Understanding Workplace Gender Issues, Hispanic Membership: ACUC

BOSTON – Addressing discrimination in the workplace and seeking new membership opportunities in Hispanic markets are two issues that remain on credit union executives’ radar. And at CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference Saturday, speakers advised attendees on how they can take action on these issues when they return home to their credit unions. Here are some highlights from author Jeffery Tobias Halter and Coopera CEO Miriam De Dios Woodward’s breakout sessions, “Men and Women Working Together for Team Success” and “Laying a Foundation for Success With the Hispanic Market.”

Empowering Women at Work

Halter, a consultant, author of “Why Women: The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men” and self-described “straight white guy,” told attendees he had an epiphany about white male privilege after witnessing a major discrimination lawsuit in a past workplace. He then gave up his work as a sales manager and moved into diversity training, becoming Director of Diversity Strategy for Coca-Cola.

He explained few women become leaders in part because the traits people use to describe good managers are typically masculine. And these beliefs are formed at a young age – as an example, he said when eight-year-olds were asked to draw pictures of leaders in an experiment, they always drew men.

“This is a glimpse into the subconscious bias we carry without even knowing it,” he said.

In addition, men aren’t afraid to use their networks to compete and win, while women prefer to build relationships within their networks. “Be aware that men are doing this, and that it could be costing you capital in your company,” Halter noted.

How can women advance in their credit union careers despite their common communication styles and others’ ingrained beliefs about them, both of which tend to hold them back when pursuing leadership roles/? Halter offered some suggestions for both men and women.

Women should:

• Build a confident attitude by doing their homework, creating a professional image and being genuine (the goal is to be your true self, not mimic a man, Halter noted).
• Drop qualifiers from their vocabulary (the biggest one to ditch: “I’m sorry”).
• Provide a collective voice of women in their organization, support other women and be inclusive of women of color.

Men should:

• Make a personal connection with a woman in their life, if they don’t already have one. Halter said that typically, the best male advocates of women are fathers with daughters.
• If a woman gets talked over in a meeting, speak up and tell the interrupter to allow her to finish.
• Focus on listening to women better and understanding their point of view, and lead by asking all employees tough questions. Don’t soften your approach with a female employee because she is a woman.

Adopting a Hispanic Market Growth Strategy

Growing up as part of a family of Mexican immigrants, Coopera’s Woodward said she remembers her father either cashing his paychecks, or using them to buy money orders or send funds to relatives in Mexico, often paying extra to conduct the transactions. At the time, her family had no relationship with a financial institution. “It would have been easier if a credit union were in the picture,” Woodward admitted.

Now as CEO of the West Des Moines, Iowa-based Coopera, a consulting firm that helps credit unions target often underbanked Hispanic markets, she’s addressing the very issues she witnessed her family face as a child. She said credit unions should view serving Hispanic markets as a huge business opportunity because consumers in the demographic are young (more than half are under 29), many are buying homes, their spending level is growing and many are becoming entrepreneurs.

“Credit unions need the Hispanic market and the Hispanic market needs credit unions,” Woodward said. “There’s a unique partnership your credit union can have with Hispanics that banks do not. The sense of belonging that credit union members feel does very well with this market.”

Here are three things she said credit unions should consider as they develop a strategy to serve Hispanic markets:

• Some credit unions may be hesitant to serve undocumented immigrants, but they should know that they can serve foreign nationals and accept government-issued forms of identification that are not from the U.S. They should also focus on serving entire households, as the Hispanic market is very family-oriented.
• A credit union’s staff can begin a Hispanic market strategy even if it’s not bilingual. One thing to consider is whether the percentage of Hispanics on your staff represents the percentage of Hispanics in your field of membership, as it should.
• Credit unions don’t have to roll out new products for Hispanic markets; they can repackage the products they already offer today. For example, an immigration loan is really just a loan being used for a specific purpose.