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Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: What is up there, Mr. Gregg?
Greg Provance: man. Beautiful day, dude. Beautiful day. I got a great surf in this morning, and that's always a great way to start the day.
Spiro Douvris: Must be nice. Must be nice. You gotta teach me you gonna teach me how to
Greg Provance: It is. It's actually really nice.
Spiro Douvris: surf? I'm I'm I'm the guy who goes surfing and gets a missing arm afterwards. Shark just came in and goes, Yeah,
Greg Provance: Sharkbait.
Spiro Douvris: I'm shark bait, you know. I got that he's like, let's have some Greek tonight in San Diego.
Greg Provance: Dude, well people always ask me, like, are well aren't you scared of sharks? And I'm like, I mean y yeah, I'm scared of sharks, but I don't think about that. Like it's like They live there. I'm just visiting. Sharks have
Spiro Douvris: Dude, what a what a buzzkill. Who talks about sharks?
Greg Provance: been really cool to me so far, knock on wood. So
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah, just killed it. So what do we what's what's on the agenda today, my friend? What are we talking about?
Greg Provance: Well, I was thinking this. I try not to do that very often. because when I start thinking, shit goes wrong.
Spiro Douvris: You like Claude do it for you?
Greg Provance: Yeah, right. I'm part Android now. I think we all are at this point.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah.
Greg Provance: shoot. but no, I'm I was thinking so this is what I was thinking about today. I was thinking about onboarding, right? 'Cause we talk we have our our culture conversation quite a bit, the C word that we love and We talked about hiring pretty recently and all that that entails, but the next step to that really to to building a ride or die team is the onboarding process. And I think where a lot of people sort of fail here is that they see onboarding as like that day one behav that that day one thing. Fill out the paperwork, get into the POS system, here's your apron, and then the training begins. But I see it differently. I see onboarding as being more of a progressive sort of thing. It's it's getting people into the organization and and really setting those expectations on how to think and behave. That to me is onboarding. It's like drinking the Kool-Aid, you know? It's like getting in the call.
Spiro Douvris: So we so let me let So before we before we d do the deep dive into this, you're saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, is onboarding is like the full process of higher you know, start to finish. So training would be inside of onboarding, we'll call it right.
Greg Provance: Yeah, I think I mean I th look, I think if to to define it here, training is all about skills and
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: onboarding is about culture. That's the way I feel. So I set I kinda separate those camps.
Spiro Douvris: All right, well Got it. I I'm learning something today. Look at us.
Greg Provance: That's I mean that this is the shit I think about, dude. So I don't know. I've I'm thinking
Spiro Douvris: No.
Greg Provance: we should deep dive into this. What do you think?
Spiro Douvris: I'm I'm I'm ready. No sharks are in the water, I'm good.
Greg Provance: All right, well then let's do this. Well, well, well. Okay. So here we are, man. Onboarding. Onboarding, onboarding, onboarding. I I so okay.
Spiro Douvris: So like here, I'll be I'll be I'll be honest with you. I think I think I'm gonna probably be in most of our listeners camp here. When I hear onboarding, I think of a little bit of what you said of fill out the paperwork, s you know, scan their IDs, get all the the government stuff out of the way, give an apron and go through like an employee handbook. And then like I think that's where Most people, I think, more most restaurants think that's where onboarding stops. And then training is a completely different animal. And what you're telling me is not so fast.
Greg Provance: Well, I would argue that in many organizations, that's exactly where it stops, period. But that's whole that's another conversation. but yeah, no, I think the w what I believe is onboarding is a process, right? It d it doesn't it doesn't stop at day one, like many of us would think. onboarding to me is that process by which We begin to and we continue to teach people how to think and behave within our organization. And that's how I've defined culture before, right? And and I define culture as how we think and behave, how we do things around here.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, standards, expectations. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Greg Provance: Yeah. It's like it's just how we do things. And so to me it's it's a bigger conversation than just fill out some paperwork, here's your apron, you know. Learn the station.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, I mean
Greg Provance: You know?
