Forbes Highlights Credera’s Focus on Leadership Development

Morgan Eseke

Forbes Highlights Credera’s Focus on Leadership Development

Recently, Credera President Justin Bell was featured in Forbes sharing his perspective on the vital importance of leadership development for new and existing hires. Any company’s ability to grow, innovate, and succeed depends on the caliber of individuals hired and the growth and development of current employees. As Credera faces a new season of expansion, leadership identification and development are especially top-of-mind.

“Following our company’s recent transition into the Omnicom portfolio of companies, our organization is preparing for rapid growth,” shares Bell. “Our 2019 talent acquisition goals are more ambitious than ever before. Still, our company culture and standards of excellence remain priorities we are unwilling to compromise on. We cannot retain these two unique aspects of our company without simultaneously prioritizing the development of our current employee base and maintaining a high bar as we look to hire our next 100-plus professionals.”

Credera’s leadership is dually focused on the current and future employees, not neglecting one for the other. According to Bell, the following questions are driving many discussions at the leadership level:

For Current Employees:

1. Am I empowering team members with appropriate autonomy and independence?

Research shows that intrinsic motivation is critical for innovation and appropriate levels of autonomy increases employee satisfaction. Credera is daily making steps to foster a high-trust work environment while maintaining a very high bar of excellence

2. What is the most helpful feedback I can provide to help high performers grow?

“Radical candor” is a phrase, borrowed from Kim Scott, that is used often around the office. The ability to challenge directly and show you care personallyat the same time is something all managers are trained and encouraged to model with their teams. Providing real-time feedback is taught in Credera’s leadership development courses and reinforced at the highest leadership levels.

3. Am I strategically investing in the right people and creating growth opportunities for future leaders?

“I also strive to create growth opportunities and stretch roles to further develop key leaders,” shares Bell. “For example, I have a small group of high-potential people who are at the consultant, senior consultant, and manager/architect levels. I frequently meet with them, seek their counsel and give them ‘strategic projects.’ It helps me a ton, and hopefully helps to speed their development through increased executive exposure and opportunities to work on challenging assignments.”

For Future Employees:

1. Is this candidate humble, hungry, and smart?

Anthony Tjan, author of Good People: The Only Leadership Decision That Really Matters, says screening for character traits like integrity, humility, gratitude, and self-awareness are more important to job success and satisfaction than experience or expertise. While Credera is certainly seeking new team members with specific skill sets, Bell believes, “Character, internal drive, and raw aptitudes are ultimately the most important measures of long-term success in our firm.”

2. What unique thinking/skills/diversity does this individual bring to our firm?

The truth of the matter is that as Credera grew organically in the early years, most new hires came from leadership’s existing network or referrals. That resulted in great culture fit but also created a mostly homogeneous team. “As we look to the future, we’re being very strategic about hiring people who enhance our culture (not just fit it) and continue to promote a diverse and inclusive work environment,” says Bell.

3. How is this individual passionately curious?

Albert Einstein once said, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.” In a digital world that is rapidly changing, Credera desires to remain at the cutting edge in order to help lead our clients through innovation and operational challenges. In order to do that, we must continue to recruit individuals who are self-motivated, highly curious, and passionate about learning.