JT Thoms, director of strategic partnerships with the Atlanta-based organization Growing Leaders, shared with me some excellent advice credit unions can use to build a culture of excellence like the one Royals manager Dayton Moore developed at his club.

If anyone knows firsthand how the Royals accomplished this, it's Thoms. He helped Ronnie Richardson, Royals director of minor league operations, develop the Habitudes program for the minor league system.

It targets teenagers and young adults ages 16 to 24, the same age as most of the Royals' minor league players.

You've probably heard how Royals' team leaders – Catcher and World Series MVP Salvador Perez, First Baseman Eric Hosmer, Third Baseman Mike Moustakas, Pitcher Yordano Ventura and others – worked their way up from Royals' minor league affiliate teams.

Thoms was quick to give credit to Moore for making culture a top priority for the Royals, but also said those young players participated in the Habitudes program.

Growing Leaders President Tim Elmore once worked with well-known corporate leadership coach John Maxwell. When coaching CEOs, Elmore observed how much easier it would be for these leaders if they had learned leadership skills earlier in life, rather than after they had achieved corner office status. As a result, he formed his own company that teaches leadership skills to young adults.

When Growing Leaders first consults with a client, it determines the organization's culture. All cultures consist of three parts, Thoms explained: Customs, common shared values and language.

The Habitudes program utilizes an image-based language organizations can use to teach leadership to young people.

You may recall Moore mentioned the importance of character during his post-game interview after the Royals won the series.

If you sit your team down and talk about the importance of character, Thoms said, you'd get a lot of eye rolling from young employees, and most of them would immediately check out. They'd interpret the experience as yet another lecture they've already received from parents and teachers.

Images change the delivery and encourage people to open themselves up to ideas.

The Royals use the images of a river and a flood to help their young players keep focus. The difference between the two is that the river has banks. It's not rigid; it can bend and turn, but its banks keep the water flowing in the right direction.

In comparison, a flood has escaped its banks. The water runs shallow, rather than deep like a river, and instead of moving as a positive, focused force, it becomes destructive.

This analogy can be used by anyone as they experience distractions throughout their day that break down their banks.

"You have to say no in order to flow," Thoms said, quoting one of Elmore's signature phrases. Isn't that catchy? I hope the CU Times team agrees, because they're going to be hearing a lot of it.

When coaching your team, use the river image to help them refocus. Rather than point out their errors, which Thoms said could be interpreted as demeaning, instead ask them if they're a river or a flood. This allows them to lead themselves.

It's not hard to see how the Royals players used this imagery during the World Series. Those young leaders committed errors – Hosmer's error in game one allowed the Mets to take the lead – but they were able to quickly refocus, win the game and ultimately, the series.

I've experienced a lot of frustration managing millennial employees who don't know how to lead themselves. As a farm kid in rural Kansas, I was raised on a steady diet of "figure it out yourself," which taught me valuable problem solving skills and developed my confidence. Many Gen X latchkey kids experienced the same.

I'm grateful Thoms shared with me how to overcome that. I hope you can put it to good use in your credit union, and transform your small market club into a culture of champions.

Heather Anderson is executive editor of CU Times. She can be reached at [email protected].