September 18, 2025 • 35 mins
What if your company’s biggest differentiator wasn’t your service, but your people? In this episode of Roots of Success, host Barrett Chow sits down with Nubia Gutierrez, CEO and founder of HR in Bloom, to unpack why investing in your HR strategy is the ultimate game-changer for landscape businesses. Learn how Nubia transformed HR from a “paper-pushing” afterthought into a core driver for recruiting, retention, and a thriving team culture, plus field-tested tips for scaling your HR department as you grow.
THE BIG IDEA:
Effective and intentional HR grows teams and drives business success.
KEY MOMENTS:
[05:47] Reimagining the HR Role
[06:35] Learning Landscape Industry Challenges
[09:52] Effective Support Systems in Leadership
[16:08] Empowering Change Through Feedback
[19:47]
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're driving around your truck,your company truck, whatever it is.
Yes, it's a nice.
Free billboard to be able to have,but hey, don't forget you're, you're
recruiting for your organization as well.
Right?
Welcome to the Roots of Success, thePremier Landscapers podcast that brings
you the latest tips and strategiesfor successful landscape business.
(00:21):
I'm Jim Calli, one of the principlesand coaches of McFarland Stanford.
Jason New and I started McFarland Stanfordto coach landscape businesses after
years in the industry ourselves, now morethan 10 years since we began, McFarland
has a deep bench of coaches and subjectmatter experts who work with our clients
on very specific issues of business.
Whether you're struggling with people.
Profits or just day-to-day challengesOur coaches and guests have the
(00:42):
real world experience and practicaladvice to help you build a thriving
and profitable landscape business.
Welcome to Roots of Success, the PremierLandscapers podcast that brings you
the latest tips and strategies forbuilding a thriving landscaping business.
My name is Barrett Chow.
I'm one of the hosts andcoaches at McFarland Stanford.
(01:06):
My whole career has been in the HRspace spanning multiple industries,
but it was my time as a mc McFarlandStanford client that ultimately
inspired me to step into coaching.
I found my greatest success in thegreen industry and that hands-on
experience with building teams.
Managing growth and solving challengesshapes the way I work and coach.
Today at McFarland Stanford, I serveas an executive coach director of
(01:30):
recruiting and lead our HR practice.
While recruiting remains a core focus ofmy work, I also collaborate with a deep
bench of coaches to help our clients solvecomplex challenges within their business.
One of the best parts of my rolein facilitating ACE peer groups.
Is meeting the amazing people whohelp these businesses succeed.
(01:52):
Today, I'm joined by a long-term friend,Nubia Gutierrez, CEO of HR in Bloom, and
I can't wait to have her tell her story.
And we got some greatstuff to dive into today.
So, Nubia, introduceyourself and we'll get going.
First of all, thank.
You for having me Barrett.
I appreciate it.
(02:13):
So my name is Nbie Gutierrez and Iam the CEO and founder of HR in Loom.
Prior to that I had a little bitover nine years of experience
in the landscape industry.
Recently decided to start myown consultant and HR business.
And just helping different industries froma wide range with any sort of HR issues or
(02:33):
consultant or task, whatever that may be.
Majority of my focuses are, are on smallerbusinesses that kind of need that HR
focus and help and guidance which is alot inside of the landscape industry.
As we all know.
We have people that wear multiplehats within the landscape industry.
(02:54):
So yeah.
Yeah, it.
So thank you for joining us.
I still remember the first time Imet you and you were just getting
started in hr and I think throughour mutual experience of growing and
working through the landscape industry.
We faced a lot of challenges in,especially in hr. So, you know, I
(03:18):
really just wanna start off therewith, with you today is like, from
your perspective, what are the biggestchallenges that HR professionals
face in the landscape industry?
Yeah, so I think it'sa really big question.
Probably there's a long list of challengesthat different organizations face.
I can tell you for sure that oneof the number one things that I see
(03:41):
that is pretty consistent is, likeI mentioned in my introduction, is
people wearing multiple hats, right?
You might have.
One person that's not an HR expert.
Doing accounting, doing frontdesk, whatever it might be.
More specifically for thesesmaller starter up organizations.
The other thing is you know, resources.
(04:02):
What sort of resources do youhave within your organization?
Are you able to utilize these resources?
Do you have it budgeted?
Where's the organization going?
All of that future planning are thingsthat I believe are issues that do come up.
And lastly, one of thehot topics is staffing.
Right?
(04:22):
That is a huge thing within thelandscape industry, and obviously,
we'll, we'll get into that a littlebit later on and more in detail, but
that's obviously a big topic to discuss.
Yeah.
Well, I wanna dig into some ofthose answers because you know,
I think we both experience being.
One man bands Right.
Or one
woman bands, if you will.
(04:43):
But that, that single HR team, right, youknow, it, it brings a lot of challenges.
I know that I personally struggledsometimes with nobody speaks my language.
Like nobody understands hr.And, and we, we bring a certain
stigma from corporate America.
(05:06):
Mm-hmm.
Tell me about your experience in, in beinga, you know, a, a one person department
and, and the challenges that brought you.
I think that the challenges thatI had by being like a one person
department was enough time, right?
How do you organize yourself and stayon top of different tasks and obviously
(05:28):
complete your job to the best of itsabilities with one being compliant.
Two, making sure that you're have,making everybody happy and getting
whatever it is that they need.
And then.
Three being a resourcefor employees as well.
Right?
Because HR is more thanjust a paper pusher per se.
And I think that's probably themis the concept, the miscon concept
(05:49):
that people have is that HR isjust policies and paper pushers.
I have never been that person.
It's not my personality and Barrett,I know that that's not you Also.
And a lot of the things that I havegotten, you know, questions in the past
have been after I've done presentationsor spoken publicly is always, how are
(06:09):
you like not the most typical HR person?
Like, how did you establish your role?
Where did you think that, youknow, your role needed to be?
And a lot of that wasjust really realizing.
What the organization needed, right.
And what fit the organization.
And with realizing what the org, whatyour organization needs, you're kind of
(06:30):
able to mold your role into what it shouldbe to kind of help out the organization.
Right.
So, you know, the, the challengesthat I had was I was never in the
landscape industry, so I didn't knowor understand, so one of the things
that I really thrived on in like doingwas getting to know the people, right?
Getting to know the people andrealizing what is it that they do?
(06:52):
What are their jobs like?
Yes, I can read their jobdescriptions, but like, let me
actually visually see it, right?
Let me see how it works.
I might not know how to use a certainpiece of equipment, but I can visualize
it and see and understand, okay?
Like it needs to be somebody that's.
Physically capable of doing it right,which is complacent and com compliance.
(07:13):
Sorry.
And two, like, okay, I know now that Ineed to hire someone that is able to do
this and I can put the job descriptionand what I vis visually observed together.
