The ROI You Can't See: Why Investing in Employees Pays Off #Leadership #SmallBusiness

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When you buy a widget maker, you can go out to your factory floor and look at said widget maker and be like, look, I have this wonderful machine.
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What happens when you buy employee development?
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Oh gosh, you're not going to compare it to the widget buying, but oh gosh, I have.
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But we're going to talk about why it is very different and why you should probably do the employee development before the widget maker.
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Yes.
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Stay tuned.
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She's the CEO.
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He's the marketing and operations guy.
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If it's broken, you need the business fix.
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We are trained to look at the PNL and ask.
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And I mean, first off, we're supposed to.
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Most of us have not received any training.
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This is.
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You've started something.
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Good luck with it.
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Good luck.
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We are told to look at the PNL and be like, what's the return on this spend?
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Yeah.
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If we spend a thousand dollars on Google ads.
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We want three thousand dollars in revenue back.
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I like those equations.
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Absolutely.
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If I if I send a thousand dollars out into the world and it comes back with two thousand friends, yes, I that this this is the formula for a successful business.
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So many times though, owners spend money on leadership coaching, team development, wellness stipends, better benefits, and then they don't see the immediate, like they send the money out there and they don't see it.
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Come back with friends within eight minutes.
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Yes.
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Or they forget that it's the people still showing up are probably the reason why they're spending that money.
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Yeah.
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I see no value.
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Are people still showing up to work?
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Sorry.
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Not sorry.
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Trust me, it's not because of the pizza promise.
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Yeah.
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So, I mean, as someone that loves spreadsheets, I love Spreadsheets.
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Um, I even get a little bit frustrated about that unmeasurable spend.
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It went out.
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How did where am I seeing this come back?
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Where am I going to look for this?
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And we realize that not everything can be counted directly.
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It can be counted.
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Like, did I like I, I always joke, I walked into the studio today, I flipped the lights on and they turned on.
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Yeah, I am here to fight yet another day.
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Yes.
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That is one measure of doing business correctly.
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So that that is and that is where it is going to show up.
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The problem is, in so many cases it's muddied by so many other things.
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So we want to break this down into the human and people side of this.
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And then we want to break this down into the operations side of this to be like, hey, you have sent your money out there.
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It is coming back.
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Yes, it is coming back.
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Just it's coming in through the window.
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It's coming in through the side door.
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It's not walking through the front door the way you think.
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No, not at all.
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So like, for me, I want every dollar to walk, walk in the front door and announce itself like, hey, I walked in the front door because of this.
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So many owners, when they're spending the money on executive coaching, professional development and culture initiatives, we're going to we're going to call these.
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I'm going to say this a little bit facetiously, just because I want to set this up, because of the way people look at those.
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In so many cases, they later go, where's the ROI?
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Why is that the wrong question to ask?
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Well, the question's not wrong because ROI doesn't matter.
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Of course ROI matters.
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So it's okay to say like, where's the ROI?
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The problem is, is that leaders are using the wrong measuring stick.
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So we can't measure every human investment like a Google ad campaign.
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Like we can't, we can't.
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People don't work that way.
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So if you spend money on training, leadership development return doesn't always show up as a clean line that says, you know, congratulations, you spent seventeen thousand dollars on this keynote, and now you've got twenty four thousand dollars next week in return on investment.
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It just it's not that simple.
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There's no button.
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No, I mean, it doesn't print money.
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No. Wouldn't it be lovely?
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Yeah, I know it would be.
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I wish that happened too.
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But that's not how people work.
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So return shows up in a lot of different ways.
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It shows up in the employee who stays.
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It shows up in retention.
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It shows up in the manager who has hard conversations instead of avoiding it.
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You know, that coach correct cut framework that we talk about and doesn't spend every day cleaning up avoidable drama.
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You imagine what would happen if you coach your team, your managers, to be able to lead people, and they're not on a fire alarm every day.
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They're able to handle the client issues.
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I mean, it could also be a team member who catches the mistake before it becomes a client fire.
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A lot of times we don't see those things.
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You don't quantify them.
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You should be.
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I mean, it could also be a return, could be a high performer who believes the future inside the company that you have is someplace that they want to be as opposed to like, and because of that, they're ignoring those recruiter emails and recruiter phone calls.
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They're getting to go work for your competitor because you've made the environment that you're in.
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Wonderful for them to be there.
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That's invisible ROI.
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And I think that when we're talking about ROI, we really need to talk about retention.
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And there are three keys to retention that I want to talk about.
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I want to talk about capability, confidence, and commitment.
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I feel like we've been on a sea theme a lot recently.
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I've liked because, I mean, we do three C's of leadership.
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We do C's are really important.
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You are sea stars for Chrissy.
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Sea stars, sea stars for clarity.
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I mean, we like C's.
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And it also starts with consistent yes, high clarity, consistency and care.
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So when we talk about retention we're going to talk about capability confidence and commitment.
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So capability means the person can do the work better.
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Confidence means they are less dependent on the owner or manager for every decision, and commitment means they care enough to protect the business when no one is standing over them.
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Yes, a world where people do not need babies that are ruled over by an overlord.
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That's what we want.
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We want capability, confidence and commitment.
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So think about when you're like, what am I investing in?
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You're investing in those three things.
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So the better question is not where is the immediate ROI on my team development?
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The better question is what would it cost us if we didn't make this investment?
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Ooh, framing.
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Yeah.
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Because sometimes the most valuable return is the problem that never happened.
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Ooh yeah.
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That's tricky.
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Mr. Watson, my P and L, well, it's not going to be there because we saved a whole lot of things.
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Right?
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Yeah.
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It's not going to be there because we prevented it from showing up as giant red numbers.
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Exactly.
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Love that from an from that HR, from that visionary perspective, how does the leader measure the value of the invisible savings account?
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Is that what we're going to call this?
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Yeah, I like the name, the invisible savings Account.
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Um, this is all the money we saved because we didn't screw this up.
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Yeah.
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Um, like the retention, the trust employee loyalty that never shows up.
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Like how, how do you measure that?
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Yeah.
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So the first thing I would say is that we have to stop only measuring exits.
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Ooh.
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Because I think a lot of leaders pay attention.
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Not a lot.
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Everybody everybody pays attention when somebody quits.
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All right.
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But that's it.
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So it's really it's like measuring smoke after the house is on fire.
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I mean, if you want to truly it is if you want to truly measure an invisible savings account, you have to look at three things.
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So go back to capability confidence and commitment.
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So with capability it asks are people actually getting better at their work?
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Are managers having the hard conversations are people using the tools, training and coaching that we pay for.
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Have we increased capability?
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And that's one part of the return.
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And then the second.
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Second is confidence.
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And confidence.
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Asks are people more willing to solve problems without waiting for the manager or owner to rescue them?
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Are they bringing issues forward sooner?
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Are they asking better questions?
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Are they recovering faster from their mistakes?
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Are they saying when they make a mistake, I mean, are they clear enough to make decisions without that second guessing themselves?
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That saves you a ton of time.
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And then commitment asks, do people believe this company is worth their effort and they're staying because they see a future that's huge.
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Yes, huge it is.
