Transcript: 3 Key Ingredients for a Flourishing Rescue Mission: Fun, Communication, and Frontline Empowerment // Linda Uveges, The City Mission

Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast

“3 Key Ingredients for a Flourishing Rescue Mission: Fun, Communication, and Frontline Empowerment “

November 20, 2023

Linda Uveges

Intro: How can you improve your employees’ passion for your mission? As you connect with your employees by listening and openly sharing information, you build trust and engagement with your team. Healthy communication is an important part of a flourishing organization. And today on the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, we'll discuss how improved communication can result in more-enthusiastic employees that allow your team to exceed its goals.

Welcome: Welcome to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, your home for open, honest, and insightful conversations to help develop your leadership, your team, and build a flourishing workplace culture.

Al Lopus: Hello, I'm Al Lopus, the co-founder of the Best Christian Workplaces and author of the Christian Book Awards finalist Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being. And I'm passionate about helping Christian leaders like you create engaged, flourishing workplaces.

And I’m delighted to welcome Linda Uveges to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast today. Linda’s the CEO of The City Mission in Cleveland, Ohio. You're going to love our conversation as you hear Linda talk about her view on the key elements of inspirational leadership, the important ways to demonstrate open and honest communication through third-party employee-engagement surveys, action items that helped move their workplace culture from healthy to flourishing in just one year, and how a flourishing culture energizes their frontline caseworkers to serve in a way that their transformational goals were exceeded.

And I think you're going to love this interview with Linda. But before we dive in, this episode is brought to you by BCW’s Leadership 360 and group coaching. We help you transform your leadership effectiveness with our stakeholder-based coaching process. Learn more by going to workplaces.org/coaching. Check it out today.

And hello to our new listeners, and thanks for joining us.

But let me tell you a little bit more about Linda Uveges. Linda is the CEO of The City Rescue Mission in Cleveland, Ohio. She's been in this role since 2021. She's made it through the pandemic. And she's also been with The City Mission for 20 years. Beginning as a volunteer and joining the staff 18 years ago, she's served in multiple positions, from security, food service, program manager, COO, and now the CEO. Her experience in a variety of roles throughout her tenure uniquely equips her to lead the multifaceted and advancing ministry of The City Mission. Linda has a master's degree in nonprofit administration and leadership from Cleveland State University. The Mission empowers men, women, and children in crisis to overcome their unique complex paths to homelessness.

So, here's my conversation with Linda Uveges.

Linda, it's great to have you on the podcast.

Linda Uveges: It's great to be here. Thank you, Al.

Al: Well, Linda, your own path to leadership has been through serving in increasingly responsible positions at The City Mission. I just loved our previous conversation. You started off as a security guard and doing security at a women's shelter. But now you bring deep organizational knowledge as you've worked your way up through the organization and a breadth of experience in your role as CEO. So as you've grown into senior leadership, how would you describe your own leadership style, and how have you formed and developed your leadership team over the past few years? And third—here's a triple-barrel question—and what qualities do you look for in leaders?

Linda: Those are great questions. My style is clearly a collaborative style. I know that the first word that comes to my mind is servant leadership. And frankly, I just don't know any other kind of leadership that there is, you know, leading with humility and not being afraid to admit the areas of weakness or growth. That is something I’m very open to and, you know, talk to my team, talk to our staff, that I want to lead with that humility, with open, honest, and transparent communication. And I feel that that really builds trust within the organization.

I think it's important to know my areas of weakness and build a team that can support me and fill those gaps. I know that no one is the complete package. None of us are. Any leader knows that building a team around you is probably one of the most important things to do. And when I began as CEO here, that was clearly something I needed to focus on.

And the team around me is an amazing team. Our senior leadership team, we work well together. There are gifts and abilities that I lean on and know that I don't have all of those. And so it's real important that we serve together and that we work on those strengths, those weaknesses as a team. And I guess I just think it's really important for a leader to know where those gaps are and to be reflective and look at yourself and see, “Okay. Where, what are areas that I need someone else to fill in as I lead the organization?”

