Good morning from a spring like Moncton!
The good people of Moncton are thrilled, “it’s like it’s spring, we’re being spoiled” said one woman on the elevator this morning! A large winter storm battered these parts 10 days or so ago, so the recent days of sun and melting snow have been most welcome. I’ve been attending the Atlantic Central Credit Union AGM this week, largely to facilitate a day’s adventure with the Atlantic Young Leaders Forum. It was wonderful, and the young leaders who presented to the assembled elder leaders from across the Atlantic provinces did a great job. It got me thinking about last week’s post on risk.
Here I thought was a group of people who get it! The new direction for the credit unions here is exciting. I’ve been calling it Credit Union 4.0. Is everyone on board? Certainly not, but virtually everyone is at least saying ‘ok idea’ if not ‘good idea’! Are they aware of the risks? Most certainly, and they are building ways of mitigating those risks. But, as I mentioned last week, “what's the risk of spending too much time focused on risk? One of the implications is that we stagnate. We freeze up in our fear. And human societies that freeze up in fear do not survive. We are a creative species, we need to create, to imagine possibilities of health, growth and a new future.” Stagnation here in Atlantic Canada will be the death of the credit unions, and thus the death of many small communities. And so, new ideas, new possibilities of health, growth and new futures are being imagined and created as I write.
Among the oldest credit unions in the world, the credit unions here are transforming themselves. And the lessons for leaders in every sector are about patience, relationships and passion. Patience as the ideas take hold in different hearts and minds at different speeds, and some hearts and minds choose not to come along for the ride. Relationships as the work of leaders in these transformative times is to listen to what people are saying, to hear their concerns and to be true to themselves so that others can be true to themselves. And passion, as my friend Paul Alofs http://www1.uwindsor.ca/odette/paul-alofs-leader-in-residence would say, is the greatest asset. The CEO of Atlantic Central, Mike Leonard, http://www.novascotia.coop/michael-leonard-appointed-president-ceo-of-atlantic-central/ is a Passion Capitalist, although I might say he’s more accurately a Passion Cooperator. Mike is moving forward, learning from people, being true to himself and breathing life into new ideas and old wisdom. It has been an honour to watch him work.
For those of you feeling tired and frustrated in your work, there is new life, there is new possibility, and I have seen it working this week in Moncton, New Brunswick!
May this week be filled with new possibilities!