Millennials may get a bad rap, but they are making moves and becoming leaders in every industry and at every level.
This week’s episode is a wonderful conversation with a millennial who has successfully led teams and organizations through major conversion processes and comprehensive training programs. Megan Snyder has held various management roles within the credit union industry. She began by building her own training department and has become the go-to leader when branches need to be brought back into compliance. Through it all, she has developed a successful style that includes:
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Synchronizing department visions with those of the entire organization
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Navigating various learning styles within training programs
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Rolling out integrated core values company-wide
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And much more
Megan has done it all in the model of a true servant-leader and her actionable advice is relevant for leaders of any generation. Listen in now!
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Megan Snyder: You can not love your job, but you can be passionate about leading people and you can be passionate about wanting to make an impact and a change.
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Vibrant Leadership podcast with leadership speaker and consultant Nicole Greer.
Nicole Greer: Welcome to the Vibrant Leadership podcast. My name is Nicole Greer, and they call me the Vibrate Coach. And today I am here with none other than Megan Snyder. I absolutely adore Megan Snyder. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside her and I want to tell you a little bit about her. One of her favorite sayings is, “I may be young, but I am mighty”. And I know this to be true. She’s gonna talk about how Millennials are absolutely amazing. Megan considers herself to be an empowered, hardworking, well adapted woman who is eager to learn and lead.
She has over 14 years of experience working in the financial industry and seven of those have been in a leadership role. So right out of the gate, she got promoted. I want, and she wants to make a positive impact wherever she is in her life. And she also had the cutest dog ever. I could attest to it. I have seen Carolina in person. Did I pronounce her name? Right?
Megan: You did. Yes.
Nicole: Carolina. Okay, so I have seen her over the Zoom. So you know, during this whole thing with the pandemic, sometimes she will show up on camera. So she is the cutest dog in the world. So that’s awesome. So welcome to the show. Megan, I’m delighted that you’re here.
Megan: Thank you so much, Nicole, I appreciate you asking me to be on. It’s a great privilege.
Nicole: Yeah, it’s great to have you. And so you and I have talked about this fact, for a long, long time that Millennials get a bad rap. And as somebody who gave birth to two millennials, I’m like, I raised these two amazing children. They’re out in the working world and making things happen. And so you’re in that category. Why is it that everybody gives the Millennials such a hard time?
Megan: I have no idea. But we do. You know, unfortunately, we do. And I think a lot of that is part of just their interactions that they’ve had, which is different from the previous generations. The older generations, you know, they’re so used to doing things kind of a certain way that here comes the Millennials who were like, well, hey, no, we can do it this way. And I think that just kind of is something different that people just aren’t used to.
Nicole: Yeah, and I love the fact that you all have an opinion and that you’re outspoken and that you want to contribute. I mean, like, hello, why do you, you know, employ somebody in the first place is bringing their genius into the room. And you are definitely one of those Millennials that brings the genius in the room. So even though you are young, you are mighty, and I just wanted to share, I wanted you to share kind of like you’ve had some really cool stepping stones in your career. And you stepped into leadership right out of the gate. You know, the first question I usually ask people is, what is your definition of leadership? So let’s start there. And then I want to kind of hear about your history and the amazing things that you’ve done at your ripe young age.
Megan: Yeah, so leadership, to me is a whole combination of things. But it a lot of it starts with just being impactful in people’s lives. You know, having someone who can step in and step up when it’s needed. You know, you ultimately want to guide that person. But you also want to be stepping along with them, or pulling them along to kind of be able to get them to where you want to be, and or where they really want to be as well. So I think it’s by creating that direction, but also building that team to be able to get there. To build them to be able to be confident and successful on their own, but also as a group unit as well.