Spiro Douvris: I mean so much of us are we're so quickly to and again I think even even if even if onboarding right is for the most part let's just say your a normal restaurant's thought process is it's that first day and you're going over all all the rules. I feel like restaurants are so quick to run through those rules that they're not talking about the importance of the rules, why they're there, why they're in place. And so it's not really a the person just kind of doesn't really get the culture until they're it's kind of like almost they get tossed into the the the water, right? To learn all about your culture instead of sitting down and explaining the culture to them and showing them examples of how you operate, what your standards are, what your expectations are. you know, it's like when they teach you when they used to teach you how to swim in the old days, they just tossed you in the in the water and you sinked or swim.
Greg Provance: Yeah. Yeah. I mean look, I think that's why culture sometimes is built so much by default rather than intentionally, right? Because, you know, look, you're you have a culture in your organization, like it or not. It's is the culture running you or are you running the
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culture? You know, are you defining what it means to be in this organization? Or is whatever's happening on the floor behind the scenes and in the side stations defining that for you. You know?
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: And and so for me, the onboarding the onboarding process is an is an opportunity for us to bring people into the organization and and have them feel like, hey, they're gonna be asking questions along the way. When you first get hired from some somewhere, you know, you you're thinking, hey, do I belong here? Do these people care about me? Is this a place I can grow? You know, is it just a job that I'm punching a clock or is this something bigger?
Spiro Douvris: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: You know? And so onboarding is very much an emotional process and it's very much a process by which we have the opportunity to really s get people to feel where they fit in and find
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: their space that they belong. Because that's where ownership starts to, you know, be created. And that's where, you know, people that are ultimately become ride or die, that's where that process happens. And so
Spiro Douvris: Yeah.
Greg Provance: I just I feel like so many times, I mean, I've been through this a million times. How many jobs have you gotten where you got hired and they're like, Okay, here you go. Fill out the paperwork, do this, do and this and that. And then, you know, you really you don't really see another have an interaction with another manager until you're screwing up.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think I think it makes so much sense what you're saying 'cause like you see it in good training programs when they are sitting down with the employee, following up with them the next day of hey, like what did you learn that today? Like what are where are you missing stuff? And you're constantly implementing that culture of we care. Like you're training to become a high performer in our organization, or at least an an average performer, someone who's gonna do the job. They very much care about the process you're you're you're going through. and
Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: they're there to help you.
Greg Provance: Yeah, I almost think now that you're saying that, like I almost feel like maybe we should change this word orientation to integration.
Spiro Douvris: Hmm. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: You know what I mean?
Spiro Douvris: Cause yeah, yeah, it's it's it's yeah. I mean, because you're really just you're integrating them into your your system, your, your, your ecosystem.
Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: And I think I think why it's so important is this is probably why you and correct if I'm wrong, this is why you see different cultures at different locations. Why different stores run differently than others when they're not following the the the organizational culture. And like you would see it all the time in like undercover boss, great show, but. every time they
do a restaurant, man, like that was I was I was glued, right? And
Greg Provance: Shop.
Spiro Douvris: you like you see them go like, but it it applied to some businesses. Like, why is this store such a high performing store? And every single time, like, you know, they're not doing anything different than location B, but the culture, there was something about the what the manager was doing, what the employees were doing that put them over the top and made their sales just skyrocket. You know? So
Greg Provance: Yeah. Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: I think it's I mean, yeah, man, culture is I mean I'm learning on this little culture series how important culture is.
