April 2, 2024 • 25 mins
Have you ever walked into a room and felt an instant connection? That's the magic we unpack in Today's episode with Seth, Brandon and Dan that delves into the lifeblood of any thriving business – its culture. We share the laughter and lessons from our journey to nurture a workplace where the morning coffee comes with a warm greeting and bonds are built over shared playlists. From integrating new hires with a gentle hand to the critical role laughter plays in breaking down barriers, we reveal the strategies that keep our working family connected.
This episode isn't just talk; it's a treasure trove of actionable gems. Discover how our playful 'guess the playlist' game could transform your team's dynamic, or how a simple set of trading cards showcasing personal interests can stitch together the fabric of a tight-knit community. Every laugh, every story, every tip shared by Brandon and Dan is a piece of the puzzle in creating a company culture where employees don't just show up, they belong. Join us for insights that will not only resonate but also inspire you to weave these threads into your own landscape business.
Do you want to grow your business and your profits? Is your business too dependent on you the owner? Improve or implement processes that help you grow. Eliminate stress while improving cash flow. Interested? If so check out LOS. Landscape Operating System with Peer group is for you.
Learn more here https://www.scalingscoresystem.com/los
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning.
We're live here Landscape Talk.
Hopefully you're doing well,have a great episode today.
Going to talk a little bitabout culture and the importance
of that.
Just as a reminder if you'relooking to grow your business,
implement processes so yourbusiness can run effectively.
You can grow your business andgrow your profits.
(00:24):
Check out LOS.
It's an operating system with apeer group so you get to tap
into other people's knowledgeand grow your business.
So check that out.
You can scan it in the thingand there's also a link in our
episode Today.
On the show we have Brandon andDan.
I think one of the things thatwe wanted to talk about today a
(00:47):
little bit is culture, and someof these are buzzwords.
You hear the word culture a lot.
What does it mean?
How do you make it reality?
All these things are hard.
First, let me say that there'snothing that's just easy without
being intentional aboutsomething, intentional about
something.
But you know, I think, dan, youknow you had a great, you know
(01:10):
example and you know from aninterview.
Obviously it's a springtime Nowwe're still interviewing some
people, bringing some people onboard.
I think there's two things youknow.
One of the we have threepillars that I think, and I love
in, you know Brandon's, youknow background.
He has kind of our, you knowsome of our core values, you
(01:32):
know.
But you know, at the higherlevel, you know we have a saying
it's develop, deliver, connect.
I think the connecting is kindof like goes with the culture
and some of the things that thatwe'll talk about today, but I
think it's a two way street.
So I think you know, when youlook at hiring somebody, you
know what, what do you look for,what do they look for?
(01:53):
And uh, you know, dan, maybeyou want to explain or share a
little bit about your story.
Uh, you know with with theindividual and then just kind of
how it connects to like alittle bit how we do things.
Uh, you know with with theindividual and then just kind of
how it connects to like alittle bit how we do things and,
um, you know, hopefully, peoplecan benefit from.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Um, you know some of the conversations, yeah.
So you know, a lot of times um,not always, but a lot of times,
you know, if I'm interviewingsomeone or having someone come
on board, um, you know, thetopic of, like company culture
comes up and how that'ssomething important to them.
Maybe they're they've workedsomewhere else in the past or
they're working somewhere elsenow.
That's, you know, maybe it's a,maybe it's a big company, maybe
(02:34):
it's not, but it's just likethe, the, you know team
camaraderie kind of thing, andthe relationship between
management and the field staffjust like isn't there, you know,
there isn't like goodrecognition of of guys that are
doing a good job, that sort ofthing, so that oftentimes
they'll come into the interviewand that's something that they
mention is like a high priorityfor them.
(02:55):
Um, and so, like you know acouple of things that we we try
to do one, like in thespringtime, you know we try not
to bring on, you know like a, abatch of team members like all
at once.
We try to kind of like phasethem in a little bit, like we
have, you know, our core teamkind of coming out of the winter
(03:17):
.
Um, and then, as we're bringingsome new people on in the
spring.
We kind of do it a little bitpiecemeal, just so that we, you
know, have plenty of time tolike get them on board, get them
trained, um, have time to focuson them and incorporating them
into the team that we havealready just make sure, like you
know, it's a good fit for them,it's a good fit for us, you
know, and the team gets to knowthem a little bit.
(03:40):
That's always, that's alwaysimportant to have.
Like you know, when you, whenyou work with guys, that that
you like, that you actually getto know a little bit, it just
makes the day so much better.
So we try to do that a littlebit like phase people in.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I think that's a great point, that the connection
is, you know, a pillar.
I think you know we'll talkabout these different things a
lot, but it's one thing you knowwhen you're a company, there's
a couple of things.
It's one thing to identify whatyou need to do, and then the
other thing is you have to, youknow, actually do it.
So I think you know we fallinto the category, I think, a
(04:18):
lot of times, of like we knowwhat to do and now we just have
to hold ourselves accountable todoing it.
So, like, connection is a, aare, you know, a priority for us
and we're always working to, toimprove that and and do that.
So I guess you know and I lovethe phasing in because I think
there's there was times beforewhere you bring in 20, you know
(04:40):
you have 20 people you know allat once or something like that,
and you really you know, whenyou look at attrition, a lot of
times you would, you, youactually couldn't connect with
the people, so then they feellost.
Or I can think of even going tonetworking events or whatever.
When you don't know anybody.
You're actually just lookingfor somebody to just like talk
(05:02):
to you, kind of.
If that's not your personality.
Now.
Some people just talk toeverybody, but you know, I can
just think of going into acompany.