You know, I had a really good example of leadership with my dad growing up. He’s been in leadership roles since I was born. And so I always used to go into his office and visit him and everybody would just be like, oh, I just love your dad, Tom Snyder. He’s, he’s the man, you know. We just love him. And even still, to this day, we run into people who are like he was the best boss I’ve ever had. And that’s kind of my dad’s legacy. And so that’s kind of what you know, I think being a leader is, is making that impact that lasts 50 something years, you know. And somebody can go back and, you know, talk about who was a good leader, and immediately they think of you and you want to be an impactful leader.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. And I definitely know that you’re doing that. In fact, one of the things that you have done in your short career, as you have single handedly put together a training department. So will you share a little bit about kind of how you put this whole strategy or vision in place? What systems you put in place. Because it’s essential that we do training inside of our organizations. All leaders got to have this on their radar.
Megan: Yeah, absolutely. So when I was hired into the current credit union, I’m at, I was currently the only trainer for that position. And as I was kind of getting into the position, I realized, okay, this is this has potential to grow. It was something where I wanted to have, ultimately my hands in more pots to be able to kind of, you know, have more experience for myself to be able to to help employees. So because I was getting, I was a trainer for the full credit union. So I was getting a lot of questions on different departments and such.
And so I took it and kind of built it from there and was able to provide proof of kind of why we need this employee, why we need this employee. Was able to separate out the trainers. Think a little bit more about the different departments and the needs of the credit union, along with the strategic vision of what our CEO wanted at that time. So you kind of had to match your vision to what the vision of the leaders were wanting. Was able to get in a good team and build it up from just being me to a team of four, and was able to really kind of showcase how important having a successful training team truly is. So it’s something that I think is imperative to any organization.
Nicole: Absolutely, yeah, so don’t miss what Megan said. I like to tell people what you just said, so they don’t miss it, you know. They’re on their treadmill, or whatever they’re doing right now. And so, um, you know, she, she, she again, you know, she, she got in there, she had it, like really just a position, turned it into a whole department. And the first thing she did was look for proof or evidence or statistics that we need, we need to have a bigger department. Then she looked around and she did a needs assessment, she figured out what they needed. And then she looked at the vision of the CEO, and then the vision she had for her department and she synchronized that. So like that you can take that’s why you can take that money to the credit union. Am I right Megan?
Megan: Right. Yeah. And that’s an you know, it’s important, because if you could just go in with an idea, they’re gonna be like, okay, great, but what’s the data behind it? So it’s a matter of kind of doing your research before you present the idea. Because if you go in with your data, and you go in with all of this and show them how you’re going to save money, or how you’re going to use this money to allocate this funds, they’re are a lot more likely to listen to what you’re trying to say.
Nicole: 100%, 100%. So get your data together, your proof, do a needs assessment, match your vision to the leader’s vision, that is money. Okay, awesome. So another thing that you did this was earlier in your career is that you went into a lot of situations that were dare I say it. This is like how I like to say a hot mess. Right, so that shows your value right there. So as a young leader, you know, sometimes you can clean up some messes that really can give you some credibility. So tell us a little bit about how you cleaned up the hot messes.
Megan: So it was actually my first leadership role. So I got hired on as a supervisor at my last credit union and and in the leadership role, and quickly kind of just dug in and was successful at that branch. And they started to notice that I can kind of come in and clean up messes. And so I moved to a few different branches to kind of be able to help when they were failing audits or having staff issues or something along those lines to be able to kind of get them back in working order, which I absolutely love. I love coming in and cleaning up messes. You know, my co workers now joke around like if you ever need anything shred, I’m your girl, I’ll be there. I want to shred everything and just organize everything. So having been able to go in and kind of get these branches back up to compliance was a big thing for me. And I enjoyed it.
Nicole: Yeah, so when you went in, and you were put in this branch, they could either say like, oh, here comes Megan, she’s gonna clean house, or her comes Megan and she’s gonna help us clean it up. What do you think is the difference between you know the style that you kind of came in because one thing you all need to know about Megan Snyder is, she’s a boss in terms of like getting things done and making things happen. But underneath that she’s a total sweetheart and her her employees love her just like her daddy’s employees loved him. So how do you go into something that’s a mess, and clean it up? And not, you know, get everybody all upset and actually win them over? Can you kind of be messy and tell us about how you do all that? Because you have that skill set.
