Recently on the Credit Unions Forum podcast, I had the privilege of sitting down with two exceptional experts in the field of human capital and leadership development: Janice Shisler of Jspire and Jane Fontaine of Jane Fontaine Coaching.
As we look at the current landscape of the credit union movement, it's clear we are at a crossroads. With a massive wave of executive retirements on the horizon—what we often call the "silver tsunami"—organizations are urgently asking, "Who is next?"
In our conversation, we discussed how the traditional methods of hiring are no longer enough. We explored the synergy between strategic recruitment and intentional leadership coaching, and why the most successful credit unions are the ones that stop just filling positions and start building people.
Below, I've included the main topics we covered, a link to our full conversation on YouTube, and a complete transcript of the episode.
The core of our discussion centered on the idea that leadership development must be intentional, not accidental. We broke down several frameworks for how boards and current CEOs can ensure their organizations flourish long after a transition occurs.
Watch the full conversation below, or click here to watch on YouTube.
Greg Cook: Welcome to Credit Unions Forum, where we discuss leadership, innovation, culture, and the future of the credit union movement. Today's conversation is incredibly timely across the industry. We're seeing experienced leaders retire, talented professionals transition into new roles, and organizations asking an important question: Who is next? To help answer that question, I'm joined by two outstanding leaders who are creating strategic solutions around recruitment, leadership growth, and coaching. Janice Shisler from Jspire and Jane Fontaine from Jane Fontaine Coaching have formed a strategic alliance focused on helping credit unions not only recruit talent but build and develop the next generation of leaders. Janice, Jane, welcome to the show.
Janice Shisler: Thank you, Greg. It's a pleasure. Thank you for having us.
Greg Cook: To begin with, I figured I'd ask some quick questions for Janice. Janice, we're hearing more conversations around the "silver tsunami" of retirements in financial services. What are you seeing firsthand in the credit union space?
Janice Shisler: Yeah, I mean, you know, it has been many years of building succession within the organizations. And you know, now we're seeing leaders who have been in profitable, growing organizations who now want to become CEOs. So what we've done is we've really focused our efforts on our recruitment to help build from the previous leaders within credit unions who were very successful in what they did and grew their credit union—amazing leadership. Now we're tasked to find that next generational group of leaders to take on those roles.
Greg Cook: How has that changed over the last few years, would you say, in leadership roles?
Janice Shisler: I would say the last few years tremendously. It's really gone at least a 360, because there's just a lot of talent out there that now that they've experienced what it's like to, you know, maybe they started off as a VP, now they're promoted into a COO role, given more responsibility—now it's time for them to really take on the challenge of becoming a CEO of a credit union. And a lot of the talent that I'm speaking to, it's about the membership. It's about caring for the members. It's about the credit union's philosophy on how to drive those businesses and those initiatives to really enhance the member experience. So when they put that in the forefront, that's what's exciting to them.
Greg Cook: Taking that a little bit deeper, are credit unions placing more emphasis today on culture fit, emotional intelligence, and adaptability versus just years of experience?
Janice Shisler: I would say a combination of both. But what I would also say is a lot of credit unions are faced with their aging demographic of their membership. So a great deal of them are saying, you know, we need to grow our members. One of the challenges that I also see is loan growth. There are three things they want to do: grow membership, grow loans, and increase assets. But they don't necessarily want to be a merger candidate. So those are some of the challenges that some boards are facing right now, and credit unions in general: how do they grow and how do they make money but still stay confined to their original field of membership?
Greg Cook: Now you're talking to credit unions looking to fill senior leadership and CEO roles. Are you seeing qualities in the next generation of emerging credit union leaders that are similar?
Janice Shisler: Yes, absolutely. Many, many years ago, as I mentioned to you, I've been recruiting in credit unions for 29 years, Greg, and it's been amazing and I absolutely love it. You know, the previous credit union CEOs, they've all retired, but they have been dynamic. They really valued the people and the employees; they didn't look to just grow a credit union for the sake of growing. I think as we've transitioned into the future, that has changed some. The landscape has changed. Now we're finding talent even through M&A credit unions where we're finding them as potential recruits for other organizations that are in growth mode. And that has been a very positive experience as well.