You don't know where anything'sat, you don't know anybody.
Everybody else is making, likeyou know, joke here and talking
about things and you're justkind of isolated.
So I think that's really, youknow, really important.
I guess you know for Brandon,what do you think we do well in
(05:25):
this area?
And then I think the otherthing to look at is what do you
think you know, what are westill working to improve, you
know, in this area?
Because I think it's importantto look at both.
You know people can learn fromus both ways to say, hey, this
is what we're doing well.
Ways to say, hey, this is whatwe're doing well.
(05:47):
But also, hey, you know, wewant to get better all the time,
and you know this is an areathat we want to get better and
what can we do to continue thatjourney?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah.
So I mean, I think one thingthat we do well is, like you
know, obviously everyone that'slike involved in our leadership
team, you know, does a reallygreat job of like trying to take
people under their wing as theycome in and start.
You know people that we havedevoted to that.
Some of the senior guys havebeen here for a while, you know.
(06:14):
They see someone new, they'llkind of reach out and olive
branch and like talk to them alittle bit, which I think is
good.
I think the one thing we wantto keep doing and driving
forward is just getting that tobe everyone, because, like, the
more that people talk to you,the more comfortable you get.
So, like you know, in the caseof like, if they're just one
person that's doing it right, ormaybe just a limited amount,
(06:39):
and then that person's not thereone morning or that one moment,
you kind of feel lost again,right.
So, like you make a connectionwith that one person, you kind
of feel lost again, right.
So, like, um, you make aconnection with that one person
and then all of a sudden, youknow maybe they have a meeting
that morning or maybe whatever'sgoing on, and they're not there
Then then you're back tofeeling lonely, um, a little bit
unsure, you feel out of place,you feel awkward, right, some
(07:00):
people are very like outgoing.
That's not a big deal to them,but that definitely, that
definitely happens.
I can think personally formyself.
Um, you know, my, my one son,plays travel, travel baseball,
and we were uh, we were reallyliked him to be on this one team
.
It didn't work out, um, forwhatever reason, and then he
(07:21):
ended up getting on this otherteam, which is fine, somewhat of
coaches that we're alreadyfamiliar with, but, like
everyone else on the team isfrom a different school district
and area.
My son's the only one from hisschool, so he knows nobody.
And like we vaguely know a fewpeople, but not really, and then
they all kind of know eachother from before.
(07:42):
So it gets real awkward for us.
You know I feel bad for my sonand I just try to, you know,
encourage him to like, you know,hey, just try to talk to people
and branch out, and you know,because they're, you know it's
like it's a little clicky, right, so like everyone's kind of
like just hanging out.
If no one reaches out an olivebranch, it just continues to get
(08:04):
worse and I think the longerthat goes, the worse it gets
Right.
So, like for us, it's likepretty awkward and you know
where we could do probably alittle bit more to like try to
to do a better job.
But like when everyone elseknows he knows each other, and
then you're really kind of theodd one out, it gets, it gets
like a little bit uncomfortableand you don't, you don't really
like enjoy going there, like ohgreat, you know we got to go to
this.
Um, you don't really like enjoygoing there, like oh great, you
(08:24):
know we got to go to this.
And you don't, you know youspend so much time at work.
You don't want that to be aplace that you don't want to go
to.
Right, you know everyone,everyone, everyone has work,
right, and it's not like yeah,it's my favorite thing to do,
but you want to.
You want to have a workplace ora place that you're going and
you're not dreading going to andyou really enjoy and there's
people you can talk to.
You spend a lot of time there.
(08:44):
So that's something you want toenjoy doing and that that for
me, is just, you know, a quickanalogy on how I experience it,
not only you know, outside ofwork.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So we we try to really make sure at our
workplace we we connect withpeople so what are one or two
things that that we can dobetter To continually improve
that?
But also somebody that'slistening can say you know, I
might be able to do one or twoof those things as well to
improve.
You know, I think there's the,there's a couple of things,
(09:17):
there's all different sizecompanies that listen and tune
in Right, so you have somebodythat's like a smaller
organization and I feel likewhen you're just a one or two
person, you know truck andtrailer.
You typically don't have thoseissues because you're spending
all day with the people.
So, like I think anytime you'reover, you know two trucks,
(09:39):
three trucks, and even then thatmight still be small enough
that you can do it.
But I mean you know anythingover like a couple trucks or two
trucks.
You know what are just two orthree simple things and I'll
check in with both of you herethat you can do To help improve
that connectability, because Iget you know a lot of people can
(10:01):
relate to that when you have a,they don't even know that
they're doing it, so you may noteven know that you're.
You have this, this, this groupor this click, but from the
outside it feels feels like that, so it would, or maybe just you
know maybe two things from eachof you that you can do that
somebody could implement rightaway.
Today, listening to this show,say, hey, do this just to make
people feel a little morewelcome.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Dan, I'll go to you.
Um, yeah, I mean one of thethings like especially in the
spring and sometimes in the fall, but like people that are
joining in so you have a chanceto like talk and to know each
other a little better.
Since you haven't workedtogether yet, you can kind of
like adjust, cruise around alittle bit in the spring.
If you're a real smalloperation, this might not make
sense, but like having someonethat's kind of like designated,
(11:15):
like company culture lead, solike we have a guy who came on
not too long ago but he's likeyou said about.
Some people are just naturallyoutgoing.
This guy just feel like youknow, we haven't asked him to do
this, but anytime he's aroundwith the group it's like
everybody's talking, becauseit's just something about.
(11:35):
He just checks in witheverybody, talks to everybody
and that kind of brings it outin other people too.
So sometimes you have thatperson that just kind of
naturally helps with thatprocess.