Megan: Yeah, it’s you know, I will honestly say that I never went into any of these branches and had to let anybody go because truly I went in it as I’m here to help. Like, let’s get this back on board. Let’s do this all together. You know, what is it that you need from me to be able to help? I think going in with that mentality instead of coming and going you did wrong, you did wrong. You messed this up. It really changes the mindset of people because if somebody is coming in and just telling me you did wrong, you did wrong. I’m immediately going to get on the defensive and just be like, whoa, who are you coming in and telling me that I’m doing wrong. But if I’m coming in going, alright, can we work on this together? Can you explain this? It’s a lot more of a partnership and collaboration and I think that changes the mood of the whole entire situation.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, one of the things that Megan and I have done together is we’ve done some assessments around the quality of character and personality. And Megan has this unbelievable set of character traits, that, you know, basically, we would call her a connector. She’s got this connection ability. Could you talk a little bit about how you build that partnership or that collaboration? You know, in terms of like, you know, when you walked in the door, how do you get things off to the right foot? What are some were some things that you do right there?
Megan: So I get to know employees first. So I don’t immediately just jump right into it. And, you know, I am kind of guess behind the scenes, but what I’m doing more so with employees is getting to know them and working, you know, just helping them you know, jump on the teller line and spend that one on one time with them. You know, it’s something where, when you have that connection, ultimately with somebody, it’s, that’s where they’re, they’re willing to work hard for you. They’re willing to listen to you and kind of be able to go, okay, she’s coming from a good place.
So I would always just come in and get to know them, you know, and always just kind of go, okay, well, what are your thoughts on this? And what are you, you know, kind of hype the up, because truly, they’re the ones doing the work. And a lot of people have a lot of, you know, silent genius in them. It’s just a matter of getting it out of them and being able for them to kind of be able to have those conversations with you. So really just making them feel comfortable and getting to know them.
Nicole: Yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, so she said, you know, when you go into these situations, it’s messy. You know, you can either alienate everybody. No. Or you can connect. I love what you said. I get to know them. I work hard right next to them. I try to get their mindset in a good place. And then listen to this, y’all write this down. She said, you need to get their thoughts, because a lot of times they have some silent genius unless you pull it out. Right. So yeah, absolutely.
Great. Okay, so when you moved into these other things, there’s also kind of like the the strategy side of it. And I bet that you’re, you know, I’m a trainer, you’re a trainer, that’s how you and I like connect, because we both love to teach people. What do you find when you go into the messes from a strategy standpoint? Like what’s not been done? Like, how did it get in a hot mess in the first place? What’s going on there? What do you usually find is the culprit or the root cause?
Megan: Lack of leadership. I mean, a lot of times when you’re coming into a hot mess, it’s because the employees were left alone to a degree. The manager or the boss, whoever it was, was checked out. Wasn’t really communicating very well with the team. So a lot of what you go into, you’re basically having to kind of build people’s self esteem back up through that. Most people, you know, take pride in their jobs. Most people want to do well, want to be successful. So it’s just a matter of why haven’t they been given that opportunity to be able to do so. But a lot of it’s the lack of leadership behind it.
Nicole: Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. So I love that you said, you’ve got to build their self esteem back up. And I think that’s the great part when you’re pulling out their genius, getting to know them. And like, overall, I kind of hear like, trust.
Megan: Big time.
Nicole: You’re really building that trust. That’s beautiful. Okay, so oftentimes, when you go into these messes, everybody pay attention. You’ve got some people who’ve been left behind. The the former leader checked out, and you got to go in there and build those connections. Okay, now, just this past year, you have been overseeing nine branches of a credit union. The pandemic came. And before the pandemic, which was a ton of fun, I know for you, you could probably navigate taking care of all her people, she had to figure out and take care of other people. But in the midst of all that, you were going through a core conversion for the entire organization. So that’s another huge thing that you know, even these young, but mighty leaders can do. Tell us what a core conversion is. And then how did you set that up? How did you accomplish it? What leadership skills did you use to get that done?
