The Growth Tool Hiding in Plain Sight

Most small business owners are doing all the right things. Showing up, serving their clients, keeping the business running. But at some point, you realize I cannot be the only one holding this whole thing together. See, most business owners treat their team like an expense, but the real MVPs in business treat them like a growth engine. And today, I want to show you what that difference is and how you can start leading your team in a way that actually moves your business forward and and gives you some breathing room. Welcome to the Faith Led Founders Podcast, the show for Christian entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to grow a successful business without the overwhelm. I'm Lauren, a marketing strategist and business coach with over a decade of experience helping businesses simplify their marketing and build systems that create real growth. So if you're ready, grab your coffee and let's dive in. Hi, everybody. I hope you guys are doing well. Welcome back. So I'm just going to dive in here. In the last episode, we talked about having a singular focus in your business and how by minimizing the tasks that you focus on you as a business owner. When we minimize the task we're focusing on, it actually sets us up for momentum in our business growth. And today I really want to zoom out and talk about something that I think often gets missed when we think of business growth. You know, yes, you absolutely need marketing, you need systems, you need your sales. But let's talk about the piece of the business that brings all of that to life. And I specifically want to talk about your team. I cannot tell you how often I have stepped into a role, whether it's a small business or a corporate company. And that has been the broken piece that tends to be the bottleneck of business growth. And so here's the thing. I've stepped into so many situations where I see small business owners or these corporations pouring thousands of dollars into ads, branding, consulting, big events, and completely under investing in the people who are actually delivering the experience to the customers every single day. See, your team, when they are trained well, valued and led well, they become one of the most powerful growth engines in your business. And this is a hill I will die on. I cannot tell you how many times I have stepped into these businesses, these corporations, and fixed a broken team culture, a broken team relationship, and have moved the business into a better, more healthy growth trajectory. So today we're going to break down the three areas where I think that investment in your team has to happen. So here's a question I want you to sit with as we dive in. Does Your team actually know what you're building now, not just their job description, not just their task list. But I want you to ask yourself, do they know the why behind your business? This is the mission, the values, the brand and brand personality and the goals that you're working toward this year. Because here's what happens when they don't know. You end up with a team that is just executing tasks on autopilot with no real buy in to what you're actually building for your business. And when they don't know the why behind your business, they make decisions that are off brand. They don't know how to prioritize things when they get busy or what really matters in your business. And they definitely will not become an advocate for your business because they just don't really understand why you're building this business. They have nothing to shoot for. They become the employee that is just working to get through to the weekend and just checking in or clocking in and collecting a paycheck. And we don't want that as business owners. So this is where proper onboarding training and ongoing training is so crucial. And I'm not just talking about HR paperwork and going through what their roles and responsibilities are. I am talking vision transfer. Now, I am a huge Simon Sinek fan. So this is the, the why behind our business. This is crucial. I completely align with Simon Sinek's teachings. If there's no vision, your business is going to drag. And so I actually want to bring up a Bible verse because Proverbs 29:18 says, where there is no vision, the people perish. And this Bible verse applies to our lives, in our marriages, in our parenting, but it also applies to our businesses. If your teen doesn't know where you're going, they can't help you get there. So practically ask yourself this. Does every person on your team know what your top business goals are for this year? You should have an annual business meeting with your team where you're setting, you're casting the vision for the upcoming year. You're setting goals, quarterly goals. There's, you know, maybe some fun built into that. They, they need to know what are we, what's our target for the year? And you need to revisit that with your team. Often. The second thing I want you to ask yourself is, do they understand your brand voice and personality and how they're expected to communicate that with customers, especially customer facing. We want to look at all of the touch points that, you know, I had talked about on one of the earlier episodes when they answer the phone, when they respond in an email, how are they communicating and handling your customers? The third question I want you to ask is, are your team members set up with the tools, the processes and the clarity to actually step into their roles with success? Because I cannot tell you how many times I myself as an employee have stepped into a job position, maybe had three days worth of training, and I'm thrown into the role and expected to