Greg Provance: Absolutely, man. I mean, look, it's I think I think the heart of it all is about belonging, right? You know, do I fit in here is really a big question for our team. And and in that stage of the process, right? When you first come into the organization, that's the big question. Do I fit here? Is this is this a place I want and I'm excited to spend my time? You know,
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: that's such an important question for us to to ask, you know, and We should be asking that of ourselves when we're bringing in team members. Is this a great place for do they really want to be here? Are they excited to be here? You know? and so it's interesting because I've I've shared this story before. I think it might have been on this episode with Eric Cachatori. it's talking about some things that some of my I've seen people do to kind of really s make this part stick. and one of them was the su the superpower lunch, right? Where and I write about this in the book, but it's you know, the the the the GM or the owner would sit down with a team member within the first week of hire and they would just have lunch together. And they would connect and and and open up that opportunity to feel safe and ha and connecting with somebody at that level. Cause you know, you know when you're a GM or you're an owner's just by virtue of that title, sometimes you feel people feel like you're there untouchable. You don't have that access. Even even when I was GM running running places, I would be always like, I'm like the funnest, nicest guy to work with, but people were still scared to like bother me or something. I was like, really? Like, even though I was told people I'm here for you. Anyway, point is is that during that period of time, that that owner would say they would find out what this person's superpower is.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: Right? Like what's what's that unique thing that you bring to the table? What's something special about you? And let's say it's this person. Well, I'm really, you know, really highly organized. I I'm like kind of OCD, like like things being in their place. You know, it's like, okay, that's a superpower. And then that person, the owner, the GM would introduce that person and let everybody know what their what that superpower was for that person.
Everybody had one, right? Like the guy in the kitchen on the line was the fixer. He's the guy that, like, we didn't even have to call the repair people half the time because they he just knew how to fix stuff. He had tools in his truck, right? He was the fixer. Everybody's
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: got something unique and special they bring to the table. And when you share that at a group level, people start to bond and they start to feel seen and heard and they start to feel like their contribution matters.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, you let their identity shine through. You
Greg Provance: Right.
Spiro Douvris: know? And I think I think you're so right about that. Like we had a we had a we had a cashier once and he was the quietest, nicest kid in the whole world. And, you know, again, we're very f we you know, the way I I ran my restaurants, we were very fun and you know, again, but when it was work, it was work. But we as all most restaurants, we gotta play. We don't play around. And but once it's letting people be comfortable and in getting to know them. Really, like they're not just here to clock in and clock out. Like you actually take time to get to know them. And there was one day he because we had a small restaurant, we we liked the the calling things out, no microphones, you know. And all of a sudden he just got like his he found his voice. He got comfortable because we made him feel comfortable. And he was just screaming things out. He's hey, cheesy beef on garlic, sweet and sweet and hot. And the whole crew like looked at him like, Who is this person? Like, what is And dude, when I tell you, he was eventually he went into the Coast Guard and on his last day, dude, I've never seen so many people come for his last day. They brought him cakes, they bought him like, hey, have a sh have a drink on us before you leave and go to the coast like dude, it was wild.
Greg Provance: To
Spiro Douvris: but he he brought an amazing culture with him, just and again, that's the culture we had was just Letting you you followed our base, but you you had that ability to bring your own personality into it.
Greg Provance: dude, absolutely and and so to my point, that guy was a part of he had a place there. He had a place
Spiro Douvris: yeah.
Greg Provance: there. He had a place where he could he could shine, right? And so I just think that it's our responsibility as you know, owners, operators, leaders in this space, in any organization, restaurants or otherwise, I think it's our responsibility to hold that space and create that space for people to feel like they've got a place there. Because when they feel like they belong and they feel like they can they can contribute their talents in some way like that, holy smoke, man. Talk about like investment, right? They are they're now investing themselves in that place. They want to be there. The whole energy shifts around that rather than, let's just please the boss and try to check the box and stay stay in your lane and all that bullshit.
Spiro Douvris: What and why do you think that happens? Like why where where do you think you know again, is it owners just or you know, owners from management just saying empty words? Hey, I'm here for you. And then when someone's really needs it or they don't do it, like how do we how do how do brands get here? How do restaurants
Greg Provance: No, no. I think well
Spiro Douvris: get here?
Greg Provance: yeah, I think there's part of that. I think part of that is true. But by and large, I've said this before. I think people are well intended more than not more more often than not.
Spiro Douvris: Absolutely.
