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The Power of Peer Connection
I love connecting with my peers. Last week, I had a chance to connect with six of my peers from around the country as they traveled to Montana to see our wonderful state and national parks. Scott Butterfield (founder, Your Credit Union Partner) and I went flyfishing on the Beaverhead River. We’ve tried for years to align our busy credit union calendars to spend a day on the river, and it finally happened. There’s something magical about spending a day with a good friend floating on a river. While we did talk about the scenery, our families, and trips we’ve taken, we mostly talked about the credit union movement! We are both credit union “geeks,” and love talking about our movement and ways to continue to support you. Our guide listened to us talk about credit unions all day and asked lots of questions. My guess is he’ll be joining a credit union soon!
Then, five league presidents flew into Bozeman, and we spent a few days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Most of them hadn’t been here before, so they were impressed by these wonderful parks. Just like with Scott, we talked about our families, the scenery and animals we saw, and credit unions! Our movement has a lot going on right now, and leagues are in the middle of advocacy battles as well as exploring ways to provide value to our credit unions. We talked a lot about collaboration opportunities and sharing best practices. We talked about leadership and the future of our movement, as well as the challenges we will face shortly. Randomly, we ran into Scott in Yellowstone on Thursday (see picture) and had fun catching up!
I love these times of connection with peers where there’s no agenda, and the busyness of our day slows down to have space to share openly and freely. Often, the big ideas or even the simple solutions to big problems come from these moments. Relationships deepen and partnerships form in these connections. Planning time with peers is challenging with everyone’s busy schedules. However, committing to time with peers is well worth the effort, and the connections are priceless!
Last week was also a special time of celebration as Sky FCU honored Annamarie DeYoung's retirement. This was another time of peer connection as many of Anna’s peer CEOs (current and retired) came to celebrate. We have a wonderful group of peers within our Montana credit union community.
Have you connected with your peers recently? Gallup research shows that people who have peer connections are seven times more engaged in their work than those who do not have these connections. The Journal of Applied Psychology indicates that organizations with robust peer support systems witness a 15% increase in employee engagement levels compared to those lacking such relationships. We also know that peer connections across our industry foster a sense of belonging and support and provide opportunities for learning and development.
Connecting with peers must be intentional; it rarely happens on its own. Taking the time to connect with peers is both refreshing and energizing. Reach out to one of your peers and set up some time to connect soon.
Have a wonderful weekend. Cooperatively, Gerry
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