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And I think you got to ask yourself, are people staying because they see a future in this organization, or are they staying because they feel stuck?
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And I'll tell you a lot because, you know, if if they're staying, because they feel there's a future, chances are they're also protecting the business when no one else is watching.
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And that's really where that invisible savings account lives.
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And yes, you can measure parts of this, but it's not all turnover.
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It's a lot of different things.
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So we do that through, you know, I think you'll probably talk about it in operations.
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We do it through, you know, stay interviews through promotional readiness, through manager effectiveness.
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Whether or not the same problems keep repeating, right?
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Do we actually fix it or does it happen tomorrow?
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Yes.
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And I think too, that leaders have to pay attention to what is happening in the room and ask some questions about their engagement and really be honest about it.
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Do people speak honestly?
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Do people ask questions here?
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Do they challenge ideas?
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Do we recover from mistakes?
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That's a big one, right?
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And then I would say the most important is do they trust their manager enough to say, I need help?
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Ooh big one.
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Because if your people are never asking you for help, you've either trained yourself out of the training position.
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Yay! Congratulations to you.
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Most of us don't ever do that.
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Or you have a silent problem, which is most of your listening.
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It's their listening because you didn't train yourself out of a problem.
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You've trained and now they're like, oh, I don't want to talk to them.
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I don't want I don't want to deal with that.
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And I think it's easy for us to say like, well, these are all fluffy culture questions.
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They're not, they're business continuity questions.
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It's really about how do you stay consistent?
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Yeah.
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No, this truly is, is it's making sure that you're able to continue when you're able to get better.
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Because if you're not getting better, you're going backwards.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Because the invisible ROI of employee investment shows up when people have the capability to do the work, the confidence to own the work, and the commitment to keep caring about the work.
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And that's not soft.
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That's strategy.
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Yeah, I totally agree.
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Uh, what happens when a business owner cuts the investments towards employees with the money is tight?
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Um, if I had a nickel for every time that I have heard that throughout my career, um, like what's the actual strategic and financial penalty they end up paying downstream.
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And I have a great quick story for you on this.
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Yeah.
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Um, I at one company, I was told to help tell the staff about we're not doing dental insurance.
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Um, we did that.
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And then, uh, because they said money is tight and they want to put money to R&D and two days later showed up with a Lamborghini Gallardo.
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Oh, that's that's unfortunate.
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That's unfortunate timing.
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I'm sure no one could tie.
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Right, right.
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Unfortunate timing is the right way to put that.
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So like, what's the what's the strategic and financial penalty that they end up paying for like downstream when they say the money is tight thing?
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Well, stop investing in your employees and they're going to stop investing in your business.
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It's that simple.
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It is, it is.
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I like as soon as I as soon as you started reading this, I'm like, yes.
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Yeah, it is.
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I mean, I get it.
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I mean, there are times where it is necessary to do something for a short moment or a short time in the business, in which case tell your employees why you're doing it, tell them what's going on, and give them the the space to kind of understand that.
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But I mean, I think leaders have to be really honest, Josh, with, with what and why they're cutting.
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So and I'm going to use something.
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I mean, you talk about a lot, Josh, it's the mirror test.
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You know, sometimes it's easier to cut the investment because you don't want to look in the mirror and do the hard work yourself to.
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That's the other part.
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And I think there's, there's the, we don't have the money, but then there's also the, you know, I don't want to have to do this because I'm going to have to like, raise my own standard and do some things that may make me feel uncomfortable.
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So sometimes employee development means means I have to develop myself, which means I have to get better at having sweaty ten minute conversations.
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And I really don't want to.
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So I'm not going to do the work.
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We're just going to cancel it all because let's be I mean, let's be honest, employee investment also requires leadership management to level up themselves.
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And I mean, not everyone wants to put in those reps, but no, it's something we check with, like in talking to people that we're going to talk about consulting with.
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Yes.
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Is like, are you ready to change?
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Because like, if you're not, if you as the CEO, if you as the leader are not ready to change.
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Mhm.
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Well, and I would say you're doing yourself a disservice and you're doing your business a disservice if you cut employee investment.
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Because to you, it feels uncomfortable because when, when you cut those things, you're not just cutting an expense, you're cutting capacity, confidence and commitment.
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And then what frustrates me is that leaders act surprised when people burn out.
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They stop caring, and then turnover goes up.
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Like I don't understand.
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It's like, will you stop investing in your people?
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And that's really that's the replacement task tax of things, right?
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You might save money this quarter, but you are going to pay for it later in recruiting, in retraining and lost productivity in client disruption.
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You know, Sherm talks about like the society for Human Resource Management.
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Sherm.
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Um, it's not a person.
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It's a thing they talk about that there is a cost of about four thousand seven hundred dollars for average hire or rehire.
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I disagree, I think it's way higher.
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You talk about twenty to thirty percent of salary sometimes too.
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But you know, when people talk about how we can't afford to invest in people right now, how much money do you want to spend in replacement cost?
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Yeah.
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So I mean, it's not like, so here's the challenge.
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I would like issue to the audience before you cut people investment, I want you to calculate the cost of the last two resignations that you've had to deal with, not hypothetically, but actually calculate it.
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Recruiting time, interview time, training time, lost client continuity manager, stress owner involvement, how many sleepless nights you had.
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Like all of it.
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Mistakes during transition.
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And then ask would a fraction of that amount have helped this person stay, grow or perform better?
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If people are leaving because they don't feel like they're being developed?
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That's that's a real CEO question.
00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:35.773
Do the assessment one hundred percent and that like that assessment I love because as you, I feel like you get two questions into that where you start to actually do the calculations like, oh crap, that's not the word I would say.
00:15:35.773 --> 00:15:37.673
But yeah, that's what you're saying.
00:15:37.673 --> 00:15:39.740
You're two questions into this.
00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:45.306
And then you realize, huh, the numbers are the same, the decimals in a very different, different place.
00:15:45.306 --> 00:15:46.105
Yes.
00:15:46.105 --> 00:15:47.706
And my gosh, I feel terrible about this.
00:15:47.706 --> 00:15:48.005
So yeah.
00:15:48.005 --> 00:15:52.173
Ask yourself, is that five thousand dollars I was going to spend on employee development?
00:15:52.173 --> 00:15:59.440
Is it is it worth that savings of having to replace somebody who could cost you twenty, thirty, forty thousand dollars?
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.440
That's not a math that math doesn't math.
00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:03.173
Well, it's just it's tough.
00:16:03.173 --> 00:16:03.673
It's tough.
00:16:03.673 --> 00:16:09.673
It's tough math to digest because you have to take a lot of numbers from different places and stick them in one place and calculate that.
00:16:09.673 --> 00:16:11.505
Yeah, have your accountant do it.
00:16:11.505 --> 00:16:12.972
Exactly.
00:16:12.972 --> 00:16:13.472
All right.
00:16:13.472 --> 00:16:20.472
So you know, from HR and CEO side, I think the biggest challenge is that, you know, owners want certainty before they invest.
00:16:20.472 --> 00:16:20.673
Sure.
00:16:20.673 --> 00:16:24.472
I mean, I understand that, but people investment doesn't work like a vending machine.
00:16:24.472 --> 00:16:26.940
Unfortunately, people aren't vending machines.
