48. Assuming Positive Intent with Steve Ott

Andre, Griff and Jeff are joined by Steve Ott from Ott Leadership to review our leadership development training from the past two winters, and talk about some major takeaway concepts: Assuming Positive Intent, Lead with the Why, and Feedback is Kind.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Loaded, the Han Radio Mix Podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, Jeff Hassel's here today.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

And producer Lex.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

How's it going?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Great.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

We are also joined by Steve Ott from Ott Leadership. How are you? I'm great. How are you all doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Full house.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Yes. This is the busiest we've ever had in the podcast room.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Dead of winter. There's nothing else for anyone to do. We're all here in the podcast room.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

It's a great podcast room, and uh Jeff has the most pink sweater I've ever seen, which is it's a very black podcast room, and all of a sudden, one hot pink sweater.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

We discussed this this morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

It's salmon. Oh, salmon? My wife says that uh summer, spring and summer colors are my color. She said I look good in it today. You look great.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

If she likes it, that's all we can hope for.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Yeah. Clearly they don't like it, and you think it's funny. I think it's great.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

I think it's great for it's it's a very like all the black padding in here, and then that it's you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

You should have sat in uh Grandma Lucy's purple chair. It would have been a better vibe match. You wouldn't be able to see me. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Uh what do we have for announcements today?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Uh I just had one brief thing, which was that we had a customer come through and do a plant and dispatch tour uh after a meeting uh earlier this week. And it really underscored for me, I think how valuable that exercise is. So if anybody's talking to customers, feel free to invite them, extend that um opportunity for them to come and and see our operation. I think it really helps when they understand what we do on our side of the fence to make you know cooperation and collaboration better. Um so yeah, for any of anybody interacting with customers, uh if they seem like they would be interested in that, um reach out and offer it.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I didn't see anyone touring my office. Where was I? Or did you skip that on the tour?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Probably just not at work like usual.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

That's not true. That's not true. I have a couple things. None of these are new things, I don't think. Uh we talked about it's it's kind of cold out. Did you notice?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I I'm aware. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, it's cold. You know what happens when it's this cold?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Uh you get really into uh performance improvement.

unknown 2:23

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

We have been really focused on performance improvement. But what I was uh referring to was how when it gets this cold, water freezes. Water in trucks, water in tanks, water in water.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

It expands by nine percent. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So I know there's at least one truck in the shop right now with a water tank totally full and frozen because we failed to empty it properly. So just a reminder to everyone every day in the winter.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yes, drain everything.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Lose the water. And again, there's cars parked over across the street along the fence line, right in the line of fire for mixers to run into them. We have had at least two personal vehicles damaged by mixers in our lot, and that is why we have the rule about not parking over there. So it's for your own protection. I want your cars to go home with you safely.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Do not leave them in the way.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Much like you, we want your cars to go home in the manner that they came before. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

The safest place is far away from the mixer truck.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah. All right. Should we dive into it? Let's do it. Great. Well, see, so uh a little clarification for everybody. I I made a list of questions for Steve and I sent it over to him.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

And um, did you make them or did you plug in his uh material and put it into chat GPT and it made the questions for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Definitely the latter. Um so I I I did that and I I sent it to Steve, and I was uh it was conspicuous by his non-response that I was like, ooh, he must not like these questions. So he came in and he's like, Well, uh, those questions are kind of formal.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Well, what actually would give it away, uh, and I said, there's a lot of questions for the length of podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

He does this every time, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Every time there's there's a thousand questions for that 12. I normally shoot for 12.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

There's 12 questions and there's no room for anyone else to comment.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Perfect. Okay. Well, I so so Steve says, why don't I just interview you or us, right? And uh I think that is a great idea. So we're we're off the rails here and going. But let's start, let's, you know, uh, our our management team worked with you over the last couple of winters on two different phases of leadership development training, um, which I think was wildly beneficial for us. But for everybody that didn't work with you, why don't you introduce yourself and and what you do and and maybe some the concepts of what leadership development actually is?