be a top performer. This happens way too often in businesses and we need to stop. Because this doesn't just hurt the employee and their potential for growth, it hurts us as business owners. So when you train your team well, you're not just creating efficiency, you're not just creating a team who knows how to do all the tasks while you're creating alignment. I want you to remember that a well trained team is an aligned team. And aligned teams move faster, they make better decision decisions, and they become vision carriers. I worked for a business and the owner was so good at casting the vision and his his mission for his business that I bought into that business with all my might and it became the place where I built my career and I climbed the ladder and I learned every area of the business. This is where you can build up many CEOs within your business. And you have to remember as a business owner, yes, there is a lot that you carry and a lot on your plate, but you are the leader and a leader is a vision caster. And so you need to take steps to step out of the mundane and the daily operations of your business, to work on your business and to cast the vision for your team. Now, if you're wondering how you build this customer service training, maybe you can't afford a Ritz Carlton training for your team or midizzeny experience training. Well, I want you to think of a few different areas when it comes to the customer experience and encounters with customers so you can build out a training plan. Now, I want you to think about how your team should handle complaints and difficult conversations with grace. That's extremely important. We work in business, we work with people and we're not always going to get it right. So we need to have a train or a team. I'm sorry? We need to have a team that knows exactly how to handle those difficult conversations well without having to pull you as a business owner every time. Remember, the goal is to delegate all of this off to your team so you can work on the business, not in the business. The second thing that you should be focusing on when it comes to customer service training, is how to communicate in a way that reflects your brand values. You know, is your brand very formal? Is it very relaxed and casual? You need to create a. You have a brand voice and a brand personality that you want to carry to not only in your marketing materials that are online, but within your business. Within your business. And when people come into your place of business, they're met with that same energy that they saw and felt online. Now, one of the third things, and it's kind of two in one, is you need to think about how your team can go above and beyond in small and meaningful ways and how they can actively listen. Listening is a lost art. I can't tell you how many times I have been on the phone with a customer service representative or an admin for a business and I can tell that they're listening just to answer rather than listening to understand me and anticipating my needs. If we can train our employees to do that part, great, man. You have just unlocked making your clients feel seen and feel valued as a person. And that right there, my friend, is gold for your business growth. All right, so moving along, area three that we need to look at when we are wanting to leverage our team for business growth. And this one is so important and so, so, so overlooked. It's celebrating your team and building a culture that they actually want to show up for. Not a fake culture. I, I'm not talking about giving everybody shirts with the logo on. Half of the time the team doesn't even want to wear that swag. But really creating a feeling within the culture that people want to be a part of because it's just magnetic. And this really starts with casting the vision. But I've seen so many business owners who are so focused on goals and growth metrics that they forget that there's actual human beings behind those results. And they overlook the power and just the impact in making a person feel seen. And here's the thing is there is data. And importantly, and more importantly for faith led founders, there's scripture that tells us, you know, people perform their best when they feel seen, valued, and like they're part of. They're a part of something that is bigger than themselves. We as Christians and as faith led founders should make not only our customers, but our employees feel seen. And that can be hard. I, I get it. That can be hard to figure out how to do that while also having goals. So I want to be clear, because it's not about going soft on your goals or going soft on your expectations. You can absolutely have a high performance Culture, but also have a warm and people first culture. And that's what we should do. And that's what makes our business stand out and be a light in the marketplaces. We are creating that culture. And so they're not opposites. You know, having, having that high performance culture and that people first culture, those two things can actually coexist. And so the best leaders know that those two things can fuel each other. And that's what I've experienced, you know, in my time building and developing teams and cultures. So when your team feels celebrated, they'll actually show up with more energy, they're more creative, they're more willing to give their input and their ideas at team meetings. And they will go the extra mile, not because they have to or because they're scared to lose their job, but because they really want to. They become invested in your business because they feel invested in and they feel seen. So here's what that can practically look like. It can look like celebrating wins