Greg Provance: I think there's probably more organizations out there where there are managers in place that aren't just completely in it for themselves or total douchebags. but they're actually j they just don't understand how to create this. Right. And so one of the things that I I talk with my leaders about all the time. And this is especially like young leaders coming up and trying to understand how to lead better and how to manage people better. is to get out of the get out of the the habit of telling and get more in the habit of asking. Right. Not and I'm not talking about in a lame sort of, you know, passive way. I mean just using the tool of curiosity. Right. And so being able to go to your team instead of going, hey, pick up that lime, you know, you know, being more curious about, hey, what is our standard here? You know, like it's different. It's a different phrasing. And so I just to answer your question, I think I I think a lot of people are are very well intended. They just don't know how. Right. And so for me with onboarding, I think it if we're going to be intentional about this. I think we have to understand what that what that roadmap looks like. You know, what does week one look like? What does, you know, week three and four look like? You know, what is that first ninety day process? Let's map it out and let's have a system around it. It doesn't have to be super rigid, but it definitely has to be intentional. And I think
Spiro Douvris: I love I love the language you're using right now, man. Intentional.
Greg Provance: Mm-hmm.
Spiro Douvris: I think you're on the money. On the money.
Greg Provance: Yeah, 'cause that I I mean that's I I think that's where p most people fail. I think it's not because we don't want these things or we don't believe in them. It's just we're not we don't have a system for it. We don't have it we haven't planned it out. We haven't made it intentional, right? So so I d I don't know. I think I honestly think week one in in you know well let's take a step back. So day one in your orientation, obviously you gotta get the paperwork knocked out and all that kind of stuff. You know? But I think
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: that's where We need to really you know, you know, go the extra mile to help people understand, like, hey, this is our culture,
this is how we do things here, right? I don't want to just pair them up with some trainer that's gonna teach them bad habits without any kind of oversight, right? I wanna be more intentional about that. I want them
Spiro Douvris: yeah, too.
Greg Provance: to learn the soft skills from day one. I want to be talking about our core values and what that looks like from day one. So those first ninety days in orientation, right? Or actually let's say integration, it needs to be really heavily weighted in those conversations. What are our core values and how do those show up? What does that mean for you in your role? You know?
Spiro Douvris: dude, I I think I think something that I think a lot of places, even just filling out the paperwork, like that first step that you mentioned, you gotta set the you gotta set the tone right there of what the standard is, right? Even there. Hey, here's your paperwork, here's this. If you're organized, you know, like it setting the tone, here's this, fill this out, with going through it and checking it, like showing attention to detail is part of the process. You know,
Greg Provance: Yes.
Spiro Douvris: it's and as simple as it is, like, you know. Because what is it going to show you when you have to go back to that employee and go, hey, we forgot to scan your ID or we've hey you forgot to mark this or check this off. It's showing attention to detail is not a priority with that person. So it's like intentionality is so, so key. And and what it what it seems like to me, what you're saying, is that, you know, in this onboarding process, so much of us is like once we get past this step, we're all about training skills and learning how to actually operate, but you they need to map this out so they can take time to continue throughout this onboarding process of impl integrating the culture within this person.
Greg Provance: Absolutely. And and to your point, the the skill training part is not like we can't forsake that either, because we are training skills along the way. But I think
Spiro Douvris: No. Hmm.
Greg Provance: when we tie our culture to that, then we under we they have a better understanding of it, right? So let's here's a good example. So another example of a of a client that I had, they had a this Italian place and you know, the the founder it was kind of a family business and the founder you know, started the business when his daughter was really young and
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: you know, he used to make her this dish. It was like a lemon picata thing, something with lemons out of the backyard or whatever. Lemons made her happy. Yellow, it was pr you know, whatever. Whenever she was down, he'd make this dish for her, right? That was the story behind it. And so we're we've got like say like a new person training on the line and learning expo line or something. And now normally what we would do is like they'll see the dishes. They see the dishes come up. They show them this is how it's plated. This is what it's very technical, right? This is what the dish looks like. This is what's in it. These are the allergens, all that technical training stuff.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: But it's really also important to weave the story in. Hey, this is the dish. This is our signature dish. And the reason for that is because this is how the founder used to make this for her daughter, her daughter. And this is what our whole company was sort of built around. And so what what the The founder's superpower was making people feel great through food. Right? That was that was his superpower. That was that's what he brings for. This is what everything on our menu has to go through that lens. So we're telling this story and tying this cultural piece back to the technical. Now it's not about selling a chicken picata or whatever it was, right? This lemon, whatever. Now it's about in, you know, sharing a story and sharing something more deep and meaningful to it. And so imagine what kind of an experience you're gonna have as a guest when you get that story from your team, you know,
Spiro Douvris: Yeah.
