How to Embrace Your Leadership Role as Chief Change Agent

Terri McEnaney, Bailey

Terri McEnaney

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One of the key topics to be discussed at the GROW Executive Summit, which takes place Dec. 7-8 in Charlotte, NC, is how to embrace your leadership role as a chief change agent at your company. If the last year has taught us anything, it is that change either makes or breaks an organization. The success or failure of efforts to make change hinges on the leadership skills of top management, not only for setting the mood for change and generating a need for collective responsibility, but also for communicating the vision and goals that will turn vision into reality.

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Terri McEnaney, CEO of Bailey Nurseries, will be the featured speakers for this presentation. McEnaney says the topic of embracing leadership and our role as change agents is always there, but even more urgent in today’s world.

“One of my co-workers likes to say, ‘we might as well get comfortable being uncomfortable’ as so much is happening around us that causes us to reflect and evaluate who we are as an industry, as companies, and as individuals,” McEnaney says. “This is an important topic because as leaders, it is our responsibility to be forward looking and be able to articulate clear direction and why decisions are made to change.”

Every employee in an organization has a different perspective, and communicating things like company values and goals has to be done in multiple ways to connect with your team and align the company to a common strategy and plan, according to McEnaney.

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“I hope that the audience will be able to take away ideas to most effectively share their vision and at the same time connect with employees by listening and create a forum of conversation and being included in where the organization is headed and why,” she says. “This doesn’t happen with just one leader, but a continuation of sharing the vision throughout the company by many.”

McEnaney says her favorite part of her job is making the connections with employees, customers, and people inside and outside the industry.

“You never stop learning from others, and the more you put yourself out there to listen and learn, the more opportunities there are,” she says. “I recently met some amazing industry folks at [AmericanHort’s] Impact Washington advocating for the issues that mean most for our businesses. These are interesting times filled with both angst and opportunity.”

Learn more, and register for the GROW Executive Summit, here.

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