So it, it took a lot in reallyunderstanding what these positions
actually do and then teaming upwith leadership and realizing what
(07:34):
is it that the organization needs?
Where are we going as an organization?
Right?
And the other thing is like, Ihad to prove my point, like, yes,
I'm a female and I don't know, Imight not know anything about the
industry specifically when I firststarted, but I showed up for rollout.
I showed up.
I talked to the field crews.
(07:55):
I speak English and Spanish, soobviously that was an advantage as well.
And I know we'll lead later on in ourconversation into, you know, connecting
the office and the field together.
But that was another one of my tasksand challenges that I had to figure out.
Yeah, I, I can't agree with you more.
I, you know, coming from software andprivate travel and professional sports.
(08:18):
I had no idea what I was stepping intowhen I got into the landscaping industry.
So like you, I really hadto immerse myself in it.
And I think that when I look back inhow to become successful in HR and
add the most value, not only in atactical sense, but in order to be
(08:41):
transformative for the organization.
You have to immerse yourself in it.
You have to be the therefore rollout.
You have to understandthose subcultures between
office and the field.
And you know that internal communicationstruggle is something that, you know,
as somebody who's not bilingual, Ireally had to learn how to communicate
(09:04):
with people who I not only didn'tspeak HR with, but I didn't speak
their native language as well.
So, you know, I think that as we lookat being, you know, in, you know,
single seats for quite a while Right?
Wearing a lot of hats.
You can feel like you're outa out on an island a lot and.
(09:27):
When you don't, when nobody on yourleadership team understands why you're
doing this or agrees with it, or thinksthat HR should be in the in the room.
I'm, I wanna turn over towhat can companies do to
support their HR departments?
What are some of the things that happenfor you that made you feel supported,
(09:49):
that kept you going in your role?
Yeah, so I think that having areally good owner is definitely.
Great.
A good support system where, you know,the owner or even your peer is gonna
be able, your peer group's gonna beable to support you and your decisions
are, Hey, can I run this idea by you?
(10:10):
Do you think that's crazy?
Do you kind of agree, disagree?
Surveying out.
I mean, I've, I, I used to do thattoo, kind of surveying out with the
managers, Hey, do you think if Ido this, the team would receive it?
Well, what are your thoughts?
Is that a yay or a nay?
Whatever it might be.
You know, I, I always wanted to makesure that everyone was gonna be good.
Granted, you're not gonna makeeveryone happy, but overall
(10:33):
a good feedback experience.
The other thing is.
Listen to them.
They know what they're talking about.
You know, they're the onessitting in and seeing what's
happening day in and day out.
Especially if that means,Hey, I need a bigger team.
I'm ready for that.
Let me show you why.
And just seeing what the ROI ison that is important as well.
(10:58):
Yeah, I, you know, I think one of thethings that was a big step forward
for me in that was when I was givena seat at the table and it actually
really helped me understand why Icould or could not execute or do
some of the things I wanted to do.
(11:19):
Because, you know, like Isaid, I came from software.
You didn't wake up beforenine 30, let alone be rolled
out and in the yard at seven.
So Yeah.
Right.
Like that was crazy for me.
But understanding strategy and whatthe business goals were really helped
me build a strategy that also helpedthe company, but supported exactly what
(11:47):
you said and, and, and being able to.
Ride along with managers tounderstand what they're seeing, what
they're doing, what their job is,
so that Yeah, exactly.
So that I could build something for them.
And, and getting that feedbackfrom employees and team
members is, is invaluable.
(12:07):
But you, you touched on itfirst, you gotta act on it.
Right.
But one of the things that Ithink I found, and I'd love to
hear your perspective on it, is.
When my job was more focused on hr,I was most successful, not when I was
(12:28):
tasked with wearing hats, too many hatsoutside of what my normal job duty was.
Right?
We all understand in small businessyou gotta wear a lot of hats, but
as you grow and as you get support,it was being more focused and more
direct on your job to make an even.
Bigger impact.
Tell me a little bit aboutyour story and and, and what
(12:50):
your experience was with that.
Yeah, so I, when I first started offwearing multiple hats, just like you
said, it was rather difficult to focuson one specific task when you have
multiple different tasks going on.
Obviously that was theorganizational needs, right?
I needed, and I understood thatI had to wear multiple hats, but.
(13:10):
Internally and myself, and I workedwith my owner on like figure out
career path and like where itwas that I wanted to be and what.
My, you know, expertise weregonna be useful for in the
future for the organization.
And so I think with having that, thatkind of gave me the hope of like,
okay, like I'm gonna eventually be ableout of, be able to get out of this.
(13:33):
Like we're gonna, once we have theresources and budget, we're gonna
be able to get this person to dothis and this person to do that.
So I think that really helped me a ton.
Once I did get into my HRdirector role within the industry.
I was more strategizing, right?
I was more strategizing and I was sittingat the seat of the table with owners
(13:55):
and leadership and figuring out wherewe were going as the organization Now.
Prior to that, I might have not hada seat at the table, but I was still
speaking to leadership and speaking toownership about what I thought the needs
were and what I thought was going on.
So I think it's important for youto voice and not stay quiet about
(14:15):
like what you think is happeningand what you're understanding.
And in a way to do that is likeyou're the resource, you're there
for the people in the organization.
So like voice, whatever it isthat you think is going on.
Well, you bring up an interesting point.
I'd love to dig in a little bit deeper onthat transition between sitting outside
the room versus sitting in the room.
(14:37):
Tell me a little bit about how thatchanged your perspective on your
strategy, your recommendations,and even just the overall.
Organization as a whole.
Yeah, so I think, you know,you're more into the weeds, right?
When I was in, outside of the,the table, I guess you could
(14:58):
say, or outside of the room.
Once I was at the seat of the table Iwas able to see bigger picture stuff,
right, and really understand wherethe organization was going, whether
that was three years, five year, fiveyear outlook, whatever that might be.
So I eventually did grow a teamunderneath me, an HR team underneath me.
(15:18):
So, you know, with with coaching andmentoring, I was able to coach and
mentor that person underneath me of.
Don't worry about it.
I'm telling you to do it this specificallybecause like there's a bigger picture
of how things are are happening.
So I was kind of able to tell that person,Hey, you kind of need to be in the weeds.
Well, I'm out of the weeds, butI promise you we're all rowing in
(15:39):
the right direction for a reason.
So I, I, I think.
The transition was amazing for mepersonally to be able to do that.
'cause I do, I can getinto the weeds if needed.
However, I don't like to be too muchinto the weeds and I do like to analyze,
but I don't like to overanalyze as well.
(16:01):
I'd much rather prefer to like, makea decision and be done and over with.
