00:00:00 Thanks for joining us on Episode 5 60 one of the inspired stewardship podcast I'm Ryan, England With Core Matters and the blue collar culture podcast. I challenge you to invest in yourself, investing others. Develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to grow much yourself and your business is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott made her.
00:00:39 So I encourage. Everybody has spent more than 15 minutes more than 30 minutes doing the interview really get to know them for key positions, especially when you're getting started. One employee. The wrong employees can bankrupt you when you're small, you got 100 people. One employee that higher isn't gonna be a CZ impactful when you're small. One employee could be the difference between you being in business and you being out of business. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be,
00:01:13 then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired Searchie podcast will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact that way. In today's interview with Ryan, England, Ryan and I talk with you about investing in others. Ryan shares with you some of the challenges that leaders have when growing their team. Ryan also talks with you howto overcome the But I just pay them mentality, and Ryan and I talk about mentorship and lots more.
00:01:54 One reason I like to bring you great interviews like the one you're gonna here today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible Go to inspired stewardship dot com slash audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 100 and 80,000 titles to choose from,
00:02:27 and instead of reading, you can listen your way toe, learn from some of the greatest minds out there that's inspired stewardship dot com slash audible To get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast, Ryan has the perfect background to be doing what he is doing and, more importantly, the results that he has really show it. Ryan has worked in corporate America for well over a decade. He learned how they attract top talent, and then he repeatedly built top performing teams,
00:03:03 and then they oftentimes got messed up and crushed by the corporate reshuffles that happened. I have been there to Ryan, set out to build his own Dream Team and start a digital marketing company, and his client started seeing great returns on that investment as they worked with him and the marketing efforts that he was doing. But then it's Their businesses were growing, and so was Ryan's. He started getting those phone calls, clients would call, and they would explain that they needed to back out of the marketing of their business because they didn't actually have enough people or the team that they needed to do the work,
00:03:40 and Ryan became determined to help these clients continue growing and set out on a journey to build a system that could help any company attract, hire and retain as much front line top talent as they needed. And now he's worked out a proven process that gets these results for companies all the time. Welcome to the show, Ryan. Thanks Scott for having me. Over the years, I've had a lot of conversations with small business owners who are looking out for ways to grow a team. But then, you know,
00:04:21 a lot of times, what immediately follows is concerns about trusting staff, making sure things are done right. We talked a little bit about this last week, Ryan. Would you share a few tips and go a little deeper into how business owners can actually go about the process of growing the right team? Who has the right attitude in their business? Yeah, this is Ah is a passion of mine, and this is what I do in my business. So, uh, I'll share some tools that we use.
00:04:54 I want this to be really practical exercise because there's the tons of theoretical books out there that tell you that go by $15,000 nap pods and let people take long lunches and work from home. And that stuff just doesn't work. Uh, but I will say that this is to such the obvious answer. But let me tell you how to do it. Hire the right people. When you have the right people on your team, they're easy to trust. When you have the right people on the team, they're going toe,
00:05:21 move in the same direction you're moving, you're gonna get the results you're looking for. Ah, there's a great book. It is a little theoretical, but there's some great practical stuff in there. It's called the advantage. And it's by Patrick. When Cioni and most of us probably know Patrick plenty only from you know, five dysfunctions of a team and you know, death by meeting and some of these great fables. This is actually a practical, almost like a handbook on how to create a culture inside of your business that is transparent.
00:05:53 And when you have a transparent culture, you create trust. When people know that you're being vulnerable. When people know that you're being open and honest with them, they can trust you more. And when they trust you. They're going to reciprocate and be vulnerable and open and honest with you. Ah, you know, just because they're an employee doesn't mean that you're not having some sort of relationship with them. Ah, use dating a lot as example. Most of us I can't say everybody, but most of us don't get married on the first date.
00:06:30 Most just don't. And in some states it's actually easier to get divorced than it is to fire an employee. So they so often I hear this. People go out there so desperate to hire somebody they hire the first person they meet after a 15 minute conversation because they showed up for the interview. You know nothing about that person. So I encourage my clients to really take the time to get to know them before they hire them. Really put them through the process. We have a client that does. I call them demo days.