00:16:28.072 --> 00:16:30.072
Obviously the analogy guy.
00:16:30.072 --> 00:16:30.406
I know.
00:16:30.406 --> 00:16:31.340
You're welcome.
00:16:31.340 --> 00:16:32.240
That was amazing.
00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:32.673
I know.
00:16:32.673 --> 00:16:35.940
So I know that that's I'm transitioning into operations.
00:16:35.940 --> 00:16:36.406
That's why.
00:16:36.406 --> 00:16:39.673
So I know you love dashboards and data and numbers.
00:16:39.673 --> 00:16:48.472
How does your brain and operations and marketing justify the spend on the real capital, as opposed to what people say are like soft employee investments?
00:16:48.472 --> 00:16:51.173
How do you do this without losing your mind over the spreadsheet?
00:16:51.173 --> 00:16:57.440
So I look at it like an offensive and defensive spending.
00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:57.972
Okay.
00:16:57.972 --> 00:16:58.605
Oh, I like this.
00:16:58.605 --> 00:17:00.039
We're getting a sports analogy.
00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:01.072
Well sort of.
00:17:01.072 --> 00:17:01.873
I mean, it could be sports.
00:17:01.873 --> 00:17:02.639
It could be military.
00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:03.673
It could be whatever.
00:17:03.673 --> 00:17:09.740
Um, and when I say offensive, I mean like you're going on offensive, not I'm offensive.
00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:10.205
Good job.
00:17:10.205 --> 00:17:11.572
Which sometimes I am.
00:17:11.572 --> 00:17:14.772
Um, marketing spend is offensive.
00:17:14.772 --> 00:17:22.139
That is like buying new pipeline that is generating lead employee investment is defensive.
00:17:22.139 --> 00:17:29.039
That is, protecting the operational engine, stopping capacity leaks and eliminating friction.
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:34.039
This is one of those things where I say like, you've got the sale, you did the hard part.
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:36.440
Make sure you do like you've got the person.
00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:37.740
You've got the right person.
00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:39.539
Same thing as getting a sale.
00:17:39.539 --> 00:17:42.806
You don't want to fumble that customer after you did all this hard work.
00:17:42.806 --> 00:17:47.405
Don't fumble the employee after you've done all the hard work.
00:17:47.405 --> 00:17:55.140
Um, I kind of define these because I want owners to stop trying to look at them the same way.
00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:56.440
It's not the same thing.
00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:58.605
It's not the same type of investment.
00:17:58.605 --> 00:18:09.806
Um, the other thing that I want to talk about this like is like when you look at pay, like baseline compensation is simply keeping the oil changed in a machine.
00:18:09.806 --> 00:18:10.440
Yeah.
00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:17.173
If you don't pay, meaning you don't maintain the machine, the machine quits.
00:18:17.173 --> 00:18:17.972
Yeah.
00:18:17.972 --> 00:18:19.806
Don't ever change your oil in your car.
00:18:19.806 --> 00:18:21.140
See how well it does.
00:18:22.506 --> 00:18:23.839
Promise.
00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:25.605
It may seem great for a few minutes.
00:18:25.605 --> 00:18:27.705
Write a few thousand miles.
00:18:27.705 --> 00:18:33.339
Look at all the money I've saved on oil changes in another fifteen thousand miles.
00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:37.705
When you are now sitting on the side of the road on your cell phone and going.
00:18:37.705 --> 00:18:39.905
I smell a lot of smoke and oil.
00:18:39.905 --> 00:18:40.373
Yeah.
00:18:40.373 --> 00:18:54.373
Um. And then someone comes out with a twenty five thousand dollars bill to say, hey, you need a new engine, that that couple of bucks you should have spent on the oil change that you probably should have done that.
00:18:54.373 --> 00:19:04.405
Additionally, with this, something that I also want to say is you don't need the thing that I, when I talk about this from a pace standpoint, you don't have to pay top dollar.
00:19:04.405 --> 00:19:12.405
No. Um, I always say this like I, my motorcycles, I mean motorcycles, cars, anything like that.
00:19:12.405 --> 00:19:14.605
I'm not going to put the cheapest oil in it.
00:19:14.605 --> 00:19:19.705
I am not going down to like the Walmart and being like, what's the cheapest oil on the shelf?
00:19:19.705 --> 00:19:23.705
Because that's in the same sense.
00:19:23.705 --> 00:19:26.105
I'm not looking for the most expensive oil.
00:19:26.105 --> 00:19:32.940
No, I am looking at as what is going to serve the job extremely well for the dollars that I'm going to pay.
00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:39.405
Realize as a leader, as a business owner, you're going to look at that equation skewed.
00:19:39.405 --> 00:19:39.806
Yeah.
00:19:39.806 --> 00:19:40.506
Don't.
00:19:43.539 --> 00:19:47.006
Don't balance that equation before you start to look at it.
00:19:47.006 --> 00:19:52.306
Well, and to go with your oil change analogy, you're going to have to do it at least more than once.
00:19:52.306 --> 00:19:56.640
I think sometimes we're like, oh, well, I did emotional intelligence training five years ago for the whole team.
00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:59.306
I'm like, great, how many of those people are still there?
00:19:59.306 --> 00:20:00.306
Right?
00:20:00.306 --> 00:20:01.740
How many people have you hired?
00:20:01.740 --> 00:20:02.240
How many people?
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:08.140
Like I was thinking about that because we've grown as an organization and I'm like, well, we did this last year and I'm like, hold on.
00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.472
We have like five new people like, right.
00:20:10.472 --> 00:20:13.339
We got to make some like, oh, they need, they need to hear this again.
00:20:13.339 --> 00:20:17.339
So there is there's investment and there's continued investment.
00:20:17.339 --> 00:20:18.905
You know that consistency piece.
00:20:18.905 --> 00:20:19.673
Yep.
00:20:19.673 --> 00:20:28.272
The same thing that I always like to say too is like, what if I told you for a small targeted investment, I could make your machine run noticeably better?
00:20:28.272 --> 00:20:29.705
Yes.
00:20:29.705 --> 00:20:30.905
Programs load quicker.
00:20:30.905 --> 00:20:35.972
Parts get made with fewer faults, tooling shifts at half the time.
00:20:35.972 --> 00:20:37.905
That's not basic maintenance.
00:20:37.905 --> 00:20:39.539
That's upgrading the engine.
00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:40.073
Yeah.
00:20:40.073 --> 00:20:46.940
I'm going to make another car reference here for the same reason it's putting on a better air filter.
00:20:46.940 --> 00:20:49.272
It's putting on new wheels and tires.
00:20:49.272 --> 00:20:51.573
It's the same car.
00:20:51.573 --> 00:20:57.573
You've just given it some upgrades to do the things that you want it to a little bit better.
00:20:57.573 --> 00:20:59.673
Now we're going to cover this a little bit more later.
00:20:59.673 --> 00:21:04.339
But when you go to sell the car, do you take the wheels off?
00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:05.705
Do you take the air filter out?
00:21:05.705 --> 00:21:08.173
Do you take back all the oil changes?
00:21:08.173 --> 00:21:10.673
No, you do not.
