Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / EP 97 "Everyone Agreed. That's the problem."

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EP 97 "Everyone Agreed. That's the problem." · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers, where we aim to share real stories about running a successful family business, working through adversity, and pouring back into the community that keeps our door open.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: We're your host, Matt, Shelby, and Taylor, and we bring you relevant local business advice and automotive insights that are sure to change the way you look at running a business.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome back to Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Today, episode 97.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Everybody agreed that's the problem.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a fun one to talk about.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, the most dangerous meeting you'll have this week is the one where everybody nods and agrees.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's dangerous.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: And then here's why that care you should care.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Somebody in your building disagreed with you this month and you never heard about it.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: A room full of agreement feels like leadership is working.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: Usually it's leadership failing quietly.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a fine line between pushback that makes you better and pushback that just makes noise.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Most leaders have never defined it out loud.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: You don't get honest people by asking for honesty.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: You get them by how you handled it the last time.
1:17
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
1:18
SPEAKER_02: Hey, and if you didn't check out last week's episode, episode 96, we talked about you get the behavior you pay for.
1:26
SPEAKER_02: Right?
1:26
SPEAKER_02: We talked about how pay plan drive the results in the end that you want, how it's tough to adjust those things, but why it's important and necessary wherever you're rewarding your actual strategy.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: And if you aren't, then you should.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: So make sure to check that out.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: As always, uh shopping for a newer used car and need to service your vehicle, LewisSuperstore.com is going to be your hookup for that.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: And all podcast needs at Crossroad Conversation Podcast.com.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Recapping what's in the garage.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I love this type, this time of year, not type of year, but time of year, of because it kicks off the final quarter for all the manufacturers.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: And think of it as an analogy like this: like you're on a racetrack, you're coming around that last, and they throw everything out.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: The jockey is whipping as hard as he can to go, to throw the hammer down.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: So there is crazy things of 2.9 in 84 months.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: We have the best selection of half tons, both Ram and Ford.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: Ford, we've been fighting the half tons all year long since the shortage came of last December.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: We finally got that up.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: So the truck selection for business selection, SUVs, interest rates, trade-in assistance, everything is higher than it has been.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: And this is the most fun time of year as us in business to be able to sell, but it's the best time of you as a consumer to be able to buy a new vehicle.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: Hey, one thing with that, with all the gas that they're ready to throw on, they just threw this out.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: And this thing comes and goes, but it came back and it's accelerated heavy.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Is the first time buyer program.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: So if you've never financed a car before and you have a 620 or better credit score, they're not saying this has to be an 800 tier.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: You now qualify across a bunch of different models at Ford for 2.9, not for 60, no, not for 72, but 84 months.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: First time buyer, never bought a car before.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: And they qualify.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: You qualify for 84 months.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: And it's not just tier zero, which is perfect credit.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: It's tier zero, one, and two.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: All you need is 750 cash down.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: I love that part of it.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: Right?
3:28
SPEAKER_02: All you need is 750 cash down.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: And it's on models like Broncos Sport, it's on uh Mavericks, it's on Explores, and it's probably on a whole lot better.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: It's on F-150s.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: It's on F150s.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's on Mustaine's F-150s, Broncosports, Mavericks, full-size Broncos.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: They even said which we'd have to figure out how this works out, but expeditions were in there, which might get a little expensive for a first time.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: So they're gonna what did they say the ratio was payment to income?
3:58
SPEAKER_01: Payment to income is gonna be sub-20%.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: So uh making sure it's right within the realm there.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: So starting you off with a comfortable first payment that is gonna allow you to be able to do that.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: It's achievable with the cash down with the crazy low rate, because generally to get a 2.9% rate when standard money is transferring at six and a half to seven percent, is you have to have an 850 plus credit score with a really good pedigree of borrowing money from cars.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: You have not, you don't have to have it.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: So that's a cool thing that they're doing to roll into fourth quarter.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, big haul pass there.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: So huge, huge uh push for the final quarter.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Now that's some great insight there on who can take advantage and how to maximize your buying power here with Lewis.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Let's jump into this.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: The cost of an agreeable room.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: And guys, before I get started here, can I just be vulnerable here and say I was not good at this early in my career?
4:52
SPEAKER_00: I just wasn't because I had not been exposed to what I was actually doing during the meeting and how I was squashing creativity and getting everybody's input.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: As a leader, it felt good running a meeting and rolling through it and not having any pushback and knocking it out.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: And you naturally think when you do that that you're killing it and big things are getting ready to happen because you went through the meeting, everybody nodded their head, you were reading the room, it went off without a hitch.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: But that's so far from the truth.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: You and Shelby have probably taught me this of going through, but I can see where there's non-confrontation there.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: But if I'm going through and there's nothing, and I see nodding, I'm like, whoa, slow down, slow down, slow down, because no one's responding.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: And we can deep dive further into that, but it's not good if they're doing that.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: It's one of those things, and so Matt said is the leader learning, like if everyone's uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-uh-huh.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: You know, kind of like a football pregame speech, right?
6:04
SPEAKER_02: Let's go, let's go with no friction.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: That's not the time for a friction, but that's what you were trying to achieve, right?
6:10
SPEAKER_02: And all meetings have different energy levels, but still the idea of moving forward.