And I know that decision making, I feel that it's rare that I make a decision without the input from my leadership team. This is something we'll discuss together and hear all different sides or input as we make decisions for the organization. And I know ultimately, I have the last say if there is a divide or maybe there's a decision making needs to fall on me, and that's fine. I just wouldn't do it without the input of my team. And so we go forward together. And when we make those decisions together, then everyone is buying into that, and we're behind it, and we're moving in the same direction.

And without sounding too trite or anything, honestly, Jesus is my example, you know, looking into Scripture, knowing how He served. And He was honest. He got to the point. He had people around him. And I just see His heart to serve others, to meet people where they're at, and to love them well. So that's a lot, but that's how I lead, and then to find others that lead with that same heart. I've been really thinking a lot about, “What does that mean, to love our staff? What does it mean to love those that we serve?” And our motive has to be love to be able to serve well.

Al: Mm-hmm. Well, okay, Linda, that's been a—that's a great start. Oh, my gosh. You've just described inspirational leadership, one of our eight factors. I love it. Collaborative style, servant leadership, humility, open, honest, transparent, building trust. I mean, all of those are just—I love your emphasis, team decisions. And yeah, Jesus is the greatest role model of all time for leaders, as Ken Blanchard would say in Lead Like Jesus. And I agree with that 100%. Yeah.

So, Linda, The City Mission has done two annual cycles of the Best Christian Workplace Employee Engagement Survey and since you've been the CEO. And Giselle Jenkins, the consultant you work with, says that you've brought fresh energy and a commitment to understanding employee engagement. Well, I'd love for you to tell us why you and your team decided, “Well, let's do this. Let's find out.” You haven't used the word self-awareness, but you certainly described self-awareness in your previous answer. So tell us why you and your team decided to use the Employee Engagement Survey to learn from your employees, and what did you hope to learn by getting feedback?

Linda: Well, we had a transition in leadership about two and a half years ago. Our former CEO was here for 17 years. And knowing that there's a different leadership style, a different culture, I thought it was really important to hear from the staff. It was a perfect time to engage our staff and really get a pulse on how they're feeling about the organization, how they feel about their role. Do they understand how they make an impact? No matter what role you have at The City Mission, you are impacting our residents. And so the fact that we even did this Survey, not knowing the outcome, I had no idea. It's a new transition. I didn't know how people really felt. I had an idea, but I wanted to demonstrate to our staff our commitment to being open, honest, and transparent. I wanted to make sure that the staff had a voice, that they felt heard. I didn't want to do an internal engagement survey, because I wanted staff to know that this was a third party, someone outside of the organization that is going to look at how we are really doing. And that builds trust. I felt it was important to build trust, and I wanted to hear from our staff, what mattered most to them. Where are we missing the mark at The Mission? How can we do better?

I say this all the time: serving at The Mission is hard work, and we wanted to make sure they felt heard and that they felt valued. I'm always looking for ways that we can grow as an organization, and, really, it comes down to how can we serve our residents, those that come to us for help and hope? If we aren't a healthy organization and aren't a healthy staff, that's going to trickle down to how we serve our residents. So it starts, for me, with having a healthy staff.

Al: Yeah. Amen. Yeah. I mean, yeah, let's talk about, if we have a healthy staff, we can serve more effectively. If we're unhealthy as a staff, then that trickles down—more than trickle. That flows down, for sure.

So you started off, the first time, you were pretty average with rescue missions, and then the second round, 91st percentile, top 10% of all rescue missions in your sector. And I know other organization leaders are listening to the podcast and want to know, what steps did you and your team take to show such significant improvement in one year, to go from healthy to flourishing and at the high end of flourishing in one year? So how have you engaged your leadership team and dividing up the Survey results and prioritizing action steps and moving forward? And what are some of the specific changes or processes that you implemented as part of that process, that made such a great difference just in one year?