00:07:02 They call them test drives, but they actually bring the candidate in, and they say you're gonna work for us for four hours. We're gonna pop you in the seat. We're just going to see how you perform and we've put we've We've actually put together the entire process for them so that every foot in that four hour period we know exactly what management's gonna do, how they're going to be interrupted, that we could make sure we're testing everybody the same way. They're small company. They don't have 20 employees.
00:07:27 So it's not like you have to be this big corporation and have all these people to be able to do this. Ah, but they'll leave the employees. They say Go do this task. They won't give them all the information on purpose. They'll go away and the lock their door And let's see what happens if the employee comes and knocks at your door like, Hey, I'm stuck. That's probably the person that would be better on your team because they're gonna ask her questions. Make sure they're doing it the right way.
00:07:53 Uh, so I encourage Everybody has spent more than 15 minutes more than 30 minutes doing the interview, really get to know them for key positions, especially when you're getting started. One employee. The wrong employees can bankrupt you when you're small. We got 100 people. One employee bad hire isn't gonna be as impactful, but, uh, when you're small. One employee could be the difference between you being in business and you being out of business. And one of the things that I think a lot of people forget is that employees have in their influenced by people outside your organization.
00:08:29 Uh, we had a client that they were really struggling to keep their technicians, and when we dug into it, we found out that a lot of them were leaving because the overtime schedules and off hours, the weekend schedules and it was their spouse that had a ton of influence over them taking the on call phone home. So we actually create a process where the president and her husband,
00:08:55 they would take the candidate and the spouse out to dinner before they hired him. So this is who we are.
00:09:01 This is what we do. This is why we do it and make sure that the spouse was on board.
00:09:05 If the spouse wasn't on board with those on, call ours that they wouldn't hire them. Yeah, and I think it all comes back.
00:09:11 It all comes back to being vulnerable and just being open and honest and creating that culture of transparency so that people can trust each other.
00:09:20 Ah, there's a book called The Great Game of Business. I can't think of the author right now,
00:09:25 but, um, he talks about creating open book management, like sharing your financials with your team. I'm not suggesting everybody go run and do this.
00:09:38 There's a right way to do it. But, uh, it talks about this open book management idea and saying,
00:09:44 Hey, this is the impact you have on the organization. So when you don't do this, this cause this person over here to be impacted,
00:09:54 this cost is profitability be down. Which means we can't do the quarterly parties that we normally do and just really just being open with people.
00:10:02 Uh, but another another thing that I would say another quick tip is just set proper expectations. If you've got a dysfunctional team,
00:10:10 just help people, you know, Just be honest about it. Um, we have a client that loves to swear I to sit.
00:10:19 He just swears all the time. And, you know, for me, I've learned I don't work directly with him today.
00:10:28 But if you have a problem with that and you know, you swear a lot tell people, Hey,
00:10:33 here's the deal. I get frustrated and I'm going to say words that I shouldn't say, Um, we all do it,
00:10:40 and so just be honest about it. If you know that you're the kind of person that gets angry when things don't go your way,
00:10:48 tell people Hey, I have a tendency to blow up, and if I blow up at you, it's not personal.
00:10:53 It's something else going on. If it's you, you're gonna know, and I probably won't do it in a blowing up matter.
00:10:59 Ah, but just be just be vulnerable, not set proper expectations. Let people know exactly what it is they're getting into.
00:11:07 I've also found sometimes as a leader, like I've actually even told my employees. If there's something that I'm doing and I need to work on it,
00:11:15 you know, maybe I'm interrupting them in a way that's not helping them be productive, you know? But yeah,
00:11:22 but and I become aware of that either because they told me or because I observe it, I'll tell him I'll give him permission,
00:11:29 You know, by the way, I'm trying to stop doing this. Yeah. I need you to call me out when I do it,
00:11:36 okay? It's not the not only do you have permission? I'm asking you, please call me out when I do that,
00:11:43 so that I can start seeing it so I can stop doing it because I need help. You know,
00:11:47 I need you to help me stop doing that, because I know it's not good for you. And,
00:11:51 you know, it's amazing how quickly people are like Dude, Okay, I could, you know? Yeah,
00:11:59 it's not in a mean way. It's not like, Hey, I got the stick it to the boss.