6:15
SPEAKER_02: On the other side, because I'm in that boat, I've been in that boat many a times, is to be a second in command or a third in command or not the one leading the meeting.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: I've had to work on how do I introduce friction without saying you're wrong, without saying, hey, you've done it improperly.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: So, because I am one saying, hey, hang on.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: Even if I know the answer, sometimes I do that to interject confliction to say, there might be a question here.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: There might be a so that's the good part about the three of us.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: Almost every single meeting, there's at least two of us in there and say, Hey, can you go back over that?
6:57
SPEAKER_02: I probably missed something here.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: And I'd say 50% of the time it it is for me.
7:02
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: The other 50% is, but having to learn that, and so then you to learn, like, it's okay.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying you're not good or you suck or you miss this.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying we probably should stop and break it down because this first line of manager who never disagrees with you isn't oil.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: He's either checked out or scared.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: Think about that.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: Like they're checked out or scared.
7:25
SPEAKER_02: How good of a process can they be giving to your customers, to your team?
7:29
SPEAKER_00: And you know why that is?
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Is because they don't have any skin in the game.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: They don't feel like that their their voice and opinion is valued.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: They're never asked for it.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: So then that's why they're not loyal.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Because they don't feel connection.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: They don't feel like, hey, that's part of my idea, too.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: And why would I put my neck out there when it my neck might get cut off?
7:50
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: So we just got out of a meeting yesterday.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: We we had our monthly meeting yesterday with all of our general managers and all and some key department head managers.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you guys this from example.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: So I kicked off the meeting, went, went over some facts.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: We always go over some type of KPIs and reports just to get everybody's mind going, okay?
8:12
SPEAKER_00: And then we had an agenda where everybody was gonna update on what was going on, how their department was doing, what they needed help with, where they'd grown, where they had gone back.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: I was the last one to go.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, if if you looked at my sheet and I scribble over everything, the things I was gonna go over, I marked out almost 50% of the stuff I was gonna go over because one of the people around the table had already gone over it.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: And if I had gone over it and I had stolen their ability to go over it in the excitement of they've either accomplished this or they're looking to accomplish that, it takes buy-in away from them.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: It does, but it also allows you to say, hey, I properly delegated that.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: For sure.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: And they got to be the champion in that.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: And the spotlight, I have no problem with spotlight being on them.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: So again, the only way, now let's take that reverse.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: What about if I'd gone over my list at first?
9:09
SPEAKER_00: I would have removed 50% of the stuff that others could have been involved and engaged in during the meeting.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: And if they were high level, they would have adapted and not even brought up the fact.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: You know, that's one of my pet peeves.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, well, Matt went over everything I was gonna go over.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, well, that's stupid.
9:25
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to hear that.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: You know, but that but that I I'm not calling you stupid, I'm calling the process stupid.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: But uh, what a high-level adapter would say, okay, I need to go over my B tier, my C tier stuff.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: I was bringing my A game.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: He went over that stuff and say, hey, uh, here's some other things we were working on.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: But most of them were just like, oh, that was my thunder.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm done.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: So think about this.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Silence in a meeting is not consensus, it's missing information you're about to make a decision without.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: So if if if you've invited to a meeting, now look, let me dial back just a little bit here.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: What Shelby talked about earlier about like a pregame, you have pepper alleys.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: We have sales pepper allies, we have pepperolys in the shop, we have Friday pepper alleys.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about pepper allies here, okay?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about focus meetings that you're going over.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: And I I really like this one, and I don't know when it was in my career, but at some point in time, it almost has turned into a game with me during a meeting of trying to figure out who's trying to be silent and to get them plugged in.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: And everybody has this handful of people.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: They have a handful that they don't even have to worry about, they actually have to calm them down.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's the guy that you see nodding off or you see on their phone.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: It's no different than a good teacher who would say, Hey, Taylor, tell me about this.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Well, I don't even know what you're talking about, right?
10:56
SPEAKER_02: And so then you recap them so they don't fall on their face and say, Hey, explain to me your thoughts on this.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: We we have a manager, a very, very solid manager on our team, and I'm not gonna say his name, but if he's listening, he'll probably figure this out.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, that does a fantastic job for us, but probably has a good case of ADD.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, probably has a pretty good case.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Strategically during meetings, he is the one that does calculations for me.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: And I constantly ask, hey, pull out your calculator, run these.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: He's involved then.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna change, you know, his great attributes or my great attributes.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Let's embrace them.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: And that's the way that I I keep him involved there.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: It's going, hey, calculate this for me.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: What's that show?
11:42
SPEAKER_00: And then I'll pick somebody else in the room.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Could I calculate it myself?
11:46
SPEAKER_00: 100%.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: But it's about getting involvement.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And if they'll do that, then they're more likely to go, hey, I had an idea right here.
11:52
SPEAKER_02: It's funny.
11:53
SPEAKER_02: So Monday morning sales meeting is the idea where we recap the weekend, the previous week's activities.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: We look at the KPIs, how are we doing?
12:01
SPEAKER_02: And then it's my plan to then introduce something new of something that's relevant in training and sales.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: But I've started integrating in more if I'm going to recap last week's activity, then I'm gonna introduce something new, and then I'll recap the entire meeting and here's our game plan going forward.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: So I kind of base the week after, like on Monday, if I introduce that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, what did I see on the floor?
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Did they adapt and did they use that new idea?
12:34
SPEAKER_02: And so then if I don't feel like it has a good pulse, and I ask, hey, who's got questions?
12:39
SPEAKER_02: This, this, and you never get hand raisers, right?