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Sure. Uh so my name is Steve Ott, um, with Ott Leadership, and I work with mission-driven organizations to build stronger organizations that make a bigger impact. And to me, um leadership development, when you think about people growing into leadership, um actually, this is something that I've learned and realized in the last year or so. Very few people would say, Yep, I'm a leader. But yet the organization themselves will say, Yeah, we have a whole leadership team, a whole group of leaders. And so what I find happens over and over again is people who are great individual contributors are promoted because they're great workers into leadership roles, but no one tells them, hey, you're in charge now to lead all these individual contributors. So what happens there is those people are left on an island to figure it out. And it's frustrating and it feels defeating. So what I like to do, and what I my my heart is for leaders, is to help people really embrace their identity as leaders, help them recognize that you have a crucial role in making a big impact in this business. And uh, if we can equip you to do that, um that that's that's what I want to see. So to me, um everyone has a boss story. Yeah. And when you're sitting around, I think like we just got done with Christmas and New Year's, uh, when you're sitting around with family and friends and you're talking about work, inevitably it goes to uh what's it like at work? And if you get deep enough, you end up talking about what's your boss like? And you'll have some people say, Oh, I love my boss. They're they're they're encouraging, they're giving me opportunities, they're coaching me up, and I'll I'll never forget this person. Or you'll have a boss.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Does somebody work for somebody like that?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Where's that job?

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Yeah, uh, it's not anyone here, but um I I hear those every once in a while. But you also have people say, I have a terrible boss. And they'll say, This person is is um is is cruel, this person is selfish, they never give me opportunities, they never coach me, I'll never give me feedback. They'll say, I never for I'll never forget that person. And to me, um like if you're a leader, someone's telling that story about you, either in that really positive way or really negative way. And to me, what I want for the leaders I work with is for their people to tell a great story about them. Not because I want to like stroke your ego or make you feel good, or because we don't want like gossip or anything like that. It's because if your employees are telling great stories about you, that means that you have made a big impact and you're doing great things as a leader and as an organization. And if if they're winning, you're winning and everybody else is winning. So uh that's kind of maybe a long-winded way of saying that's what I care about.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

When no, that makes a ton of sense. And if and if those people are saying positive things about um their supervisor, their boss, then they're they're more likely to be engaged and more impactful themselves, right? Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Yeah. We want to see uh when when someone is um is coming to work, they're deciding, do I want to give more of more effort, more of myself to the work I'm doing? Uh we pay people for completing the tasks in the job description. We don't pay for people's uh engagement, for their uh emotional commitment, their psychological commitment. We don't pay for that. So as leaders, we can draw that out. And if we can draw that out in people, you're gonna see more productivity, um, more people excited about the work they're doing. You'll see less less incidents, less, less uh frustration, a better, healthier culture, all those things that we all crave. And I think that's the the big task of leaders is to draw those pieces out. I love it. All right. Let's start what do you what questions? If you're a leader, well, so when when I came in and you you showed me your AI generated questions, which are great, by the way, we can talk about some of those for sure. I asked you, like, what do you actually want to get out of this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

And what was the main thing you said? Uh so two things. I think the first is for those of us that went through your programs, just kind of sparking the memory of the concepts that that really hit home that we kind of all committed to at that time. Sure. And making sure that you're just kind of a reminder that they're front of mind, you know, bringing them back to the front of the mind. Yeah. And then second thing was some of those concepts we talked about, I'm sure that um people that didn't go through your program have heard them and and they don't have the context or the the definition maybe of what it is we're specifically talking about, unless it's been we've really sat down and taken time to talk through that. Um, so yeah, so I'd like to just cover some of some of those things and and um I don't know, and wherever else you want to take us.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

Absolutely. Um I do have lots of concrete opinions, so you guys haven't asked me that yet, but that's okay. Um here's the first question I have for you all. When someone decides to invest in like leadership development and bringing somebody in, there's always an inflection point that says the pain we're experiencing or the desires we have uh are great enough that we should interrupt what we're doing and invest time in this. Uh, what was that inflection point for you all? Like, what was the thing that said, you know what, we need to uh go all in on this to help us get to where we want to go?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

