Jo-Anne Poirier: How Transparency and Empathy Can Help Guide Your Team Through Crises

On Episode Ten of White Swan: The Crisis Podcase, we hear from Jo-Anne Poirier, CEO of VON Canada, an organisation that has provided home and community care to more than 10,000 people throughout Canada for more than 120 years. VON has faced an array of crises that could have seen off a lesser-prepared organisation in the last few years – from a financial restructuring, through Covid, to a ransomware attack and even a mass shooting.

Jo-Anne tells us how her motto in a crisis is to “stay calm and stay steady”. She tells us about how she has projected this calmness into her organisation, and how this has helped VON get through a difficult period. The assumption that the top of the organisation should act like everything is fine at all times has changed, driven partly by Covid. More organisations now are looking for a transparent and empathetic – and above all, honest – leader to drive them forward. Jo-Anne embodies this, and this pod gives a unique look at how she has used these principles to guide VON through all that the last couple of years has thrown at them.