12:42
SPEAKER_02: And so then I will recap it again.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: Well, four weeks now been running.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: I talked about, we hand out a lot of spiff checks.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: And I think what kicked it off is we handed out roughly$15,000 in spiff checks above and beyond in a sales Friday sales meeting, our pepper alley.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: And that Monday, I thought, hey, who's investing some of that money back into their business?
13:05
SPEAKER_02: And so then that was my whole training of that.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: Like, okay, of that$15,000, who went and bought lottery tickets, who paid off bills, who bought this, this, and this.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay, how much did you set aside a percentage of what you got paid?
13:18
SPEAKER_02: And it was a spiff check, it was above and beyond to reinvest in yourself.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: And so I was talking about tier four marketing of keychains, of pencils, of business cards, of sold-by stickers, of hats, of t-shirts, or coffee mugs.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: And so then I went through and had about 10 different renderings.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: You can do this, you could do this, you could do this.
13:38
SPEAKER_02: And then I had a page with 50 items.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: And so I showed them what it was.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: And then after the meeting, I posted in Slack, hey, here's the ideas, and I challenge you to just do one.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: Order one today, right?
13:50
SPEAKER_02: And then I told them, hey, if you submit that over to the marketing team and it has proper placement of the Lewis logo and your logo, I'll pay for half of that.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: I'll pay for 50 cents on the dollar.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: That's something that we've always done, but re-reminded them of that.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: So, and I even gave them links of where to buy them at, a couple different ideas.
14:10
SPEAKER_02: The problem is it was so far out there.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: So week two comes back around after a full week, and I say, All right, recapping last week.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: Everybody raise your hand that ordered something.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: Guess how many people raised their hand?
14:22
SPEAKER_02: Nobody.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: And I said, guys, so we've done this for four weeks now.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: So on this Monday, I said, okay, let's stop here.
14:30
SPEAKER_02: And there was one person that ordered something.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: And some people came and talked to me about it.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: It's just not what they're best at.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: I said, What's our hurdles?
14:38
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going any further.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: We're not introducing anything new.
14:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna take down my stage voice and I'm gonna sit on the edge of the table and say, let's figure out what's the hurdle.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Someone said, Well, I hadn't got my money yet from you to pay for it.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Okay, great.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: That's a great statement.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let me explain how this works.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: You buy it, you pay for it, you submit the design, you buy it, you pay for it, you give me the receipt, I pay you 50% back.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: Like, okay.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Well, I don't know where to get the logo at.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: Your logo.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's in Slack and logos, but let me upload it again.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh so we had to fully stop and break that down to go elementary, but hopefully that involvement will get some more hand raisers to get them to invest.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you answered the question for the question I had not put out there yet.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: But it was great.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about this.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: The agree in the room, do nothing after problem.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: So here's what happened.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Everybody agreed in the room with you.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: We need to invest in ourselves, we we need to get that marketing stuff after there.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: But then nothing happened after.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And that went on for four weeks.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, as a good leader, you said, hey, pause before I go any farther forward, let me unpack this and identify what the issues are.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, you you really just got politeness and everybody's like, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm gonna do that.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: Hey, let me ask you about it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But no traction was hitting.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's very important for us to understand is just because you go over it to a meeting does not mean that all of a sudden it will connect with the road and move forward.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: We were laughing about this the other day.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: That, you know, you look back from the things you went over during school.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Some stuff you use, some stuff you don't use.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: I can remember one of the things during school that I thought was the stupidest thing we went over.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: And it's funny now because I think it makes all the sense in the world.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: I could, and this was an agri class.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, an agri class, we were taught the parliamentary procedure.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking, I'm like, what are we?
16:50
SPEAKER_00: Are we in the 1900s here going over a meeting?
16:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, like who does this?
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Who, who amends this and who gets a first and a second, and everybody agree on it and what this whole structure.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And now that we've gotten farther in a career, I think about that.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: And it's the structure of the meeting.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: And after the meeting, the meeting minutes go out, okay, to tell everybody again, to remind them here's what we talked about and the action that needs to be taken.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: And then before the next meeting starts, you have to approve the meeting minutes from the previous one.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: All that's really saying is you introduce something, you remind everybody about it afterwards, and then you follow up with it to make sure it's put in place, and then you make any adjustments instead of just thinking, I did my job, and then six months later, you're like, didn't we go over this?
17:44
SPEAKER_00: Nothing has happened.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: I love that because being able to wear on Shelby's point, but then you talking about it as well.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: So many leaders now, they they lead, they talk just to hear themselves talk, and they're pounding their chest of saying, Yeah, I did that.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: I went over that, but they never went back.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: And what is our eight age-old thing we talk about?
18:07
SPEAKER_01: Inspecting, inspecting.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: So what Shelby and I I laugh because I could finally see not everybody in the room, but a good portion of them, okay, start writing it down.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: They're actually starting to write.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: We always talk about your worst, your worst ink pen's better than your best memory of being able to write it and your percentage.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: You can bring up the learning pyramid.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: You already have it.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: How you even got that whenever we were talking about it.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: But writing it down, Matt will give you statistics of what it does.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: But I always try, but probably because he's beat it into my head, I'll find myself writing it down.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: In every single meeting, I'm just writing down, trying to do that next step.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: So whenever I get hit by any of these other, I'm like, I either find it on my paper or it's my memory that goes up to a different percentage.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: So think about why you're doing a meeting, while you're doing a coaching session, while you're doing a training session.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing that?
