The MBA Scholarship recipient, Brayn Brown, has demonstrated leadership skills in her role as Senior Coordinator at CarMax. Her manager writes that Brayn “consistently demonstrates outstanding qualities in teamwork, communication, work ethics, and leadership.” He further comments that she is a “collaborative and dependable team member who thrives in team environments, contributing meaningfully and ensuring that everyone’s input is heard and respected.”
Brayn realizes that a leader needs to have skills to understand what motivates each member of her team, and embrace this to encourage them to achieve their highest potential. Having this approach required courage, strong communication skills, and desire for collaboration. The result? A stronger team and higher productivity and customer satisfaction for both co-workers and clients.
She shared a defining example of this when she was faced with finding ways to improve the team’s answer rate. She began with “The End in Mind” (Habit 2), assessing that the customer answer rate had fallen 80% and this matter needed to be quickly addressed. Although the team was overworked due to understaffing, Brayn developed a measurable plan to address this decline and within two weeks had regained levels. She did this by including her team in all facets of the challenge, including daily statistic sharing, contribution recognition, and having total commitment to work collectively. This is Synergy (Habit 6) in action and an example of how we can achieve greater results by working together than by working alone.
Brayn leads by example through thoughtful consideration, diligent analysis, and clear communication. Above all she has sincere commitment to growth, not only on a personal level but on development of each member of her team.