00:21:10.673 --> 00:21:12.373
They go with the car.
00:21:12.373 --> 00:21:14.573
So we'll get into that a little bit later.
00:21:14.573 --> 00:21:19.440
The one thing that I want to look at is, is part of this tracking is a big thing for me.
00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:19.806
Yes.
00:21:19.806 --> 00:21:21.640
The unmeasurable right.
00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:29.140
But it's not you cannot look at you cannot say we invested in emotional intelligence training this month.
00:21:29.140 --> 00:21:31.006
Um, we did this in September.
00:21:31.006 --> 00:21:33.440
And where the hell is my money in October?
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:33.873
Yeah.
00:21:33.873 --> 00:21:36.306
You have to compare.
00:21:36.306 --> 00:21:41.839
You have to pair compare the quarter before with maybe the quarter after.
00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:46.740
Now in that comparison, you have to, you can't be like, oh, um, it went down.
00:21:46.740 --> 00:21:48.806
We actually got worse because of this.
00:21:48.806 --> 00:21:51.440
You have to take some of the other variables out.
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:51.806
Yeah.
00:21:51.806 --> 00:21:59.073
So you have to find the variables that look in this, look at this a little bit more in isolation.
00:21:59.073 --> 00:22:02.440
Um, looking at the broader picture, you're going to be disappointed.
00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:09.772
But realize like scientists when they're testing things, they don't test things with fifty two variables in them.
00:22:09.772 --> 00:22:13.705
Know there's one, maybe two variables.
00:22:13.705 --> 00:22:15.905
You're trying to isolate these things.
00:22:15.905 --> 00:22:26.240
So to me it's looking at something like track internal employee satisfaction ratings combined with like true voluntary retention rates.
00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.740
That's over twelve to thirty six months windows.
00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:33.673
The other thing I'm going to tell you, Bob, that's been here for thirty six years doesn't count.
00:22:33.673 --> 00:22:38.140
No, no. What's your average right.
00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:41.240
Like I it always drives me nuts.
00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:43.806
Like we've got people that have been here for thirty years.
00:22:43.806 --> 00:22:45.440
Yeah, I do too.
00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:47.192
Bob is not staying there because you have a world class growth environment.
00:23:47.192 --> 00:23:51.759
Bob wouldn't take a new job even if Bob won the lottery.
00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:55.326
Bob shows up at seven fifty nine every day.
00:23:55.326 --> 00:23:58.759
Bob is out the door by five oh one every day.
00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:02.393
Bob is there because Bob doesn't like change.
00:24:02.393 --> 00:24:03.160
That's fair.
00:24:04.293 --> 00:24:06.259
That's most humans, just for the record.
00:24:06.259 --> 00:24:08.425
But yes, you're you're outliers.
00:24:08.425 --> 00:24:08.925
Yes.
00:24:08.925 --> 00:24:11.160
Take those out of the equation.
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:13.425
That is another way that you're going to measure this.
00:24:13.425 --> 00:24:14.593
That should get better.
00:24:14.593 --> 00:24:16.960
You should notice people staying longer.
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.160
The other thing is, is like the investments like this.
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:24.826
People love the Google ads because they spend it this month and they see it next month.
00:24:24.826 --> 00:24:28.660
This is measured over months, not minutes.
00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:28.960
Yes.
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:30.826
And we're talking about human behavior change.
00:24:30.826 --> 00:24:32.326
It takes time.
00:24:32.326 --> 00:24:36.393
We gotta remember, it usually takes people hearing something ten times to be able to remember it or do it.
00:24:36.393 --> 00:24:38.726
What exactly?
00:24:38.726 --> 00:24:40.125
Ten times people.
00:24:40.125 --> 00:24:42.360
You're thinking like, oh, I'm just going to do one thing.
00:24:42.360 --> 00:24:44.860
It's like, no, no, no, no. This is why people work with coaches.
00:24:44.860 --> 00:24:47.559
This is why organizations have longer engagements.
00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.793
It's how you remember that one thing we did once five years ago, why aren't you doing that?
00:24:51.793 --> 00:24:52.992
Why aren't you doing that?
00:24:52.992 --> 00:24:54.759
I paid for you to learn how to do this.
00:24:54.759 --> 00:24:55.526
Do you do it?
00:24:55.526 --> 00:25:01.360
And if you go and model which mandate, just if you're if you're going to invest in it, model what you want to see.
00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:02.526
Correct.
00:25:02.526 --> 00:25:07.226
The the example that I want to give to this is this is kind of a stock market example.
00:25:07.226 --> 00:25:14.226
If. If you look at the stock market on a daily chart, it whipsaws all over the place.
00:25:14.226 --> 00:25:15.026
If you.
00:25:15.026 --> 00:25:15.660
Smooth that.
00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:22.326
If you use a couple of like a ninety day moving average and take that stock market chart and look at it over a couple of years.
00:25:22.326 --> 00:25:23.326
Oh does it.
00:25:23.326 --> 00:25:27.759
It just has this nice gentle curve on it up and to the right.
00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:28.826
That's what you're looking for.
00:25:28.826 --> 00:25:30.360
You're looking for this over time.
00:25:30.360 --> 00:25:32.360
You're not looking for a get rich quick scheme.
00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:33.093
Not at the moment.
00:25:33.093 --> 00:25:35.259
We'd all like to have that.
00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:36.660
It's not there.
00:25:36.660 --> 00:25:38.360
So do this over time.
00:25:38.360 --> 00:25:40.692
The other thing you want to look at is rework tax.
00:25:40.692 --> 00:25:50.026
What I always like to call the rework tax, if you like Uninvested stressed or under-trained employees are going to create that constant operational debt.
00:25:50.026 --> 00:26:04.226
We see it all the time when you invest in the coaching, when you invest in this SOPs, when you invest in the training, when you invest in the proper tools, your ROI manifests on the dashboard as a dramatic reduction in rework.
00:26:04.226 --> 00:26:07.992
This is what you had talked about in terms of what you don't see.
00:26:07.992 --> 00:26:09.093
Correct.
00:26:09.093 --> 00:26:13.192
I'm not seeing big red issues on the.
00:26:13.192 --> 00:26:18.093
And you you just don't see it because it's gotten better.
00:26:18.093 --> 00:26:20.660
It hasn't necessarily spiked anything.
00:26:20.660 --> 00:26:23.192
It has just removed the bad.
00:26:23.192 --> 00:26:31.860
What's the the example that I'll use with this because, you know, I always like to compare things people talk about where would you go back in time?
00:26:31.860 --> 00:26:33.526
And my answer is always nowhere.
00:26:33.526 --> 00:26:38.460
I wouldn't if you go back one hundred years, most people did not have a hot shower.
00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:39.593
Yeah, no thank you.
00:26:39.593 --> 00:26:42.226
You don't see those improvements as much over time.
00:26:42.226 --> 00:26:44.793
And this is something you need to look for.
00:26:44.793 --> 00:27:04.259
The other thing that I want to talk about too, is that that founder white space, whether it's the visionary, like my like as CEO, my job is to free you up as the CEO so you can go do the CEO things if you're busy working with me on like, hey, this got screwed up.
00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:05.093
That got screwed up.