Whereas, you know, with, with havingand leading somebody underneath
the hr department within underneathme, that person was kind of able
to be like, wait, Nubia, hold up.
Are you sure that this iswhat we're thinking of?
And then, you know, they werekind of, were able to test me.
(16:22):
And figuring out like what was happening.
So for me it was a positivething to be able to do.
I liked it.
I, I liked being able to voice my opinionto the rest of the leadership team.
I liked being heard bythe leadership team.
And most important, one of the thingsthat I, I like very much preached on
was if we're gonna ask for opinions.
(16:44):
Then we need to make a change.
We can't just ask for opinions and notmake a change and say that we are gonna
change certain things and then justbe done with it and forget about it.
'cause that looks bad on us.
And then people aren't gonna trust us.
Yeah, it's almost worse, right?
To ask for somebody's opinionand then not act on it.
I, I couldn't agree with you more on that.
(17:06):
Well, I think that where wego from here is, you know, we.
We're in the room.
We have a seat at the table.
It does, life didn't getany easier or less busy.
Right.
And so I think one of the, thebiggest challenges our industry faces
(17:27):
is that, that high turnover, it'sa, it's a manual labor workforce.
Depending on where you are, it'seither really hot or really cold or.
Somewhere in between, but it,it, it can be physically taxing.
And so you know, for me, I wouldlove to hear on from you of what are
(17:50):
some of the big things for you thatallowed you to build a culture that
reduce that turnover and, and reallymake it a place to work, if you will.
Yeah, so I, and I keep goingback on this because I think it's
(18:10):
super important, but having thatrelationship with the people, right?
And like I mentioned earlier,having that organic recruitment.
I mean, and HR is not theonly person that recruits.
Everybody's a recruiter, right?
If you are out somewhere andyou're wearing the name of
your organization, guess what?
You better be careful 'causesomebody's watching you and that you're
(18:30):
recruiting for your organization.
Whatever happens, you're wearingyour organization's name, right?
I'm very big on that.
You're driving around your truck,your company truck, whatever it is.
Yes, it's a nice.
Free billboard to be able to have,but hey, don't forget you're, you're
recruiting for your organization as well.
Right?
(18:51):
So that was part of it, right?
The other part of it was having anestablished referral bonus, right?
So internally having a referralbonus was a huge help for us.
The other thing too was that once wehad that good established culture.
And that referral bonus, we wereable to budget out a recruiter
(19:16):
within hr, the HR department.
Now I know, and I understand that thisis not something that every organization
can do or has the means to be ableto do that, but I will say that that
was something that helped us a ton.
And by having somebodythat just focuses on.
New hires, orientation, recruiting.
That was their core focus andthat was able to help my shift
(19:38):
to go into the strategizing.
Right?
So having this person be out in thecommunity, that's another important thing.
These people are not on Indeedor LinkedIn all the time.
You need to be out into the community,go out to different career fairs,
job fairs different communityevents playgrounds, you name it.
(19:58):
Grocery stores, whatever it might be,being out there within the community
and having our name out there wasanother huge, major win for us.
And ideally what that did for uswas we had a stack of applicants.
So it was easier for us to not beon this like thing of not being
able to recruit or find people.
(20:19):
So I know that one of theother things that people have
challenges with are the language.
So if you do have somebody that isin the field that does speak both
languages, see if you can have themcome help you with like recruitment
and like pay them maybe somethingextra to see how they can help you.
(20:41):
I, again, I know not every organizationhas somebody that can speak perfect
English and Spanish to help out, but it.
If you have somebody from your teamspeaking about your organization and,
you know, seeing somebody that likeworks in the field out there recruiting,
they're able to relate more with
Yeah.
So that's, that's also a positive.
(21:02):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
That employee experience, right?
Having somebody dedicated to focus on itreally making sure that it goes smoothly.
Right.
Because I, it, it's funny that yousay that because I, I, I always touted
myself as the, the culture champion.
(21:23):
And, and wanting to make sure thatemployee experience was second to
none, and that, that the dedicationin finding the right people and making
sure they get onboarded, I thinkis, is the biggest part of it too.
Because you can find the right person,but you can drop the ball on day one and
(21:44):
all of a sudden they're gone on day three.
Right?
So there, there's a lotof things that go into.
Making sure that we're prepared,consistent and evolving that practice.
And you know, something that youmentioned earlier too was, you
know, you built yourself a careerpath to help you get through it.
(22:05):
Did you guys have a career pathinternally that showed what growth
looked like for your employees?
We did.
And obvi that wasn'testablished until later on.
You know, well, as the organization wasgrowing, we came to the realization that
crew leaders don't happen naturally.
I don't know if you know that.
(22:28):
No, it would be lovelyif you could though.
So while we realized that crew leadersare so difficult to find and unless
you're paying a lot of money for thesepeople from other organizations and
then you're poaching, and then thatbrings up a whole nother ordeal, right.
We needed to establishan organization training.
(22:51):
So I did a whole entire training forcrew leaders and their career path as to
how it was that they needed to get to.
Whatever management roles it was thatthey were going to be looking at.
So we knew that the immediateneed was crew leaders, right?
So we had these ongoing trainingsessions with these career with,
(23:14):
I'm sorry, with these crew leaders,which eventually established a
career path for these positions.
And so it was like, if you have A, B andC, you're able to move up to the next
career path, whatever that might be.
Not only that, but thatwas good for increases.
We were able to like look backand see, okay, Susan was able
(23:36):
to do this certification andcame in for these trainings.
So they definitely deserve a raise.
They showed that they were interested,they're invested in the organization.
We definitely wanna keep this person.
And a lot of the times, sometimes wedidn't have them or, or a position
to be able for, for them to move up.
Right.
But it was a lot of conversations of.
(23:57):
We don't have a positionright now for you.
However, we do think that we will havean established position for you in the
near future or within whatever days.
It's, it's a lot of planning andworking with the operations team and
figuring out what's going on and what'shappening, and I think that goes back to.
Why it's important for HR to have a seatat the table because you can understand
(24:20):
and hear and see what's happening so thatyou can go back and realize, okay, like
I need to start establishing these careerpaths or these goals for these positions.
Well, you tied, you connectedthe dots that I was gonna
to, to connect for myself too of.
Right.
When you have that foresight, it's,it's easier to explain the why, right?
(24:42):
Hey, and the how.
Right?
Why we don't have aposition for you right now.
We need to get to this size revenue,we need to add this many more clients
so that we can add another truck.
After we add another truck,we have another crew, which
means we have enough crewsfor a superintendent.
That's where we see you going.
Right?
(25:03):
And when people can see the path,they're more likely to stay on it.
And you know, that's that culturefrom promoting from within too.
And you know, I. I loved how yourstory began with, we started with a
training program, not a career path.
The training program led into acareer path which allowed you to
(25:26):
promote from within more consistently.