What was that for you? Jeff, why don't you answer that? Because it was your idea to do leadership development training. I thought that was coming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Well, I think that uh at my previous employer, I was pushing to do leadership training. Uh I had met you uh through Empowering Abilities, and I just felt selfishly like it was a good way to help improve me. But I also thought, wow, it could really have an impact with everybody as you watch people lead and as you watch people do the things that they do daily. We all could use a little bit of work. And so I don't know if there was one thing, but when I got here, what you all did present was an openness to learning, an openness to change, uh, a the willingness to look in the mirror and say, yeah, we could we could all use some improvement. And one of the things that you said to me when I don't know if this was in the interview or I don't really remember, but it's about you being new as the president of the company and wanting us to have input on your leadership and what you do. And I thought, what better way than to bring somebody in to help us with that? Because that's sort of a hard conversation to have. And so I think that opened doors to be able to help us, Andrea and I talk to you about that, but also have somebody that does this for a living talk to you about that. And I think that was just helpful for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Another thing I can remember we were struggling with at the time was it kind of felt like we were good at or it was easy for us to manage poor performers, of which we did not have very many, right? We had a lot of really good people, and we were struggling with how to lead them to be even better than they already are. And that was one of the key things that we talked about.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Absolutely. What about you, Griffin? What was when you think about when we first started working together, what was your heart and maybe vision for the end result of why we we would do leadership development together?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I thought there were marginal gains that we could make on our internal cooperation for sure, between departments, between individuals where we could strengthen relationships and and just kind of have a rule book for how we engage with each other. Sure. And and uh from that came a lot of our values, right? That we we we spent a lot of time talking with you about values and you helped us kind of refine that into something that makes sense. And um, so I I that was that was one of the the major things in my mind was if we could cooperate better, what what more could we achieve?

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Yeah, absolutely. What have you noticed since working together from especially those who worked with me? Uh, I tell you what, I I I actually brag about you all to other clients and talking about our experience because um when we first started working together, you had these big, tough, giant dudes coming in, stomping around with their muddy boots. And I'm thinking, what is this gonna be like? Are people gonna want to talk? Because when we start talking about leadership development, it's not just skills training. I'm not, I'm actually less interested in learning new skills and so much as people embracing the identity and role of leader. I and that idea is that I want to help people win. That's that's my role as a leader. Like, how can I help my team win every day? Uh, and so like talking about what that means from a role perspective and seeing yourself differently, man, that that could have gone poorly for a team of people who are used to like, let me get out there and work and make it happen. Um, I think that that is something that stepping into that was like, I'm not sure what this is gonna be like. And actually, your team probably invested more than any other team I've ever worked with. Like they were, they were uh, they're like, they were all in with anything I asked them to do, anything I asked them to talk about, they were vulnerable, they were honest, they they dealt with issues they may have had with each other. Uh, it really was something that uh it surprised me, but in a way that was also like delightful. Like it was truly like wow, like cool things are happening here. And I always walked away. I think I would get like goosebumps during sessions at times. It was just like it was super, like it was crazy, but that was the work that your team was doing. And so there was a real hunger for that. So I'm just curious, like when you like envision this company as a result of that, yeah, like what was your dream for that? Like, what's what did you want to see?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

I have thought for a long time that we have people with a ton of potential and a ton of desire to be great. And you know, it's hard, it's hard to put into words the right way, but um there's so much that happens in our industry that's outside of our ability to change, right? So we get hung up on it's raining today, or our customer did something to you know to us that made it today an impossibility and all that. Um so having the kind of things that we can work on that are within our control, um I think is powerful and it helped us focus on the things that where we can make marginal gains rather than focus on the things that we can't really change, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Well, Andrea, what was your like vision for like what we want to see happen as a result of this?