19:08
SPEAKER_00: You're doing it to get a better production out of everybody out in the meeting.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You're not doing it for yourself.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: You're doing it so they will rise up to a different level and their production and their success will be higher.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, the learning pyramid, as Taylor's talked about, it does that exactly, but everybody messes up on it.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Because when you're teaching others, you're at a 90% retention.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: But what you're really looking for is the other people to get the retention.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: If they just sit and hear the lecture, they retain 5%.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: 5%.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: All right.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: If you stop and you have a discussion, like Shelby talked about, why are we not ordering our promotional stuff?
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a discussion about it.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: The retention rate goes to 50%.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: So just by you pausing, you 10x what other people do, which is amazing.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: And then if you'll do breakouts, go over a couple things and say, hey, we're going to practice drill and rehearse for the next five minutes, pair up with the person next to you, and we're going to go over this.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: You go to a 75 retention rate.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: So what we're talking about here is whether it's not letting people be silent, getting their input or role-playing.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: What we're talking about is actually getting out of the meeting what we intended to do.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: But very few people will take these steps.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: That's the exciting part.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's the great part.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: And one thing to go with all those, it's funny I talked about it in our manager meeting this morning, but they said the this guy in a podcast that's listened to talked about the basics of a system and how to get it where it's adapted and adopted.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was a three-step thing, but we talked about you introduce it, then you go over here's your game plan and how you do it.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: But the third thing is where most people miss that is you don't have the consequences if they don't.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: Chick-fil-A says, hey, on hiring, hey, when every customer comes through, we greet them with my pleasure.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: After they're done, we say, My pleasure, would you have an issue with that?
21:01
SPEAKER_02: Everyone agrees in the beginning, right?
21:03
SPEAKER_04: That's good.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: And then they have the system built into it, and then they have the consequences.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: If you don't do that, we're gonna sit down, we'll go over why you didn't do that.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: Then the next time we're gonna write you up, and the third time, probably made terms for termination, right?
21:16
SPEAKER_02: The consequence for not doing that.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: So they realize it's very clear.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: You introduce it, you have the system and how you do it, and here's the consequence if you don't do it.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: It is so basic in black and white, but it's missed so many times.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: There's one last piece I want to go over in this court here because I think this is really, really relevant.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: It says the higher you sit, meaning as you move up in the company, the less true information reaches you.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And nobody sends a memo about it.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: And that can be tricky because when you were lower, you heard the gossip, you heard the rumble.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: And as you move up, you you think the same thing's gonna happen.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: No, if something's wrong, they've always approached me, they've always told me that, hey, that was a bad idea.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: But uh That's not the case.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: As you move up, you lose disconnection there.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: So you have to have a good ear and a good eye to be able to see and to ask questions.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: You now have to extract that information versus it automatically coming to you by just a water cooler.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: You have to ask those questions.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: It has to get a little bit awkward to be able to extract.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: And they have to an employee has to feel safe and not threatened that they can tell you they disagree with what you're talking about.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't create that atmosphere, you'll never grow the company together.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: They have to know their job's not at jeopardy for telling you, like, hey, boss, I know you said this process.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: I think we need to re-look at that because there's a couple areas that need to be adjusted if we want to get the success you're looking for.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: And Deborah never has to be anything that is crazy intense or intricate or anything else.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times I feel it's most effective whenever you hear, you see an issue, you go by and you observe it, like Matt's talking about, because you have to go interject yourself.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: You have to go meet them in their area and be able to go over it.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: We recently, this is the third or fourth time we've gone through, but of a delivery process of new Fords that are sold.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: I finally said, okay, I know how to do it, managers know how to do it.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go in there and I'm going to play dumb and have the employee walk me through it.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: And whenever we walk through it, I figured out what the issues were that were so simple, but they weren't ever going to come tell us.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: They were making excuses as to why, whenever it was a simple login that they didn't have it saved, I wouldn't have been able to see that unless I went and injected myself into the situation to see, hey, this is what's going on.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: Let's fix it and let's move forward.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: If not, you're sitting there saying, hey, you're being lazy, you're not doing anything when in reality they don't know what they're doing, so you need to go inspect it.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: That's so good and so simple.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: And Taylor, by you doing that, you're able to uncover something that was so simple to fix.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And most people would just be looking for a new piece of software or a new this or that light switch to fix it.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, you know what?
24:16
SPEAKER_00: The last time I trained somebody personally on this was ten people ago.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me just take 15 minutes and in a non-threatening way say, hey, I'd like you to go through the delivery process with me.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Let's mock up.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: We'll do it on this F-150 right here.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Walk me through the whole process by just checks and balances.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: So, hey, I got something real quick for you here.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: More than six out of 10 employees say the regularly watch coworkers stay quiet when they actually degree truth or false.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: I bet that's true.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that has to be true.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so fact a radical uh survey of 600 U.S.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: employees found 61% of individual contributors often say that people stay silent when they're holding a differing opinion.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: So they disagree and they don't say anything about it.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: While 45% of executives named a shortage of honest feedback as their single biggest concern.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Both sides fill the gap, neither side closes it.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take a shot in the dark at why I think that's so.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we got to remember naturally as human beings, we don't like confrontation.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't like confrontation, you know.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Number two, I for sure don't like it if I know it's not gonna go anywhere and it's gonna be a waste of my time.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I know that, like, hey, I should say something here, but if I say something, we're gonna have to unpack it, emotions are gonna get involved, and 30 minutes later, we're gonna end up right where we were, except there's probably gonna be some people upset with me.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm not bringing it up.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm not bringing it up.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: That's tough.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: It really is.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: All right.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: So uh core two here, when pushback belongs and where it doesn't belong, right?