So if you have that person kindof designated, it can help with
that process.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Um.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So if you have that person kind of designated it can
, it can help with thattransition.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So I think the I think that's awesome.
Um, you know, I, I think theidea is um, you know, assigning
that person, um, you knowassigning that person like to,
to be the person to help.
You know greet people, welcome.
You know that's a, that's anatural talent.
(12:14):
I think that that's yeah,that's really good.
Um, so, yeah, what about you,brandon?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, I mean, uh, one thing that we do that I think
really helps, like the wholebonding thing.
And again, this might not belike right away, but we always
do like a team day where we weget together and, um, you know,
spend some time together as ateam, which I think is like
super helpful.
Um, that kind of helps peoplelike mash and, like you know,
(12:41):
peel back the layers a littlebit of the onion and kind of
just see, um, you know whateveryone's about and you know,
have a good time and just try toconnect a little bit more.
I think the other thing is just, like you know, having a
culture where, where people are,like you know, understand that
it's friendly and just say likehey, you know, this is like we
do have people that come in andstart, you know, just reach out
(13:04):
and make sure you're, like youknow, connecting with them.
We do the flex and and stretchin the morning, which is like a
group activity and people kindof like talk and joke.
So, like you know, people cankind of get feel for the mood,
to feel connected, I think, withthat, because there's there's
no like, oh, this screws here,that cruise there.
It's just like everyone kind oflines up with their cone cones,
um, there's no order to whereyou need to be, um, and it just
(13:26):
kind of creates this likeatmosphere, I think, where, like
people get to be like involvedin the group and you don't have
to feel like isolated.
And I think also one thing thatobviously helps is, you know,
just trying to make sure that we, when people come in, we really
like walk them through theprocess, we do the training with
them, we spend time.
We don't just say, hey, how areyou doing Bob, shake their hand
(13:48):
and say here's a shirt, see youlater.
Um, I think, like you know, byspending some time with them,
giving a little bit of tlc,doing the training, and then
like doing the handoff of them,um, so you know, whatever team
they may be with um, and justmaking sure that you know they
have understanding.
And then you know the crew thatthey're joining.
You know that foreman kind oflike is like a mentor a little
(14:16):
bit and helps them kind of geton their feet with the crew, and
I think a lot of those thingsgo a long way.
And then, and like Dan said,you know, if you have a guy
that's naturally good at thatyou know.
Obviously we try to, you know,get people into positions where
where they're successful andthey have natural talent.
So you know he's he does areally good job of that
organically.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think the other thing that I, you know, think of
is, you know, when one of thethings in our flex and stretch,
we actually designed it Now thisis one thing that we're not
doing great now but like the waythat was designed at the flex
and stretch, which was actuallyto play music, and I think
music's something that bringpeople together.
So I don't know if there's away that we can incorporate that
(14:57):
back into it, but whether welike get people it's like
playlists or things that theylike, so we can just play it and
it's already scripted becauselike one of the things that's
funny, like play it, and it'salready scripted because like
one of the things that's funny,like I mean, there's guy you
know, like I'll, I'll listen tosome, do a lipa, right.
You know like that's a.
You know that's my jam, right,I'll get into.
(15:17):
You know, I like a bunch ofdifferent things, but you know,
do a leap, but can do, if that'seven how you say it, I can get
down with that, right.
So the idea is like, if I playmy song, right, people like lat,
like that somebody might be inthe Taylor Swift.
You're like this guy is in.
You know this girl, you know,whoever You're like, I didn't
think that.
So then it just creates thiscamaraderie.
Like, you know, you're a TaylorSwift fan.
(15:38):
You went to the concert lastweek, what you know.
You got a front row, so likethat's kind of the idea.
Or you have somebody that'slike DMX you know, that's my jam
, you know.
So you just kind of start toget to connect with people and
then then all of a sudden you'relike, oh, I remember that that
was back and you, any way thatyou can create, you know,
(15:59):
connections at that time andjust make it fun.
And I think that'd be somethingto try to get you know back
into the mix, because music doesbring people together.
And I especially think if it's,if it's like, if you would say
like, hey, this is, you know,this is, um, you know tim's
playlist.
You know he might play billyjoel and and like the bgs or
(16:19):
like the, the smoky robinson orsomething.
Yeah, I don't know but that,but then that's him, you know,
and it's like wow, like whoseplaylist is this today?
Guess the playlist, right, youknow, you could do anytime you
can, can break that ice withsome people, or even if there's
some new people, I think thatwould be a fun game to play is
like guess the playlist, or youknow, or something.
(16:40):
It's not long, I mean ourflexing stretches.
You know five to eight minutes,so I mean you can play, like
you could play one song a day,you know, know, or just
something, but I think thatwould help.
The other thing that I thoughtof, which would be kind of, you
know, a little bit goofy, butit's almost like creating
trading cards with, like youknow, your hobbies or your
favorite food, or something thatyou can know Because I know.
(17:04):
Like when I go to a networkingevent or there's a group that I
don't know or people introducethemselves, somebody is like, oh
, I like dirt bikes.
And then next thing, you know,that person goes over to the
person and says, hey, what typeof dirt bikes do you have?
I ride dirt bikes.
Then, all of a sudden, thatbond.
So I think as a company, in myopinion, you know it's it's
(17:25):
trying to foster some of thethings that stimulate
conversations, like music,getting people's information out
there so that people can relateto somebody.
It's like, oh, I'm not makingthis political, but like, oh,
you like Biden, me too.
Oh, you like Trump, oh, me too.
Right.
So anything that you canassociate with people, with
(17:49):
anything, and I think thepolitical thing is just a funny
thing.
