November 12, 2024 • 12 mins
Curious how a +25-year banking veteran turned personal homeowner frustrations into a thriving business — and why she believes a strong company culture is the key to success?
Discover the remarkable journey of Diane Carney, Founder & CEO of FI Home Services Inc - who transitioned from a 25-year banking career to the role of successful entrepreneur & leader!
You'll hear how her struggles with home maintenance inspired her to build a company dedicated to helping others maintain their homes efficiently - so they could enjoy their home.
Diane shares invaluable insights on creating a healthy organizational culture, explaining how happy employees lead to greater productivity and enhanced client engagement & satisfaction.
Through an engaging anecdote about hiring a salesperson, Diane highlights the necessity of aligning job roles with the company's mission, ensuring that processes serve the organization's vision rather than becoming task-oriented routines.
As we converse, Diane offers crucial advice for aspiring C-suite leaders and CEOs, emphasizing the power of seeking collaboration and support.
By involving others and fostering a sense of ownership, leaders can drive their business toward success and profitability. Diane passionately argues that overcoming the fear of not having all the answers and embracing teamwork can lead to more effective leadership.
Tune in to uncover Diane's roadmap for building a thriving company culture and effective leadership strategies that promise growth and success.
Connect with Diane on LI
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Seeking to align your culture, boost performance & impact your bottom line? Let’s chat—no sales, just real talk about your challenges. Not ready? Join our PL3 Community for free insights & connections.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Gladhart (00:05):
Our guest today is Diane Carney, founder
and CEO of FI Home Services Inc.
Thanks so much for taking thetime to join us.
Diane Carney (00:15):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
William Gladhart (00:17):
Absolutely.
Let's start by having you sharewith our audience a bit about
yourself, your background and,of course, your organization.
Diane Carney (00:25):
Sure, my background actually began in
banking and for 25 years Iworked for both large and small
banks so we're thinking nationalbanks as well as local banks.
And about 12 years into it iswhen I ended up in learning and
developing AKA training.
As a trainer of the previousbank I was at, I spent a lot of
(00:48):
time in the SBA lending world,which actually truly fostered my
spirit of entrepreneurship, andfrom a young age I always knew
I wanted to own a business or dosomething with business, but I
never came up with the idea ofhow or what that I would make
successful until one day I wasbuying a home I was actually
(01:13):
building a home through abuilder and realized I have
absolutely no idea how tomaintain that home.
And so one thing led to another, which led to another, and I
moved away from the bankingworld and the L&D world and
moved into becoming anentrepreneur, becoming a leader,
if you will, an entrepreneur ofmy company, FI Home Services,
(01:38):
and what we do is we help folksjust like myself who either
don't know how to maintain ahome, who don't have the time to
maintain a home, or simplycan't maintain a home because of
some sort of a physicallimitation.
William Gladhart (01:52):
Yeah, I love that.
I think when we were talkingbefore, you joked that you're
like you said I was building ahome, but I think I had a
screwdriver and that's about theextent of my maintenance or
home knowledge.
And all of a sudden yourealized I need help or I need
to build it for myself.
We'll be discussing threequestions today as a warmup to
our conversation.
Would you share why you believea healthy culture is critical?
Diane Carney (02:15):
So well, I will tell you that I have worked for
organizations that truly justvalued their people, and I have
worked for organizations thatvalued profit over people.
And when I took a look at theorganizational behavior and just
how much more productive peopleare when they're happy, I can
(02:39):
tell you that a healthy culturereally inspires people to work
smarter, not harder, and whenwe're working smarter, we are
maximizing what we can do andhow we can affect things in a
positive manner.
We're typically limitingunhealthy competition and
instead we're pulling togetherto really make the overall
(03:02):
organization more successful andcompetitive.
And I think that that just goesto understanding people.
When people are happy, thenthat positivity just simply
makes it so that other peopleaka clients or customers want to
be part of that type of anorganization, however they can.
So it's incredibly, you know,it's incredibly critical.
William Gladhart (03:24):
Yeah, it's.