Megan: So a core conversion is basically the system that everybody in the credit union does their job on. Tellers do their transactions, loan officers do their loan maintenance, the back office does all of their work. And so we were on a system that we had been on for many, many years prior. And so we were transitioning, getting rid of that system and moving everything to the new system. We had to train a whole entire credit union on how to reuse the system and build it basically from scratch. That was, you know, it’s actually I was just telling my CEO today, I actually enjoyed that because I think it was it gave me a lot of experience.
Yes, it was a ton of work and long hours. But it was fun to be able to be involved and be able to have your input and be able to kind of watch people get that aha moment. And you know, so leadership skills through all of that, I learned to have a lot of patience. Because you’re dealing with several people’s, several different ways that they’re learning. Some people pick it up quicker than others, and you just have to kind of learn how to be able to manage through that.
Time management was a big piece for me, because kind of through all of that, I also got pulled back into the training role to be able to help through that. So I was still, you know, leading the branches, but I was also a part of the training team. And so trying to be able to manage both those was, you know, tricky sometimes. But it was, I think it ended up going off well. We ended up doing it successfully and having, you know, great, and everybody’s been doing fantastic since, so.
Nicole: Yeah, I love it. And you know, one of the things that I think is great about Millennials is they’re not afraid of change. You know, everybody’s like, people don’t like change. And I’m like, oh, these young people, they get a new version of their phone about every two years. I mean, like, they’re all about the latest and the greatest, so I love that. So here’s, here’s what she said, everybody is that the skills for like a big change inside of an organization is patience. And then you said, everybody has a different learning style.
And that just dovetails beautifully with all your great training background. What kind of learning styles are you talking about there? Can you tell us a little bit about things you experienced with people’s learning styles? And how does a leader keep all those things, you know, kind of moving forward? It takes a particular ability to connect, again. And then how to identify these styles. So helps kind of see the styles if you could.
Megan: Yeah, so styles that I came across was some like hands on learning, and some like to be able to watch and then do hands on, some just want to get in there and kind of knock it out while others want somebody there to kind of help them and be able to, you know, kind of see how they do things. Others are told once they’re good, they can kind of move on. Others need to be reminded a few times. Others, you know, it might be where they need printed out procedures. We had a big thing about printed paper. So Millennials do everything electronic.
And so, you know, having staff members who aren’t Millennials, they’re used to having paper and being able. Well, I need this printed, I need to be able to write on this. And so it was, okay, we can work with that, we can make that happen. So a lot of it was I would just ask them, okay, well, how do you learn? What’s easiest for you? I’m, I’m here to support you. Whatever we need to do to adjust we’ll make happen. I didn’t go in it as no, you’re learning this way. This is how what needs to be done. Because that’s really, again, that’s not leadership.
That’s not how working with somebody because you want them to feel calm and comfortable to be able to ask you questions, to admit if they don’t know something. But then also be able to come in and feel confident in their self that they can be able to do this. So a lot of it was just asking questions, trying to be able to understand kind of where they’re at and what they feel comfortable with to help them be successful. Because that’s truly what our goal was.
Nicole: Absolutely. Okay, so what I heard her say is, as you’re as you’re moving through a change with people, especially if they have to learn something new. And when she says that this other system was in place a long time like, hello, she is not kidding right there. Because it was, how long was the other system in place for?
Megan: I think it was 36 years?
Nicole: Yeah, so don’t miss this everybody. She had employees that actually worked all 36 of those years on the same system. And now we’re going to change what you do. And you know, I always make a joke, Megan, these ladies and gentlemen, who were working, you know, on your system, where another company has the same thing. It’s like, they could probably have a conversation, use the 10 key at the same time and talk to the customer all at once.
Megan: And drinking their coffee.
Nicole: Yeah. And so you’re really asking a big ask because, you know, again, their, their brain is so hardwired, you’re pulling that all apart and making them you know, reconnect things in a new way. So I love that.
