First West Credit Union CEO Launi Skinner got her first example of great leadership as a teenager working at a pharmacy in the small Okanagan town of Summerland.
“I’ll never forget Brian Burdock, who owned the pharmacy,” Skinner said. “He became a mentor. He was very authentic; he told me the way life kind of works and should work, and here’s how you can help things.”
Through executive positions at Starbucks (Nasdaq:SBUX) and 1-800-Got-Junk, Skinner continued to hone her leadership style.
Skinner said she adheres to the model of the servant-leader, following the philosophy she first experienced at Starbucks.
“You come to work every day, and you realize that every single person has an important job and no one person is more important than another person,” she said. “There’s still a lot of hierarchy and bureaucracy that goes on in a lot of organizations, and this just cuts through all that.”
It’s also about listening – constantly – to what executives, management and front-line staff say is and isn’t working.
Skinner has put in place several tools that keep her regularly checking in with staff. She has weekly one-on-one meetings with employees who report directly to her. Those one-hour meetings have no agenda, meaning staff can use the time however they see fit.
“I believe I am more informed about what’s going on in the company than I would have been if they’d filled out a report,” Skinner said, “because it becomes a conversation, and the conversation explores all sorts of different areas.”
Skinner also holds meetings with staff who don’t report directly to her. Those meetings, held with 10 to 12 people at a time, are similarly unstructured.
She believes the credit union has reaped benefits from this more inclusive leadership style. For instance, it just completed a complicated banking conversion that could easily have taken years, cost millions and inconvenienced customers.
“We just did a banking conversion on time, under budget, with basically no member complaints,” she said. “I believe that’s because we have an organization where everybody is empowered to be the best they can be; they don’t have to wait for permission or ask for approval.”
On the value of checking in with staff | “I think it saves time. If somebody today asks me a question, I’ll go, ‘I don’t know, but I’m having a conversation with Brian in three days; I’ll run it by him.’ It creates efficiency. I can automatically store information or questions so people aren’t getting an extra email or phone call. … Often you can get more information that way that was also helpful.”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected]