00:12:03 It's like, Wow, you actually care about making my job easier. Which is kind of in my opinion,
00:12:10 the job of the leader is a man who else's job easier. But it's it's kind of Ah, you know,
00:12:15 it's like, Wow, you know, you actually really want to change and you're asking for my help.
00:12:21 Of course I'll help you know. Ah, it's amazing to me how often we don't realize that just the simple act of asking for help immediately changes of the culture.
00:12:34 You know, that's what you're absolutely Yeah, just make sure that you're ready for what they're about to say so we do a process.
00:12:44 Real simple process. Re Susan corporate called Start, stop, continue. Have you heard of this process?
00:12:49 Use that my corporate reviews. You bring everybody into a room and there's a white board and you ask somebody to write up on the board and the boss sits there and say,
00:12:57 OK, you got three columns. What do you want me to do? Is the boss what you want to start doing?
00:13:02 And the boss is not allowed to say a peep that you just sit there and you be quiet and let him write down What's up?
00:13:08 What's all the stuff you want to stop and all the stuff you want to continue. And don't expect this these great revelations the first time you do it because your team's gonna be scared.
00:13:17 They're gonna be like, What's what's going on here? But when you start doing that every couple of months or once 1/4 even a couple of times a year,
00:13:25 they're like, Wait a minute. He's actually she's actually listening to me. They're actually taking this feedback and making self,
00:13:32 you know, improvements in the way they leading the way they manage now and your team will get really behind that because they everybody wants to work for a great leader.
00:13:40 We all you know, we all d'oh! You know, we don't want to work for a jerk.
00:13:44 People don't leave jobs. They leave managers. Absolutely. You know, they dio more often than not.
00:13:50 Actually, they're leaving a manager which technically isn't the same as a leader. That's usually yes, but that's that's the reality.
00:13:59 And so we all want to work for somebody that we look up to and the we really want to support.
00:14:05 There's just that that human nature that drive in there for sure. So you talked earlier about, you know,
00:14:10 kind of the quote unquote what I call tricks of keeping employees, you know, we're gonna pay him or we're going to give them nap pods were gonna let him leave early.
00:14:19 We're gonna let him work from home all the time. All of those things can be good. You know,
00:14:24 it's not necessarily a bad thing, but a lot of times I think owners kind of pay attention to those things,
00:14:30 pay and other things and say, Yeah, I'm paying that. I'm playing his salary. What more does the guy want?
00:14:37 What more does the gal want? You know, they should just do it because I'm paying them. Yeah,
00:14:42 but what are some of the mines Set shifts that owners need to actually go through themselves to begin to understand how to get employees invested in the business.
00:14:55 Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that I see is forgetting that when the owners forget that these people are sacrificing time with the people they love,
00:15:07 they're sacrificing t our time away from their hobbies and the things that really, uh, drive them to come and work for you When you forget that.
00:15:18 Ah, lot of employees, they see their co workers more, they see their family. Yeah. Yeah.
00:15:24 We can't forget that the family is why they're there. They want to support and take care of their family.
00:15:30 They're not there to make the owner rich. And that's always the perception, right? The owner is the only one getting rich.
00:15:36 And for those of us that are owners, we know that is not true. But, uh but I think they forget that.
00:15:42 And so we have a process that we recommend called growth planning and what this is. And you can talk about this in the interview process as well.
00:15:50 As you know, one of my goals is from my team to leave. When they stopped working for me,
00:15:57 I want them to leave better. Then when they started working with me, I want to pour into them.
00:16:02 And the way we do that is we sit down and we see what do your personal goals. What do your professional girls forget here?