00:27:05.093 --> 00:27:08.526
If you're constantly trying to fix things, you cannot do the CEO things.
00:27:08.526 --> 00:27:14.893
No CEO's jobs are to drive the business forward, not to fix all the problems in it.
00:27:14.893 --> 00:27:15.360
Yeah.
00:27:15.360 --> 00:27:22.960
And so if, if I have reduced the amount of load that you're getting from that holy cow, you're able to move the business forward.
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:23.160
Yeah.
00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:24.093
Imagine that.
00:27:24.093 --> 00:27:25.992
And I may have a job next week.
00:27:27.793 --> 00:27:30.293
That's a good thing, right?
00:27:30.293 --> 00:27:36.393
Um, one of the other things too is when you look, this is the other thing that I always like to harp on.
00:27:36.393 --> 00:27:44.625
If if you have a team that has been invested in when there is an issue, they don't come apart.
00:27:44.625 --> 00:27:46.492
No, that's the best part.
00:27:46.492 --> 00:27:47.625
They just handle it.
00:27:47.625 --> 00:27:48.259
Yeah.
00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:49.992
They buckle in and get it done.
00:27:49.992 --> 00:27:51.293
Yes.
00:27:51.293 --> 00:27:52.093
They just handle it.
00:27:52.093 --> 00:27:53.259
They know how to handle it.
00:27:53.259 --> 00:27:54.393
They know how to do it.
00:27:54.393 --> 00:27:58.860
Like, this is why this investment is so worth Worthwhile.
00:27:58.860 --> 00:28:05.326
Because when you do have problems, I mean, I don't know about you, but my business runs perfectly and there's never any problems.
00:28:05.326 --> 00:28:09.526
Um, but if there ever was a problem, yes.
00:28:09.526 --> 00:28:11.492
I want people who know how to solve it themselves.
00:28:11.492 --> 00:28:17.793
My people do know how to solve these problems themselves, and it's because we've worked with them to make sure that they're able to do that.
00:28:17.793 --> 00:28:18.192
Exactly.
00:28:18.192 --> 00:28:23.492
I mean, we talk about I took a three week vacation this summer and nobody, nobody missed me.
00:28:23.492 --> 00:28:24.226
I missed you in part.
00:28:24.226 --> 00:28:28.660
Well, I mean, people miss me, but like, there were things arose, but they knew how to solve them.
00:28:28.660 --> 00:28:30.360
But that didn't happen overnight.
00:28:30.360 --> 00:28:33.393
That was a lot of training and employee investment.
00:28:33.393 --> 00:28:36.660
And a lot of, you know, it took a lot of time.
00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:37.793
People were like, how did you do that?
00:28:37.793 --> 00:28:40.793
I'm like, it's taken like a decade to get there.
00:28:40.793 --> 00:28:41.393
Yeah.
00:28:41.393 --> 00:28:47.593
And it just the, the payoff for you in that is you're able to focus on the CEO things.
00:28:47.593 --> 00:28:48.393
Exactly.
00:28:48.393 --> 00:28:53.925
Um, which after ten years of grinding away a couple of week vacation isn't a bad deal.
00:28:53.925 --> 00:28:56.192
It's kind of important to be able to think about the business.
00:28:56.192 --> 00:28:57.160
Correct?
00:28:57.160 --> 00:28:57.393
Yeah.
00:28:57.393 --> 00:28:58.660
You should be able to think about it.
00:28:58.660 --> 00:29:01.393
Not just what fire do I need to put out?
00:29:01.393 --> 00:29:01.960
Yeah.
00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:03.059
How do I grow the business?
00:29:03.059 --> 00:29:07.192
Not how do I keep it from burning to the ground or burning me up in the process?
00:29:07.192 --> 00:29:07.925
Right.
00:29:07.925 --> 00:29:17.826
Um, something I want to look at too is like, I can tell when I've gone into businesses by what I do, like what I like to call just a walk through test.
00:29:17.826 --> 00:29:25.326
You can feel the difference when you walk into a facility or an office where re-investment is happening.
00:29:25.326 --> 00:29:28.793
The difference is night and day.
00:29:28.793 --> 00:29:37.593
Um, and I always, I always, I always like this analogy of this too, because when you walk through a place like that, it's cleaner.
00:29:37.593 --> 00:29:43.860
The machinery is in top condition, production moves without constant chaotic interruptions.
00:29:43.860 --> 00:29:48.160
And when I'm talking about machinery, I'm also talking about the human beings.
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:49.160
Yes.
00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:51.960
They just look they're doing their client work.
00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:52.826
They're happy.
00:29:52.826 --> 00:29:53.226
Yeah.
00:29:53.226 --> 00:29:53.759
Excited.
00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.960
Engaged to help a client, right?
00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:56.360
Right.
00:29:56.360 --> 00:30:04.960
And in shops in like the blue collar realm, they're once again, the way they present is just different.
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:05.860
It hits different.
00:30:05.860 --> 00:30:07.226
They show up.
00:30:07.226 --> 00:30:11.093
And I mean, like, look, I've seen this in working with some plumbing firms.
00:30:11.093 --> 00:30:19.559
Yes, they show up and there's some guys that show up and you're like, oh, you just crawled out of a crawl space, a dirt one.
00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:28.259
There's other ones where they did just crawl out of a dirt crawl space and there may be some dirt, but they still look incredibly professional.
00:30:28.259 --> 00:30:28.826
Yes.
00:30:28.826 --> 00:30:32.460
And it's because they've taken that pride in things.
00:30:32.460 --> 00:30:34.125
So to me, there's a couple of pieces with that.
00:30:34.125 --> 00:30:39.660
There's the high performance vibe, minimal unnecessary chatter, but every interaction is warm and friendly.
00:30:39.660 --> 00:30:44.425
Just because you have high performance doesn't mean you have to act stiff and stuffy.
00:30:44.425 --> 00:30:45.893
That's not the case.
00:30:45.893 --> 00:30:47.492
Um, occasionally you're gonna get some laughter.
00:30:47.492 --> 00:30:49.360
There's a palpable shared focus.
00:30:49.360 --> 00:30:52.460
We are here to do the thing, and we love doing it right?
00:30:52.460 --> 00:31:01.192
Yeah, you can hear and feel that, um, on the flip side of that, as we have the hostage vibe, I don't like the hostage vibe.
00:31:01.192 --> 00:31:02.925
We get clients that are the hostage vibe.
00:31:02.925 --> 00:31:05.860
We're like, ooh, this is a challenge.
00:31:05.860 --> 00:31:50.789
We've walked into businesses where they're like, where they see someone like you or I walk into the business and they're like, uh oh, who's that?
00:31:50.789 --> 00:31:52.322
Some someone's in her business.
00:31:52.322 --> 00:31:53.556
Oh my God, why are they here?
00:31:53.556 --> 00:31:54.690
Why are people here?
00:31:54.690 --> 00:31:56.255
Why like, right.
00:31:56.255 --> 00:32:04.623
Like they just and then they, they have, you can tell they're trying to look why look like they're working while they're trying to some.
00:32:04.623 --> 00:32:08.923
And I love the typing when they're staring straight ahead, you know, they're trying to look.
00:32:08.923 --> 00:32:11.022
Right, right, right.