Greg Provance: and how much better that dish is gonna taste. And how much of a more amazing experience and how much more of a connection you're gonna feel to that place. So storytelling
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm. Yep.
Greg Provance: and bringing in our, you know, our why that we do this and all this stuff and tying that back to the skill and tying that back to the the technical, I think is another Missed opportunity. And this all can happen in the integration process. You know?
Spiro Douvris: Yep. Yep. Yeah. I mean, I think the why behind I I I'll I mean you could say every task. I mean, I I don't think there's a problem saying what's every task. Needs to ha I mean the the the employee needs to understand what the why is. There's so many times we're asking them to you know, like like let's just say a a manager is doing their opening checklist. Incorporate
Greg Provance: Mm.
Spiro Douvris: the why behind all these little things.
Greg Provance: Mm.
Spiro Douvris: Because you and again, from why are you checking the bathroom this thoroughly? You know, why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? It's so they can get out of the the checklist mindset of the task taker, like you call and get into like, hey, that's a part of our culture. The cleanliness is all a part of our culture. You know, making sure we're we're stocked and organized, 'cause we don't know how many people are gonna come through that door. But we need to be prepared for them. That's why you're checking all to make sure everything's stocked and ready to go. So when the rush does come And it's overwhelming maybe that day, you're prepared. You know?
Greg Provance: Yeah. Yeah, dude. That Y is a big piece that I think a lot of times we miss.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: and it and it's it's like you said, it's with every every training opportunity can have a Y attached to it. You know?
Spiro Douvris: One hundred percent.
Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: One hundred percent. So we so now how would a again, restaurant, doesn't matter what type, brand, franchisee, single unit operator, they they think onboarding is day one and that's it, right? Then they go and train. So map it out for us. Let's say a 90 day process for the restaurant, you know, what does that look like?
Greg Provance: Okay. So here's here's kind of how I see this. I see there there's sort of three sort of phases, right? There's the first phase, which is turning a stranger into a teammate. Right? So we're taking somebody that's kind of off the street, doesn't know our our brand, doesn't know anybody in the building. We turn them we need to first turn them into a teammate. They have to they have to understand that they're, you know, here they are, they're they're part of the team. And so that's the first piece of it, right? It's introducing people, it's getting to know their superpower. It's kind of like starting to assimilate them into the process and the program of how we do things. A little bit of training mixed into that. Right. So they're a teammate, right? Now we now they're a team. You know they they feel like they're kind of part of the team. They know each other's names. They kind of know they start to understand how each other works and they start to assimilate into that way. Right. The next piece The next phase is taking that teammate and turning them into a contributor. Right? So now they're not just part of the team, they're contributing to the team. They're bringing something special and unique to the team. They're they're applying their skill set in a meaningful way and moving the ball forward. Right? So maybe they're mastering their station. Maybe they are you know, understanding a bit more how to really go deep with guest service. You know, they're really Demonstrating, starting to demonstrate the why, and starting to demonstrate core values in a way that are felt, you know, amongst our team and our guests. And then the third phase is taking the contributor and turning him into a believer. Right? That's ride or die. So that's
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: where they start to realize: wow, the con contributions that I'm making. with this team that I'm connected to are bigger than just me showing up to work and punching a clock. I believe
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: in this, what we're doing. I believe in the vision of what we're all here for. I believe in giving amazing experiences and and being a part of this movement that we've created. That may seem a little dramatic, but to me, that's the way I s as a visionary and as someone who's like you know, behind the scenes of always thinking, how can I make this this company more impactful? I want believers on my team. I want people that are are bought in.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: They believe they're not just checking the boxes. They believe in what we're doing.
Spiro Douvris: Yep. Yep.