00:16:08 What are the goals you have for your life? We talk about millennials a lot. They will get a bad rap.
00:16:15 Well, by the way, by the way, just for anyone listening Millennials Air turning 40 this year.
00:16:21 Yeah, okay. We talk about millennials like they're still 12. It's like no, the bullet. They also have families.
00:16:28 They're out of the 40. Bank of America just released a report yesterday that said that 24% of millennials have over $100,000 in savings already.
00:16:40 Yeah, they're they're not even 40 yet. And there they save it like they're focused, their committed,
00:16:45 they're dedicated, but they're focused on them. They're not focused on this career path and pensions and all this other stuff.
00:16:52 So one of the things that I think business owners can really do to motivate people is to say, Hey,
00:16:58 I want to invest in you personally. I know, ah company here in town that they actually put all of their hourly workers through financial peace university.
00:17:10 It's part of what they dio. We want you to be millionaires when you retire from here, and one of the ways we can do that is by giving you really sound ways of thinking about money.
00:17:21 And so they tell them they're like, Hey, whether you were a Christian or not, you're gonna sit in this class and by the way,
00:17:27 you get to bring your spouse. You get to be on the same page. Is and the thing about Financial Fish University,
00:17:32 I think Dave Ramsey does such a great job is it's not. You don't want him to get jumped over the head with the Bible,
00:17:38 like it just really sound principles about the way you think about money. And there's a lot of ways that you can do that kind of stuff.
00:17:44 Uh, I use an example. The time I this was back in my corporate days. Uh, one of my team members.
00:17:50 Their goal was to start a nonprofit. That's what they want to do. They just they have this drive to start a nonprofit.
00:17:57 They weren't quite sure what they were gonna do. They knew they wanted to do something over in Africa.
00:18:02 But they didn't know what. Maybe it was digging Wells building huts, who knows? And I remember having the conversation like,
00:18:08 Well, how can I support you and doing that now? Why would you do that? Just what you do realize that by you supporting me,
00:18:14 I'm going to go start my nonprofit someday. That's okay. And ah, So it was something simple like,
00:18:21 uh, you know, score would do how to get started in nonprofits. They would do a little quick to our training.
00:18:26 I was like, I'll take a long lunch. Don't worry about it. I'm clock you out. You take a long lunch,
00:18:31 they would come back, they beam or engaged to be more motivated because guess what? I was supporting them personally.
00:18:37 And here's the funny thing. It can't see what that play, because I left that business, but I've talked to a lot of other people that do things like this that does get.
00:18:44 The funny thing is, is they start the nonprofit and they don't leave. They say super engaged. They say super motivated because they don't know that anybody else is going to support them like you do right?
00:18:56 So just realizing that they have a life outside of the work you d'oh like they're trading time for dollars.
00:19:03 But there's so much more to life than that. Oh, yeah, and and just engaging them at that level.
00:19:08 Like where they personally and what can you do to support them? I've actually done I've had the opportunity because as a financial coach,
00:19:17 I do go. I also do small business coaching. I've also been called into small businesses and done those trainings like you're talking about where I'll come in and do a workshop.
00:19:24 Siri's for all of their employees on money management. Yeah, I also do him on productivity and time management,
00:19:32 where I've come in for employees and because guess what? If your employees aren't good at managing their time,
00:19:37 they get frustrated. If they're not good at managing their money, they get frustrated. And so all of a sudden,
00:19:44 those those hours that you pour into him also removes frustration from the employee's life. And as you said,
00:19:51 we forget that they have a life outside of work. No, you know, even if you've removed all the work frustrations,
00:19:57 which, by the way, probably doesn't happen. Every Cabinet is to do that and create the perfect culture and environment.
00:20:04 And no, there's no work, frustration at all. They still have all these outside pressures that come on and be aware of that is,
00:20:11 is really. But it's hard as a business owner. I mean, you know, what's the magic trick to know what they're going on?