26:07
SPEAKER_02: So we're talking about getting real feedback, and there's a part that nobody really defines.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: You want pushback in some places and not in others, right?
26:16
SPEAKER_02: So when's the right meeting that you want people to give their opinion?
26:19
SPEAKER_02: And when's the meeting when you don't want them to give their opinion?
26:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
26:23
SPEAKER_02: Right?
26:24
SPEAKER_02: We talked about pep rallies, probably not a good time for a pushback.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: Right.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: In the middle of a motivational speech, hey boss, uh, what about this one out front?
26:33
SPEAKER_02: And like, not a good time, Larry.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: You can control, I would say at least three-quarters of that, 75%, by the words that come out of your mouth and how you design it.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: So if it is a pepper alley, if it is a launch time when everybody's arms are supposed to be locked together, you've already done the focus group, you've already thrown darts at it, you don't open that space.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: You don't say, hey, are there any questions?
26:56
SPEAKER_00: You don't have any dead space or dead time during that.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've had we've had that happen before, and still somebody's come to me one-on-one later and said something, but I didn't give them the time or the stage or the space during that time.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: And that's what we've learned during new process, during new system, or during any change that needs to happen, that needs to have people involvement, is get your key leaders.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to be the head of all, but your key leaders and have them, even if you know the company or the process you want to go with, you get them to be a part of that discovery before the decision is made.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: And you can help them make that decision.
27:40
SPEAKER_02: Or if you just want completely unfiltered, then you say, hey, here's our three options.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: You tell me what you think.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: So at that time, you're welcoming pushback.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: You're asking questions.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: Now, once the decision is made, the contract is inked, or the final format of the new SOP is, that's not time for discussion.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Nope, not at all.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're gonna walk through a great example I have here, but I first want to take where you said there about no discussion, the process, we're locked in.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And if somebody brings us an issue at that point in time, I said, hey, we all agreed on this.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: This is how we're gonna do it.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: We'll revisit it in X amount of weeks.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: And if there's an adjustment that needs to be made after we've tried to put this in place you've given it time.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: That we all agreed to do with 100% effort, then let's talk about adjustment.
28:32
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we we don't want to be blind and say, hey, we're setting something in place for two years.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Because plenty of times we've put something out there that we had focus groups and we thought they were great, and then we had to make adjustments.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: Think about a uh a fishing, deep sea fishing captain.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: He's gone out, he's studied the lay of the land, he knows, hey, the fish are here, the fish are here, the fish are here, based on the facts.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: And he said, hey, everyone drop your leader to the bottom and reeled up 10 cranks, right?
29:00
SPEAKER_02: We've done that plenty of times, right?
29:02
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, man, I'm kind of thinking I should be five cranks, or maybe we should stop halfway down.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, you hired this boat captain.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: He's taking to the spot.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: We need to first go where exactly where he set.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: And then if after a while we're losing bait or nothing's biting, then you can say, Then you can adjust.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: What adjustment should we do?
29:23
SPEAKER_02: But you have to all arms together give it its best effort to survive.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: So we are going through a major computer software change.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: And we started with a group.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I started with a consulting company, and I started with a core group of about five last winter, we started 10 months ago.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, November-ish, October-ish.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: Then we took a core group in February of 10, 10 or 12, flew them out to a convention for four days to look at all the software stuff.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: So they get to see this one and all the other options.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, then that group of 10 helped us narrow it down to two companies.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Then those two companies, we expanded that out to about 30 employees in in each department.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: We brought those two companies in, we ran them through all their stuff.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: So we went from five to ten to thirty, but we had narrowed the focus down.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: All right.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: So then the 30 gave us all their feedback.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Then we came back to the 10.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: We got back narrow again and go, okay, we really think this is the route we want to go.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: What are our concerns we don't think that the software will do?
30:36
SPEAKER_00: All of it came up.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Still welcoming discussion.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Still welcoming discussion, but it was only on these two companies now.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: And then really only on this one of like, we think we want to go with this one, but what are the any of the issues?
30:47
SPEAKER_02: And it was on certain issues.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: It's not let's let's open Pandora's whole box.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we've identified and we let the 30 people say, here's what we think it w cannot do.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: And so then we had that list, and we went back to 10 and said, these are the items.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: These are the items.
31:03
SPEAKER_02: Let's revisit those.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: So then those items we did really micro focus groups with that company with key points, going, let's readdress these seven items here.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Then those 10 we got back together and we said, okay, do we feel like they answered the questions in those seven?
31:21
SPEAKER_00: And we narrowed that down.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: We said, hey, five of the seven, yes, two of them just aren't going to be able to do.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Then it goes back down to the five, helping us with implementation, negotiation.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: And then it really gets down to me and the consultant on finishing up.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we finished that up about two weeks ago.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Haven't put it in yet.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: We get word from one of the core people that were in our 10.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, our 10, not the 30, in the 10, that said, and they didn't tell us this directly, said, I don't think that this piece is gonna work, and we're gonna have pushback on it.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: This is the time where we say, you had your stage, you did your due diligence, and then you told me, I didn't tell you, you told me, yes, it will work.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: So as we install this, it's not time for input, it's not time for negotiation.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: It's over.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: We're going 100% effort and confidence that we're putting that in place.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so that goes right with this pushback on the plan versus pushback on the standards.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
32:27
SPEAKER_02: Right?