Greg Provance: Right? That's ride or die. That's when they're loyal AF. Right. And so to me, those are those are the kinds of phases. And look, every every organization is gonna look a little different. I'm not here to tell you you should do X, Y, and Z with your brand. You've got to figure that out for yourself. But that's the goal behind that's the progression that we're looking for from the time somebody's just a stranger to us to the time they're actually a believer and they're someone who is. dedicated and really in all in on what we're doing.
Spiro Douvris: I mean, I I mean that I think that's a a phenomenal way to break it down for for our listeners. Now, gonna have follow up with that or two follow ups. First one is teammate, contributor, believer, how long should those phases last? Or how long should those phases be roughly? Should it be thirty, sixty, ninety days? Are we you know, w what are we looking at days wise or something like that? So they can get an idea.
Greg Provance: I mean, I think that's that that's always an easy route, right? Thirty, sixty, ninety. And usually usually my feeling is is within ninety days, you should probably have a good idea of whether or not that person is gonna be the right fit for us. That's my feeling.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: not a perfect science, but there's also you know, there's also like stuff around, you know, you know, depending on the state you work in or whatever, for your ninety days, you know, you might wanna consider, you know letting someone go before that ninety so you can eliminate any liability for this, that, or the other and that type of stuff. So there's there's some consideration there. But but yeah, I mean I I think the easy way to look at it is yeah, 30, 60, 90 and just kind of map it out there. I mean it may look a little different for you and your brand depending on what you got going on. But I think
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: it's very reasonable to say, hey, you know, we can turn a stranger into a teammate in the first thirty days. next 30 days we're working on turning a teammate into a contributor so they're really starting to steep into the skill set and they're really starting to master their their domain and and s and we're measuring them on that contribution, how that shows up. And then 60 to 90, you know, are they all in? Because if they are, great. You just you made it through that ninety days, now you're gonna stay on the team. If not, then we're probably gonna replace you with someone else.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. And the second part to my question is and it what this is one of the biggest things that is coming off of all this is the importance of the trainer. Who the restaurant chooses to be the trainer, who's representing the culture, who's teaching the skills, those are just as important, I think, as anything, because I think where a lot of brands get it confused is they always pick the best employee. Rather than the best
trip.
Greg Provance: Yeah. That's such a good idea. That's such a good thing you just brought up, man. How many times have you ever, you know, been in this situation where you start a job, they pair you up with the server and you're learning your stations and all where everything's at and all that kind of stuff. And then that that server starts to tell you all the shortcuts and they start to give you the they give you
Spiro Douvris: and the gossip. And the gossip remove that. Yeah.
Greg Provance: the gossip and the dirt on all the managers and this is who you go to for this, and this person, you know what I mean? Like they just They're filling you in on off the dirt, you know?
Spiro Douvris: yeah, dude. Yeah. And that's why picking the picking the trainer, I think, is so monumental because it's a lot of times it's not about they're they're fin yeah, they have but they have to follow what you say, how you say, and be a great representation of your culture and the skill, right? If they're teaching them wrong, you're not gonna get the employees you want. You can
Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: hire a great employee, they're not gonna be what you want, you know, putting on the wrong line of the factory. It's not gonna come out the product that you want.
Greg Provance: Yeah, yeah. No, well and this is why I think I'm I'm so fanatical and obsessed about, you know, the C word and really understanding and I kinda geek out on the idea of how how this actually presents itself. And it's like it's one thing to talk about culture, it's another thing to actually make it an active thing that's that's seen and heard and felt. You know, but at the end of the day, that's why I think it's so important for us to build teams that ultimately are ride or die, right? It's like that are really, you know, believers in our brand. That should
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: that should be our per I think our biggest goal should always be to build that type of a team if we want to be the most successful at what we do. And we owe it to the people I believe that are coming into our organizations. You know, I've said this before. I say this in every I've hired thousands of people in so many different positions. And every single interview I say to the newer, you know, prospect, if you haven't learned or grown in some way having worked me, then I've failed my job. That's my number one goal is for you to learn, grow, be a better version of yourself. And I think that's the lens we should be putting it all always putting it through. And if that's and if that's true for us and we really live that, then we're gonna have a much different experience inside the organization and the people that are coming into it are gonna have a gr much different experience. Just like your guy, you know, that was like, you know, rock star when he was leaving. You know? Want everybody to be celebrated
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah. He was one of my best projects.