SPEAKER_00 15:43

I when you asked this question, I was thinking back to just a a review we had today where we're talking to someone about how we have so much cooperation now that was not the way it was when we before we started leadership development. Now maybe we've corrected too far where we know each other so well and we can anticipate uh reactions, and so we're not having the healthy kind of conflict that we should. So I've been pushing people towards that a little bit here recently. But I think that was our desire at the time was to get everybody to open up and talk about our frustrations and learn how to communicate better with each other and and get better as a group. And I think it really was effective for that.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah. I think that's half the battle, right? We are we're doing things, we're producing a product and we're serving customers, but we aren't robots. Like we're real people and with real ideas, real thoughts, real feelings and emotions. And this is not to be like now we're all gonna hold hands and sing songs together, but rather, like it's real life and we're gonna have conflict. And instead of seeing it as something that's gonna be a detriment to us and something we shouldn't run away from and shy away from, rather, like let's lean into it and recognize that that's a natural part of relationships. And if you are a leader, if you're an employee, you're likely trying hard. Like you want to do a good job. Like that's something that is important to you. You have pride about that. So if a bunch of people are trying to do a great job, you're naturally gonna cause conflict and run into each other. So from a leadership perspective, it's not shying away from that, but rather uh being able to navigate through that and help people recognize that, yeah, we we we all are pulling in the same direction. Let's make sure we stay that way and let's deal with conflict when it shows, let's let's have those arguments when we have to and focus more on reconciliation in the long run. So yeah, I saw that working with your crew. Like that's there was a desire there. Instead of uh maybe like just being on the surface and saying fun platitudes and like distracting, they actually went into the hard conversations and actually worked it out. And you saw some even relationships change over the course of my time with you. And I was that was really cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah. I definitely think one of the concepts that we regurgitate over and over again, regurgitate in a positive way, uh, is uh is assuming positive intent. So I can't tell you how many times that Andrea or I um have been in a conversation where there's been some kind of conflict. And it's been that there's there's, you know, maybe natural friction between two roles because they have different things they're advocating for, different people they're advocating for, um different experiences or or worldviews or whatever, but their their roles may dictate that they look at things very different from someone else. And so they have this this conflict. And and so that's constantly what we're saying. Assume that the other person is has a positive intent, is once the right thing for this organization, and they're just coming from a different lens than you are. And once you have that understanding mutually from both sides that that, okay, the they want the best for Han ready mix, and I want the best for Han ready mix. And what we think the best is might not be this, you know, the same, but there's a way to compromise or or understand each other in a way that we can have productive resolution to that conflict. And so I think that that has been over and over a concept that we have brought back up. And it is, I I really enjoy that we we didn't have a term for it before then, but we we kind of conceptually talk about that idea a little bit once in a while. And it was it it didn't have an impact. But since your uh since with the the sessions we did with you, if we say, if we say assume positive intent, and it immediately someone that hasn't been doing that just goes, Yeah, you're right. You know, it you can just like it, it's it it's immediate breakthrough, right? And it makes a difference. And um so yeah, that so if if any of our people that haven't gone through your training or listening to this, that's if you hear that phrase, that's one of the things that I think we really took away from it is I frankly, it if someone doesn't have positive intent and is not trying to do the rest for Honda Radio Mix, they probably shouldn't be here. So if if you're being coached um by a manager or or a peer or anything else, it's that they want you to be successful and they they want you to see um what maybe you can't see from your perspective, but that um that that the other side of that conflict is probably trying to do what's right for Han ReadyMix too. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Well, here's the thing with like assuming positive intent, it's actually not even really a leadership thing. We talked about it in in the in this in the scope of leadership development. But if you're listening to this and you're not maybe a leader formally or you're you're you're a frontline employee here. This is actually for you too. And the idea here is that assuming positive intent is a mental exercise for yourself to break through essentially the monologue that we start telling ourselves, right? When you're frustrated with somebody or you're you're annoyed with what's happening, or someone makes a decision, we start like that internal dialogue or that internal track plays in our mind that says, Oh, they're doing this on purpose. I've I've seen Lex sit there. Lex was sitting in the corner of the room, like squatting down. Doing yoga. He was doing amazing. And I'm assuming he's it looks like he was pooping a little bit, but um for those who are listening, it's it was exactly what you thought it looked like. Anyways, um the assuming positive intent is it's interrupting that thought that we have that somebody is out to get me. And what I'm experiencing right now is it's real. It's it's this this person is on purpose trying to ruin my life. And you think about it, since Jeff Hassel, we haven't hired any comic book villains. Like it's it. Like this is I'm just kidding. Our last one. Jeff, Jeff was the last one.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yeah. But we we we we typically don't hire evildoers in that in that capacity. So the people we work with are trying to do a good job. And assuming positive intent is a mental exercise that says if that is true. What else could this situation mean? Right. And it allows you to have some flexibility emotionally and mentally to go, maybe this, what I'm thinking isn't how it should be. So actually, what you can say is normally this should go really well. And the fact that it isn't means that something has gone wrong. Not that this person doesn't like me or doesn't or hates me or is out to get me. It just means that this isn't normal. So it allows us to be curious, not judgmental and say, this is exactly what's happening. They're out to get me. So I've judged jury execution, but rather I can be curious and say, why is it happening this way? And I'm going to pursue, like, I'm going to ask questions and invite this person, hey, this is what I noticed is going on. Um help me understand. And it's not me face to face, like combative. It's me shoulder to shoulder saying, we're on the same team and this doesn't make sense to me, and I want to understand. And it opens up dialogue and it allows people to start solving problems quickly. So when we we talk about assuming positive intent, uh, it's something that allows you to diffuse situations and diffuse what you feel inside quickly and actually allow you to get to the result we want to see, which is solving the problem. That's the end of the result that we want to get to, not being right or winning. Just hang with me, competitive folks. It's not about winning. Uh, I saw lots of eyes roll immediately. Um we have lots of competitive folks in this room, not going to name names, but it's not to just simply win, but it's to solve the problem together. And if you are able to go shoulder to shoulder and be curious and stay curious, it allows you to actually get to that resolution faster. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Did you just quote Ted Lasso? I feel like I watched the episode of Ted Lasso. Yeah. Yeah. I think it might have been Walt Whitman. I'd have to think about the the quote from the show, but yes. Yeah. Be curious, not judgmental.