00:20:18 And you just shared it? Ask them. Yeah, conversation, Conversation. Yeah, but, you know,
00:20:26 and that goes back to something that I mentioned earlier was just Ego gets in the way. Yeah, and I think a lot of it's like,
00:20:33 Why do I want a personal conversation? We're on the clock is my business. They need to be working,
00:20:38 and I'll tell you a 15 minute conversation about someone's hopes and dreams. It's gonna be so worth the investment in the long run,
00:20:46 they're going to be so much more engaged, you know, one of the worst things that you can do is a small business.
00:20:50 Owners have high turnover. It's so expensive whether you feel like you're writing a big check or not, it's costing you money if you have to replace somebody and it's constantly weigh more than you think it is.
00:21:03 So you know those little those little times that you spend just investing in them. It is huge. So his business owners,
00:21:13 you just talked about an employee whose dream was to start a nonprofit, and I think a lot of times is business owners to We began to look out and realize that we're not just interested in investing in our team,
00:21:24 but we want to invest in the community at large in some sort of bigger way. So what kind of suggestions do you have for a business owner?
00:21:35 When they begin thinking about that bigger community, what can they do? Tow, find a focus to develop their skills,
00:21:43 to begin to think about how do they want to pour into things outside of the businesses? Well, sure.
00:21:50 Uh, So I heard two different questions in there is like, How did they find those opportunities? But the other one is how do they become valuable for those opportunities when they find them?
00:22:00 Uh and I think the skills one is is probably easier answer in that you get you're going to get uncomfortable and you got to be OK.
00:22:08 Getting uncomfortable. Uh, I just, uh, joined AA board of a non profit of. And we're doing some really cool things about connecting people with barriers to gainful employment with employers.
00:22:23 And when I say barriers, disabilities of some kind of because there are a lot of people with disabilities that just I need 11.
00:22:33 Even a minimum wage job would do just miraculous things for them in their life. And if they're supported,
00:22:38 an engaged that conduce do so much for them. Uh, you know, I got little kids at home,
00:22:45 some really passionate about little kids. But when I started looking at that, I was like, Do I have the skills toe really be valuable?
00:22:51 That's basic for me. Connecting people with it for employment is easy. That's what I d'oh but really being able to support the kids.
00:22:57 And so I started putting myself into situations where I'm a little uncomfortable because I don't quite have the skills yet,
00:23:04 So I'm learning some new things, and I'm learning some ways just to be compassionate in a way that I never have before.
00:23:12 I very focused on tasks and getting things done, And the softer side of business and people has always been a something that I want to personally grow in.
00:23:22 So I found situations to put myself in where I'm forced to grow as easiest way for me to grow is to go.
00:23:28 You know what, That looks really uncomfortable swimming with sharks. I think the only way I'm gonna get comfortable with that is if I go swim with sharks.
00:23:36 Reading about swimming with sharks and watching other people swim with sharks isn't gonna make me any more comfortable swimming with sharks.
00:23:43 Uh, so that's the skill side of it. I think the other thing is for me. I spent a lot of time in in prayer asking for guidance and being ah,
00:23:54 very receptive to any prompting anything that I heard or felt on my heart as to where I should be going in giving back to the community.
00:24:05 And I found that a lot of times for me it's mentor ship with other business owners. It's very natural for me.
00:24:13 It's very easy for me. I have the skills there, so for me in that space, I'm able to give back sooner as I develop my skills in other areas.
00:24:25 But I will say a lot of times I see business owners. They get involved in a local board nonprofit.
00:24:30 Either get on the border, get on a committee. And even if the thing that you're doing for that nonprofit isn't the most glamorous,
00:24:41 you're still bringing a huge tongue amount of value to that. Ah, so for me, when I volunteer with nonprofits,
00:24:49 I don't so much worry about getting on the board. But being on the membership committee, you haven't figured I like to talk.
00:24:55 So having conversations with people and talking about their goals in their dreams and how, ah, you know,
00:25:01 we could bring membership in. It's just natural for me. I'm really comfortable there. So just for me it was about finding something that I felt I was being pulled towards.