Greg Cook: I've got one more quick question for you before I switch over to Jane. What's one mistake organizations make when trying to recruit leadership talent?
Janice Shisler: I would say one mistake is not fully vetting your candidate or understanding what they bring to the table unless you have a true passion for what they exude. And I also think: what is the ultimate end goal for them? Are they going to stay committed for one to two years and then move on? Or are they going to be part of the succession plan that carries that credit union to the next level?
Greg Cook: Okay, Jane, I've got some questions for you. From leadership development becoming as important as recruitment itself, why is coaching such a critical piece of the equation today?
Jane Fontaine: Well, I've spent ten-plus years in the credit union space, so I had a great opportunity to lead the people and culture functions, and I've worked with a lot of different leaders. And leaders are not—some people will say, "Oh, leaders are naturally born." Well, that's not necessarily true, because leadership is something you can learn.
Greg Cook: I definitely agree. Leadership is something that can be trained.
Jane Fontaine: Well, and I'm sure you've worked at places, Greg, where people are put in leadership and it's almost like, "Good luck, hope it works out for you." And it's so important to give these—whether it's an emerging leader or a leader that's moving up in their career—the tools they need to be successful. And that comes with coaching. That comes with helping them to really onboard. Those first 90 days are very, very critical. It sets them up for success. So it's really investing. It's investing in people.
Greg Cook: Well, and your background—you've got an HR background, correct?
Jane Fontaine: Yeah, I have a 25-year career in HR and the last ten years were spent in the credit union.
Greg Cook: Yeah, the reason I know this is because my daughter is in HR. When she graduated from the University of Toledo, I got her a book and it said, "Your first 100 days as an HR leader." So just like you said, your first 90–100 days are probably the most important when you join an organization. Now, what would you say are some common struggles emerging leaders face when stepping into that leadership role for the first time?
Jane Fontaine: Some of the challenges are wanting to change things too quickly instead of taking the time to listen. 90 days is a time where you spend a lot of time listening, learning, connecting with people. Sometimes it's also thinking that what got you here is going to get you there. It's different as you move to different levels of leadership. Being willing to learn, being open to saying, "Hey, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm here to learn." Getting a mentor—I always recommend finding a mentor; it's invaluable. And as you were asking Janice about emotional intelligence—some of the soft skills aren't there, Greg. And it's: how do we develop the soft skills? Which certainly emotional intelligence is huge, and communication.
Greg Cook: Actually, we could probably take a complete sideways twist on our conversation and go into soft skills. We often talk about technical skills, but how important are communication, resilience, and relationship building in leadership today?
Jane Fontaine: Well, it's absolutely essential. As you know, today's world is changing so fast. You have AI—every day something's new. The ability to communicate effectively at all levels as a leader, being able to pivot when you have to—resilience, obviously, especially in financial services. And the ability to recognize—I find self-awareness is huge. That's what EQ-i will also help you see: how self-aware are you as a leader? How self-aware are you that you know what your strengths are and those areas that need to be developed? And the humility to say, "Hey, I need to develop these things." And servant leadership is so big in the credit union space.
Greg Cook: I can't agree with you more on that one. Now, I'm sure you probably have a loaded question for this, but how can credit unions better prepare employees today for executive leadership tomorrow?
Jane Fontaine: Well, it starts with: you have to identify who. You have to take an assessment of your organization. Who are those people that are potential leaders? Identify who they are and how quickly they're going to be ready to move up. And if they're not ready, when will they be ready? And how as an organization can we help those leaders get ready? And it might be investing certainly in coaching, leadership development training—it could be external programs, internal programs. Rotational programs within the organization are an excellent way that you can take an emerging leader, they rotate to different departments, they learn about all areas of the credit union. It's taking the time to invest in your staff. Investing in staff helps you retain staff, too. They want to feel that you value them and you're going to invest in them, and it's not just all about money.