And you know, I'm a big fan of promotingfrom within whenever it's possible.
It's not always the rightthing to do every time, but
you know, what effects did you.
See that it had on your company'sculture and and why is it so important?
(25:46):
Yeah, so I think it shows.
The people that it's anachievable goal, right?
Yeah.
And that the organization's not justlooking to hire from the outside.
It shows that if you work hard, put inyour work and do what you're supposed
to do and show your interest andwanting to move up in the organization
because that's also an important part.
(26:07):
Then I, I can get there.
Like, let me go talk to my managerand figure out how I can get there
and how can I establish this.
So again, it, it shows them an achievablegoal that they're able to do it.
And I would say that it gives apositive overall culture impact.
And again, it, it just helpsnaturally with the recruiting.
(26:28):
Yeah.
There's two things that stood out tome too from, from what you said is
after building the training program,the career path came naturally well.
It also shows employeesthat the training works.
You do the training, youcan, you can be promoted.
Right.
(26:48):
I have found that a lot of timesthat those empty promises of,
Hey, you, we need training.
We need training, we need training.
They do the training, and thenthere's, there's nothing at the
end of the rainbow for them.
But more work.
Right.
And, and there's, when you don't see the.
(27:09):
That the juice is worth the squeeze.
I'm not participating in training.
I'm not, not engaging in that trainingthat we both know does not get built
overnight or with a wave of a wand.
Right.
So
it was that easy.
I know, right?
If, if I was Harry Potterit would be a lot easier.
(27:31):
But you know.
Nubia, it's, it's kind ofcrazy how fast time goes when
you and I get together, right?
We, we, we've bounced ideas offeach other for years and, you
know, the time has flown by.
So I know that we are looking to geta few more questions in here, but
also I know that this is gonna besomething where I'm definitely gonna
(27:55):
need you to come back on and, and diginto these a little bit more because.
I think both you and I can sit here andtalk about everything that HR does and,
and everything, and, and I, I wanna kindof wrap up with two more questions, right?
And one of 'em is, you know, we'vetalked about how much we value HR as
(28:17):
HR professionals and how, how muchwe see it, but I think it can really
become a competitive advantage.
To your company if you
have somebody who's dedicated to
it and focused.
So Tell me a little bit abouthow owners or executive teams can
invest in HR to really bring thatcompetitive advantage to the forefront.
(28:42):
Yeah, so anybody can cut grass, right?
Anybody can do all of these differentthings that our organization does.
The only thing that canset us apart from others.
Are the service and the people, right?
So I think the serviceand the people are areas.
We, we tend to focus a lot on the serviceand not on the people aspect of it.
(29:05):
And I think once you truly doinvest in the people, you'll see
how the, the service and the peoplecan elevate your organization.
One of the things that I kind of strivedon and really got pushed myself, my
inner self, was to get my certification.
And I was like, you know, like thesepeople get their landscape contractor's
(29:25):
license or their horticulture license,like what can I do to like elevate myself
to the same level of, you know, theircertifications that they're getting.
So I really worked hard studying for awhole year to get my certification, which.
Is no easy task.
I know, you know how difficultthat test is to take.
(29:47):
So that was one of the thingsthat I did and, and really
utilizing my resources around me.
I know that there's different peer groups.
I know that you are in one organizationright now that heads peer groups, but like
leaning on these different peer groups.
To help you elevate yourself as well.
These peer groups have a ton of goodinformation that they can help you and,
(30:10):
and they've been there and they knowhow to get there and can elevate you and
your team to wherever it is that it needsto go, and it and bringing in somebody
externally instead of your organizationto make you see things differently.
Don't, don't be scared by that.
That's a good thing becauseyou want to be different.
You want to have that competitivenessof like, what sets us apart from
(30:33):
every other landscape organization?
What are we doing?
Well, we have a specific HR team thatdoes this and, and let me tell you
how we're different from these, thisorganization and, you know, they have
these certain certifications that, thatbrings and elevates your organization.
(30:54):
Newbie just gave me goosebumpsbecause I, I still remember when I
got the opportunity to sit for myS-H-R-M-S-E-P and knowing that my
organization was gonna pay for it,
it, it.
It made me feel invested in,but it, it circles back to if
you take care of your people,
(31:15):
they'll take care of your customers.
But I look at it as who'sthe person or the department
who takes care of the people.
Right.
And the, the, world is changing very fast.
We could dive into the.
Massive burnout and turnoverin HR departments during COVID
(31:36):
because of the strain and thelack of training and everything
across we saw in our profession.
But it goes back to you, you take the timeto invest in, in those HR professionals
and, and certifications and training.
And also one of thethings I think about is.
You gotta have time to go tothese peer groups and network.
(31:56):
You can't be overloaded and buriedwith administrative tasks that, you
know, while they're important, wehave to leverage that experience.
And, you know, for, you know,turning on my HR finance hat, right,
it's leveraging that hourly rate.
(32:17):
You don't wanna spend too much moneyon somebody filling out paperwork
when they could really be goingout and getting much more valuable
content with networking and, and, andfiguring out the how a lot quicker
than trying to figure out themselvesin a, in a dark room in the corner.
Right?
So,
(32:37):
we can get into compliance and how muchthat will cost you if you have the wrong
person in the seat dealing with that.
Well, and, and I think that's, you know,for me, we, we have so much more to talk
about and, you know, I would love tohave you back on, on another episode so
that we can get into that transformativeversus transactional hr. We can get into,
(33:02):
you know, culture and supporting it.
We can even dig into, hey, how do youlevel up an HR department, let alone.
The value of it in the first one.
So Nubia, thank you so much for coming in.
as we wrap up, we're gonna.
Go through our, our bigthree takeaways, right?
(33:23):
First one, obviously to me isHR can really be a competitive
advantage to your company.
It's more than parties,paperwork and payroll.
Secondly, HR really needs that seed atthe table to be most effective and, and
helping connect strategy and execution.
(33:44):
And lastly, you know, we talked aboutit a lot today too, a little bit is.
HR is not just a person, it's ateam that grows with it, right?
You can only do so much as asingle person, but as the company
grows, that team needs to grow.
So thank you so much for having us in.
(34:05):
I know that as HR consultant, youknow, you're few and far between.
So why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit of where
they can find you and HR in Bloom.
Yes.
So thank you again for having me.
You can reach me@ww.hr in bloom.comor you can connect with me
via LinkedIn, Nubia Gutierrez.
(34:27):
You should be able tofind me through there.
And again, thank you for having me.
Awesome.
Thanks so much.
We'll talk to you soon.
I.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Roots of Success, brought to you by
the subject matter Experts at McFarlandStanford have a question you want our
coaches to tackle in a future episode.