But, like you know, I'm a Chevyguy, I'm a Ford guy, anything.
If you had that on the tradingcard, you know I like cards.
I'm in a band.
Oh, you're in a band, like I'm.
I'm a drummer, you know, I do.
I'm a DJ on the weekend.
Right To me, that buildsculture because it actually it
(18:10):
brings people together.
So I think those are some great, great ideas and some great
things.
And I think you know, if youare, you know a business, you
know, just just think aboutthese things.
So I'll, I'll go to Brandonfirst, but you know what would
be, maybe your takeaway from youknow, from today, or something
(18:31):
that you would recommendsomebody doing in their small
business, and then we'll, thenwe'll switch to the uh, you
can't make it up quick.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think any way that you can like make
people feel comfortable, right.
So like that's that's superimportant, whether you know it's
going to depend on your size ofyour company.
But, like you know, if you'rebigger you can maybe appoint
someone.
If you're smaller, it's justgetting that.
You know that core is like.
Sometimes if you're a smallercompany, that core is so tight.
(18:58):
You know they make it a littlehard for new people to come in,
right?
So like you got to make surethat everyone understands like
part of our philosophy here isis allowing new people to come
in and not stonewalling them.
You know, just and justpromoting a culture where where
people like you know you want tohave as much fun as you can at
(19:20):
work because you want to have agood time.
You spend a lot of time there,so it needs to be a good
environment.
Obviously, we you need to beproductive and have fun, but
we've heard a lot of things overthe years where, like the
environment wasn't good,management wasn't good, a lot of
like yelling and screaming andstuff.
So like we've really pushed tohave an amazing environment
(19:42):
where none of those thingshappen and people feel welcome.
Like that's our always our goal, which in in the industry of
like construction type of thing,is not always the case.
So you know, that's what's onebig thing for us and I think
that's I think that's huge Justmaking people feel welcome,
because if you don't feelwelcomed, you're not going to
(20:03):
want to keep coming back.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Right, yeah, awesome.
What about you Dan?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I mean, well, just real quick touch on that
Just in general, just in life.
I've always considered that tobe one of the best qualities
that a person can have.
That to be one of the one ofthe best qualities that a person
can have is just like beinghaving a welcoming personality,
just the kind of person thatlike reaches out to people, just
has that kind of energy thatlike makes you feel very
(20:32):
approachable, kind of thing.
Like just in life.
I've always considered that tobe like a top tier attribute
that someone can have, um, andyou know it's the same with a
company, of course.
So, yeah, I mean, um, you know,making sure you take, you take
the time like factor in time to.
You know, have have a littlebit of fun here and there.
(20:55):
Um, obviously we gotta get,gotta get our work done, but we
always try to like, you know,we'll have, like our team days
where guys, you know go out toget wings or something um after
work or you know, somethingquick in the morning, like play
some kind of like quick game,have some kind of tournament
going on, um, so just thosethose kind of things really help
(21:16):
, you know, make the make theexperience overall just more fun
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
So I think people mention like ping pong tables.
I mean those are things likeyou can get.
Um, I mean, we mentioned thatpretty recently but, like you
know, ping pong table online islike 100 bucks.
I mean that would.
That would give a lot of trashtalking a lot of fun.
So I mean, just think of thingsoutside the box, simple, and
maybe we, maybe we get a pingpong table and just come in one
day and just, you know, check itup, see whoever wins.
(21:43):
I mean, that's the kind ofstuff that keeps it fun.
But you gotta, it takes effortand time.
So switch it over to.
You can't make it up anything,anything that you've seen
recently.
If we have one, great, if wedon't, great.
But I'll just open it up to youknow, either one of you, if you
had something you just can'tmake it up.
Uh, again, the segment of thisis, if it's your first time
listening, we pick somethingthat you just see, that you just
(22:05):
look and you're like you justcan't make it up.
You know they can't figure out.
They need a manual to use atoilet like a plunger.
They strap down dirt.
You know we have tons ofexamples.
So if you listen to someepisodes, you just like you,
just can't make it up.
So if you have things or, uh,your company does, or you've
seen people when you're out andabout, please share them, send
(22:26):
them to us.
You know we're building adatabase, that we're going to
have a bracket challenge wherewe'll see who has as the best.
But just, is there anythingthat you've seen recently in the
last um, you know a couple ofdays, or you know that you just
like you just can't make it up acouple of days, or you know
that you just like you justcan't make it up.
So I'll just turn it over Ifyou have something great, if not
, that's great too, but I'lljust check in.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, I mean I I can think of one with, like all the
rain we're getting right now.
Currently it's like a monsoonwhere we're at, of course, first
week of mowing and it's justdumping rain all week.
But one of the ones I've seenon the internet before that kind
of made me, made me laugh waslike people shoveling and
scooping like flooded areas ofwater and then they dumped it
(23:07):
over a fence and it was a chainlink fence.
The water just comes right backthrough, um, so I mean you
can't make it up.
You see that everywhere you seepeople do dumb stuff.
But yeah, like they literallywere scooping water, flooded
water up, put it over top of thefence, like it was going to
make a difference, but as achain link fence, so it just
comes right back through youjust can't make it up.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, dan, what about you?
Anything um?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I mean something that that comes to mind from from
real.
Recently was I had a I I had ameeting just yesterday, just a
sales sales meeting.
I stopped out at a potentialclient's house.
You know I always try to likesit down with them a little bit,
go over, like you know, some ofthe key questions, get the
information we need so we canget them good service.