Linda: Well, as I mentioned, I have a fantastic leadership team. I could not do it without that. Every single one on the team supported the idea of engaging Best Christian Workplaces Employee Engagement Survey. Our HR department was so supportive in this, and we really felt, like I said, this was a pivotal time for The Mission, and we needed to talk, not just talk about what we do, but put action behind it. So for each of this, it was an easy decision. I mean, we really looked forward to that. We've done employee surveys in the past, like I mentioned, and now this was something that was really—the certification behind it, the history, and the validation of this Survey really impacted our staff, and they knew that.

So some specific changes that we've made over this time, our first Survey, when we received, we were glad that it was healthy. But that's not enough. I want more, and I wanted to be flourishing. And so we took the results of that Survey and we said, “What can we do? Where can we improve? What are the staff telling us?” We saw that communication is an area that our staff wanted more of. So I began a weekly CEO email, or sometimes I'd mix it up with a video, to just let them know what's going on and what am I doing all week or all day. So they have that opportunity to hear from me. And then, we also started a—we call it Lunch with Linda—I couldn't think of a better name—so every month, I go to the campus and make sure I have Lunch with Linda. So this is an opportunity for the staff to come and ask any question they want. There's no agenda on my part. I will share maybe some updates that maybe I haven't had a chance to communicate yet. But mostly it's just checking in with them. How are you? What do I need to know? How can I help? How can I pray for you? And these lunches are very well attended, and I go to our main campus and then our campus on the west side and have opportunity to hear from our staff. And those are so important just to have access. I want to be available. I am not sitting in my office all day out of touch. So I want to make sure that I'm communicating and available to our staff.

One other thing that we learned from the first Survey was that our staff was interested in diversity. Where are opportunities for The Mission to grow in diversity? So we hired a consultant and a local consultant that came in and used a pastor from a church, and he came in and for six months we talked about, what does diversity mean at The City Mission? What can we do to be more intentional? What policies maybe need to be changed?

One specific policy that we changed was our tuition-reimbursement program. Well, what we saw was most people that were applying were of a socioeconomic status. And what we saw was the barrier was that we expected our employee to pay up front first and then we would reimburse. Well, we removed that barrier and said, “We will pay up front, and your responsibility is to do well in whatever course you're taking or degree.” And we have seen more people apply and be part of that tuition reimbursement, and that really thrills us as a leadership team. And really focusing on staff development. Our staff, clearly there's purpose in what they do—we are helping those who are experiencing homelessness every day: men, women, and children—so there's purpose and fulfillment there. But they also want to develop as an individual and grow their own professional growth within the organization. So I worked with our HR department, and we have a path now for everyone to improve where they're at, if they want to take some courses or certifications, just growing within the organization. So making that available for every person here on our team. So that's been real exciting.

We've changed some PTO policies, simplified our accrual process and pools of time, and all those things have really—we focused on because of our first Engagement Survey, and we focused on those things.

Al: All right. So I love the idea of building trust between leaders and staff. And you did that with the weekly video or email, and Lunches with Linda, where you're out there. They're well-attended, that's fantastic. And people get to know you, and they're getting open; honest; casual, even, communication back and forth to remove any barriers. Yeah, it comes out. Diversity is an issue. Okay. So you said, “Let's talk about this,” and you discovered what the real issues were, and it was around staff development and how you were able to then do something, and a staff-development plan for everyone and people feeling like, “Oh, they care about me.” And you know, even policies like PTO and making those more efficient. Those are great steps, and so which really leads to the next question. You know, clearly the greatest improvement after that first year was healthy communication. And a beautiful thing about measuring the culture, you can see exactly the impact that you've had from one year to the next. And you were saying, you know, and the Survey said employee suggestions were listened to, that you acted on suggestions, that you encouraged innovation, that you involved staff and decisions. So what are some of the changes that your team has implemented in how communication flows through the organization? You've mentioned a couple already. But how have you engaged your frontline staff in providing feedback and ideas? And can you give an example of even what healthy communication looks like in day-to-day operations?