00:25:12 But then going you know what that's so comfortable for me. I will make time for that because I enjoy it and passion about that.
00:25:21 So we've talked a few different times about mentorship and usually, you know, when I talk to others about being a mentor for folks,
00:25:30 almost inevitably, the immediate phrases. Yeah, but I'm not ready to be a mentor yet. I don't know enough.
00:25:37 I'm not for enough along the path. I'm not good enough. I'm not. It's kind of the opposite of the ego problem,
00:25:43 right? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. I I couldn't mentor others. So when you run into a business owner that feels like they're not prepared to be a mentor,
00:25:53 they're not ready for that role. What? What advice would you give them? Yeah, that's a great question.
00:26:00 Um, you know, I would just challenge you to think I think everybody could be a mentor, a mentor to my five year old daughter if that's not something that I'm ever.
00:26:13 God did not say. Here's your daughter. Here's the manual. You're prepared like kids came with its structure books.
00:26:20 We would all be better up. You know, what's interesting to me is really did. It's called the Bible,
00:26:25 but that's a big book, you know. But it's the They didn't come with an instruction manual. I was never prepared for some of the questions my daughter is asking me.
00:26:34 At five years old, she comes home from school just like Daddy gets right learned today. And I'm like,
00:26:37 I'm not ready for this, But but still, mentoring her and how to deal with that stuff has been great practice for me.
00:26:44 Uh, but I would say that you have to remember that sometimes being a mentor is just being there.
00:26:52 It's not because you have the right words to say or the right stories to tell. I remember. So I goto a megachurch out here and I used to run a neighborhood group.
00:27:03 That's one of the ways they help us feel connected. It was about 30 people in my neighborhood group and one of the things we were so students,
00:27:08 neighborhood leaders is coach up other neighborhood leaders. And I remember sitting across table from a gentleman. His name was John.
00:27:16 He was right. And he goes, I just mean this is probably 10 12 years ago, a good friend.
00:27:20 I just I don't no the Bible as well as you do. I'm afraid that people are gonna ask me questions.
00:27:25 I'm not gonna have the answer. And I remember sitting, I wouldn't got my Bible and I said And at the time,
00:27:31 I might have read one of the Gospels at the time and I pull it up and I go This is the amount of the Bible that I have read and it was funny,
00:27:38 like, 60 pages. And he's like, What? That's it he was. But you're so good at answering questions.
00:27:44 I go, How do I answer most of my questions and you should see me? You usually say That's a great question.
00:27:50 Let's go figure it out. And then we go on this journey together and I learned and I become better and healer to go,
00:27:56 and I just remember him just looking at me. He's like, I guess I'm ready to be a neighborhood leader.
00:28:02 He had read more than I had at the time, and, uh, I think that sometimes just being there,
00:28:08 letting people know that they're not alone, uh is. I mean, that's all you need to do,
00:28:13 is a mentor, and we all have stories, and we all have insight that we can share that can empower and equipped others.
00:28:22 So don't be afraid of that it's not this big things like, you know, I talked about a lot.
00:28:28 You know, I love doing Bible studies in leading Bible studies, and people are like, Well, what if people actually question on the answer to Okay,
00:28:37 I don't have all the answers. That's not what I d'oh, Um, I go to my pastor sometimes he doesn't have all the answers.
00:28:44 That's okay. We don't have to have all the answers. Uh, I think sometimes just being there for people,
00:28:50 letting them know that you care, letting you know that you're willing to invest in them and you're willing to go on the journey with them.
00:28:55 And I think that's enough for a lot of people. You can follow Ryan over on linked in He's Ryan,
00:29:04 England spelt e N G l I n. On Facebook. He's the core matters. Of course, he could find his website and more about his business over.
00:29:14 At the core matters dot com, you wanna find the podcast or the book is that's coming out that's found over a blue collar culture dot com,
00:29:24 and of course, I'll have links to all of this over in the show notes as well, Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast.
00:29:37 As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe Live your calling.
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