I love that you share that,because we certainly have seen
in the ability to measurewell-being across an
organization the ability to lookat anxiety but also to look at
the connectivity of people,which directly translates to
understanding the role happinessin the organization, those
types of things.
It's that piece of the humanfactor element that is so
(03:47):
incredibly valuable.
So this leads great into ournext question.
It's been our experience thatleaders tend to struggle with
three key areas people, processor profit.
In your role as CEO, could youidentify which one of those
three areas represented acultural challenge within your
organization or with others thatyou worked for?
Diane Carney (04:07):
Sure, I think oftentimes it goes to process.
People may challenge me on thatand that's just fine, but the
reason I say process is because,when you think about the reason
an organization is in existence, it's usually to accomplish
something, whether it's aservice, whether it's to produce
something, whether it's to pairpeople together, whatever it is
(04:29):
, there's a process that needsto happen and that process is
written for a reason.
And if we don't talk about thewhy behind it, oftentimes people
will either engage in shortcutsor they'll get so concerned
about the task list that issupposed to happen that they
forget the reason why.
And the reason why is truly thespirit of what that process is.
(04:52):
When we don't take a trueunderstanding of what it is
there that we're trying toaccomplish from the standpoint
of the mission of theorganization and what the vision
is, what are we trying toaccomplish in the long run?
We tend to separate processfrom organization and process
because of process ends upleading to, I think, less profit
(05:15):
overall and, I think, lesshappy people.
For example, I just had aconversation today with somebody
who we're looking at bringingon for a sales role and he says
I don't really want to work fornine to four job and I said well
, why would I hire you as asalesperson for nine to four
when often sales conversationsare happening anytime you're
around people?
William Gladhart (05:35):
Right.
Diane Carney (05:36):
When we had conversation about that number
one, he was very excited thefact that we weren't going to
really engage in busy work forhim to fill up nine to five or
nine to four or whatever it was.
But the next thing was is hetruly felt that I understood
what the role meant?
And when you look at processand you look at an understanding
(05:59):
of what any process is tryingto accomplish, it has to go back
to the organization and thereason that you're there and you
have to translate that topeople that you are bringing
onto the organization, from thevery entry level to the very top
.
Everybody should have that sameunderstanding so that we're all
driving in the right direction.
Processes help us to keepwithin boundaries, but the
(06:23):
process isn't the reason.
It's the organization in ourmission.
That's the reason they exist.
William Gladhart (06:28):
Yeah, I think that speaking to that alignment
of values, but also of clarityfrom the leader about the roles,
because often not only C-suiteindividuals but also managers
get really stuck in thetask-oriented process piece and
start checking boxes.
And even as leaders wesometimes and entrepreneurs, we
can fall into that same trap ofchecking the boxes, making sure
(06:52):
we're accomplishing all thedifferent things and we forget
to step back and realize we haveto educate our people, but also
look at that people and profittie to be able to maximize our
journey in the organization, butalso, you know, as a leader,
but also how we are turning aprofit and impacting the
customers that we serve, because, at the end of the day, without
(07:13):
them we have nothing.
You know, we have no profits,we have no people, we have no
process.
So, you know, in speaking tothat challenge, doing that
process challenge, what did thatlook like in your organization
and how did it either negativelyor positively impact?
Diane Carney (07:29):
A couple of things that I have 100% been part of
is organizations that eitherhave undefined processes or have
processes that aren't sharedfrom point to point to point,
have processes that aren'tshared from point to point to
point, and so when I built FIHome Services with my partners,
the one thing that we said waswe need to really map out how do
(07:49):
we do things, not to make it sorigid, but to truly understand
what happens first, second,third, fourth, and so we really
did that in the manner ofdeveloping workflows, and it
truly was from a design thinkingperspective, which was really
from the customer's lens.
So, if a customer is interestedin our services, what happens?
(08:12):
And then, from there, how do weget them onboarded?
And from onboarded, how do weget them scheduled for the
quarterly maintenance?
How do we understand if there'ssomething else going on, et
cetera, et cetera.