32:27
SPEAKER_02: One of them's input, one's negotiating, which you're not having.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: Right?
32:31
SPEAKER_02: So then now, okay, we made the decision, we've trained all offseason.
32:35
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first game, we're running the wing T.
32:37
SPEAKER_02: You're the starting quarterback, you're the outside linebacker, you're doing this, and here's the game plan, and we're going.
32:44
SPEAKER_02: And we're doing it.
32:44
SPEAKER_02: Now's not the time to say I'd like to be a snapper.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: Or this isn't gonna work because the defense looks larger.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, and and that's so aggravating, but that's a very clear conversation.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: This is a real issue.
32:56
SPEAKER_02: We're currently in that issue, and I was like, hey, because I finally had that conversation with that person.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: I was like, hey, what's up?
33:04
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, this is not going to work because this, this, and this.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I'm gonna do it.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: But I'm just telling you, here's you're gonna get, and he was very spirited about this, this, and this.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: I said, Hey, you gotta stop for a second.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: Look, are you a coach?
33:19
SPEAKER_02: Are you a cheerleader?
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Are you a naysayer on the side?
33:22
SPEAKER_02: Because the role that you're in, I need you being the doer and the coach and saying, This is why it will work.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: This is why we spent 10 months and thousands of dollars.
33:32
SPEAKER_02: This to be the best option.
33:33
SPEAKER_02: And it is the best option.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: It is leagues above what we're currently using.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: And he has it in his mind, and he's like, Well, I'm just saying, I'm like, hey, if you can't with me say here's what we're gonna do, how will you ever do it?
33:48
SPEAKER_02: He said, No, no, no, that's just a conversation I'm having with you.
33:51
SPEAKER_02: And I said, I don't believe that you have a good enough filter face that you can say this and then say that because you can't do it with me.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: You know what's so important about it though, is we went through these steps.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Went you can't go straight to just hardcore, you can't do this.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go this way, this is a route we're going.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: You can, you won't have buy-in from the team.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: We have yeah, they're gonna sold up more than in this this individual, that's just what he does and how he works through situations.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: But the rest of the team is rolling.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: So then, whenever the rest of your other team, if a guy in football, if one of your guys is going the opposite direction, but the other 10 guys are all moving in the right direction, they're gonna get jerked the other way.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: Like it's just a boat that's gonna pull them along the edge.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then you have victory meetings throughout the weeks, and you say, Hey, seven days in, I want you guys to bring me your four positives of this and this and this and this and this.
34:48
SPEAKER_02: Okay, does anything have anybody have it?
34:50
SPEAKER_02: We need to make a little adjustment.
34:51
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
34:52
SPEAKER_02: And then they're sitting around with all the positive feedback and it's like, hey, I want you to bring me your one time saver.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
34:58
SPEAKER_02: Right?
34:58
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, hey, this I've been able to process payroll and save three hours every Monday.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: And this I'm able to reconcile our bank statements in less than 20 minutes.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, oh my gosh.
35:09
SPEAKER_02: So then then they should be sitting there feeling like a fool like that.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: Because they're not gonna be the only person that brings up a negative.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: So I and I think, you know, to Taylor's point and to Shelby's point, we did our due diligence there.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: We've walked through the process more really than any other dealership out there would have done.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: They would have never asked that low, you know, that that level of employees for the input.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: But now, if somebody does start to balk on it, we say, listen, you had your time, we went through your stuff, this is how we're doing it.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: And we'll revisit it down the road, but this is how we're doing it.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: And you move forward.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: So you can have that discussion in a productive way about saying, here's the line in the sand, as long as you've done all the work before then to include.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: To include.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: So we talked about you know how to have that decision uh pushback.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: We talked about before the decision, we talked about pushback in the plan of when you have it.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh relitigating a settled call three weeks later is not candor.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: It's just pure erosion.
36:12
SPEAKER_02: So like if we're not bringing a solution to a problem, that's just pure erosion.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: And there's not a time or place for that.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: So you have to think about that.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Think about this: the delivery matters.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: How you deliver in that pushback, whether you're getting pushbacked on or you're the one pushing back.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: If you are defensive, what's likely to happen in that?
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Nothing good.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're just gonna butt heads in that, and then you're gonna walk away from the meeting without a solution, without a way to work on it.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: The person bringing that to you is gonna be like, they don't care about my input.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: So then we go back to one of the other pieces, their loyalty starts going down because they don't feel like that they're valued.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: You ask them, but then now you're not listening.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: I had somebody bring me their opinion on uh a marketing game plan.
36:59
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: And it was it was relevant, right?
37:02
SPEAKER_02: Like he didn't know because we were talking about something that was 45 days in advance.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: He didn't know what the team had planned.
37:08
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
37:09
SPEAKER_02: And albeit we didn't have exactly planned what he was talking about.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: We did at a later date, this, this, and this.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: But the way that he brought it and delivered was just so defensive and so like this, this, and this, and this is so stupid.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: Why would a person celebrate at this time versus this time?
37:26
SPEAKER_02: And so then I had to sit there and I just completely, in the end, I was like, okay, what's the good thing?
37:30
SPEAKER_02: What's the good?
37:31
SPEAKER_02: It's tough for a person to do that, which means the majority of people aren't gonna do that.
37:35
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying I'm good, I'm just saying I'm weathered.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: I'm really weathered.
