Putting Leadership into Practice

The past few days have been a time of assessment and testing for our leaders at Homestead Village. The annual Global Leadership Summit was held August 11th and 12th.  Over 300,000 individuals attend around the world as the program is simulcast in hundreds of locations worldwide from its home in Chicago. Twenty three Homestead Village staff members had the opportunity to attend the GLS this year. Speakers included Alan Mulally, the leader credited with saving the Ford Motor Company; Melinda Gates, head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;  Horst Schulze, one of the founders of the Ritz Carlton Hotels and many other successful leaders.  Homestead Village team members from nearly every department took part in the training.

Global Leadership Summit 2016 

Homestead Village had 23 attendees

Less than 24 hours later, that training was put to the test for many of the attendees of the summit. Saturday afternoon around 3 PM, a sprinkler head in the uppermost ceiling of Radcliffe House burst, sending thousands of gallons of water into the living room and down the South hallway, into the parlor, the entrance vestibule and even Fickes House’s living room.  All of the residents in South Hall had to be relocated - the situation was serious - as much as an inch of water siting on top of the carpets in some areas!  All water and much of the electric was shut off in the Apostles Center.  

By 3:20 pm, efforts were underway to get the disaster cleaned up and by shortly after dinner, all residents were back in their rooms.   Those four hours were filled with incredible teamwork 

and hard work.  The staff on duty first made sure all residents were safe and comfortable and then

Sprinkler head replacement
 deep in the ceiling

began to tackle the flood waters, creating dams with linens and moving furniture so that it was not ruined by the pouring water.  Our maintenance team shut off the water and electric and prepared to find the problem.  Staff from all over Homestead Village responded to the scene to pitch in and help.

The source of the problem

Soon, staff members contacted at home began arriving to begin the process of extracting the water and preparing the resident rooms for re-occupancy.  Some staff had just finished their shift and were heading home, when they heard about the emergency and returned to pitch in. The atmosphere was serious; but the attitudes of all were positive and even joyful as the ultimate goal was to fix the problem and get our residents back into their homes.  Mission accomplished!  The after effects of the flood will be evident for weeks as the process has turned to thoroughly drying out all the walls and carpets and determining which drywall needs to be replaced due to water saturation or damage.

Some of the residual damage that will need to be
repaired or replaced