(23:55):
And so I, I go into this, thisperson's house, and it's it's
just kind of like wall to wallwith stuff just everywhere and
you know she has she has onechair free for her and one chair
free for someone else.
So like I have a place to sitdown, but then, like she
(24:17):
basically spends the first likefive minutes trying to like you
know, explain to me how you knowshe's not one of those people
that that keeps too much stuff.
Like I got this chair forsomeone to use.
Like some people they don'teven have a chair for somebody
to use.
So you know she was almost oneof them, yeah but, to her credit
(24:41):
, I had a place to sit, so itwas a nice visit.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, you can't make it up.
People that think that they'renot the person that does the
thing that they're trying toavoid, right?
Yeah, that's good.
Thanks for tuning in.
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Good morning.
We're live here Landscape Talk.
Hopefully you're doing well,have a great episode today.
Going to talk a little bitabout culture and the importance
of that.
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episode Today.
On the show we have Brandon andDan.
I think one of the things thatwe wanted to talk about today a
(00:47):
little bit is culture, and someof these are buzzwords.
You hear the word culture a lot.
What does it mean?
How do you make it reality?
All these things are hard.
First, let me say that there'snothing that's just easy without
being intentional aboutsomething, intentional about
something.
But you know, I think, dan, youknow you had a great, you know
(01:10):
example and you know from aninterview.
Obviously it's a springtime Nowwe're still interviewing some
people, bringing some people onboard.
I think there's two things youknow.
One of the we have threepillars that I think, and I love
in, you know Brandon's, youknow background.
He has kind of our, you knowsome of our core values, you
(01:32):
know.
But you know, at the higherlevel, you know we have a saying
it's develop, deliver, connect.
I think the connecting is kindof like goes with the culture
and some of the things that thatwe'll talk about today, but I
think it's a two way street.
So I think you know, when youlook at hiring somebody, you
know what, what do you look for,what do they look for?
(01:53):
And uh, you know, dan, maybeyou want to explain or share a
little bit about your story.
Uh, you know with with theindividual and then just kind of
how it connects to like alittle bit how we do things.
Uh, you know with with theindividual and then just kind of
how it connects to like alittle bit how we do things and,
um, you know, hopefully, peoplecan benefit from.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Um, you know some of the conversations, yeah.
So you know, a lot of times um,not always, but a lot of times,
you know, if I'm interviewingsomeone or having someone come
on board, um, you know, thetopic of, like company culture
comes up and how that'ssomething important to them.
Maybe they're they've workedsomewhere else in the past or
they're working somewhere elsenow.
That's, you know, maybe it's a,maybe it's a big company, maybe
(02:34):
it's not, but it's just likethe, the, you know team
camaraderie kind of thing, andthe relationship between
management and the field staffjust like isn't there, you know,
there isn't like goodrecognition of of guys that are
doing a good job, that sort ofthing, so that oftentimes
they'll come into the interviewand that's something that they
mention is like a high priorityfor them.
(02:55):
Um, and so, like you know acouple of things that we we try
to do one, like in thespringtime, you know we try not
to bring on, you know like a, abatch of team members like all
at once.
We try to kind of like phasethem in a little bit, like we
have, you know, our core teamkind of coming out of the winter
(03:17):
.
Um, and then, as we're bringingsome new people on in the
spring.
We kind of do it a little bitpiecemeal, just so that we, you
know, have plenty of time tolike get them on board, get them
trained, um, have time to focuson them and incorporating them
into the team that we havealready just make sure, like you
know, it's a good fit for them,it's a good fit for us, you
know, and the team gets to knowthem a little bit.
(03:40):
That's always, that's alwaysimportant to have.
Like you know, when you, whenyou work with guys, that that
you like, that you actually getto know a little bit, it just
makes the day so much better.
So we try to do that a littlebit like phase people in.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I think that's a great point, that the connection
is, you know, a pillar.
I think you know we'll talkabout these different things a
lot, but it's one thing you knowwhen you're a company, there's
a couple of things.
It's one thing to identify whatyou need to do, and then the
other thing is you have to, youknow, actually do it.
So I think you know we fallinto the category, I think, a
(04:18):
lot of times, of like we knowwhat to do and now we just have
to hold ourselves accountable todoing it.
So, like, connection is a, aare, you know, a priority for us
and we're always working to, toimprove that and and do that.
So I guess you know and I lovethe phasing in because I think
there's there was times beforewhere you bring in 20, you know
(04:40):
you have 20 people you know allat once or something like that,
and you really you know, whenyou look at attrition, a lot of
times you would, you, youactually couldn't connect with
the people, so then they feellost.
Or I can think of even going tonetworking events or whatever.
When you don't know anybody.
You're actually just lookingfor somebody to just like talk
(05:02):
to you, kind of.
If that's not your personality.
Now.
Some people just talk toeverybody, but you know, I can
just think of going into acompany.
You don't know where anything'sat, you don't know anybody.
Everybody else is making, likeyou know, joke here and talking
about things and you're justkind of isolated.
So I think that's really, youknow, really important.
I guess you know for Brandon,what do you think we do well in
(05:25):
this area?
And then I think the otherthing to look at is what do you
think you know, what are westill working to improve, you
know, in this area?
Because I think it's importantto look at both.
You know people can learn fromus both ways to say, hey, this
is what we're doing well.
Ways to say, hey, this is whatwe're doing well.
(05:47):
But also, hey, you know, wewant to get better all the time,
and you know this is an areathat we want to get better and
what can we do to continue thatjourney?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah.
So I mean, I think one thingthat we do well is, like you
know, obviously everyone that'slike involved in our leadership
team, you know, does a reallygreat job of like trying to take
people under their wing as theycome in and start.