unknown 23:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

I mean, maybe he's quoting me. He stole it from me potentially.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Could be. Could be.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

You and Walt seem like you're back the same Michael Scott office thing where there's like multiple layers of the quote. Uh when you're asking Michael Scott.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. I mean, I feel like uh is there any conflict that ever happens here at Han? Oh, yeah. That's a joke. Yeah. It happens, right? Yeah. Of course. So if we can be mentally ready for those things and know that conflict will come because we're trying hard, then we have a duty, I think, as employees and as members of the same team to do our part to assume positive intent. Yeah. So I'm curious, what else comes up? Like what other what other things are you talking about as leaders that that are top of mind for you all?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

An another com common one that we talk about is I I think we're actually we were decent at it before, but it helped to kind of codify that this is what we do was lead with the why. That was one of the concepts we discovered, we talked about. And um we really tried to do that. I think we're an extraordinarily transparent organization. And uh I think the the the four of us in here all deeply believe in that and um want to make sure that everyone feels like they're in the know and they understand why they're doing being doing the things they're be asked to do, right? And so that that one resonates with me for sure, and I think that it's something we keep top of mind.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, even in the announcements today about where we park our cars, like it's not a rule for no reason. We we don't want to damage anyone's car.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Sure. Yeah, that's important. Yes, is my is my car parked over there? Are you gonna move my car? Uh what what how has that changed? Like when it's a it's a simple concept sharing the why. Um the idea there is connecting tasks to purpose, right? Um, you're all doing meaningful things. And if we can connect that, what you're doing today with a bigger purpose, a bigger goal, a bigger strategy, um, it allows us to recognize that we're not just wasting time here or um uh you know doing meaningless things, but actually it's meaningful. And if you don't show up and do it, it's gonna hurt us. As you've been sharing the why and doing that more, what have you noticed uh with the team or with people? How's what's the response been like?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Well, you know, I think this whole podcast is is leading with the why, right? I think that this whole this whole thing is about how do we reach our people in a way that we can't just physically and tell them why we want to do the things we do. So we talk about processes on here, we talk about our values, um, we've we've talked to a ton of vendors and all those things because we want everyone to get a an understanding of the whole picture of the organization. And so I I think that drives engagement. I think that um you know, I I could see it helping with turnover and it can help with um you know, just people caring. I think that's the most the the biggest deal is is really being invested in not just their own success, but the whole organization's success.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah, I think we have a management team that has a ton of experience, which is great most of the time, but they've been doing things a certain way for so long that they may have forgotten why they're doing it, or they might not even remember that other people don't know why we do it that way. So asking that question three or four times to get to the real basic root of the reason why we do something and using that to teach people how we do things has been a big difference.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

Yeah, I think that when you are considering the longevity of of people who have worked here, uh and you have a lot of people who've worked here for a long time, they have forgotten more than some people know, right? Yeah. So sharing the why feels cumbersome to them because like I, of course, I know why. This makes sense, but they've skipped over 15 steps in their brain strategically to get to where they're at. But you have people coming on board who are starting new and they want to learn. They want to understand this. And if you think about how long we want Han Ready Mix to last, it's not till the end of the year or the next five years. Hopefully, we want it to last forever, right? There's always going to be a need in the community for this. So to me, we're always thinking about that next group and crop of employees coming in. And I like to think about like this who's the next 30-year person? Like the next 30-year person maybe has only worked here for one year. Yeah. And that's who we share the why with. Like if you're a driver, if you're whoever you're working at, like the people who are just joining your team, they're learning and they're they're soaking it in and absorbing it. And they could be that next 30, 40-year person for us. So sharing the why allows us to actually bring their knowledge up to speed and help them become more successful faster. And it makes us a stronger team in the long run. So to me, like it, it, yes, it feels cumbersome for those who know the why and have maybe shared it a million times, but for the person who doesn't know what that is yet or understands why you shouldn't have water in your tank right now, like that's important. Like, let's teach people, let's help them get up to speed. They'll feel more connected, we'll be more successful, we'll serve customers better, and it'll make this place last longer.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

