Glennie Bench, president of Southwest Georgia Oil Co., Niki Mason, chief development officer at Maverik, and Lesley Segadelli, vice president of people and culture at Stinker Stores, have all faced challenges and found ways to overcome them.
- Maverik, Salt Lake City, is No. 12 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count. Southwest Georgia Oil Co. Inc./SunStop, Bainbridge, Georgia, is No. 86 and Stinker Stores, Boise, Idaho, is No. 66.
Abbey Lewis, vice president of content strategy for CSP’s parent company Informa Connect, asked them how they guide employees through uncertainty, what they’re trying to improve and how they’re still growing. Here’s what they said at CSP's C-Store Women's conference, which was held Nov. 4-6 in Charleston, South Carolina.
These answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Leadership is never finished. What’s something you’re actively looking to improve right now?
Mason (pictured second to right): We just finished 360 surveys for our team. ... Fifteen or 20 years ago, I was really nervous getting the feedback. I’d have to work up to open the envelope, and then read through it, and your heart’s beating, and then you usually read through it the first time and you get mad. And then the next time you read through it and you’re like, “Yeah, I’m not very good at this.” And then the third time you’re like, “OK, I can see the balanced view.”
But getting real feedback is what has allowed me to grow and develop. And so we just did some 360 feedback, and I’m a year into a new leadership team and a new team that I’m leading, and so it was really great for me to hear that feedback.
One of the things I know I don’t do well is I stay in my lane a little bit. … And so some of the feedback I got was to be more assertive. That’s not natural for me because of imposter syndrome and some of the things that I struggle with. But to take more initiative, to speak up. … and so that’s something that I really want. I found my voice a lot more in the last few years, but to find my voice even more.
What ways are you still growing?
Segadelli (pictured far right): I’m calling this next year my gap year. It’s the year of the pause for me. I’m a very development-focused person, my education is learning and development, and so it’s an area of passion for me. But one of the things I realized was [is] development can’t be a “check the box.”
And I think sometimes we do all these activities, like “I’m working on this, and see I did it! It’s finished!” And there is no finish line.
And so rather than trying to take on a new something, I’m just trying to get all these other things to 100%. Instead of 100 things at 80%, let’s get four or five at 100%.
Managing teams through change is a challenge, what is your approach to guide people through uncertainty?
Bench (pictured second to left): Overcommunicate. That is somewhat cliché, we all talk about that. And it’s not so much just saying the same thing over and over and over—it’s saying it differently, because people hear things differently. And then, once things get going, once the change begins to happen, communicate some more. And sometimes the direction might change [from] what you thought it was going to be, because it is uncertain, and you have to admit that and ground people in the attitude of “we got this.” Even if it’s somewhat chaotic on your heart and in your head, you’ve got to keep the team focused on moving forward. Overcommunicate.
The perception is reality. And if you aren’t being perceived as properly managing this change, or giving everybody the lay of the land, that’s the reality.
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