Greg Provance: like that.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Dude, it was awesome. Honestly. I s Calvin Peterson, wherever you are, if you're listening to this, you
Greg Provance: Calvin.
Spiro Douvris: I still talk about you even all these years later. All right. But I think I
Greg Provance: I love it. I love it.
Spiro Douvris: think honestly, man, I think but again, I think all of this starts at the top. All of it starts at the top. The culture, the the way we train, you know, and again, you gotta have people who are bought in. They gotta be believer level has to be the people training, overseeing. You can't have you can't have teammates and contributors trying to be, you know, into believer spots before they're ready.
Greg Provance: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a process. I think it needs to be intentional. And I think it needs to be, you know, we we need to think about this as an organization. How does that play out for us? Because I I just I've seen it time and time again and we've all felt it. There's so many people that are listening to this right now going, yeah, I've been in a job like that. You know. Or I went through
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, yeah. Well I
Greg Provance: the orientation, right, day one, and they gave me all this stuff and I read about it and they gave me the big presentation, but that's kind of where it ended. The conversation stopped there.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. it
Greg Provance: You know
Spiro Douvris: like you see it you see it in sports all the time where guy's on one team and he, you know, just can't figure it out, can't get it together. And then he switches teams, goes to like a great culture team, or again improves his skill set and he he thrives. Because again, the environment is is so crucial of how what your success is gonna look like. if it's got the wrong language, wrong culture, it's I mean, yeah, you're not going to perform the way that that you ultimately should. You're not going get the best out of the people. And again, I think the other thing that just to tie it back to earlier, superpowers. Learn them. Get to know your, get to know your, your, your employees or your team and try to figure out ways that you can connect with them, you know, whether it's through sports, it's through, you know, so you know to use sports references. If it's, you know, Avengers, hey, you know, use Avengers type of stuff. It's, you know, no matter what it is, try to figure out how you can get through to them. In the best way to help them learn and understand.
Greg Provance: Yeah, we we one of our favorite exercises to do when we're training teams is the superpower exercise with you can do this with your whole team and sometimes we'll have team members pick out the other person's superpower, what they think it is, and then the other
Spiro Douvris: Mm.
Greg Provance: that person will, you know, will be like, Yeah, that's it's usually spot on. It's usually exactly what they would say about themselves, but but it's a very empowering, galvanizing kind of exercise is one of my
favorite ones to do. And it really brings the team together because they start to orient around around that. And everyone feels h seen and heard. That's the important piece.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. And you know what? The the next question I have for you, and I know we're gonna wrap up here shortly is okay, so you got the new hire. Let's say you want to follow your process that you laid out, but obviously you have an existing staff that you gotta change, right?
Greg Provance: Mm.
Spiro Douvris: How do you do both at the same time? Cause obviously you gotta bring in some new people in fresh blood, let's call it, right? Because you're always gonna be hiring, as we c we say you should always be hiring. But if the culture at the ex with the existing people Isn't there how do you how would a management or an owner go about shifting that?
Greg Provance: Yeah, if you're kind of starting from ground zero and you're trying to make this shift and now you've decided you want
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: to you wanna change this for yourself. I mean, look, I think it starts with getting really clear about what we're expecting for everybody.
Spiro Douvris: Mm-hmm.
Greg Provance: Like let's level the playing field. You know, I don't know if you have if in certain situations you might want to have an all team meeting or you wanna might want to sit down one on one or however it works, but everybody needs to understand this is the this train's move in this direction. You're either on it. Or we'll let you off at the next stop, no harm, no foul. We'll refund your ticket, whatever it is, you know. So you
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, yeah.