You know people that we havedevoted to that.
Some of the senior guys havebeen here for a while, you know.
(06:14):
They see someone new, they'llkind of reach out and olive
branch and like talk to them alittle bit, which I think is
good.
I think the one thing we wantto keep doing and driving
forward is just getting that tobe everyone, because, like, the
more that people talk to you,the more comfortable you get.
So, like you know, in the caseof like, if they're just one
person that's doing it right, ormaybe just a limited amount,
(06:39):
and then that person's not thereone morning or that one moment,
you kind of feel lost again,right.
So, like you make a connectionwith that one person, you kind
of feel lost again, right.
So, like, um, you make aconnection with that one person
and then all of a sudden, youknow maybe they have a meeting
that morning or maybe whatever'sgoing on, and they're not there
Then then you're back tofeeling lonely, um, a little bit
unsure, you feel out of place,you feel awkward, right, some
(07:00):
people are very like outgoing.
That's not a big deal to them,but that definitely, that
definitely happens.
I can think personally formyself.
Um, you know, my, my one son,plays travel, travel baseball,
and we were uh, we were reallyliked him to be on this one team
.
It didn't work out, um, forwhatever reason, and then he
(07:21):
ended up getting on this otherteam, which is fine, somewhat of
coaches that we're alreadyfamiliar with, but, like
everyone else on the team isfrom a different school district
and area.
My son's the only one from hisschool, so he knows nobody.
And like we vaguely know a fewpeople, but not really, and then
they all kind of know eachother from before.
(07:42):
So it gets real awkward for us.
You know I feel bad for my sonand I just try to, you know,
encourage him to like, you know,hey, just try to talk to people
and branch out, and you know,because they're, you know it's
like it's a little clicky, right, so like everyone's kind of
like just hanging out.
If no one reaches out an olivebranch, it just continues to get
(08:04):
worse and I think the longerthat goes, the worse it gets
Right.
So, like for us, it's likepretty awkward and you know
where we could do probably alittle bit more to like try to
to do a better job.
But like when everyone elseknows he knows each other, and
then you're really kind of theodd one out, it gets, it gets
like a little bit uncomfortableand you don't, you don't really
like enjoy going there, like ohgreat, you know we got to go to
this.
Um, you don't really like enjoygoing there, like oh great, you
(08:24):
know we got to go to this.
And you don't, you know youspend so much time at work.
You don't want that to be aplace that you don't want to go
to.
Right, you know everyone,everyone, everyone has work,
right, and it's not like yeah,it's my favorite thing to do,
but you want to.
You want to have a workplace ora place that you're going and
you're not dreading going to andyou really enjoy and there's
people you can talk to.
You spend a lot of time there.
(08:44):
So that's something you want toenjoy doing and that that for
me, is just, you know, a quickanalogy on how I experience it,
not only you know, outside ofwork.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So we we try to really make sure at our
workplace we we connect withpeople so what are one or two
things that that we can dobetter To continually improve
that?
But also somebody that'slistening can say you know, I
might be able to do one or twoof those things as well to
improve.
You know, I think there's the,there's a couple of things,
(09:17):
there's all different sizecompanies that listen and tune
in Right, so you have somebodythat's like a smaller
organization and I feel likewhen you're just a one or two
person, you know truck andtrailer.
You typically don't have thoseissues because you're spending
all day with the people.
So, like I think anytime you'reover, you know two trucks,
(09:39):
three trucks, and even then thatmight still be small enough
that you can do it.
But I mean you know anythingover like a couple trucks or two
trucks.
You know what are just two orthree simple things and I'll
check in with both of you herethat you can do To help improve
that connectability, because Iget you know a lot of people can
(10:01):
relate to that when you have a,they don't even know that
they're doing it, so you may noteven know that you're.
You have this, this, this groupor this click, but from the
outside it feels feels like that, so it would, or maybe just you
know maybe two things from eachof you that you can do that
somebody could implement rightaway.
Today, listening to this show,say, hey, do this just to make
people feel a little morewelcome.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Dan, I'll go to you.
Um, yeah, I mean one of thethings like especially in the
spring and sometimes in the fall, but like people that are
joining in so you have a chanceto like talk and to know each
other a little better.
Since you haven't workedtogether yet, you can kind of
like adjust, cruise around alittle bit in the spring.
If you're a real smalloperation, this might not make
sense, but like having someonethat's kind of like designated,
(11:15):
like company culture lead, solike we have a guy who came on
not too long ago but he's likeyou said about.
Some people are just naturallyoutgoing.
This guy just feel like youknow, we haven't asked him to do
this, but anytime he's aroundwith the group it's like
everybody's talking, becauseit's just something about.
(11:35):
He just checks in witheverybody, talks to everybody
and that kind of brings it outin other people too.
So sometimes you have thatperson that just kind of
naturally helps with thatprocess.
So if you have that person kindof designated, it can help with
that process.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Um.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So if you have that person kind of designated it can
, it can help with thattransition.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So I think the I think that's awesome.
Um, you know, I, I think theidea is um, you know, assigning
that person, um, you knowassigning that person like to,
to be the person to help.
You know greet people, welcome.
You know that's a, that's anatural talent.
(12:14):
I think that that's yeah,that's really good.
Um, so, yeah, what about you,brandon?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, I mean, uh, one thing that we do that I think
really helps, like the wholebonding thing.
And again, this might not belike right away, but we always
do like a team day where we weget together and, um, you know,
spend some time together as ateam, which I think is like
super helpful.
Um, that kind of helps peoplelike mash and, like you know,
(12:41):
peel back the layers a littlebit of the onion and kind of
just see, um, you know whateveryone's about and you know,
have a good time and just try toconnect a little bit more.