And, interestingly enough,because we were taking a look at
processes, we also understoodthat we had to develop a widget,
if you will, and I'm justcalling it that, because it's
(08:33):
going to be a super, super,super cool announcement towards
the beginning of next year, 2025.
And we had to develop thiswidget because it didn't exist,
and so, instead of being in thebox with, well, this has always
been done this way, we realizedthis has never been done and so
(08:53):
we needed to be the frontier ofit, which meant we really had to
keep revisiting our processesto say is this working?
We had to have beta people comein to say, okay, give us
feedback.
And it really was from theexperience of not having this
type of thing and having a lotof chaos, to now having
processes developed that arebrand spanking new because it's
(09:15):
a new industry and realizingthat without the customer's
feedback, it doesn't make senseto keep them that way.
So we've really been thoughtfulabout how to truly architect
these processes in FI HomeServices.
William Gladhart (09:28):
Yeah, I think it's really critical for other
leaders to what exactly what yousaid is to acknowledge,
especially in a either startup,entrepreneurial, business growth
phase, that you are speaking towho you are buying or who's
buying your product or services,because they're going to give
you that insight and feedback tomodify your process.
We at the Culture Think Tank wethink it's hugely critical is
(09:51):
that customer journey whetheryou're a SaaS company, whether
they're using your widget,whether they're in the
consulting realm that there hasto be a flow for those
individuals so they have thebest experience possible, but
then they can give you that bestfeedback so you can make
changes to make the nextexperience even better.
(10:11):
So I think it's amazing thatyou're really thinking that way.
So, is there anything elseyou'd like to share or add with
fellow leaders from your journeyas an entrepreneur and also as
a CEO?
Diane Carney (10:24):
One thing that I 100% learned very early on is
that I'm not an expert in allthings, but there are people out
there that are incredibly smartand talented, and you have to
figure out who your team is inorder to get the best of the
best.
For any person that is embarkingon a journey to be a C-suite
(10:47):
leader or to be a CEO, mybiggest piece of advice and
again, learning lesson, is don'tfeel like you have to go it
alone, because there are lots ofdifferent folks out there to
give you advice, but thenthere's also people who are
looking to support you, and thatis something that I think.
(11:08):
Sometimes we don't ask for helpbecause we're either afraid or
intimidated or we feel we needto have all the answers as the
person quote unquote in charge.
But I think the more you letpeople in and you involve them,
the more ownership of thecompany they get and actually,
the more profitable andsuccessful your overall
(11:29):
organization becomes, and sothat's my biggest takeaway and
piece of advice is let people in, let people help you, support
you.
Your organization will thankyou for it.
William Gladhart (11:40):
Oh, I think that's some very safe advice.
So, diane, I've enjoyed havingyou on our Leadership Levers
podcast.
Thank you again for yourinsights.
Diane Carney (11:48):
Well, thank you so much, it's been a pleasure.
Our guest today is Diane Carney, founder
and CEO of FI Home Services Inc.
Thanks so much for taking thetime to join us.
Diane Carney (00:15):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
William Gladhart (00:17):
Absolutely.
Let's start by having you sharewith our audience a bit about
yourself, your background and,of course, your organization.
Diane Carney (00:25):
Sure, my background actually began in
banking and for 25 years Iworked for both large and small
banks so we're thinking nationalbanks as well as local banks.
And about 12 years into it iswhen I ended up in learning and
developing AKA training.
As a trainer of the previousbank I was at, I spent a lot of
(00:48):
time in the SBA lending world,which actually truly fostered my
spirit of entrepreneurship, andfrom a young age I always knew
I wanted to own a business or dosomething with business, but I
never came up with the idea ofhow or what that I would make
successful until one day I wasbuying a home I was actually
(01:13):
building a home through abuilder and realized I have
absolutely no idea how tomaintain that home.
And so one thing led to another, which led to another, and I
moved away from the bankingworld and the L&D world and
moved into becoming anentrepreneur, becoming a leader,
if you will, an entrepreneur ofmy company, FI Home Services,
(01:38):
and what we do is we help folksjust like myself who either
don't know how to maintain ahome, who don't have the time to
maintain a home, or simplycan't maintain a home because of
some sort of a physicallimitation.
