a discussion and build a relationship with the financial expert, this will be a valuable relationship for all three of you!
10. Don’t forget the fun, Mom!
    By no means will these steps be easy, but you can use some fun to make it a bit more interesting! Use board games, challenges, online apps, fun videos, or other fun activities to encourage your kids to learn and grow their knowledge.

By using a couple of these tips, I hope you are able to help your kids feel valuable in your household, and give them the power to go out on their own and be financially healthy. By investing in your child’s financial knowledge, you can be sure it will have a life-long impact on how hey look at their own finances and they will be more likely to make smart decisions in the future.

Naomi Seaborg, Conexus Credit Union

Spring is in the air and I have been planning a new garden box and have been thinking about the lessons that are learned from growing a garden. From the planning stage through to harvest, there are successes and failures, but one thing is for sure, you are never in control.

At the beginning we can plan the perfect location, prepare our soil and then sow our seed when the time is just right. Once that seed sprouts we start to nurture, train and protect the plants as they grow to maturity and hopefully, we have a bountiful harvest. Of course, it isn’t that easy. From the time the seed is sown to maturity, there will be a number of challenges and obstacles in the way of that harvest. We are better equipped than ever in dealing with the challenges, but without control there will always be variable results. You can do everything “textbook” and still have a crop failure or you can give up and later find a flourishing plant; sometimes it just doesn’t matter.

A gardener can only create the conditions for growth and as long as those conditions are maintained the growth will continue. As leaders, we need to provide the right conditions and be agile enough to meet the evolving needs and be able to react to the changing environment around us.

Steven Schwartz
Prairie Centre CU