Linda: Absolutely. So I look at our frontline staff as the experts. They are experiencing this every day. They're interacting with our residents. It's a critical, critical role. One thing that we did, because turnover is high among many places, and I looked at what we were paying them, their hourly wage, and thought, “You know, they're such a critical role, why would they be the lowest-paying position?” And so we changed that, and we increases their wages.

Now, it's not just about money, but that does show that we value their position, and we value their impact. And I can't tell you how grateful our staff was because of that. And mostly it was they felt seen and heard. And that was critical for them.

And with that, also, comes high accountability. This is a very highly responsible role, and they're going to help our residents get to stability, so they know the importance of their job.

Another thing that we are doing is we are involving our frontline staff on decision making, when it's appropriate. When there's policies that need to be made that impact our staff, I don't want to sit in my office with our leadership team—as wonderful as they are. We need multiple voices, multiple people weighing in and sitting at the table to help us make those decisions that will impact our whole staff. So why not engage them? So that's something that we are doing when there's an issue like, “How do we solve this issue? What is it that the staff needs or is looking for? Well, let's engage them. Let's put together a focus group.” So we do that, when it's appropriate, to engage the staff and get their feedback. And even in those small focus groups, we're looking at diversity as far as, you know, where they serve in The Mission, their length of time at The Mission, and making sure that everyone is heard. And just taking a sampling, a focus group. Obviously, we can't take everybody—we have 80 staff—but we want to get a good sample of those who are on the front line, those who are in security or facilities or whatever role or department that is, we want to gain their insight. So that's been really good for us to engage our staff in that way.

Al: Yeah. Well, I love what you're saying. You didn't use the word respect, but what you're doing, you’re respecting your frontline staff is what it seems to me. You're saying your frontline staffs are the experts. I mean, that in itself is a respectful statement. And so they're feeling seen. They're feeling heard. You're respecting them. You've looked at their pay. You've changed their pay philosophy, of course. I'm sure that's impacted—well, everything has impacted turnover, and you're seeing reduced turnover, which is especially critical for rescue missions who have been on the front line in COVID and coming through that. But yeah, and involving others, and that, yeah, there is accountability, and you want the best, don't you. So I appreciate that.

I trust you’re enjoying our podcast today. We’ll be right back after an important word for leaders.

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Al: Welcome back to my conversation with Linda Uveges.

You know, the feedback we get from our Survey is, “Gosh, there's lots of numbers. Boy, there's all kinds of numbers.” But let's talk about, you know, the improvement you've seen, with a story. You know, is there a team or group of employees, even a person, where you've seen the lights come on and engagement, enthusiasm just take off, and where you've been able to see the impact on that team or perhaps even the whole organization?

Linda: Yeah. I would say I see that especially in our caseworkers. They are highly motivated to really see the change that happens with the resident, whether it's our men's campus—you know, we have 95 men at our main campus. We have a capacity at our women's shelter for 166 women and children—and between our caseworkers that see how critical that rule is and the part that they play in that, to see the transformation of a resident who comes in, who feels no hope, feels beaten down, whether it's physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, all those things that they are dealing with, our caseworkers work hand in hand, face to face, working with our residents, and it's really been an amazing change. I would say especially at our men's campus, we have seen more men receive housing, employment, moving into stability. That is something we celebrate. We are exceeding our goal from last year, which is exciting because those who come to The Mission, oftentimes it's their last hope for anything. And when they come here, they want to give up. So to see that transformation, and our caseworkers are so enthusiastic.

We have a graduation several times a year, when men graduate the program. And they get up and share their story. And most of the time—actually, every single time—they're calling out the staff and say, “So-and-so helped me get to this point.” And I know that's encouraging to our staff, where oftentimes it doesn't feel like—you wonder, “Am I getting through? Are we making a difference?” And when you have those graduations and see that transformation, the light comes on, for sure, for our caseworkers and our frontline staff.