37:39
SPEAKER_02: And I've heard a lot of things and a lot of people, and so then I was like, hey Matt Taylor, think about this.
37:44
SPEAKER_02: I'll save you the beating on the head with a broomstick.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: Could we look at this thing right here and right here and right here?
37:51
SPEAKER_02: But the way that it was uh the way that it was brought was not good there, which brings it into the time and the setting.
37:58
SPEAKER_02: Do you do all this pushback?
38:00
SPEAKER_02: Do you do it in front of the team versus in your office?
38:02
SPEAKER_02: And why that's not a small distinction of difference?
38:07
SPEAKER_00: It all depends upon what the stage is.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: If the stage is with the five people or the 10 people I was talking about in the software and it's a sit-down meeting, bring it all out right there.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: If it's after you've implemented it, it needs to be a one-on-one in your office.
38:23
SPEAKER_02: And the cool thing that we've learned is that it does need to be a one-on-one so that you can go through the details, squash it, help them with a success game plan.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I know you have feelings about this.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: Hey, do this for me and for you.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: Let's give it 30 days with this game plan and move forward.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: But then I like in a group atmosphere to call out that, hey, somewhere along the way, I feel like you're going to have a disagreement with a system or processing.
38:50
SPEAKER_02: You're going to say, why am I doing this?
38:53
SPEAKER_02: And I'm so glad that you asked that, even though you didn't ask that, right?
38:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm calling it out, and here's why.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: So you get to use that example, you have that one-on-one, but then you don't waste that opportunity to teach and coach everyone.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: So I was just thinking about what you were saying there.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, because I'm the one that said during the group meeting, and then you started to unpack it.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: So let's unpack it more there.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: As a leader, you're always reading the room.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: And so any situation that comes at us, I'm running through filters going, do I need to take this offline?
39:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, or is there somebody else in the room that needs to hear this?
39:28
SPEAKER_00: And if somebody else in the room needs to hear it and I can do it in a productive way that doesn't belittle them or devalue that manager, and it's a value to everybody else, I will push forward in that discussion.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: If it's something that is a huge one-off and I know might get heated because that's the way the employee is, I take it offline and I say, hey, that's a great idea.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: Let's schedule some time this afternoon and you and I'll work through that.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: So you got to read both of those two, because there could be value or it could get really awkward.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Now, if it also is a situation that maybe that direct subject is not a value, but the way to work through it is of value, that's a great teaching moment for everybody else.
40:12
SPEAKER_02: So let me give you, in transparency and honesty here, somewhere where I've failed at a lot of times, is that I go through your filter situation you were just talking about, and I address it with the core people in a larger setting.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: So everyone gets to see, hey, this is going on, this is a problem, and here's how we handle it.
40:31
SPEAKER_02: Where I fail at is because they'll hear it all and they'll say, I'm glad he's not talking about me.
40:39
SPEAKER_02: Where I fail is not then following up, if it just came to me and I just went through it, of not going with that direct manager and say, Hey, you do know I was talking about a situation that you were a part of, right?
40:50
unknown: Yeah.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: That's where I fail at is not going directly to that person because I'm like, no, I covered it very clearly.
40:57
SPEAKER_02: I said this price, this time, this process, this is exactly how we do it.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, that can even happen too if you're listening and you're like, man, I'm really busy.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Make sure, and I've been challenging myself lately to do this, is the recap email after a meeting.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, if it's one-on-one, you got to unpack something, schedule that one-on-one time.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: But if you go over something, make sure you do a recap.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: I've been working on doing that more email-wise, going, hey, here's what we went over.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: These were our key action points, and here's who said they were going to do it.
41:26
SPEAKER_02: Learning permit, that's just a way to get it further down the track.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: It is.
41:30
SPEAKER_02: It really is.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Myth.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: My doors always open.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: So my people tell me the truth.
41:40
unknown: No.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
41:41
SPEAKER_00: Busted?
41:41
SPEAKER_00: Yay or nay?
41:44
SPEAKER_01: It's busted.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's un that's untrue.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, it says busted.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: An open door is access, not safety.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: That's so I could just stop right there.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: Right.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, people don't measure by your invitation.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: They measure what happened to the last person that walked through it.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, and if you don't think they don't unpack and they don't have the meeting after the meeting, you're kidding yourself.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: Over 70% of managers say they rarely or never got to practice giving or taking feedback before they were put in charge.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: So the instinct under pressure is to get defensive, and everybody watching learns the lesson in one meeting.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: Now I I gotta talk about this open door thing for a minute.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: Because when I first got into management, I can remember one of my first meetings with everybody, and what came out of my mouth is I have an open door policy.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: And that felt good, that sounded good, that's what I heard people say.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't say that anymore.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, d can somebody come talk to me?
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh but also go back and listen to other episodes.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: I know the value for the team is I have to stay in flow states during certain times and to get things accomplished.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: So I can't have this watering hole.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've developed that anyway, that people don't think that they can just come in and just talk to me about gossip.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: But what I've also discovered is it's my responsibility to go to somebody in their safe place if I really want to get them to open up.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: It's no different.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: We talk to our sales managers.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: Hey, go address a salesperson at their desk.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: If you want to get more out of them, if you want to get them to open up, don't make them come to the White House, you know, and sit in the president's office.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get better results.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get better results.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get better results.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: I also tell people, too, that if if they have something, hey, shoot me a text or shoot me an email and let's schedule this so that I do it with a clear mind open so we can go through and talk about it, versus them trying to walk into an open door policy, not knowing that I have another meeting to get.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: To in three minutes, and that I'm not giving them a hundred percent of my energy and attention.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree, but it's one of those things I never close my door.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: It's but that just because like I'm like a wide show back, but then sometimes I'm like, hey, just get up and go close your door because you need to handle that.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: Because tons of times we have so many meetings and so many calls, people walk in and uh like, hey, you want to call?