publicly. You know, just giving a simple shout out, walking down the hall and say, hey, Sarah, I saw that you, um, hit that KPI like great job this week. I saw you hustling hard, or hey Tony, I saw that you worked a little later last week to make sure things were prepped for this morning. Like, I appreciate that. Celebrate those small wins publicly and people kind of get a pep in their stuff and they like that and they'll go the extra mile more often because they, they're being noticed and recognized. The second thing that we can do, and it's easy, is just learn what makes each person feel valued. You know, there's personality tests out there, but if you just engage in conversation and getting to know your employees as a person, you're gonna find the little things that they like and then you can surprise them here and there with little, you know, gifts that just make them feel seen. You know, one thing when I early on stepped into a leadership role that I implemented was having a 30 minute one on one with every single one of my team members. And it wasn't a one on one to focus on goals and targets. It was a one on one to just check in on them as a person. How is your marriage going? How are your kids doing? Graduation is coming up. What's your plans and what, what are you guys going to do on vacation? Just getting to know my team as people. I had the best performing team when I did that, when I took time to remove the data, remove the KPIs from Converse, all of my conversations, instead of Part time to build a relationship. I learned, you know, one employee really liked iced coffee and it was her birthday. So we like to celebrate birthdays in our business. And we got her iced coffee and a little breakfast sandwich that she likes and she loved it and she felt so loved and appreciated. Those little things go further than you think. Now, the third thing that you know you can do, or I guess that practically what this practically looks like. I'm sorry, losing my train of thought here, is casting the vision consistently. So your team needs to consistently hear what that vision is. What is the reason and the why behind your vision as a business owner, you know, you. We know our vision, we know the things that we're moving through because it's our business, it's our baby, but it's not our, it's not for our employees. So we need to continuously cast that vision and remind them what we're working toward, why we're excited to build our business and hit our goals and to, you know, raise the bar a little higher every quarter. Cast that vision and your team is going to realize and that they're a part of something bigger than themselves and they're part of something meaningful and they're going to have that buy in and they're, they're not going to feel burned out because they're consistently being reminded of what their work is, is doing and what their work is moving towards. The fourth thing I want you to do is to set goals that stretch them. Because if you can find the things that your employees do really well and create a path for growth, a path to challenge them just a little bit as an individual, you're going to challenge them not only to succeed in your business, but to succeed as a individual and as. And as a worker to contribute as they grow their skills. Even if they want to leave your business and move on to bigger and better, you are a part of that. You were a part of equipping them with more skills, more growth, the capacity to hold and take on more so they could go on and do those bigger and better things. You know, I believe that we're not trying to hire employees and hang on to them, but I want employees to come through the business and really, if they want to leave better off, leave with more skills, leave with more knowledge and wisdom so they can go on and be successful for their families. So I think that it's really important as a leader that we figure out how to create a culture that feels good and allows, you know, just these conditions for people to thrive. When you can get all three of these things right, your business just becomes a growth engine. Now, remember, the three areas that you need to invest in to leverage your team as a growth strategy is you need to train them to carry the vision. You need to invest in customer service training. Because customer service is not just a lot, is not just natural. It's a skill that's developed. And then the third thing is you need to celebrate your team and build a culture that they want to show up for. So here's your takeaways from today's episode. Your team is not a line item. They are a growth engine. I want you to shift that perspective today. I really hope that I was able to paint the picture of just how important this is. And when you train them well, they carry your vision, and that gives you opportunity to breathe and to step out of constantly needing to carry the weight of everything. Because they begin to carry that weight, they are invested. And so when you invest in customer service, they grow your reputation. When you celebrate them and build a culture they love, they stay and they bring their best to your business. These things take. These things really do take intentionality. They take time. But the return on that investing is truly compounding. I have seen it time and time again. So this week, I want to challenge you. Pick one of these three areas and ask yourself, where am I under investing in my team? Is it training, customer service, or is it culture? I want you to start there and map out a plan of how you can invest more in your team in one of these areas. I hope that this was a blessing to you, and I look forward to seeing you guys in next week's episode. Bye.