(34:47):
You could submitthat@mcfarlandstanford.com slash podcast.
And to find more helpful content fromMcFarland Stanford, follow us on X,
LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
If this or any of our episodes havepiqued your interest in ACE Peer Group.
We encourage you to joinus at Ace Discovery.
Just check out the eventstab@mcfarlandstanford.com.
(35:08):
This is Jason New co-founder andprincipal at McFarland Stanford.
We'll see you next time.
You're driving around your truck,your company truck, whatever it is.
Yes, it's a nice.
Free billboard to be able to have,but hey, don't forget you're, you're
recruiting for your organization as well.
Right?
Welcome to the Roots of Success, thePremier Landscapers podcast that brings
you the latest tips and strategiesfor successful landscape business.
(00:21):
I'm Jim Calli, one of the principlesand coaches of McFarland Stanford.
Jason New and I started McFarland Stanfordto coach landscape businesses after
years in the industry ourselves, now morethan 10 years since we began, McFarland
has a deep bench of coaches and subjectmatter experts who work with our clients
on very specific issues of business.
Whether you're struggling with people.
Profits or just day-to-day challengesOur coaches and guests have the
(00:42):
real world experience and practicaladvice to help you build a thriving
and profitable landscape business.
Welcome to Roots of Success, the PremierLandscapers podcast that brings you
the latest tips and strategies forbuilding a thriving landscaping business.
My name is Barrett Chow.
I'm one of the hosts andcoaches at McFarland Stanford.
(01:06):
My whole career has been in the HRspace spanning multiple industries,
but it was my time as a mc McFarlandStanford client that ultimately
inspired me to step into coaching.
I found my greatest success in thegreen industry and that hands-on
experience with building teams.
Managing growth and solving challengesshapes the way I work and coach.
Today at McFarland Stanford, I serveas an executive coach director of
(01:30):
recruiting and lead our HR practice.
While recruiting remains a core focus ofmy work, I also collaborate with a deep
bench of coaches to help our clients solvecomplex challenges within their business.
One of the best parts of my rolein facilitating ACE peer groups.
Is meeting the amazing people whohelp these businesses succeed.
(01:52):
Today, I'm joined by a long-term friend,Nubia Gutierrez, CEO of HR in Bloom, and
I can't wait to have her tell her story.
And we got some greatstuff to dive into today.
So, Nubia, introduceyourself and we'll get going.
First of all, thank.
You for having me Barrett.
I appreciate it.
(02:13):
So my name is Nbie Gutierrez and Iam the CEO and founder of HR in Loom.
Prior to that I had a little bitover nine years of experience
in the landscape industry.
Recently decided to start myown consultant and HR business.
And just helping different industries froma wide range with any sort of HR issues or
(02:33):
consultant or task, whatever that may be.
Majority of my focuses are, are on smallerbusinesses that kind of need that HR
focus and help and guidance which is alot inside of the landscape industry.
As we all know.
We have people that wear multiplehats within the landscape industry.
(02:54):
So yeah.
Yeah, it.
So thank you for joining us.
I still remember the first time Imet you and you were just getting
started in hr and I think throughour mutual experience of growing and
working through the landscape industry.
We faced a lot of challenges in,especially in hr. So, you know, I
(03:18):
really just wanna start off therewith, with you today is like, from
your perspective, what are the biggestchallenges that HR professionals
face in the landscape industry?
Yeah, so I think it'sa really big question.
Probably there's a long list of challengesthat different organizations face.
I can tell you for sure that oneof the number one things that I see
(03:41):
that is pretty consistent is, likeI mentioned in my introduction, is
people wearing multiple hats, right?
You might have.
One person that's not an HR expert.
Doing accounting, doing frontdesk, whatever it might be.
More specifically for thesesmaller starter up organizations.
The other thing is you know, resources.
(04:02):
What sort of resources do youhave within your organization?
Are you able to utilize these resources?
Do you have it budgeted?
Where's the organization going?
All of that future planning are thingsthat I believe are issues that do come up.
And lastly, one of thehot topics is staffing.
Right?
(04:22):
That is a huge thing within thelandscape industry, and obviously,
we'll, we'll get into that a littlebit later on and more in detail, but
that's obviously a big topic to discuss.
Yeah.
Well, I wanna dig into some ofthose answers because you know,
I think we both experience being.
One man bands Right.
Or one
woman bands, if you will.
(04:43):
But that, that single HR team, right, youknow, it, it brings a lot of challenges.
I know that I personally struggledsometimes with nobody speaks my language.
Like nobody understands hr.And, and we, we bring a certain
stigma from corporate America.
(05:06):
Mm-hmm.
Tell me about your experience in, in beinga, you know, a, a one person department
and, and the challenges that brought you.
I think that the challenges thatI had by being like a one person
department was enough time, right?
How do you organize yourself and stayon top of different tasks and obviously
(05:28):
complete your job to the best of itsabilities with one being compliant.
Two, making sure that you're have,making everybody happy and getting
whatever it is that they need.
And then.
Three being a resourcefor employees as well.
Right?
Because HR is more thanjust a paper pusher per se.
And I think that's probably themis the concept, the miscon concept
(05:49):
that people have is that HR isjust policies and paper pushers.
I have never been that person.
It's not my personality and Barrett,I know that that's not you Also.
And a lot of the things that I havegotten, you know, questions in the past
have been after I've done presentationsor spoken publicly is always, how are
(06:09):
you like not the most typical HR person?
Like, how did you establish your role?
Where did you think that, youknow, your role needed to be?
And a lot of that wasjust really realizing.
What the organization needed, right.
And what fit the organization.
And with realizing what the org, whatyour organization needs, you're kind of
(06:30):
able to mold your role into what it shouldbe to kind of help out the organization.
Right.
So, you know, the, the challengesthat I had was I was never in the
landscape industry, so I didn't knowor understand, so one of the things
that I really thrived on in like doingwas getting to know the people, right?
Getting to know the people andrealizing what is it that they do?
(06:52):
What are their jobs like?
Yes, I can read their jobdescriptions, but like, let me
actually visually see it, right?
Let me see how it works.
I might not know how to use a certainpiece of equipment, but I can visualize
it and see and understand, okay?
Like it needs to be somebody that's.
Physically capable of doing it right,which is complacent and com compliance.
(07:13):
Sorry.
And two, like, okay, I know now that Ineed to hire someone that is able to do
this and I can put the job descriptionand what I vis visually observed together.
So it, it took a lot in reallyunderstanding what these positions
actually do and then teaming upwith leadership and realizing what
(07:34):
is it that the organization needs?
Where are we going as an organization?
Right?
And the other thing is like, Ihad to prove my point, like, yes,
I'm a female and I don't know, Imight not know anything about the
industry specifically when I firststarted, but I showed up for rollout.
I showed up.