00:32:11.022 --> 00:32:15.556
Um, the other thing that I see is too is and this, there's a middle ground between those two.
00:32:15.556 --> 00:32:19.355
There is what I like to call the shared trauma workplace.
00:32:19.355 --> 00:32:24.889
Um, yeah, people are joking, but it's primarily to escape work.
00:32:24.889 --> 00:32:34.690
Work friendships exist, but they are bonded over the shared trauma of managing the boss's mood or just surviving another day.
00:32:34.690 --> 00:32:37.589
Um, and that's the, the, the answer.
00:32:37.589 --> 00:32:39.322
It's, it's almost Friday.
00:32:39.322 --> 00:32:48.423
Um, if it has like, if the person answers with what day of the week it is, probably they fill in this, uh, they're living the dream, right?
00:32:48.423 --> 00:32:49.722
Living the dream.
00:32:51.355 --> 00:32:54.556
You know, my favorite response to that is someone's like living the dream.
00:32:54.556 --> 00:32:55.955
I'm like yours or someone else's.
00:32:55.955 --> 00:32:56.556
Exactly.
00:32:56.556 --> 00:32:59.123
And they look at me like, you're such a jerk.
00:32:59.123 --> 00:33:00.623
And I'm like, I'm okay with it.
00:33:00.623 --> 00:33:01.222
Yeah.
00:33:01.222 --> 00:33:03.355
But honestly, that's where most companies live, right?
00:33:03.355 --> 00:33:05.322
It truly, I mean, it truly is.
00:33:05.322 --> 00:33:09.789
And this is, this is once again, you don't fit into one of these three categories.
00:33:09.789 --> 00:33:10.855
These are a scale.
00:33:10.855 --> 00:33:12.589
These are these are a Venn diagram.
00:33:12.589 --> 00:33:15.423
Now granted, the two circles are at opposite ends.
00:33:15.423 --> 00:33:18.155
But there's there's a Venn diagram of this.
00:33:18.155 --> 00:33:27.289
Um, one of the things that I want to talk about too, from the marketing side of this too, you cannot market past an uninvested team.
00:33:28.322 --> 00:33:29.123
correct?
00:33:29.123 --> 00:33:30.556
Yes, one hundred percent.
00:33:30.556 --> 00:33:32.455
That should be a pillow.
00:33:32.455 --> 00:33:35.123
Oh, I get a pillow for a needle point.
00:33:35.123 --> 00:33:36.522
Oh my gosh, you can't mark it.
00:33:36.522 --> 00:33:38.056
Oh my gosh, I love that.
00:33:38.056 --> 00:33:52.022
And I have to say, Tammy, if you're listening, I want my pillow is to like, if you're marketing a world class experience, but your frontline staff has the look on their face of the hostage.
00:33:52.022 --> 00:33:53.423
Yes.
00:33:53.423 --> 00:33:54.855
You've already shot yourself in the foot.
00:33:54.855 --> 00:33:57.123
You are lying to your customers.
00:33:57.123 --> 00:34:09.190
Um, the like if you have, if you have employees that work for you that truly feel like we are doing the right thing, we are headed in the right direction.
00:34:09.190 --> 00:34:13.556
You've got the best brand ambassadors that you could ever find.
00:34:13.556 --> 00:34:16.423
Yeah, because they will talk like it's work.
00:34:16.423 --> 00:34:17.655
They still have to go there.
00:34:17.655 --> 00:34:18.490
They still are.
00:34:18.490 --> 00:34:22.190
Like, they're not going to come here for free in the same sense.
00:34:22.190 --> 00:34:31.690
They want to encourage people to come there because they do feel like, hey, we offer the best solution because they're proud of where they work.
00:34:31.690 --> 00:34:32.123
Yeah.
00:34:32.123 --> 00:34:32.990
Yeah.
00:34:32.990 --> 00:34:45.289
Um, here's a question that I mean, I want to, I want to pose because I have, I've so many times I've heard this one is what if we train them and they leave?
00:34:45.289 --> 00:34:53.655
Because to me and my answer, like, I literally was asked this one day and by a CEO that I was working for.
00:34:53.655 --> 00:34:57.989
And he's like, what if I spent all this money on these people and they're gonna leave anyways?
00:34:57.989 --> 00:35:00.056
And I'm like, well, first off, with an attitude like that.
00:35:00.056 --> 00:35:01.589
Yes.
00:35:01.589 --> 00:35:04.522
At that point, I was already looking for a job myself.
00:35:04.522 --> 00:35:07.690
So you're a jerk to me.
00:35:07.690 --> 00:35:16.989
It was the I mean, I don't know if it was Henry Ford that said it, but like, there's the old adage of what happens if I train them and they leave.
00:35:16.989 --> 00:35:20.289
Well, what happens if I don't train them and they stay?
00:35:20.289 --> 00:35:22.556
Um, to me, someone's going to leave someday.
00:35:22.556 --> 00:35:24.889
But look at these numbers from it.
00:35:24.889 --> 00:35:33.089
You need to tell me that you would rather handicap your entire team because you're worried that someone may leave some day, like.
00:35:33.089 --> 00:35:38.855
And that little tiny piece of the investment would walk out the door with them.
00:35:38.855 --> 00:35:39.655
Yeah.
00:35:39.655 --> 00:35:50.555
You're so worried about that, that like, if you can't do the simple math of like, hey, I'm willing to handicap fifteen people because I'm worried about one of them leaving.
00:35:50.555 --> 00:35:51.489
Exactly.
00:35:51.489 --> 00:35:53.289
No. Talk to your accountant.
00:35:53.289 --> 00:35:58.189
No. It's like keeping people underdeveloped so they're easier to keep is not retention.
00:35:58.189 --> 00:35:59.822
It's containment.
00:35:59.822 --> 00:36:01.555
It's not retention.
00:36:01.555 --> 00:36:06.189
I think really this questions the leader, their actual relationships with their people.
00:36:06.189 --> 00:36:06.789
Yes.
00:36:06.789 --> 00:36:07.655
Because people do leave.
00:36:07.655 --> 00:36:08.755
That's life.
00:36:08.755 --> 00:36:11.489
And you are allowed to be disappointed when good people leave.
00:36:11.489 --> 00:36:19.189
I know I am, but what you don't want is people to stay on your payroll and emotionally leave because that's what you're doing.
00:36:19.189 --> 00:36:19.855
All right.
00:36:19.855 --> 00:36:23.722
Emotional resignation happens way before actual resignation.
00:36:23.722 --> 00:36:29.855
So think about do you really want to keep people who are already checked out because you didn't invest in them?
00:36:29.855 --> 00:36:32.622
I mean, that's that's the question that you really need to ask yourself.
00:36:32.622 --> 00:36:34.189
What if we don't train them and they stay?
00:36:34.189 --> 00:36:38.789
Well, what if we don't train them and they stay and they emotionally check out and do not give two craps about my business?
00:36:38.789 --> 00:36:40.522
That's a bigger one.
00:36:40.522 --> 00:36:48.589
That is a great way to get a someone that puts out twenty dollars an hour of productivity.
00:36:48.589 --> 00:36:51.322
That is a great way to get them to put out twelve dollars an hour.