44:24
SPEAKER_02: And I just look at them like no, I'm just watching QVC over here.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: Can't you hear them talking about the latest market trends?
44:32
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm trying to figure out how to solve your problem.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh so that that's a tricky thing there.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: Cause then some of our managers, uh, one or two will walk in and close, hey, let me close the door.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what are you doing?
44:43
SPEAKER_02: Open the door.
44:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is not that serious.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a metaphor of the doors actually open or close.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: It is.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: That is very much so.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: All right, that'll roll into questions here for both of y'all.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: I have for you.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: So starting off with Matt, who in this building will tell you you're wrong and how did they earn that?
45:02
SPEAKER_00: Let me say names.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
45:06
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'll say um, and this is just recently, and I respect her for this, is our controller Megan will tell me when I'm wrong about something.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is simple, but the other day she and I are having this conversation about something going on in finance, and we were talking about the tax amount on it.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Hey, it's all in the bill of sale, so then the revenue office can calculate taxes and this and that.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Well, on the gap line, they don't calculate taxes.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, if it's on the front, it's an insurance product, the revenue office should calculate tax on it all.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Are you sure about that?
45:42
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I am, but you're questioning me about it now, so let's look into it.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: So she goes, I recently saw on there because I was on their website, gap is not taxable sales tax-wise.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I didn't know that.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: Are you a hundred percent positive before not that I was questioning her, but before I go regurgitate that?
46:00
SPEAKER_00: So we both looked it up.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: But she felt safe enough to be able to bring that up because she knew that I would want to know that and could say, Hey, you're wrong here, without saying, hey, you're wrong.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: She just said, or you know, are you confident in that?
46:14
SPEAKER_00: And we then we walked through it.
46:16
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: That's that's good.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: Shelby, what's the time somebody pushed back on you and you got defensive?
46:23
SPEAKER_01: They turned out to be right.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: I'ma say, I'm gonna say, thank the Lord.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't overly get defensive.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: When's the time I told you you're wrong?
46:34
SPEAKER_02: I was wrong.
46:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh the the the someone said you're wrong.
46:40
SPEAKER_02: I I've had plenty of people that have that have pushed back, right?
46:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh some of them are stronger willed, and I'm like, what are they doing?
46:48
SPEAKER_02: They have no clue the whole picture what they're talking about.
46:52
SPEAKER_02: But I I I'm properly trained by you guys and the people.
46:57
SPEAKER_02: In my early years, you know, I was probably more defensive.
47:00
SPEAKER_02: I I don't know that I was ever just like, screw you, A-hole, get out of here.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: Like that defensive.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: But um, there's been some that have turned out all right, you know.
47:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, hey, that's that's good criticism.
47:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that you come in and give me defense and I'm firing you.
47:15
SPEAKER_02: I have never fired anyone for getting defensive, right?
47:19
SPEAKER_02: And that them getting defensive or giving me pushback.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: Never fired anybody for that.
47:23
SPEAKER_02: Like I welcome that, but your approach is so important.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm saying that my approach on how I when I get approached, but also when you approach somebody, you should probably treat someone how you'd like to be treated if you want a different outcome.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: Even if you act, and I'm telling myself this too, even if you act wrong and got defensive, because let's be honest, that's that is natural to be defensive and to stand for what you believe.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: Or or what you believe to be right too.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: It and it turns out that it's something different.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: You, as the leader, get up out of your chair and go tell them that.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Just say, hey, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: After you left my office, I did some further research.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: You were correct in that manner.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say thank you for bringing that to me and helping this be a better place.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Because then you've created that space, no different than I was talking about with Megan, where they can bring you and then they become more loyal.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: It's it's important that they know that they can do that.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: And I guess maybe when I see a defensive, I think just like that's angry.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: So let me rephrase that in my own words.
48:26
SPEAKER_02: Is it's not anger defense, it's when you said it, it's defense of I'm right or you're wrong.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: And so then plenty of times, like I'm pretty quick to like, hey, here's the process, here's how we go through it.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: And I help them break it down.
48:39
SPEAKER_02: But if you can stop, pause, listen, and tell them thank you for bringing that to my attention.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: I would have never known that without you.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: Then you kind of create that loyal employee that will bring you the stuff that say, hey, and I I have loyal employees, we have tons of them, but I have them that will bring me stuff and like, hey, I'm not trying to be a rat.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you have you stop saying that.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: Just bring me, and so they're like, you need to look into this.
49:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, thank you so much.
49:00
SPEAKER_02: I got it handled, appreciate you.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep.
49:03
SPEAKER_01: That's uh great, great uh feedback there on both of those.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Hey, episode 97, everybody agreed that's the problem.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: Dive into this and 97 previous episodes at Crossroads Conversation Podcast.com, all of our specials of everything going on, events and in the community at Lewis Superstore.com.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
49:26
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49:31
SPEAKER_00: We want to know what you'd like to hear, who you'd like to hear from, and what you want to see, or maybe even some questions for us to answer about either the automotive industry or just business in general.