I talked to the field crews.
(07:55):
I speak English and Spanish, soobviously that was an advantage as well.
And I know we'll lead later on in ourconversation into, you know, connecting
the office and the field together.
But that was another one of my tasksand challenges that I had to figure out.
Yeah, I, I can't agree with you more.
I, you know, coming from software andprivate travel and professional sports.
(08:18):
I had no idea what I was stepping intowhen I got into the landscaping industry.
So like you, I really hadto immerse myself in it.
And I think that when I look back inhow to become successful in HR and
add the most value, not only in atactical sense, but in order to be
(08:41):
transformative for the organization.
You have to immerse yourself in it.
You have to be the therefore rollout.
You have to understandthose subcultures between
office and the field.
And you know that internal communicationstruggle is something that, you know,
as somebody who's not bilingual, Ireally had to learn how to communicate
(09:04):
with people who I not only didn'tspeak HR with, but I didn't speak
their native language as well.
So, you know, I think that as we lookat being, you know, in, you know,
single seats for quite a while Right?
Wearing a lot of hats.
You can feel like you're outa out on an island a lot and.
(09:27):
When you don't, when nobody on yourleadership team understands why you're
doing this or agrees with it, or thinksthat HR should be in the in the room.
I'm, I wanna turn over towhat can companies do to
support their HR departments?
What are some of the things that happenfor you that made you feel supported,
(09:49):
that kept you going in your role?
Yeah, so I think that having areally good owner is definitely.
Great.
A good support system where, you know,the owner or even your peer is gonna
be able, your peer group's gonna beable to support you and your decisions
are, Hey, can I run this idea by you?
(10:10):
Do you think that's crazy?
Do you kind of agree, disagree?
Surveying out.
I mean, I've, I, I used to do thattoo, kind of surveying out with the
managers, Hey, do you think if Ido this, the team would receive it?
Well, what are your thoughts?
Is that a yay or a nay?
Whatever it might be.
You know, I, I always wanted to makesure that everyone was gonna be good.
Granted, you're not gonna makeeveryone happy, but overall
(10:33):
a good feedback experience.
The other thing is.
Listen to them.
They know what they're talking about.
You know, they're the onessitting in and seeing what's
happening day in and day out.
Especially if that means,Hey, I need a bigger team.
I'm ready for that.
Let me show you why.
And just seeing what the ROI ison that is important as well.
(10:58):
Yeah, I, you know, I think one of thethings that was a big step forward
for me in that was when I was givena seat at the table and it actually
really helped me understand why Icould or could not execute or do
some of the things I wanted to do.
(11:19):
Because, you know, like Isaid, I came from software.
You didn't wake up beforenine 30, let alone be rolled
out and in the yard at seven.
So Yeah.
Right.
Like that was crazy for me.
But understanding strategy and whatthe business goals were really helped
me build a strategy that also helpedthe company, but supported exactly what
(11:47):
you said and, and, and being able to.
Ride along with managers tounderstand what they're seeing, what
they're doing, what their job is,
so that Yeah, exactly.
So that I could build something for them.
And, and getting that feedbackfrom employees and team
members is, is invaluable.
(12:07):
But you, you touched on itfirst, you gotta act on it.
Right.
But one of the things that Ithink I found, and I'd love to
hear your perspective on it, is.
When my job was more focused on hr,I was most successful, not when I was
(12:28):
tasked with wearing hats, too many hatsoutside of what my normal job duty was.
Right?
We all understand in small businessyou gotta wear a lot of hats, but
as you grow and as you get support,it was being more focused and more
direct on your job to make an even.
Bigger impact.
Tell me a little bit aboutyour story and and, and what
(12:50):
your experience was with that.
Yeah, so I, when I first started offwearing multiple hats, just like you
said, it was rather difficult to focuson one specific task when you have
multiple different tasks going on.
Obviously that was theorganizational needs, right?
I needed, and I understood thatI had to wear multiple hats, but.
(13:10):
Internally and myself, and I workedwith my owner on like figure out
career path and like where itwas that I wanted to be and what.
My, you know, expertise weregonna be useful for in the
future for the organization.
And so I think with having that, thatkind of gave me the hope of like,
okay, like I'm gonna eventually be ableout of, be able to get out of this.
(13:33):
Like we're gonna, once we have theresources and budget, we're gonna
be able to get this person to dothis and this person to do that.
So I think that really helped me a ton.
Once I did get into my HRdirector role within the industry.
I was more strategizing, right?
I was more strategizing and I was sittingat the seat of the table with owners
(13:55):
and leadership and figuring out wherewe were going as the organization Now.
Prior to that, I might have not hada seat at the table, but I was still
speaking to leadership and speaking toownership about what I thought the needs
were and what I thought was going on.
So I think it's important for youto voice and not stay quiet about
(14:15):
like what you think is happeningand what you're understanding.
And in a way to do that is likeyou're the resource, you're there
for the people in the organization.
So like voice, whatever it isthat you think is going on.
Well, you bring up an interesting point.
I'd love to dig in a little bit deeper onthat transition between sitting outside
the room versus sitting in the room.
(14:37):
Tell me a little bit about how thatchanged your perspective on your
strategy, your recommendations,and even just the overall.
Organization as a whole.
Yeah, so I think, you know,you're more into the weeds, right?
When I was in, outside of the,the table, I guess you could
(14:58):
say, or outside of the room.
Once I was at the seat of the table Iwas able to see bigger picture stuff,
right, and really understand wherethe organization was going, whether
that was three years, five year, fiveyear outlook, whatever that might be.
So I eventually did grow a teamunderneath me, an HR team underneath me.
(15:18):
So, you know, with with coaching andmentoring, I was able to coach and
mentor that person underneath me of.
Don't worry about it.
I'm telling you to do it this specificallybecause like there's a bigger picture
of how things are are happening.
So I was kind of able to tell that person,Hey, you kind of need to be in the weeds.
Well, I'm out of the weeds, butI promise you we're all rowing in
(15:39):
the right direction for a reason.
So I, I, I think.
The transition was amazing for mepersonally to be able to do that.
'cause I do, I can getinto the weeds if needed.
However, I don't like to be too muchinto the weeds and I do like to analyze,
but I don't like to overanalyze as well.
(16:01):
I'd much rather prefer to like, makea decision and be done and over with.
Whereas, you know, with, with havingand leading somebody underneath
the hr department within underneathme, that person was kind of able
to be like, wait, Nubia, hold up.
Are you sure that this iswhat we're thinking of?
And then, you know, they werekind of, were able to test me.
(16:22):
And figuring out like what was happening.
So for me it was a positivething to be able to do.
I liked it.
I, I liked being able to voice my opinionto the rest of the leadership team.
I liked being heard bythe leadership team.
