Building Community
in Uncertain Times by David Keil
I have focused my life’s mission to advocate and support women, share life lessons and help women scale their business. I am a husband of 32 years to a college professor whose doctoral dissertation focused on risk preferences in gender/pay issues, a father of a strong woman and have been a partner and coach to eight women founded or led franchise businesses including The Lash Lounge, Madison Reed, HoneyBaked Ham, Pure Barre, skoah, The Barre Code, City Row and Live Well.
a gap in information or connection, people tend to fill that void with their own fears or assumptions. Even if your natural leadership style is to delegate through others, you must get in front of the team – visually if possible – and communicate often. I communicate on three levels: • Start by acknowledging the current state or naming any issue or uncertainty; be authentic, transparent and vulnerable to gain trust
I would love to share my thoughts on building community, particularly in these times of uncertainty
• Set clear goals and repeat them often – beginning with goals that impact people’s hearts (e.g. your health comes first)
1. Be a visible leader It is important to be out front and visible to your team. When there is
• Create a path of action, at a high level, even if issues have an unknown end date
22 The Franchise Woman
Open, live and regular communication to the whole team is one of the most effective means of establishing credibility, trust, community, and speed of decision making. During COVID-19, we have held weekly all-hands meetings and established daily check-ins via our project management software, recreating the same ‘water-cooler’ or ‘walk-by’ conversations that are organic in a face-to-face workplace. Touchpoints make clear that our top priority is for remote individuals to remain connected to the overall mission of the organization and to reinforce that their role and impact is valued and seen. Multiple points of contact let the team know that their leader is engaged, caring and present.