Al: Caseworkers. And, yeah, as you say, to see the transformation. And you're seeing, you're exceeding your goals. You know, that's again, a flourishing culture leads to transformation, the work that you're doing, where you have people that are there long enough that know what to do. And your caseworkers are so critical in that transformational experience. And to see more people, more men receive housing, to have more men experience employment, to have more men experience stability, and the same I know, I'm sure, is with the women and children that you serve as well. But yeah, that's a direct connection, isn't it, where the enthusiasm, the engagement of your caseworkers impacts the work that you're doing? Yeah, wow.

Linda: Yes. And with all of this that we're talking about, the healthy culture, the flourishing culture, those are a direct impact on our residents. And we cannot emphasize that enough. When there's continuity of staff and building those relationships and trust with our staff, and, you know, every other 90 days there's not a new employee that we have to onboard or, you know, acclimate to the culture, it is amazing, the impact. I believe that's a direct impact of a flourishing culture, that we're seeing greater results and improved results of our residents. And that's why we did this in the first place. How can we serve our residents better? That has to be our motive in what we're doing.

Al: So, Linda, your staff encounters hard situations every day. You know, you've talked about 95 men, 166 women and children that are coming in. They’re experiencing homelessness and other things. That creates a pretty intense workplace setting. So how does your employee culture support the ongoing ministry so that people don't become weary in their work? I mean, burnout is a big issue in the work that you do. So are there ways that your staff can be filled up on a regular basis so they continue to serve? How do you deal with that?

Linda: Right. Again, I have a great staff. I have a great leadership team and support. So we emphasize self-care. We know that, as you said, the work is difficult and challenging, so we are very intentional on those things.

And it might be just, this seems like a little thing, but it really makes a big difference. We have Fill the Fridge days, where we'll go to both campuses, and my assistant, who's fantastic, will bring items and fill the refrigerator with snacks and healthy things for our staff. This is something that just says, “We know it's hard. We're thinking about you.”

We have all-staff meetings once a month, and we have brought fun to those staff meetings. We don't need another meeting where we're really just focusing on all the hard things. And we can. We will tackle those. But we also need to have fun. Our staff need opportunity to really have a good time, come together. Again, because we're at two different campuses, it's nice to see everybody together. And we take turns: one month it's the main campus, one month it's going to be at our other campus, so we can enjoy each other and have that fellowship with each other. We eat together. We play games together. We share testimonies. We sing and have worship. And we have to build the community together and show that love and appreciation for each other.

We also know when there is a tragic situation, maybe there's a resident that passed away for whatever reason, just sad, and so we provide that care. We have chaplains on staff. We’ll engage an outside organization that will come in and provide that counseling and care for our staff.

And we do fun things, have an annual picnic, where our board comes in and serves and sponsors the picnic, and families are invited. We have 80 staff here, but that represents 80 families. There's more to than just the employee that's here. So we want to encourage the family and make it a family-friendly organization so we can just understand deeper about what issues they're going through. And sometimes people are going through a crisis. Well, how can we help you?

We actually have a PTO bank, where maybe we know that somebody is really sick and they've used all of their sick time. They've used all that. Well, our staff can donate their own PTO for that person and put it in a bank, where that person can have access to that.

So just thinking of ways that we can care for one another is really, really important. And just, I think it's real important to listen. And I heard, actually, another speaker talk about this, but it's something that resonates with me. I want to listen, I want to learn, I want to love, and then lead our staff. And so listening is critical and loving them and learning about what they are experiencing.

Al: Well, Linda, I think you've just described the eight ways to create strong employees and eliminate burnout, maybe eight ways to eliminate burnout: self-care, focus on it; Fill the Fridge; bring fun to staff meetings; build community; provide counseling for your staff; have an annual picnic; have a PTO bank; and listen, learn, love so you can lead your staff. Wow, yeah. Thanks so much. This is really insightful.

You know, so we've talked a lot about where you've been, but now let's talk a little bit about looking ahead and envisioning the next few years for your organization. What do you see on the horizon? What are some of the strengths that you want to build on, and what are some of the challenges that you and your team need to overcome to keep moving forward?

