When it Got Real at Whole Foods

It’s Friday the 13th (no joke!) and she has just been informed the entire way her team does business has to shift and has to shift now. She lets her team know it’s all hands on deck and everyone will be working through the weekend.

Little did she know this would be the beginning of non-stop work for a month, a world-changing pandemic and an ultimate challenge to her leadership skills.

Meet Jess Kolko, a chef, an ultra-long-distance runner, a vegan, a friend, a client and a leader at Whole Foods.

In my podcast episode, We Had to Change…Whole Foods Market HQ’s Journey Through Covid-19 , Jess and I have a vulnerable conversation about how her leadership and her humanness were tested during the Covid-19 crisis. Jess shares her human emotional side and how her wholeness is so important to the way she leads.

Even through these big changes you can continue your growth and find ways to share the human side of yourself. Like Jess, you can take moments to lead from above the line and support the humans in your lives.

Highlights:

• 1:46 — Check in with Jess Kolko, one of Caneel’s coaching clients who works at Whole Foods Market HQ.
• 2:52 — How Jess became a long-distance runner.
• 4:45 — Jess talks about her position at Whole Foods Market HQ and the moment when the news of change hit her and her team.
• 6:56 — Caneel and Jess talk about what challenges Jess has been facing during this crisis and how she would have responded a year ago before she began leadership coaching with Caneel.
• 9:36 — There is a burden that leaders have to not fail themselves or their team. Jess discusses her journey struggling with perfectionism and allowing herself to be vulnerable and a human being and not just a stereotypical leader.
• 10: 45 — Owning mistakes is important because people mess up and leaders have a huge burden about not feeling like they can mess up and feeling that they need to have all the answers and not ask for help.
• 13:49 — Why Jess decided to take on a professional leadership coach and begin working with Caneel.
• 17:00 — Examining the crisis and the reaction Jess had. Jess discusses how she managed her team and made major shifts at Whole Foods Market HQ very quickly. Jess talks about the Drama triangle and working above the line.
• 20:12 — There is a need for emotions when we lead. Caneel and Jess talk about working with emotions and using them to your advantage including the concept of intelligent fear.
• 22:41 — Jess talks about how quickly things can turn to chaos without a structured and clear management style.
• 27:23 — Caneel asks about the moments over the past month that were particularly challenging for her and her team during this COVD-19 crisis.
• 30:30 — Jess discusses some of the success she and her team at Whole Foods Market has had during this uncertain crisis because of her leadership coaching work she has done with Caneel.
• 33:30 — Caneel and Jess talk about how her team, her leadership, and the world will be different after this crisis is over.
• 36:56 — Jess gives advice to managers and leaders out there who are just learning about conscious leadership and what they can do to manage during a crisis situation like COVID-19.

Originally published at https://caneel.com.