It is important to discover how to stay relevant as a legacy employee. Have you been with your community bank or credit union over 20 years? Do you have a lot of knowledge that few employees have in your institution? Do you remember how “things were done” 20 plus years ago? Then you are what I lovingly call a “legacy employee.” You are valuable!

Do you find yourself trying to keep up with technology? Are the “new people” changing everything you used to do to a new way of doing things? Do you sometimes feel lost in the sea of information and don’t know where to begin to stay on top? Then you are what I respectfully call a “legacy employee.” You are in transition!

If you have been with your organization for 20-50 years, and want to learn how to stay relevant as a legacy employee, below are some tips that will inspire you to enjoy this season in your career:

Willingness to learn.

One of the keys to being a successful professional is to adopt a life-long learning attitude. The moment you lose the ability or willingness to learn, you start lagging. Attitude is everything! Your continued willingness to learn will open new doors of opportunity within your organization and you will experience less stress on your job.

Share your knowledge.

When you are willing to share all the amazing knowledge you have accumulated over your career with your coworkers, you will become a most valuable asset! It may seem that if you share information you will not be needed anymore. But it works the other way around. The more you share, the more others will seek your advice and input.

Mentor others.

Mentoring is taking someone under your wing and sharing your experiences with them. Mentoring is different than training in that mentoring is more informal, and you choose to mentor someone. Most likely what you mentor others on is not in any book because it’s based on your own life experiences. As you start thinking of your next adventure in life, you will find that leaving a legacy of knowledge is very satisfying. Your organization will keep you for as long as you want to because you are voluntarily creating your own succession plan.

Be open to new jobs.

Often workers who are contemplating retirement, want to stay put those last 3-5 years and not be bothered with having to move to a new position. They feel scared to learn and may feel threatened by others who have more technological knowledge. But taking on new jobs can help you stay sharp and may open new doors to stay in the workforce longer than you planned—not because you had to but because you want to and enjoy your new responsibilities. You may fill a need in your institution precisely because of your longevity with the organization.

Be coachable.

Typically, you may think of coaching the new generation or emerging leaders. However, being coachable simply means being open to doing things in a different way. Additionally, and regardless of age, some people may always need coaching to improve their communication or interpersonal skills. It takes humility to stay coachable throughout your career but it’s very rewarding to see your continued improvement.

It is important to discover how to stay relevant as a legacy employee. I hope these tips inspired you to act and continue to learn as you enjoy your present season in your career.

When we think of community bank CEO succession planning, we immediately think of only the CEO and/or President. A succession plan is crucial to 1) have in place or 2) at least for the Board of Directors to have documented discussions about their succession plan. However, part of enterprise-wide risk management is to think of the entire institution as a whole. Community banks face the challenge that because they are small, they don’t have the luxury of having depth of staff. Therefore, one person ends up wearing several hats—sometimes too many. From one perspective, that is a great opportunity for employees because they get to learn about the various areas of the bank and that makes them more marketable. From the risk perspective, however, this situation presents a challenge for banks if that key employee leaves, gets promoted to another position, or simply goes on vacation for a week!

The topic of community bank CEO succession planning falls under various areas of bank management. Succession planning is part of talent management, which entails assessing the talent of the organization to see if there are internal candidates to potentially fill key positions within the bank. Talent management should be integrated into your community bank strategic plan so the bank can clearly see the type of talent needed in the future. At the same time, succession planning is critical to enterprise risk management because if the bank’s leader is no longer there, the bank must have a plan to implement immediately. I call it “disaster recovery plan” for the CEO. But what about the other crucial positions in the organization such as the operations person who has been with the bank for 30 years? What about the employee who knows how everything is done and holds an immense amount of knowledge in his or her head? Who will do their jobs when they move on—whether that’s unexpectedly or planned?

When we work with bank clients on talent management, we first identify all the key positions throughout the organization—regardless of title. Then we implement a backup plan for all the critical positions of the bank, which includes cross training employees and establishing procedures that anyone can follow. Having backup and cross training are two strategies that avoid a crisis not only on unexpected situations but also for the planned vacations, so bank operations can continue to run smoothly while key employees are out. The next step is to write the succession plan for all critical positions and make it part of your strategic plan. Regulators usually ask for the CEO and senior management team succession plan but it is wise to also have it ready for other vital positions in the organization.

Having a community bank CEO succession plan at all levels is crucial to the continued success of community banks.