Linda: I think it's important to improve. I know we scored really well, and I remember talking with Giselle about this when she debriefed us on our results, and I'm like, “Okay. This is great. But where else? You know, where else can we improve?” I think it's important to look at what we do well. And I tend to focus on, “Oh, well, where do we need to improve?” But maybe it's also just as important is, “How did we do so well, and how do we continue that?” I never want to rest. “Okay, we've arrived.” But let's continue that momentum and learn what we did well and continue it. Don’t let that drop off. So I think there’s a tendency maybe to be a little complacent, and that is not something that I want to see happen to this organization or in my leadership. So we want to continue to do those things and be diligent to further that progress.

I would love to see our staff pursue more professional development, and I want to continue to keep those options open and have our frontline staff, especially, take advantage of those things.

I think that some strength to build on with a flourishing culture, it's really a great time to be innovative, right, and explore new ideas. When things are going well, “Okay. Let's think about innovation, and what does that look like?” And I think instead of working on trying to get to a certain point, we now have that freedom to be innovative and explore new ideas.

I love to read books. One book I'm reading, it asks the question, “What are we capable of?” When looking at that question as for myself, leadership team, and The City Mission, what are we capable of doing, and how are we going to get there and really kind of push that forward as an organization?

One of our challenges is staffing has always been a challenge. Without staff, obviously we're going to be limited in what we can accomplish. So we continue to pray for that and really want to build that staffing that will take us to the next level.

And one thing, also, as a leader, as the CEO, I'm always thinking about succession planning. I know that's something I need to be focused on. So thinking about building a strong bench in every position. So that's something for the next few years that I want to be focusing on. How do we build that strength within the organization? And I think that also goes with wanting our staff to pursue more professional development. Let's explore who those future leaders are, and let's encourage them to be there.

So I think as I look at trust is just always going to be key for us in moving forward, and continue to grow a culture of trust in every area. I think our culture today—outside of The Mission, I'm talking about—is I don't think people trust leaders very much. You see a—so many things have happened, whether it's in the faith community or outside of the faith community, where trust has been broken. We've got to continue to build that trust. I'm grateful for The City Mission. We've been here 113 years, and we've built a great reputation. I want to continue to guard that reputation and build that trust in our community.

Al: I've always said, Linda, that, you know, the best thing a leader can do for succession is leave a flourishing workplace to the next leader. And one of the reasons is, because there are high levels of trust, that things will work well, and because of the flourishing culture you've got and that you're continuing to build, you're going to see innovation to be able to answer that question of, what are we capable of? And we've seen a direct correlation between a flourishing culture and innovation. And when people feel loved, they feel secure, where they love working together, they're going to be innovative. That's just an outcome, because when you're in a toxic , where there's no trust, where there's broken relationships, where people don't trust leaders, where they keep their head down, they're not going to do anything out of their work that would cause an organization to think differently and be innovative. So I have great hope and even expectations for the future of The City Mission, for sure. And so congratulations. Yeah.

So let me ask you a little bit more of a personal question. You know, we work with a number of organizations like The City Mission and that you're involved in life-transforming ministries, as you've already said. And many of these organizations are led by men. And so now, as a woman leading in this sector, what are some of the unique challenges and opportunities that you've experienced and that you experience?

Linda: It is very interesting because I am the first female CEO in 113 years, which is pretty amazing, and I'm grateful to be part of that and be the first one. I personally have never felt any negative or experienced any challenges within our organization. I think, if anything, I may have at times experienced it when I'm meeting others within our community, of business leaders or executives. I wonder sometimes if there is a challenge there because I am a female, and they're kind of used to seeing other executives in this role. But maybe I am just too optimistic or hope the best in people. I have not felt disregarded or any negative feedback on that. And so I'm grateful for that. I just went to a CEO summit for The City Mission with other CEOs across the country, and there were 75 different CEOs, and there was a good number of women CEOs, which was great. But I felt very welcomed, and I don't feel any type of disregard. And all of them are willing to help and come alongside, mentor, answer questions. I feel that's been pretty wonderful.

Al: That’s great. Wow.

