Becky Scheeler, Executive Vice President, Centennial
You, the CEO, along with your leadership team, carefully crafted your company’s values– which are now on the walls at your office and probably on page 2 of your annual report. While writing your company values, the world and your environment were somewhat predictable. Your vision was clear on how to accomplish your goals. Your “WHY” was very apparent to all the leaders.
In a few short months (really, days and weeks!), everything changed. You found yourself, your company, your family and customers caught in a crisis. The big question is, were your company values present all the time or just some of the time during this crisis?
This crisis has been THE test of your leadership team’s ability to adapt and move forward while never letting go of your core values. There is a lot of work to be done, tough decisions to be made and heartbreak to witness.
But it is also a time to acknowledge those leaders who stood up and did the right thing, even when they weren’t sure. Perhaps a mistake or misstep was made. No matter; they owned their message and behaviors.
Who will you praise and acknowledge? Who do you want on your team when the next crisis arises? Who showed up?
Find your future leaders while you answer these crucial questions:
How did your leader communicate?
- Who communicated to their employee base quickly, clearly and often?
- Were they present and listening to their people in the best way possible?
- Were they able to funnel front line information to you?
- Were they the ears on the front line?
How did your leader’s character appear during the chaos?
- Did they communicate in an empathetic way?
- Were they humble and vulnerable, yet confident?
- Were they able to deliver tough messages in a caring way?
- Where they accessible to their employees, customers and peers?
Was self-care present?
- Has your leader set up a support system for themselves?
- Did he or she eat and sleep so they can make their best decisions?
- Are they keeping a routine that adjusted to a new state of normal?
Do they have a growth mindset?
- Who on your team was agile and able to adapt to the change?
- Did they embrace the changes necessary which allowed them to best address their employees and customers?
- Did they examine their own behaviors and acknowledged when they made a mistake?
- Are they able to let go and delegate to their team so they can focus on new priorities?
- Do they self -reflect, as well as provide necessary feedback to others that will help them grow in a period of change?
Centennial’s core values are a culture of character, being growth-minded, serving with excellence and nurturing healthy relationships. Every day the members of the Centennial team show up and check out our behaviors and attitude against our core values. These core values are not just a nice set of words, they are the essence of our team members, which in turn, is the essence of our company.
Did your leadership show up and demonstrate a culture of care? Did they act in a way so their team will return or stay? Or, will their team be looking for a new opportunity because of the way they were treated? Did they have a cross functional vision for the better of the whole organization, employees and customers? Perhaps a new leader or two has risen from the ranks. Have you thought about how you will you retain them?
Who showed up on your team? Are these the leaders you know will lead through your core values during the next period of transition and change? Now is the time to identify your real leaders– to be ready to rebuild and to define the future of your organization.