I think the other thing is just, like you know, having a
culture where, where people are,like you know, understand that
it's friendly and just say likehey, you know, this is like we
do have people that come in andstart, you know, just reach out
(13:04):
and make sure you're, like youknow, connecting with them.
We do the flex and and stretchin the morning, which is like a
group activity and people kindof like talk and joke.
So, like you know, people cankind of get feel for the mood,
to feel connected, I think, withthat, because there's there's
no like, oh, this screws here,that cruise there.
It's just like everyone kind oflines up with their cone cones,
um, there's no order to whereyou need to be, um, and it just
(13:26):
kind of creates this likeatmosphere, I think, where, like
people get to be like involvedin the group and you don't have
to feel like isolated.
And I think also one thing thatobviously helps is, you know,
just trying to make sure that we, when people come in, we really
like walk them through theprocess, we do the training with
them, we spend time.
We don't just say, hey, how areyou doing Bob, shake their hand
(13:48):
and say here's a shirt, see youlater.
Um, I think, like you know, byspending some time with them,
giving a little bit of tlc,doing the training, and then
like doing the handoff of them,um, so you know, whatever team
they may be with um, and justmaking sure that you know they
have understanding.
And then you know the crew thatthey're joining.
You know that foreman kind oflike is like a mentor a little
(14:16):
bit and helps them kind of geton their feet with the crew, and
I think a lot of those thingsgo a long way.
And then, and like Dan said,you know, if you have a guy
that's naturally good at thatyou know.
Obviously we try to, you know,get people into positions where
where they're successful andthey have natural talent.
So you know he's he does areally good job of that
organically.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think the other thing that I, you know, think of
is, you know, when one of thethings in our flex and stretch,
we actually designed it Now thisis one thing that we're not
doing great now but like the waythat was designed at the flex
and stretch, which was actuallyto play music, and I think
music's something that bringpeople together.
So I don't know if there's away that we can incorporate that
(14:57):
back into it, but whether welike get people it's like
playlists or things that theylike, so we can just play it and
it's already scripted becauselike one of the things that's
funny, like play it, and it'salready scripted because like
one of the things that's funny,like I mean, there's guy you
know, like I'll, I'll listen tosome, do a lipa, right.
You know like that's a.
You know that's my jam, right,I'll get into.
(15:17):
You know, I like a bunch ofdifferent things, but you know,
do a leap, but can do, if that'seven how you say it, I can get
down with that, right.
So the idea is like, if I playmy song, right, people like lat,
like that somebody might be inthe Taylor Swift.
You're like this guy is in.
You know this girl, you know,whoever You're like, I didn't
think that.
So then it just creates thiscamaraderie.
Like, you know, you're a TaylorSwift fan.
(15:38):
You went to the concert lastweek, what you know.
You got a front row, so likethat's kind of the idea.
Or you have somebody that'slike DMX you know, that's my jam
, you know.
So you just kind of start toget to connect with people and
then then all of a sudden you'relike, oh, I remember that that
was back and you, any way thatyou can create, you know,
(15:59):
connections at that time andjust make it fun.
And I think that'd be somethingto try to get you know back
into the mix, because music doesbring people together.
And I especially think if it's,if it's like, if you would say
like, hey, this is, you know,this is, um, you know tim's
playlist.
You know he might play billyjoel and and like the bgs or
(16:19):
like the, the smoky robinson orsomething.
Yeah, I don't know but that,but then that's him, you know,
and it's like wow, like whoseplaylist is this today?
Guess the playlist, right, youknow, you could do anytime you
can, can break that ice withsome people, or even if there's
some new people, I think thatwould be a fun game to play is
like guess the playlist, or youknow, or something.
(16:40):
It's not long, I mean ourflexing stretches.
You know five to eight minutes,so I mean you can play, like
you could play one song a day,you know, know, or just
something, but I think thatwould help.
The other thing that I thoughtof, which would be kind of, you
know, a little bit goofy, butit's almost like creating
trading cards with, like youknow, your hobbies or your
favorite food, or something thatyou can know Because I know.
(17:04):
Like when I go to a networkingevent or there's a group that I
don't know or people introducethemselves, somebody is like, oh
, I like dirt bikes.
And then next thing, you know,that person goes over to the
person and says, hey, what typeof dirt bikes do you have?
I ride dirt bikes.
Then, all of a sudden, thatbond.
So I think as a company, in myopinion, you know it's it's
(17:25):
trying to foster some of thethings that stimulate
conversations, like music,getting people's information out
there so that people can relateto somebody.
It's like, oh, I'm not makingthis political, but like, oh,
you like Biden, me too.
Oh, you like Trump, oh, me too.
Right.
So anything that you canassociate with people, with
(17:49):
anything, and I think thepolitical thing is just a funny
thing.
But, like you know, I'm a Chevyguy, I'm a Ford guy, anything.
If you had that on the tradingcard, you know I like cards.
I'm in a band.
Oh, you're in a band, like I'm.
I'm a drummer, you know, I do.
I'm a DJ on the weekend.
Right To me, that buildsculture because it actually it
(18:10):
brings people together.
So I think those are some great, great ideas and some great
things.
And I think you know, if youare, you know a business, you
know, just just think aboutthese things.
So I'll, I'll go to Brandonfirst, but you know what would
be, maybe your takeaway from youknow, from today, or something
(18:31):
that you would recommendsomebody doing in their small
business, and then we'll, thenwe'll switch to the uh, you
can't make it up quick.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think any way that you can like make
people feel comfortable, right.
So like that's that's superimportant, whether you know it's
going to depend on your size ofyour company.