00:36:51.322 --> 00:36:51.855
Exactly.
00:36:51.855 --> 00:36:56.522
And well, and that's why they're there for and not everybody is in an organization for thirty years because of that.
00:36:56.522 --> 00:37:02.922
But I'm just saying, you get longevity if people are like, well, they just don't do anything because that's the environment that you have created.
00:37:02.922 --> 00:37:03.655
Yeah.
00:37:03.655 --> 00:37:03.889
Yeah.
00:37:03.889 --> 00:37:09.822
Bob's not leaving because you've now let Bob do an eight dollars an hour job and you're paying him forty.
00:37:09.822 --> 00:37:11.055
Great.
00:37:11.055 --> 00:37:12.022
Is he contributing?
00:37:12.022 --> 00:37:15.522
No. Is that two things in a row that we've.
00:37:15.522 --> 00:37:16.322
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:16.322 --> 00:37:16.655
Wow.
00:37:16.655 --> 00:37:18.422
That's that's kind of creepy.
00:37:18.422 --> 00:37:20.589
Uh, yeah.
00:37:20.589 --> 00:37:22.555
So here's the next thing I want to talk.
00:37:22.555 --> 00:37:27.322
Let's go perc inflation versus genuine investment.
00:37:27.322 --> 00:37:27.955
Okay.
00:37:27.955 --> 00:37:31.755
Um, so like, let's talk like pizza.
00:37:31.755 --> 00:37:37.322
Well, I bought pizza and pizza, I think is Josh's favorite perk to hate.
00:37:37.322 --> 00:37:40.389
Well, yeah, pizza like it's not a perk.
00:37:40.389 --> 00:37:41.022
It's not.
00:37:41.022 --> 00:37:43.522
And the well, the other one I want to talk about is ping pong tables.
00:37:43.522 --> 00:37:44.189
Yes.
00:37:44.189 --> 00:37:47.389
And, uh, my take on that is going to be really angry.
00:37:47.389 --> 00:37:48.855
So I will let you talk.
00:37:48.855 --> 00:37:56.622
So like, what's the difference between pizza and ping pong tables and coaching health, like actual healthcare functional tools?
00:37:56.622 --> 00:37:58.422
I don't know, maybe a career growth path.
00:37:58.422 --> 00:37:58.755
Yeah.
00:37:58.755 --> 00:38:00.022
I mean, perks aren't bad.
00:38:00.022 --> 00:38:01.389
They're they're not bad.
00:38:01.389 --> 00:38:05.989
But I think perks become insulting when they're used as a substitute for real support.
00:38:05.989 --> 00:38:10.955
I mean, we talk about this genuine investment builds those three C's capability, confidence and commitment.
00:38:10.955 --> 00:38:14.189
So do not confuse perks with commitment and investment.
00:38:14.189 --> 00:38:18.189
So ask the question does this help someone do their job better?
00:38:18.189 --> 00:38:19.655
And some of those benefits.
00:38:19.655 --> 00:38:21.422
I mean, people like health insurance.
00:38:21.422 --> 00:38:22.189
Yes it does.
00:38:22.189 --> 00:38:27.889
It helps them be able to do their job better because it's supporting the overall emotional and healthy well-being of them and their family.
00:38:27.889 --> 00:38:30.589
So that's the question you ask yourselves.
00:38:30.589 --> 00:38:30.889
All right.
00:38:30.889 --> 00:38:31.289
Go ahead.
00:38:31.289 --> 00:38:34.922
Tell me about your your hatred of pizza and ping pong.
00:38:34.922 --> 00:38:46.422
If you make their work simpler, easier, or make them feel better about what they're doing, they do not need a ping pong table.
00:38:46.422 --> 00:38:48.422
That is correct.
00:38:48.422 --> 00:38:50.455
I, I agree one hundred percent.
00:38:50.455 --> 00:38:57.589
I mean, to me, like I've worked at a place that had a couple of pinball machines, a pool table and a ping pong.
00:38:57.589 --> 00:38:59.889
Like if I'm here, why the hell am I working?
00:38:59.889 --> 00:39:01.422
Why am I playing those things?
00:39:01.422 --> 00:39:05.589
Unless it's specifically helping my brain develop in a way where I've got to do.
00:39:05.589 --> 00:39:07.422
But most people don't do that type of work.
00:39:07.422 --> 00:39:07.789
Correct.
00:39:07.789 --> 00:39:10.355
They don't need to go play video games to get inspired.
00:39:10.355 --> 00:39:11.189
No that's not.
00:39:11.189 --> 00:39:12.655
No, I don't, I don't it's not a thing.
00:39:12.655 --> 00:39:17.522
I don't need, I, I don't need a pinball machine to help me with the spreadsheet.
00:39:17.522 --> 00:39:26.722
Now, the one thing that I love about this, and this is something that as we were typing this out, as I was doing some of the notes for this, um, you know, where else they have ping pong tables where.
00:39:26.722 --> 00:39:28.055
Josh prison.
00:39:29.389 --> 00:39:30.655
It's very true.
00:39:30.655 --> 00:39:37.389
I, you know, why do I want, like, why do I want my office space to look more like a prison?
00:39:37.389 --> 00:39:45.489
No, I just no, I mean, granted, I'm also worried about at this point about Bob turning the paddle into a shank.
00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:46.589
That's possible.
00:39:47.989 --> 00:39:49.755
Um, don't deal with it.
00:39:49.755 --> 00:39:50.655
So let's talk.
00:39:50.655 --> 00:39:52.389
We always talk about the Saturday test.
00:39:52.389 --> 00:40:06.455
If an owner is working every weekend to cover these operational gaps, is it an employee work ethic issue or did you done screw up on your your ability to properly equip and train them?
00:40:06.455 --> 00:40:06.855
Oh yeah.
00:40:06.855 --> 00:40:11.789
So I'd be careful not to blame the team right away because, you know, some leaders are workaholics just to begin with.
00:40:11.789 --> 00:40:13.122
So there's that context.
00:40:13.122 --> 00:40:15.855
I mean, it could be the leader that has never transferred capability.
00:40:15.855 --> 00:40:20.489
They transfer tasks, urgency and stress, but they didn't transfer authority.
00:40:20.489 --> 00:40:29.855
So I would say if if it's every weekend, it's probably a systems issue occasionally is entrepreneurship or you designed it that way.
00:40:29.855 --> 00:40:31.389
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
00:40:31.389 --> 00:40:31.889
This is one of those.
00:40:31.889 --> 00:40:32.589
You got to think about it.
00:40:32.589 --> 00:40:33.289
What about you?
00:40:33.289 --> 00:40:39.822
For me, I mean, there's a lot of weekends where I'm working and I schedule my life where I like working on weekends.
00:40:39.822 --> 00:40:43.589
Same to some degree because I can get some stuff done and not get interrupted.
00:40:43.589 --> 00:40:44.889
And yeah, it's nice.
00:40:44.889 --> 00:40:49.455
And then like Wednesday afternoon, you may find me in a random place on a motorcycle.
00:40:49.455 --> 00:40:49.655
Yeah.
00:40:49.655 --> 00:40:51.822
As an owner CEO, that's how we design our lives.