Linda: Mm-hmm.

Al: I'm glad you've had that experience.

Well, Linda, this has just been an exciting conversation. Thank you so much. As I think about it, even going back to your focus on servant leadership; on humility; on creating an open, honest, trusting environment and how that has really helped to move and shape the culture of The City Mission. How, yeah, Jesus is your example. He is the example of the greatest leadership role model of all time. But also, as you began to take hold of the role just two and a half years ago, you started off wanting to demonstrate to the staff that you wanted to be those things: open, honest. And one way you did that was an independent third-party Engagement Survey. I love that story, too. And then, you began to listen and take action on things that you heard through the Survey. You know, you improved your self-awareness and, you know, a lot of that had to do with Lunch with Linda and so on. And then, just to hear the respect that you have for your staff, the actions that you mentioned, from the weekly videos; by even saying that frontline staff are the experts, and I need to listen to those and learn from them. And why is their pay so low? And let's address that, and involve them in decision making, you know, not just to have all decisions at the senior level. Those are great summaries. And then, again, the impact, how a flourishing workplace—I just love this—how a flourishing workplace allows you and your workers, those caseworkers particularly, to really improve and see the transformation of people that you're serving. You know, more men being housed, more men getting jobs, more men having a stability in their life. And exceeding your own goals in that and how the culture has impacted that. And then, you know, the solution for burnout. You've just had, again, the eight keys to solving burnout. I think there's a Citygate workshop coming up with that title. But then, innovation, you know, how, again, a flourishing culture leads to innovation. And I don't know, maybe the question I didn't ask is, does a flourishing culture lead to increased revenue for you to do more?

But, yeah, is there anything you'd like to add at this point that we've talked about? It’s been an all-encompassing conversation.

Linda: Thank you so much. It really has been so encouraging to talk with you, and I'm thankful that you wanted me to share our story. As I mentioned on the outset, it's a team. This is something that is very involving of everyone, and I'm grateful for that. I really am grateful for Giselle, too. She was fantastic in guiding us through the process. She's been right alongside our director of HR, helping in other areas, and so grateful for her and her encouragement. Again, I cannot say enough how important a flourishing culture, how that impacts our residents directly. You know, companies have bottom lines, right? Well, we don't make anything. We don't create. We don't manufacture anything. It's all about people and individuals who have dignity and deserve that opportunity for change and transformation. And with low turnover and a healthy and flourishing culture, we're able to accomplish so much more for our residents, and that's what we care about. And what a huge difference. Engaging with you and Best Christian Workplaces has been very impactful for what we're doing. So thank you.

Al: Oh, thank you, Linda. And I want to thank you for all your contributions today. And, you know, I just appreciate—and it just comes out loud and clear—your commitment to reaching hearts and changing lives through empowering men, women, and children. Yeah.

Linda: Mm-hmm.

Al: So thanks for taking your time out today and speaking in the lives of so many listeners.

Linda: Thank you very much for having me. What a pleasure.

Al: Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Linda. And I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

And you can find ways to connect with her and links to everything we talked about in the show notes and the transcript at workplaces.org/podcast.

If you have any questions for me about our podcast or have questions on flourishing workplace cultures, please email me at al@workplaces.org. That’s al@workplaces.org.

And leaders, if you want to improve your leadership, expand your organization's impact for good, and see even greater faithfulness in our broader culture, help us achieve our goal to see more Christian-led workplaces flourish. To help, please share this podcast with another leader or launch a project in your own organization to discover and improve the health of your workplace culture. If you're interested in learning more, please go to workplaces.org and request a sample report.

Outro: The Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast is sponsored by Best Christian Workplaces. If you need support building a flourishing workplace culture, please visit workplaces.org for more information.

We'll see you again next week for more valuable content to help you develop strong leaders and build a flourishing workplace culture.

Al: And for all of our listeners, next week you want to tune in as I talk with Jerry White, author, wise mentor, and president emeritus for The Navigators. He'll be sharing with us about the dangers we face as leaders.