Greg Provance: you first need to set the expectation, and then you need to like not just let it stop there, because to your point, words are cheap, actions speak volumes. And so we have to be willing now to hold that standard. And you've heard me say this many, many times, and I'll keep saying it. Our our core values and our culture is non-negotiable. It's not something we negotiate on. If you are not willing to be that believer, hey, we still, we can still care about you, we can still be friends, but you just can't be here. It's just not,
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Provance: it's not, it's not the place for you.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah. People who don't fit the culture, people who are, you know, again, toxic high performers. Not saying every I mean, I got chewed up in my one post about high high performers being toxic. not all high performers are toxic. There's a lot of great high performers. But you've seen
Greg Provance: Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: it where they drive the people away because and they're they're the ones dictating the culture, not the organization. And you see how important culture is because when that toxic team member however you want to call them, him, her, whatever it is, you always see how many people come back to and work at that location because that person, that one person left.
Greg Provance: dude, hear it all the time.
Spiro Douvris: I mean, it's a never ending story of you see it. Hey, hey, guess what? So so and so quit or we got rid of You wanna come back? And you see three, four, five team members come back who got pushed out because of bad cul their bad culture. Or the person's bad culture, not their culture. Yeah.
Greg Provance: Yep. Absolutely. That's that's why I say it's non negotiable because you can't you cannot grow a team that way. You cannot have a ride or die team. You cannot, you know, it just it it's it it will be a s forever struggle for you. And if you're struggling with that right now and that's something that you're feeling, you don't have to feel like that anymore. You can change it. You've got the power to do it. It might not be pretty at first, it might be messy, it's gonna take some, you know, effort and some commitment. But it can be done. and we I think we should all strive for that, so
Spiro Douvris: In the famous words of my my dad, he said, You gotta break a couple of eggs to make an omelette. So, you know, like
Greg Provance: There you go, baby. Pro Senior, we love you, man. Still with us.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah, you know, he always, always. He I can never escape that guy. He gave me the same name as him. So he's always lives on. I did it to my son too, so it's the same. But you know, it's gonna be bumpy. When you go to make these big pivots, it's gonna be bumpy. And you gotta be prepared to keep working through that. You know, and
Greg Provance: Yeah. Yeah.
Spiro Douvris: you can't resort back to the old ways because, you know, it's gonna be the same same exact results. That's what insanity is. Ex
Greg Provance: That's right.
Spiro Douvris: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Greg Provance: That's right. And if you want to learn how to really put this stuff into action, come talk to us about our leadership circle. We can help you with that.
Spiro Douvris: Or or
Greg Provance: Or
Spiro Douvris: Buy your book.
Greg Provance: do both.
Spiro Douvris: I I got the first peek at it, so haha to all you people. And
Greg Provance: Ha ha.
Spiro Douvris: I'm starting to read it, dude. Book is fire. It is awesome. You know, I would like the audio version so I can hear your voice tell me so I don't have to you know, I'm like the guy from Billy Madison. T today. So it might take me a year.
Greg Provance: I'm gonna do an audio version. I just gotta find the time to sit down and spit that one out. So I'll make it work.
Spiro Douvris: Yeah.
Greg Provance: I'll make it happen. Maybe I'll get my AI self to do it.
Spiro Douvris: Ooh. You the tech but the tech fatigue is real with Greg. Yeah. He's so tired he's having AI do his audio version now. Wow. I like this AI version better. I
Greg Provance: Maybe this is AI me here. Who knows?
Spiro Douvris: might like this AI version better, I'm not gonna lie.
Greg Provance: Don't tell my wife, man. She might sh she might opt for AI me.
Spiro Douvris: I was gonna say that was my fault. What was your wife gonna say? Uh-huh. This one listens.
Greg Provance: shit. boy. Brother, thanks for the combo as always.
Spiro Douvris: that was beautiful. Beautiful. I love learning about culture. Our culture series is I take notes. Awesome.
Greg Provance: I love it. I love it. Well, hey, ride or dies, as always, comment please. let us know your thoughts. If you're struggling with any of this, reach out. We're here to help.
Spiro Douvris: Always, always. What a great experience.
Greg Provance: All right. Have a beautiful day, Spiro. Talk to you soon, my man.
Spiro Douvris: We still