William Gladhart (01:52):
Yeah, I love that.
I think when we were talkingbefore, you joked that you're
like you said I was building ahome, but I think I had a
screwdriver and that's about theextent of my maintenance or
home knowledge.
And all of a sudden yourealized I need help or I need
to build it for myself.
We'll be discussing threequestions today as a warmup to
our conversation.
Would you share why you believea healthy culture is critical?
Diane Carney (02:15):
So well, I will tell you that I have worked for
organizations that truly justvalued their people, and I have
worked for organizations thatvalued profit over people.
And when I took a look at theorganizational behavior and just
how much more productive peopleare when they're happy, I can
(02:39):
tell you that a healthy culturereally inspires people to work
smarter, not harder, and whenwe're working smarter, we are
maximizing what we can do andhow we can affect things in a
positive manner.
We're typically limitingunhealthy competition and
instead we're pulling togetherto really make the overall
(03:02):
organization more successful andcompetitive.
And I think that that just goesto understanding people.
When people are happy, thenthat positivity just simply
makes it so that other peopleaka clients or customers want to
be part of that type of anorganization, however they can.
So it's incredibly, you know,it's incredibly critical.
William Gladhart (03:24):
Yeah, it's.
I love that you share that,because we certainly have seen
in the ability to measurewell-being across an
organization the ability to lookat anxiety but also to look at
the connectivity of people,which directly translates to
understanding the role happinessin the organization, those
types of things.
It's that piece of the humanfactor element that is so
(03:47):
incredibly valuable.
So this leads great into ournext question.
It's been our experience thatleaders tend to struggle with
three key areas people, processor profit.
In your role as CEO, could youidentify which one of those
three areas represented acultural challenge within your
organization or with others thatyou worked for?
Diane Carney (04:07):
Sure, I think oftentimes it goes to process.
People may challenge me on thatand that's just fine, but the
reason I say process is because,when you think about the reason
an organization is in existence, it's usually to accomplish
something, whether it's aservice, whether it's to produce
something, whether it's to pairpeople together, whatever it is
(04:29):
, there's a process that needsto happen and that process is
written for a reason.
And if we don't talk about thewhy behind it, oftentimes people
will either engage in shortcutsor they'll get so concerned
about the task list that issupposed to happen that they
forget the reason why.
And the reason why is truly thespirit of what that process is.
(04:52):
When we don't take a trueunderstanding of what it is
there that we're trying toaccomplish from the standpoint
of the mission of theorganization and what the vision
is, what are we trying toaccomplish in the long run?
We tend to separate processfrom organization and process
because of process ends upleading to, I think, less profit
(05:15):
overall and, I think, lesshappy people.
For example, I just had aconversation today with somebody
who we're looking at bringingon for a sales role and he says
I don't really want to work fornine to four job and I said well
, why would I hire you as asalesperson for nine to four
when often sales conversationsare happening anytime you're
around people?
William Gladhart (05:35):
Right.
Diane Carney (05:36):
When we had conversation about that number
one, he was very excited thefact that we weren't going to
really engage in busy work forhim to fill up nine to five or
nine to four or whatever it was.
But the next thing was is hetruly felt that I understood
what the role meant?
And when you look at processand you look at an understanding
(05:59):
of what any process is tryingto accomplish, it has to go back
to the organization and thereason that you're there and you
have to translate that topeople that you are bringing
onto the organization, from thevery entry level to the very top
.
Everybody should have that sameunderstanding so that we're all
driving in the right direction.
Processes help us to keepwithin boundaries, but the
(06:23):
process isn't the reason.
It's the organization in ourmission.
That's the reason they exist.
William Gladhart (06:28):
Yeah, I think that speaking to that alignment
of values, but also of clarityfrom the leader about the roles,
because often not only C-suiteindividuals but also managers
get really stuck in thetask-oriented process piece and
start checking boxes.
