Is cohort training a silver bullet?

Early on in my career, I remember attending an all-day new manager training. It was in-person, hosted by a big-name provider, and the course description assured my employer that I’d be skilled in all things ‘manager’ by the end of the day.

I showed up, eager to walk away competent and ready to better lead my team, and instead I was talked at, sitting alongside people outside my industry. Sadly, I left more insecure of my abilities, unsure where to ask for help, and questioning if I should be a manager at all.

Looking back, I guess I was lucky to have the opportunity to leave my desk with all its daily distractions to attend training. I can’t even imagine watching a video (alone in my cubicle) and then feeling confident demonstrating important skills like, how to have a difficult conversation with an employee. And let’s be honest – no matter how hard you want to stay plugged into an online video course, the pull of multi-tasking (even just a little) is real.

Fast-forward to today and it’s clear that day-to-day manager duties and leadership skillsets have evolved. Whether you’re leading a team remotely, in-person or hybrid, manager’s roles are critical to helping employees feel connected, seen and a part of the greater credit union purpose. The best of the best understand how to give meaningful feedback and recognition, engage employees through change, and create a sense of belonging for their people– not simple skills to master for anyone.

And the data is clear. Managers are key to maximizing team effectiveness, retaining key employees, and stopping the causes of employee burnout. Gallup research shows that the top reasons employees say they are burned out all stem from poor management:

1. Feeling unfairly treated at work
2. Having an unmanageable workload
3. Unclear communications from manager
4. Lack of support from manager
5. Unreasonable time pressures

So, how do you ensure your managers are equipped to lead their teams today, trained timely and not waiting until your next in-house manager training is offered? How do you know that the training aligns with the CU mission and culture? Grow their network in the industry, ultimately getting broader perspective and stronger problem solving? How do you provide a safe learning environment where they practice, fail, and can receive feedback? We believe the answer is cohort manager training.

What is cohort-based learning and why does it work?

Cohort-based learning is a collaborative learning style – often through a video conferencing platform – where a group of managers, from several organizations, participate in a multi-session training program together. The benefits and value for both the participants and credit unions are easy to see:

• Collective Knowledge: Leaders interact and learn from each other. The facilitator shares topics, provides best practices, and then encourages the group to share challenges they might be facing (or have faced) and leverage the collective experiences to expand on management techniques.
• Collaboration: Problem solving is a key competency for leaders. The ability to understand multiple perspectives and incorporate into the problem-solving process ensures better change acceptance. Cohort groups are a great place to learn collaboration skills that will aid them in working with their teams and peers.
• Safety: Cohort learning provides a safe place for leaders to share real-life challenges. This allows for experimenting in a way that leaders might not get in an in-house manager training where pressure to have the “right” answer is real. The participants can provide encouragement to each other, especially in times when a manager is struggling to learn a new skill.
• Community: No one can diminish the value of meaningful connection and intentional networks. Communities of professionals outside our organization can help us learn new trends, provide perspective to re-envision a process, or even help coach us to mend a strained relationship. The vulnerability that comes from this intimate learning experience creates strong personal connections that will help managers with professional challenges into the future.

I’m thankful for the leaders in the credit union community that I’ve learned from, many that I met in a cohort environment. They’ve shared with me their unique experiences and different perspectives, broadening my understanding of our industry and of what great leadership looks like.

When leaders come together across the industry, the joy and challenges of managing people in credit unions is shared and celebrated – regardless of employee count or asset size. Cohort manager training is one way to bridge the divide often discussed in our industry – resourcing and access for small credit unions vs. large. Coming together, learning together, supporting each other (even after the training is over), will ultimately foster better credit union leadership and model our mission of people helping people.