00:40:51.822 --> 00:40:53.489
But we don't do that to our people.
00:40:53.489 --> 00:40:58.889
No. Um, to me, what I want to say, like on the Saturday stuff overall is it does happen.
00:40:58.889 --> 00:41:05.789
There are times when poop hits the fan and you need to, you need to, to bust something out on a Saturday.
00:41:05.789 --> 00:41:08.055
It also shouldn't be every weekend.
00:41:08.055 --> 00:41:16.289
No, if you're in a high growth stage, maybe it's going to happen more weekends than not, But it shouldn't still be every weekend.
00:41:16.289 --> 00:41:20.189
If you're an entrepreneur who's decided they're going to start four more businesses, that is your own problem.
00:41:20.189 --> 00:41:21.522
That's not your people's problem.
00:41:21.522 --> 00:41:22.322
Correct.
00:41:22.322 --> 00:41:31.555
Um, if you are working every weekend, we should talk because we have a form on our website that you should fill out where we can help you get out of that.
00:41:31.555 --> 00:41:32.555
Um, shame.
00:41:32.555 --> 00:41:34.522
Shameless, shameless plug there.
00:41:34.522 --> 00:41:35.289
That's good.
00:41:35.289 --> 00:41:35.555
Yeah.
00:41:35.555 --> 00:41:36.355
Thank you, thank you.
00:41:36.355 --> 00:41:37.922
I planned that in there.
00:41:37.922 --> 00:41:42.255
Uh, key takeaways and actionable, actionable advice this week.
00:41:42.255 --> 00:41:47.722
I mean, to me, it's measure the reduction of noise, not just revenue.
00:41:47.722 --> 00:41:47.955
Yeah.
00:41:47.955 --> 00:41:50.189
I would say calculate the cost of an action.
00:41:50.189 --> 00:41:56.389
So if you're questioning whether employees investment is worth it, start by thinking about what the cost is of doing nothing.
00:41:56.389 --> 00:41:56.922
Love that.
00:41:56.922 --> 00:42:04.955
Buy back your white space, meaning evaluate employee development through founder capacity and say, invest in the person, not just the role.
00:42:04.955 --> 00:42:06.089
Oh yes.
00:42:06.089 --> 00:42:07.655
Yeah, it's just short and sweet.
00:42:07.655 --> 00:42:10.189
Do not measure this tomorrow.
00:42:10.189 --> 00:42:12.555
Measure it in months, not minutes.
00:42:12.555 --> 00:42:19.689
I'd say build capability before you demand commitment, because people can feel the difference between being developed and being used.
00:42:20.789 --> 00:42:24.455
People feel the difference between being developed and being committed.
00:42:24.455 --> 00:42:25.222
That's true.
00:42:26.855 --> 00:42:34.755
What is the single best invisible ROI investment a ten person company can make today?
00:42:34.755 --> 00:42:35.789
Manager development.
00:42:35.789 --> 00:42:36.222
Yes.
00:42:36.222 --> 00:42:36.822
Totally agree.
00:42:36.822 --> 00:42:39.589
In a ten person company, one week manager is not a department issue.
00:42:39.589 --> 00:42:40.989
It is a company issue.
00:42:40.989 --> 00:42:41.289
Yeah.
00:42:41.289 --> 00:42:42.155
Everybody feels it.
00:42:42.155 --> 00:42:47.289
And to me, what helps those managers and developing is clear SOP documentation.
00:42:47.289 --> 00:42:49.089
Yes one hundred percent.
00:42:49.089 --> 00:42:50.822
Those those two things.
00:42:50.822 --> 00:42:57.922
How do you handle an employee that takes advantage of growth and coaching investments without showing any personal improvement?
00:42:57.922 --> 00:43:02.389
Well, we don't use one employee who failed to grow as an excuse to stop investing in everybody else.
00:43:03.555 --> 00:43:06.722
Don't do that.
00:43:06.722 --> 00:43:10.922
We should have talked about the beginning of the episode because there's so many people are like, well, I did this and Bob left.
00:43:10.922 --> 00:43:12.922
Well, Bob needed to go anyway, right?
00:43:12.922 --> 00:43:19.289
I mean, it goes back to what I said, like, don't let one person screw the entire company up.
00:43:19.289 --> 00:43:21.222
No. And so many people do that.
00:43:21.222 --> 00:43:26.055
They get and I get why it happens because people like they get emotionally attached to this.
00:43:26.055 --> 00:43:26.655
Yes.
00:43:26.655 --> 00:43:33.489
And that one thing like you, just because you had one person out of fifteen leave, you still had fourteen that stayed.
00:43:33.489 --> 00:43:33.822
Yes.
00:43:33.822 --> 00:43:35.822
Or you've got this one person on performance improvement.
00:43:35.822 --> 00:43:37.622
We must give them all the development.
00:43:37.622 --> 00:43:39.422
No, you do not.
00:43:39.422 --> 00:43:40.822
No, you do not.
00:43:40.822 --> 00:43:41.922
We must save that.
00:43:41.922 --> 00:43:47.055
Stop it! And that's not the time that you're like, let's invest a ton in employee development.
00:43:47.055 --> 00:43:50.855
Now that they're on a performance improvement plan, go back to the episode we talked about.
00:43:50.855 --> 00:43:52.789
Yeah, that stuff on a few weeks ago.
00:43:52.789 --> 00:43:53.622
They've got enough.
00:43:53.622 --> 00:43:58.822
They've got enough other stuff to work on for the time being that they, they don't need all that development.
00:43:58.822 --> 00:44:01.622
Get, get them up to, to, to mediocre.
00:44:01.622 --> 00:44:03.822
And then you can talk about the development.
00:44:03.822 --> 00:44:09.055
Uh, that being said, we've got next week, I forget what episode we're talking about next week.
00:44:09.055 --> 00:44:11.122
Do you know, I think it's episode seventy three.
00:44:11.122 --> 00:44:14.189
I don't know what we're talking about, but I know it's seventy three.
00:44:14.189 --> 00:44:15.355
Episode seventy three.
00:44:15.355 --> 00:44:17.889
Oh, are you curious about what it is?
00:44:17.889 --> 00:44:18.155
Yeah.
00:44:18.155 --> 00:44:18.989
What is it?
00:44:18.989 --> 00:44:21.155
Curiosity is a leadership skill.
00:44:21.155 --> 00:44:22.055
Oh, really?
00:44:22.055 --> 00:44:22.322
Yeah.
00:44:22.322 --> 00:44:23.289
Oh, that's gonna be a good one.
00:44:23.289 --> 00:44:23.522
Yeah.
00:44:23.522 --> 00:44:23.955
No, I'm.
00:44:23.955 --> 00:44:32.855
I'm truly excited for us to have the chance to dive into that because it is something that I feel like so many, like leaders forget about.
00:44:32.855 --> 00:44:39.689
And it's just so crucial if you want to learn more, if you want to stay up on things, business fix podcast dot com.
00:44:39.689 --> 00:44:41.389
As always, do us a favor.
00:44:41.389 --> 00:44:42.189
Take care of yourself.
00:44:42.189 --> 00:44:46.855
If you can take care of someone else too, we will see you very, very soon.