Megan: I didn’t mean to interrupt, but on top of that they, our members, it was a transition for our members as well, because we transition our online banking system. So our employees had to be confident to be able to answer the questions for our members as well because it was an adjustment for them too.
Nicole: Yeah, okay. So I love what you’re saying. So she’s talking about internal customers, which were her employees. She had to take care of them so that her internal customers could take care of the external customers, so don’t miss that. And so she said how she did that was through support, being accommodating and asking lots and lots of questions. And you know, I just had another aha about another major thing that you’ve done in your career, which I think is usually reserved for, like, you know, the C suite, and that kind of thing. But you were very instrumental in rolling out the core values.
Your, your organization’s been around a very long time. And so it was kind of one of those, hey, you know, we need to pull back, step back. We need to look at our core values, we probably need to revamp them a little bit. The ones we’ve had have served us a long time. Will you, will you talk, first of all about what a core value is, and then how you guys went through the process, and then how you rolled it out. Because you were tasked with the responsibility of making sure every single employee knew what they were.
Megan: So a core value is something that we hold ourselves to, in our credit union. So it’s, I believe it’s five, yeah, five core values, that when we hire employees, we look for those five core values. It’s something that’s innately in their personality, but it’s also something that they distribute when they’re doing daily work and through conversations. It’s a multitude of basically how a person is built. So we rolled it out, I think it’s been about two, three years now. Because I never worked with you on that.
And I think I’ve worked with you for three years. But that was, you know, we got the senior leaders together, we kind of talked through decided, like, what the core values that we wanted. We did some marketing around it. So we created like little door stickers. We’d be able, we created like an employee excellence program, which was kind of my baby where we started to recognize employees. So we would have employees be nominated for the, recognized, for really a core value that they have exhibited through whatever interaction they’ve had with another department.
And this employee would then win an award that’s got our core value on it. They get their picture taken with the definition, and it gets sent out to the whole entire credit union and then gets hung on a wall so they can be able to showcase, hey, this is what they’re nominated for. And this is what they’ve won. So we really, and then, we’ve added in as well to our yearly reviews. They get rated on their core values as well. So it’s something that we truly believe in. It’s something we hold our employees to on a day to day basis.
Nicole: Yeah, so it’s not just a list of words on the wall. And we look at them and go, huh. It’s actually a complete and integrated. Oh, genius. Well don’t miss that. It was you get awarded for actually demonstrating behaviors affiliated with that core value. They worked it in through their employee performance reviews. And then you know, have have rolled it out to the whole company. And, and I think that was really great, where you guys got everybody in the room. And like we slowed down and talked about each core value. Like we invested some time around it. So we don’t we didn’t have any assumptions about what it meant. I thought you guys did a genius job with that.
Megan: Yeah, our CEO really lead the charge on that one. And really, you know, he understood the impact it needed. So you know, he he was open to doing that and making that change, which is great.
Nicole: That is fantastic. Okay, all right. So you know, you have been a leader, you’ve had leaders, you still have leaders, you’ve got peers who are leaders, and then you can kind of look out into your industry, the credit union industry. Why do you think some leaders are successful, and others are just on the struggle bus? Because they are on the struggle bus, aren’t they?
Megan: That’s what I was laughing at. I was like, yeah, some of them are. I know, it sounds so just playing, but I think some just get it and some just don’t get it. You know, it’s, it’s going to be hard. You have to put the effort in. You have to be able to admit when you’re wrong. Everybody’s egos get in their way and getting their way. And that really is unfortunate. Because we all have so much to learn every single day. I’ll be the first to admit I messed up or I didn’t know or, you know, I’m wrong. But I take that and go, but let me learn from it. Or let me find out so I know for next time.
I think a lot of times people just go I’m the boss, I’m gonna you know, just sit back and not do anything and have my people work for me. Well, no, you got to work with them. You know, there’s, there’s, there’s a big difference. And I think people a lot of times just kind of get in their head that they don’t have to do anything and really, as a leader, you have to probably do more than your your team does.