And even as leaders wesometimes and entrepreneurs, we
can fall into that same trap ofchecking the boxes, making sure
(06:52):
we're accomplishing all thedifferent things and we forget
to step back and realize we haveto educate our people, but also
look at that people and profittie to be able to maximize our
journey in the organization, butalso, you know, as a leader,
but also how we are turning aprofit and impacting the
customers that we serve, because, at the end of the day, without
(07:13):
them we have nothing.
You know, we have no profits,we have no people, we have no
process.
So, you know, in speaking tothat challenge, doing that
process challenge, what did thatlook like in your organization
and how did it either negativelyor positively impact?
Diane Carney (07:29):
A couple of things that I have 100% been part of
is organizations that eitherhave undefined processes or have
processes that aren't sharedfrom point to point to point,
have processes that aren'tshared from point to point to
point, and so when I built FIHome Services with my partners,
the one thing that we said waswe need to really map out how do
(07:49):
we do things, not to make it sorigid, but to truly understand
what happens first, second,third, fourth, and so we really
did that in the manner ofdeveloping workflows, and it
truly was from a design thinkingperspective, which was really
from the customer's lens.
So, if a customer is interestedin our services, what happens?
(08:12):
And then, from there, how do weget them onboarded?
And from onboarded, how do weget them scheduled for the
quarterly maintenance?
How do we understand if there'ssomething else going on, et
cetera, et cetera.
And, interestingly enough,because we were taking a look at
processes, we also understoodthat we had to develop a widget,
if you will, and I'm justcalling it that, because it's
(08:33):
going to be a super, super,super cool announcement towards
the beginning of next year, 2025.
And we had to develop thiswidget because it didn't exist,
and so, instead of being in thebox with, well, this has always
been done this way, we realizedthis has never been done and so
(08:53):
we needed to be the frontier ofit, which meant we really had to
keep revisiting our processesto say is this working?
We had to have beta people comein to say, okay, give us
feedback.
And it really was from theexperience of not having this
type of thing and having a lotof chaos, to now having
processes developed that arebrand spanking new because it's
(09:15):
a new industry and realizingthat without the customer's
feedback, it doesn't make senseto keep them that way.
So we've really been thoughtfulabout how to truly architect
these processes in FI HomeServices.
William Gladhart (09:28):
Yeah, I think it's really critical for other
leaders to what exactly what yousaid is to acknowledge,
especially in a either startup,entrepreneurial, business growth
phase, that you are speaking towho you are buying or who's
buying your product or services,because they're going to give
you that insight and feedback tomodify your process.
We at the Culture Think Tank wethink it's hugely critical is
(09:51):
that customer journey whetheryou're a SaaS company, whether
they're using your widget,whether they're in the
consulting realm that there hasto be a flow for those
individuals so they have thebest experience possible, but
then they can give you that bestfeedback so you can make
changes to make the nextexperience even better.
(10:11):
So I think it's amazing thatyou're really thinking that way.
So, is there anything elseyou'd like to share or add with
fellow leaders from your journeyas an entrepreneur and also as
a CEO?
Diane Carney (10:24):
One thing that I 100% learned very early on is
that I'm not an expert in allthings, but there are people out
there that are incredibly smartand talented, and you have to
figure out who your team is inorder to get the best of the
best.
For any person that is embarkingon a journey to be a C-suite
(10:47):
leader or to be a CEO, mybiggest piece of advice and
again, learning lesson, is don'tfeel like you have to go it
alone, because there are lots ofdifferent folks out there to
give you advice, but thenthere's also people who are
looking to support you, and thatis something that I think.
(11:08):
Sometimes we don't ask for helpbecause we're either afraid or
intimidated or we feel we needto have all the answers as the
person quote unquote in charge.
But I think the more you letpeople in and you involve them,
the more ownership of thecompany they get and actually,
the more profitable andsuccessful your overall
(11:29):
organization becomes, and sothat's my biggest takeaway and
piece of advice is let people in, let people help you, support
you.
Your organization will thankyou for it.
William Gladhart (11:40):
Oh, I think that's some very safe advice.
So, diane, I've enjoyed havingyou on our Leadership Levers
podcast.
Thank you again for yourinsights.
Diane Carney (11:48):
Well, thank you so much, it's been a pleasure.
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