Greg Cook: That reminds me, I heard a little bit of a joke and it was something like: "Hey, if we invest in our team, they might leave." And then someone else goes, "Yeah, well, if we don't, they might stay."
Jane Fontaine: That is so true! Because when you think about it, Greg, historically when there need to be budget cuts, a lot of people run to the learning and training and development area—"Oh, let's cut that out." That should be probably one of the last places you cut because you want to retain staff.
Greg Cook: So, last one before we segue into your guys' strategic alliance. Do organizations retain employees better when they invest in leadership coaching and career development?
Jane Fontaine: Yes, because it shows that you care about their future. And sometimes, Greg, I'll be honest, you'll invest in employees and then they'll eventually leave because some people are only going to wait so long before they can get promoted. But what does that say about your organization? It says that you produced a quality candidate. To me, that's branding, that's marketing—that they're going somewhere else. And certainly the younger generations, Gen Z and Millennials, they want you to invest in them. They want to learn, they want face time with leaders, they want mentors. So yes, it is a retention tool, definitely.
Greg Cook: You know, I've often heard that a leader isn't a leader until they've produced another leader.
Jane Fontaine: I've never heard that, but that's excellent! That's an excellent thing, that's so true.
Greg Cook: All righty. So, the alliance. What made the strategic alliance between Jspire and Jane Fontaine Coaching such a natural fit?
Janice Shisler: Well, number one, we both are experienced leaders in our specific industry. We've known each other for years. I've been on the client side, I've been on the consulting side working with boards, and Jane has been there throughout her whole credit union career with me. And when she transitioned into a consulting role and we worked together for a role on the East Coast, it just made sense. Jane's like, "I'm getting my coaching," and I said, "Jane, all of our placements are retiring. We need to formulate a strategic alliance to help our new generation become CEOs for the betterment of the members and for the careers for credit unions in general." So we've been talking about this since October of last year and we decided that this is a great opportunity for credit union executives or leaders to reach out to Jspire, and we have that full circle of complement with Jane and with us in developing them, helping them, coaching them. It's a win-win for anyone who wants to partner with Jspire and Jane Fontaine.
Greg Cook: Yeah, so you're not just finding a position, but you're actually helping them develop people for future positions. How does combining recruiting with coaching create a stronger long-term solution for credit unions?
Janice Shisler: It does, because the relationship that people that want to become CEOs—they're starting to tap their toe in the water. Some CEOs make it look very easy, Greg, as you know. And so they're saying, "I want to be the next CEO of XYZ, a billion-dollar credit union." Great, but you're not going to get it your first time either. So our job is to say: "That's great, you're coming in at a perfect time, there are more retirements coming in." And that's when they contact Jspire and then the resume rewrites, the LinkedIn profiles, the coaching is going to elevate them because they're not in that role. And with Jane's experience and my experience, we felt that the combined group could really make a significant impact. We sort of did this indirectly before we formed our alliance with a credit union in Boston where I did the CEO search and Jane was behind the scenes helping the executives with their resumes and coaching. And so it made perfect sense. This board was very much in desperate need of a true leader, and we felt that this really could resonate well as we start formulating new leaders to come into credit unions and be a success.
Greg Cook: Jane, if I can add onto that, interviewing has changed over the years. Finding a job has changed, interviewing has changed. You have to really be solid in knowing what you bring to the table and how you convey that message. "Tell me about yourself. What are your success stories?" It takes a lot of preparation to be successful. Yes, you can go look at a website, but it's really you being able to go in there and articulate who you are and what you bring.
Greg Cook: Well, leadership transitions are inevitable, but leadership development can be intentional. A huge thanks to Janice Shisler from Jspire and Jane Fontaine from Jane Fontaine Coaching for joining us and sharing insights on recruiting, coaching, and developing the next generation of credit union leaders. If today's episode brought value to you, share it with your colleagues, leadership team, or emerging leaders in your organization. Until next time, keep leading forward.
