On December 11, 2024, the SRC family of businesses celebrated the graduation of 23 of its employee-owners from its leadership development academy. The graduates represented nine different SRC facilities from three states: Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois.

The program, which involves more than 100 hours of “learn-it-do-it” training, is designed to give aspiring leaders new leadership skills and more comprehensive knowledge of the engine that powers SRC’s transparent, owner-driven culture: The Great Game of Business. SRC partnered with the People Centric Consulting Group and Great Game of Business coaches to teach its classes.

“We designed this program to provide a consistent way to teach leadership across our entire organization,” said Krisi Schell, the Executive Vice President of HR at SRC Holdings. “Participants learn a unique combination of skills that includes practices from the Great Game of Business, SRC history, and supervisory and management best practices that deliver the workplace experience we promise through our recruiting process. It gives us all a common language.”

This cohort of emerging leaders, made up of six teams, collectively nicknamed themselves “The Sixth Sense” because they learned to embrace communication's critical role in leadership. Having that ability to connect with people at all levels of the organization effectively takes a sixth sense.

That also speaks to the importance of having that common language rooted in financial and business literacy spoken throughout the organization.

To help further develop that communication edge, graduates undertook a series of classes on topics that included employment law, teamwork, conflict resolution, professionalism, emotional intelligence, breaking down silos, facilitation, and humble leadership, among others.

The December graduation ceremony featured each team of participants sharing snapshots of what they learned over the past year—and what motivates them to continue to learn and evolve their skills. 

A common theme that emerged from those presentations was an understanding that serving as a leader is a hard job—and only those passionate about it will succeed now and in the future. Many of the graduates have already taken promotions into greater leadership roles.

SRC continues to invest in its people, including developing leaders, to ensure the company will continue to grow and thrive in ways that benefit its employee-owners.

“Companies will soon be judged on their talent,” said Jack Stack, president and CEO of SRC Holdings. “And whoever has the best talent will win. This leadership development program is a significant part of preparing our organization to take advantage of opportunities over the next five to ten years.”

Read more at https://www.srcholdings.com/news-source/src-celebrates-23-new-graduates-from-its-leadership-academy