Aug 1, 2021
GUEST: Susan Cosby is the Senior Director of Lifesaving Centers for Best Friends Animal Society. She was the Director of Lifesaving for the Petco Foundation and served as the Executive Director and founding employee of the Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia. Susan was also the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania SPCA and the Executive Director of the Animal Welfare Association in New Jersey.
MAIN QUESTION: What advice do you have for leaders and managers to handle stressful or chaotic work environments?
TAKEAWAYS:
- Make sure your communications with staff are thoughtful and layered. This means repeating important information and using different communication channels because different people absorb information differently, such as verbally, in emails, text messages of apps such as Slack. It is almost impossible to over-communicate.
- Listen and create a feedback loop. Follow-up when people ask questions or you've assigned someone a project. Check in and listen. And when you say you’ll follow-up, be sure to do it so that people have trust when communicating with you.
- Look for opportunities to create moments of positivity. When you tell someone that something is important to you, follow up after they complete it and let them know that they did a good job.
- Nobody likes an inefficient meeting. Make sure they start and end on time and have an agenda and a purpose.
LINKS:
- Best Friends Animal Society
- Leadership recommendation: Eisenhower Matrix