But, like you know, if you'rebigger you can maybe appoint
someone.
If you're smaller, it's justgetting that.
You know that core is like.
Sometimes if you're a smallercompany, that core is so tight.
(18:58):
You know they make it a littlehard for new people to come in,
right?
So like you got to make surethat everyone understands like
part of our philosophy here isis allowing new people to come
in and not stonewalling them.
You know, just and justpromoting a culture where where
people like you know you want tohave as much fun as you can at
(19:20):
work because you want to have agood time.
You spend a lot of time there,so it needs to be a good
environment.
Obviously, we you need to beproductive and have fun, but
we've heard a lot of things overthe years where, like the
environment wasn't good,management wasn't good, a lot of
like yelling and screaming andstuff.
So like we've really pushed tohave an amazing environment
(19:42):
where none of those thingshappen and people feel welcome.
Like that's our always our goal, which in in the industry of
like construction type of thing,is not always the case.
So you know, that's what's onebig thing for us and I think
that's I think that's huge Justmaking people feel welcome,
because if you don't feelwelcomed, you're not going to
(20:03):
want to keep coming back.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Right, yeah, awesome.
What about you Dan?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I mean, well, just real quick touch on that
Just in general, just in life.
I've always considered that tobe one of the best qualities
that a person can have.
That to be one of the one ofthe best qualities that a person
can have is just like beinghaving a welcoming personality,
just the kind of person thatlike reaches out to people, just
has that kind of energy thatlike makes you feel very
(20:32):
approachable, kind of thing.
Like just in life.
I've always considered that tobe like a top tier attribute
that someone can have, um, andyou know it's the same with a
company, of course.
So, yeah, I mean, um, you know,making sure you take, you take
the time like factor in time to.
You know, have have a littlebit of fun here and there.
(20:55):
Um, obviously we gotta get,gotta get our work done, but we
always try to like, you know,we'll have, like our team days
where guys, you know go out toget wings or something um after
work or you know, somethingquick in the morning, like play
some kind of like quick game,have some kind of tournament
going on, um, so just thosethose kind of things really help
(21:16):
, you know, make the make theexperience overall just more fun
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
So I think people mention like ping pong tables.
I mean those are things likeyou can get.
Um, I mean, we mentioned thatpretty recently but, like you
know, ping pong table online islike 100 bucks.
I mean that would.
That would give a lot of trashtalking a lot of fun.
So I mean, just think of thingsoutside the box, simple, and
maybe we, maybe we get a pingpong table and just come in one
day and just, you know, check itup, see whoever wins.
(21:43):
I mean, that's the kind ofstuff that keeps it fun.
But you gotta, it takes effortand time.
So switch it over to.
You can't make it up anything,anything that you've seen
recently.
If we have one, great, if wedon't, great.
But I'll just open it up to youknow, either one of you, if you
had something you just can'tmake it up.
Uh, again, the segment of thisis, if it's your first time
listening, we pick somethingthat you just see, that you just
(22:05):
look and you're like you justcan't make it up.
You know they can't figure out.
They need a manual to use atoilet like a plunger.
They strap down dirt.
You know we have tons ofexamples.
So if you listen to someepisodes, you just like you,
just can't make it up.
So if you have things or, uh,your company does, or you've
seen people when you're out andabout, please share them, send
(22:26):
them to us.
You know we're building adatabase, that we're going to
have a bracket challenge wherewe'll see who has as the best.
But just, is there anythingthat you've seen recently in the
last um, you know a couple ofdays, or you know that you just
like you just can't make it up acouple of days, or you know
that you just like you justcan't make it up.
So I'll just turn it over Ifyou have something great, if not
, that's great too, but I'lljust check in.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, I mean I I can think of one with, like all the
rain we're getting right now.
Currently it's like a monsoonwhere we're at, of course, first
week of mowing and it's justdumping rain all week.
But one of the ones I've seenon the internet before that kind
of made me, made me laugh waslike people shoveling and
scooping like flooded areas ofwater and then they dumped it
(23:07):
over a fence and it was a chainlink fence.
The water just comes right backthrough, um, so I mean you
can't make it up.
You see that everywhere you seepeople do dumb stuff.
But yeah, like they literallywere scooping water, flooded
water up, put it over top of thefence, like it was going to
make a difference, but as achain link fence, so it just
comes right back through youjust can't make it up.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, dan, what about you?
Anything um?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I mean something that that comes to mind from from
real.
Recently was I had a I I had ameeting just yesterday, just a
sales sales meeting.
I stopped out at a potentialclient's house.
You know I always try to likesit down with them a little bit,
go over, like you know, some ofthe key questions, get the
information we need so we canget them good service.
(23:55):
And so I, I go into this, thisperson's house, and it's it's
just kind of like wall to wallwith stuff just everywhere and
you know she has she has onechair free for her and one chair
free for someone else.
So like I have a place to sitdown, but then, like she
(24:17):
basically spends the first likefive minutes trying to like you
know, explain to me how you knowshe's not one of those people
that that keeps too much stuff.
Like I got this chair forsomeone to use.
Like some people they don'teven have a chair for somebody
to use.
So you know she was almost oneof them, yeah but, to her credit
(24:41):
, I had a place to sit, so itwas a nice visit.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, you can't make it up.
People that think that they'renot the person that does the
thing that they're trying toavoid, right?
Yeah, that's good.
Thanks for tuning in.
We'll be back at it live.
Check out LOS peer grouplandscape operating system to
improve processes in yourbusiness.
Grow your business, grow yourprofits.
(25:08):
Thanks for tuning in.
We'll see you soon.
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