Nicole: Yeah, I think that’s a it’s a beautiful, beautiful picture you just painted. Is that, you know, you think oh, I got to the leadership role. Well, now everybody can take care of me. But no, it’s the complete opposite. So and also don’t miss this. Megan Snyder also has what I would call kind of like a servant leadership perspective. She wants to take care of her people. And I think that’s how she builds this beautiful trust in everything that she’s got going on. So I got another question for you about skills.
Now you’ve alluded to some skills that you’ve got, you know. But tell me some other skills that leaders need to have, you know, we’ve talked about building trust, we’ve talked about, you know, getting the vision, getting the proof of what you need all those different things. But, but if you were to like, say, you know, here, here are the skill sets I would work on for the rest of your leadership career, what would be those skill sets?
Megan: Honesty probably is probably the biggest one. Transparency. Nobody likes to be surprised. So being able to have those hard conversations with your team members, but be able to be honest with them as well. Because you know, when it comes year end review, or however, often you get your review, you don’t really want to be surprised. And that just kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Being positive. I think we are so quick to be able to kind of get stuck in the whirlwind of our day to day and be able to get overwhelmed with everything we have to do or would they not kind of, you know, getting wrong.
But I think remaining positive is a big key to being able to be successful as a leader and have a team that leads that trust in you. Because they’re coming to you and you’re not griping or you’re not complaining, but they’re coming to you being positive. You know, and I think being passionate about what you want to do as well. You know, one thing I think you can not love your job, but you can be passionate about leading people, and you can be passionate about wanting to make an impact and a change. Hopefully, you’re passionate about your job as well. But you still are ultimately a human being and you want to be able to help other people be successful.
Nicole: Yeah, and I love what you’re saying. Because you know what, here’s the deal. If I continue to be passionate about the change, about the people, I might just end up changing my job or changing the environment which I am working right. So again, don’t miss this, everybody. She’s like, it’s all about impact. Did I get that right, Megan?
Megan: Yep.
Nicole: Okay. All right. Well, we are, we’re, we’re at the end of our time together. But I think that there is a young person out there, another Millennial who’s listening going, okay, I’m inspired by Megan. Download me one more piece of leadership advice, Megan, to leave me with, so I can put it in my pocket and take it with me to work tomorrow.
Megan: You can do it. Continue on the path that you’re doing. Put in the work. Put in the effort, you know, don’t always just sit back and wait for it to come to you. It’s truly not going to come to you. It’s a matter of the effort and the hard work you put in and it’s it’s not going to be easy. It’s not an easy road. It’s you know, it can you can get lucky sometimes and be able to kind of move up quickly. But I’m where I’m at because of the hard work and the hours that I put into this and how passionate I am about helping people. And I think a lot of that comes from just what how I was raised.
But you know, I still put in the effort. And I still put in the work. And as a Millennial, unfortunately, we do have to prove ourselves a little bit more, because there is that, that just that little tiny stigma about it. But they’re willing to listen to us and they’re willing to support us. It’s just a matter of how we approach that topic and be able to kind of show our worth.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so she says show, show your worth, and put in your hard work. And so here’s what I think for every generation since you know planet Earth existed. People like you know, people respect you when when you you try. When you give it your all. And that is the bottom line. All right. Well, Megan, if somebody wanted to get a hold of you, pick your brain, talk to you, be a fan, where would they get ahold of you? Can they can they get up with you on LinkedIn?
Megan: Yes, LinkedIn is probably the best place. Absolutely.
Nicole: Okay. All right. So go check her out on LinkedIn. And Megan, I’m so grateful that you have been on the Vibrant Leadership podcast, I know that where you are in your organization, you are building a vibrant culture and being a huge impact. Thanks for connecting with me too. I’m really grateful.
Megan: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It’s always a pleasure.
Voiceover: Ready to up your leadership game? Bring Nicole Greer to speak to your leadership team, conference or organization to help them with her unique SHINE method to increase clarity, accountability, energy and results. Email speaking@vibrantculture.com and be sure to check out Nicole’s TEDx talk at vibrantculture.com/TEDTalk.
