Building Partnerships and Developing Business
Hello again,
It’s been almost five months since the CEO/Executive Team Network event in Florida, and I must say – time flies! I’ve started a new role with Integris as the Talent Acquisition & Development Manager. In my role, I get to focus on helping my team attract, recruit and select talent. Once we have the best talent, we help make them better by supporting their learning and development. Naturally, the two foci - talent acquisition and talent development - are complementary.
When I was a nominee for the Next Top Credit Union Executive (NTCUE) competition, I had someone reach out to me regarding my role at that time. The individual asked me (with regards to my previous Engagement & Communications Manager position) something to the effect of: ‘How did you convince your senior/executive management team to create such a unique role? I want that position!’ Interestingly, my role kind of created itself. It started with pursuing engagement activities in an attempt to attract people - potential Members and candidates for positions - to join the Credit Union. Communications was part of my role at that time and, again, the two foci are synergistic in their very nature.
After the success of my previous position, our Credit Union has started to pair different parts of internal “service delivery channels” (in this case, engagement and communications; in the former, talent acquisition and development) in an effort to be more efficient and effective. Another example is the creation of my colleague’s position: Manager, Partnerships and Business Development. Although a considerable amount of attention could be placed on either focus, these two factors - building partnerships and developing business - logically make sense paired together.
Since the NTCUE competition ended, it has been mostly local, non-financial institutional businesses who have reached out to me with regards to ideas that were brought up in my project. Specifically, they want to collaborate with me and Integris to be engaging as a tandem in an effort to emulate the key components of my project. I love this approach to engagement (i.e., establishing engaging partnerships with community members). I mean, isn’t that what being a Credit Union is all about? Much like pairing components of our business to create effective positions, it only makes sense to partner with community members using both parties’ respective talents and ideas!
I’m always looking for other ways to create these types of partnerships, so feel free to shoot me a message or give me a phone call! That’s it for now – C.U. Soon!
Alex Castley
