Leadership, Values, & Culture:

With our vision, mission, and values in mind, reflect on our culture. What words come to mind?Positive, uplifting, encouraging? Or degrading, dramatic, and draining? Culture is defined as the way of life, encompassing beliefs, customs, habits, and values, and the cumulative knowledge and experiences, of a specific group of people. Leaders are responsible for creating the culture reflective of our core values.

Your individual leadership has a huge impact on everyone you work with. You set the tone for how the day is going to go. You impact your team member’s feelings and perspectives. No one wants to be that leader the makes the team say, "Uh oh. I wonder what kind of day we’re going to have today.” If you have an off day, your team will have an off day. Everyone is allowed to have a bad day every once in a while, but even when you do, think, “How am I representing what we stand for?” What you do as a leader should be driven by the values we hold and the Chick-fil-A brand. All of these decisions, when founded on the right things, will shape our culture in a way that is consistent with Chick-fil-A’s Corporate Purpose.

So... What is a Leader?

The most basic description of a leader at Chick-fil-A is this:

• Someone who embody HEARTS Values: Hard working, Encouraging, Accountable, Reliable, Top talent & Strive for improvement and Serves others.

• Someone who possesses the 8 attributes we look for: communication skills, a winning attitude, attention to detail, strong work ethic, chemistry, initiative, a competitive spirit, and cares for & values others

• Someone who knows & lives our core values. Who uses this knowledge to make great decisions

These things all enable you to have a positive impact on our team, ensure our guests have an excellent experience all day every day in our restaurants, contribute to our vision to be this area’s best quick service restaurant, and to Create Raving Fans. As you’ve realized, there is a lot more detail to the role of “leader.” Without a leader, our store cannot function. The rest of this workbook is designed to give you the tools you need to successfully fulfill this role. In-Store Training Shifts will be the next step on this journey, followed by the rest of the Leadership Elements. Now that you know the basics of what a leader is, you will be ready to continue learning and growing throughout the rest of this process!