And most important, one of the thingsthat I, I like very much preached on
was if we're gonna ask for opinions.
(16:44):
Then we need to make a change.
We can't just ask for opinions and notmake a change and say that we are gonna
change certain things and then justbe done with it and forget about it.
'cause that looks bad on us.
And then people aren't gonna trust us.
Yeah, it's almost worse, right?
To ask for somebody's opinionand then not act on it.
I, I couldn't agree with you more on that.
(17:06):
Well, I think that where wego from here is, you know, we.
We're in the room.
We have a seat at the table.
It does, life didn't getany easier or less busy.
Right.
And so I think one of the, thebiggest challenges our industry faces
(17:27):
is that, that high turnover, it'sa, it's a manual labor workforce.
Depending on where you are, it'seither really hot or really cold or.
Somewhere in between, but it,it, it can be physically taxing.
And so you know, for me, I wouldlove to hear on from you of what are
(17:50):
some of the big things for you thatallowed you to build a culture that
reduce that turnover and, and reallymake it a place to work, if you will.
Yeah, so I, and I keep goingback on this because I think it's
(18:10):
super important, but having thatrelationship with the people, right?
And like I mentioned earlier,having that organic recruitment.
I mean, and HR is not theonly person that recruits.
Everybody's a recruiter, right?
If you are out somewhere andyou're wearing the name of
your organization, guess what?
You better be careful 'causesomebody's watching you and that you're
(18:30):
recruiting for your organization.
Whatever happens, you're wearingyour organization's name, right?
I'm very big on that.
You're driving around your truck,your company truck, whatever it is.
Yes, it's a nice.
Free billboard to be able to have,but hey, don't forget you're, you're
recruiting for your organization as well.
Right?
(18:51):
So that was part of it, right?
The other part of it was having anestablished referral bonus, right?
So internally having a referralbonus was a huge help for us.
The other thing too was that once wehad that good established culture.
And that referral bonus, we wereable to budget out a recruiter
(19:16):
within hr, the HR department.
Now I know, and I understand that thisis not something that every organization
can do or has the means to be ableto do that, but I will say that that
was something that helped us a ton.
And by having somebodythat just focuses on.
New hires, orientation, recruiting.
That was their core focus andthat was able to help my shift
(19:38):
to go into the strategizing.
Right?
So having this person be out in thecommunity, that's another important thing.
These people are not on Indeedor LinkedIn all the time.
You need to be out into the community,go out to different career fairs,
job fairs different communityevents playgrounds, you name it.
(19:58):
Grocery stores, whatever it might be,being out there within the community
and having our name out there wasanother huge, major win for us.
And ideally what that did for uswas we had a stack of applicants.
So it was easier for us to not beon this like thing of not being
able to recruit or find people.
(20:19):
So I know that one of theother things that people have
challenges with are the language.
So if you do have somebody that isin the field that does speak both
languages, see if you can have themcome help you with like recruitment
and like pay them maybe somethingextra to see how they can help you.
(20:41):
I, again, I know not every organizationhas somebody that can speak perfect
English and Spanish to help out, but it.
If you have somebody from your teamspeaking about your organization and,
you know, seeing somebody that likeworks in the field out there recruiting,
they're able to relate more with
Yeah.
So that's, that's also a positive.
(21:02):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
That employee experience, right?
Having somebody dedicated to focus on itreally making sure that it goes smoothly.
Right.
Because I, it, it's funny that yousay that because I, I, I always touted
myself as the, the culture champion.
(21:23):
And, and wanting to make sure thatemployee experience was second to
none, and that, that the dedicationin finding the right people and making
sure they get onboarded, I thinkis, is the biggest part of it too.
Because you can find the right person,but you can drop the ball on day one and
(21:44):
all of a sudden they're gone on day three.
Right?
So there, there's a lotof things that go into.
Making sure that we're prepared,consistent and evolving that practice.
And you know, something that youmentioned earlier too was, you
know, you built yourself a careerpath to help you get through it.
(22:05):
Did you guys have a career pathinternally that showed what growth
looked like for your employees?
We did.
And obvi that wasn'testablished until later on.
You know, well, as the organization wasgrowing, we came to the realization that
crew leaders don't happen naturally.
I don't know if you know that.
(22:28):
No, it would be lovelyif you could though.
So while we realized that crew leadersare so difficult to find and unless
you're paying a lot of money for thesepeople from other organizations and
then you're poaching, and then thatbrings up a whole nother ordeal, right.
We needed to establishan organization training.
(22:51):
So I did a whole entire training forcrew leaders and their career path as to
how it was that they needed to get to.
Whatever management roles it was thatthey were going to be looking at.
So we knew that the immediateneed was crew leaders, right?
So we had these ongoing trainingsessions with these career with,
(23:14):
I'm sorry, with these crew leaders,which eventually established a
career path for these positions.
And so it was like, if you have A, B andC, you're able to move up to the next
career path, whatever that might be.
Not only that, but thatwas good for increases.
We were able to like look backand see, okay, Susan was able
(23:36):
to do this certification andcame in for these trainings.
So they definitely deserve a raise.
They showed that they were interested,they're invested in the organization.
We definitely wanna keep this person.
And a lot of the times, sometimes wedidn't have them or, or a position
to be able for, for them to move up.
Right.
But it was a lot of conversations of.
(23:57):
We don't have a positionright now for you.
However, we do think that we will havean established position for you in the
near future or within whatever days.
It's, it's a lot of planning andworking with the operations team and
figuring out what's going on and what'shappening, and I think that goes back to.
Why it's important for HR to have a seatat the table because you can understand
(24:20):
and hear and see what's happening so thatyou can go back and realize, okay, like
I need to start establishing these careerpaths or these goals for these positions.
Well, you tied, you connectedthe dots that I was gonna
to, to connect for myself too of.
Right.
When you have that foresight, it's,it's easier to explain the why, right?
(24:42):
Hey, and the how.
Right?
Why we don't have aposition for you right now.
We need to get to this size revenue,we need to add this many more clients
so that we can add another truck.
After we add another truck,we have another crew, which
means we have enough crewsfor a superintendent.
That's where we see you going.
Right?
(25:03):
And when people can see the path,they're more likely to stay on it.
And you know, that's that culturefrom promoting from within too.
And you know, I. I loved how yourstory began with, we started with a
training program, not a career path.
The training program led into acareer path which allowed you to
(25:26):
promote from within more consistently.
And you know, I'm a big fan of promotingfrom within whenever it's possible.
It's not always the rightthing to do every time, but
you know, what effects did you.
See that it had on your company'sculture and and why is it so important?
(25:46):
Yeah, so I think it shows.
The people that it's anachievable goal, right?
Yeah.
And that the organization's not justlooking to hire from the outside.
