Kris Adams - A Day in the Life Interview
At pep, our leaders are working team leads, meaning, they have responsibility to both deliver for their client while growing and developing their teams. Kris Adams leads our team in Minneapolis. She shares both her path to leadership as well as how she balances meeting the needs of her client and her team.
Describe your path to leadership.
- My path to leadership has been a little unique. I spent the first 10 yrs. of my career in the nonprofit sector leading volunteers and staff in a number of roles. In 2017 I received my MBA, which gave me additional leadership resources, knowledge, and confidence. When I joined pep in the fall of 2017 as an Account Executive, my past experience and education allowed me to hit the ground running and learn the role and the client quickly. Through hard work, accuracy, and fostering a strong work environment with the pep and client teams I was able to gain the client and my team’s trust, which set me up to take on a formal leadership role within a year. Since then, I continue to learn and grow every day as a leader. I have had the honor of leading a truly exceptional team and continued to see our relationship with the client grow.
How do you balance having responsibilities to both your team and your client?
- This is one of the more difficult aspects of leadership. I maintain a client-first expectation with my team, and for me it’s equal – client and team first. It’s about prioritizing – I constantly ask myself: is the need a ‘right now’ need, or does the deadline/timeline allow for prioritization of other things? That helps ensure that I’m not trying to do everything ‘right now.’ I believe strongly in the servant leadership model; as a leader, my main responsibility is to empower and uplift my team and the client. I think viewing my leadership role equally between client and team helps keep my and the team’s daily work and leadership-specific responsibilities in balance because the purpose driving both is the same.
Which of pep’s values resonates the most with you?
- Ingenuity – Innovation, change, and trying new things/new ways of thinking drive forward motion – in business and personally. Along with ingenuity comes tenacity.
"A good idea isn’t always accepted right away – it can take a lot of research, data, and presenting information in different ways to gain buy-in."
Being in a satellite office, how do you stay connected to other offices?
- I’m part of a few cross-client groups that help me stay connected and e-meet other pep people. Working with these groups help me and my team stay connected and keep a pulse on what other teams are doing for their clients and what the market landscape looks like beyond my own client. Other ways include reading company newsletters, and talking with my leader during 1:1’s about the bigger pep picture.
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