It shows that if you work hard, put inyour work and do what you're supposed
to do and show your interest andwanting to move up in the organization
because that's also an important part.
(26:07):
Then I, I can get there.
Like, let me go talk to my managerand figure out how I can get there
and how can I establish this.
So again, it, it shows them an achievablegoal that they're able to do it.
And I would say that it gives apositive overall culture impact.
And again, it, it just helpsnaturally with the recruiting.
(26:28):
Yeah.
There's two things that stood out tome too from, from what you said is
after building the training program,the career path came naturally well.
It also shows employeesthat the training works.
You do the training, youcan, you can be promoted.
Right.
(26:48):
I have found that a lot of timesthat those empty promises of,
Hey, you, we need training.
We need training, we need training.
They do the training, and thenthere's, there's nothing at the
end of the rainbow for them.
But more work.
Right.
And, and there's, when you don't see the.
(27:09):
That the juice is worth the squeeze.
I'm not participating in training.
I'm not, not engaging in that trainingthat we both know does not get built
overnight or with a wave of a wand.
Right.
So
it was that easy.
I know, right?
If, if I was Harry Potterit would be a lot easier.
(27:31):
But you know.
Nubia, it's, it's kind ofcrazy how fast time goes when
you and I get together, right?
We, we, we've bounced ideas offeach other for years and, you
know, the time has flown by.
So I know that we are looking to geta few more questions in here, but
also I know that this is gonna besomething where I'm definitely gonna
(27:55):
need you to come back on and, and diginto these a little bit more because.
I think both you and I can sit here andtalk about everything that HR does and,
and everything, and, and I, I wanna kindof wrap up with two more questions, right?
And one of 'em is, you know, we'vetalked about how much we value HR as
(28:17):
HR professionals and how, how muchwe see it, but I think it can really
become a competitive advantage.
To your company if you
have somebody who's dedicated to
it and focused.
So Tell me a little bit abouthow owners or executive teams can
invest in HR to really bring thatcompetitive advantage to the forefront.
(28:42):
Yeah, so anybody can cut grass, right?
Anybody can do all of these differentthings that our organization does.
The only thing that canset us apart from others.
Are the service and the people, right?
So I think the serviceand the people are areas.
We, we tend to focus a lot on the serviceand not on the people aspect of it.
(29:05):
And I think once you truly doinvest in the people, you'll see
how the, the service and the peoplecan elevate your organization.
One of the things that I kind of strivedon and really got pushed myself, my
inner self, was to get my certification.
And I was like, you know, like thesepeople get their landscape contractor's
(29:25):
license or their horticulture license,like what can I do to like elevate myself
to the same level of, you know, theircertifications that they're getting.
So I really worked hard studying for awhole year to get my certification, which.
Is no easy task.
I know, you know how difficultthat test is to take.
(29:47):
So that was one of the thingsthat I did and, and really
utilizing my resources around me.
I know that there's different peer groups.
I know that you are in one organizationright now that heads peer groups, but like
leaning on these different peer groups.
To help you elevate yourself as well.
These peer groups have a ton of goodinformation that they can help you and,
(30:10):
and they've been there and they knowhow to get there and can elevate you and
your team to wherever it is that it needsto go, and it and bringing in somebody
externally instead of your organizationto make you see things differently.
Don't, don't be scared by that.
That's a good thing becauseyou want to be different.
You want to have that competitivenessof like, what sets us apart from
(30:33):
every other landscape organization?
What are we doing?
Well, we have a specific HR team thatdoes this and, and let me tell you
how we're different from these, thisorganization and, you know, they have
these certain certifications that, thatbrings and elevates your organization.
(30:54):
Newbie just gave me goosebumpsbecause I, I still remember when I
got the opportunity to sit for myS-H-R-M-S-E-P and knowing that my
organization was gonna pay for it,
it, it.
It made me feel invested in,but it, it circles back to if
you take care of your people,
(31:15):
they'll take care of your customers.
But I look at it as who'sthe person or the department
who takes care of the people.
Right.
And the, the, world is changing very fast.
We could dive into the.
Massive burnout and turnoverin HR departments during COVID
(31:36):
because of the strain and thelack of training and everything
across we saw in our profession.
But it goes back to you, you take the timeto invest in, in those HR professionals
and, and certifications and training.
And also one of thethings I think about is.
You gotta have time to go tothese peer groups and network.
(31:56):
You can't be overloaded and buriedwith administrative tasks that, you
know, while they're important, wehave to leverage that experience.
And, you know, for, you know,turning on my HR finance hat, right,
it's leveraging that hourly rate.
(32:17):
You don't wanna spend too much moneyon somebody filling out paperwork
when they could really be goingout and getting much more valuable
content with networking and, and, andfiguring out the how a lot quicker
than trying to figure out themselvesin a, in a dark room in the corner.
Right?
So,
(32:37):
we can get into compliance and how muchthat will cost you if you have the wrong
person in the seat dealing with that.
Well, and, and I think that's, you know,for me, we, we have so much more to talk
about and, you know, I would love tohave you back on, on another episode so
that we can get into that transformativeversus transactional hr. We can get into,
(33:02):
you know, culture and supporting it.
We can even dig into, hey, how do youlevel up an HR department, let alone.
The value of it in the first one.
So Nubia, thank you so much for coming in.
as we wrap up, we're gonna.
Go through our, our bigthree takeaways, right?
(33:23):
First one, obviously to me isHR can really be a competitive
advantage to your company.
It's more than parties,paperwork and payroll.
Secondly, HR really needs that seed atthe table to be most effective and, and
helping connect strategy and execution.
(33:44):
And lastly, you know, we talked aboutit a lot today too, a little bit is.
HR is not just a person, it's ateam that grows with it, right?
You can only do so much as asingle person, but as the company
grows, that team needs to grow.
So thank you so much for having us in.
(34:05):
I know that as HR consultant, youknow, you're few and far between.
So why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit of where
they can find you and HR in Bloom.
Yes.
So thank you again for having me.
You can reach me@ww.hr in bloom.comor you can connect with me
via LinkedIn, Nubia Gutierrez.
(34:27):
You should be able tofind me through there.
And again, thank you for having me.
Awesome.
Thanks so much.
We'll talk to you soon.
I.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Roots of Success, brought to you by
the subject matter Experts at McFarlandStanford have a question you want our
coaches to tackle in a future episode.
(34:47):
You could submitthat@mcfarlandstanford.com slash podcast.
And to find more helpful content fromMcFarland Stanford, follow us on X,
LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
If this or any of our episodes havepiqued your interest in ACE Peer Group.
We encourage you to joinus at Ace Discovery.
Just check out the eventstab@mcfarlandstanford.com.
(35:08):
This is Jason New co-founder andprincipal at McFarland Stanford.
We'll see you next time.
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