One of our other favorite topics from leadership development was the idea that feedback is kind. And we are just going through our review process here. And uh Griffin, funny enough, referenced himself as the good cop in the review and referenced me as the bad cop in the review.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

All right. Is that inaccurate?

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I think he needs a refresher training about how important and kind feedback is.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, absolutely. So uh in leadership, uh, yeah, Griffin, you yeah, that's not fair.

unknown 29:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Andrea is doing the best she can, and casting her as a bad cop is not the way we want to go here. Um I was trying to give her a compliment. I thought she would enjoy that. But no, no, no. She's doing, she's kicking butt, like she's always good cop in my book.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

He actually like karate chopped down the hallway to demonstrate my review process.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

That's a fact. He came to my office and was karate chopping, and I thought, what are you doing? He said, She's on fire. She's doing great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

See? There you go. Yeah. Amazing. So feedback is kind, accountability is the kindest thing we can offer somebody. Here's the idea: in leadership, there shouldn't be a good cop, bad cop. Right? It's not one day I'm really nice to you, and then when you mess up, I'm gonna be really mean to you. Uh in reality, as so I teach trans special leadership. The idea there is um I want to be proactive and building employee engagement by meeting intrinsic needs in a way that drives success for everybody. The idea here is that it doesn't have to be like it's not a zero-sum game where somebody has to lose at work. And if that's true, then yeah, that's you see environments where the employee loses. The business has to win and everybody else has to suffer for that. Um, the employee gets burned out, used up like a number, um, leader gets burned out and frustrated and leaves, but the business makes their profit, so we win, right? It doesn't have to be that way. Because what happens here is if you have the mentality that I want my employees to win every day, because if my employees win, then I win as a leader. And if both of us are winning, that means the business is winning. And if all three of us are winning, that means we're doing the right things and customers are winning. So to me, um, there is no good cop, bad cop. If my focus is help my employees win today, then if they are not winning, they are performing poorly, they're they're not making an impact, they're causing issues in our culture. How cruel would I have to be as a leader to go, my team, my employee is not winning, and I'm not gonna say anything because it's hard to have that conversation. To me, that's that's cruel. That's that's that's not kind to say I but uh but to say I want you to win, so I'm gonna have this hard conversation to get you back on track because I want you to have it meaningful work here and be a part of this team to keep your job, to keep going here, right? That to me is kind. That's why in in the transmission leader framework, accountability is one of the kindest things you can offer somebody because if you see someone struggling and you know how to fix it, go and say something. Like go have that conversation, right? And if the mindset is I want you to get back to winning, of course, it's always, and it doesn't mean it's easy to hear, but in the long run, it's it's super kind because of what is possible when it comes to work and how you are going to show up and perform. So that's why I always call it it's it's one of the kindest things we can offer. Um, if you can get your mind right as a leader, go and have the conversation. Here's a good question for you. In this room, how many of you have had someone share really hard feedback or hold you accountable or even given you negative feedback and it changed your life for the positive? I think probably all of us. All of us.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

And we just we just did it two weeks ago for each other. We all brought to the table that wasn't needed to work for it. Life changing, but no, but it is uh it's um a good example of how it's ongoing. Like, even though we work together every day and we give each other feedback every day, like taking a moment to really think about it and say, you know what, if they worked on this, they would be even better. And I think that's the message I hope people hear from this whole podcast today is the feedback that we're bringing to everyone is truly to make them better. Like it it's tough sometimes when we get a you know outrageous request from a customer or a complaint from a customer. We always tell the people, even if we know, you know, this was this was blown way out of proportion, we always talk to the driver or whoever and let them know what happened because that's the only way they can get better. If they don't know what happened, they are walking into it next time behind the eight-ball. So we're always always giving people the feedback.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Yeah. And I I've asked that question a lot, and in almost every room, almost everyone raises their hand and said, I've had negative feedback change my life. So think of it like a gift. And if we think that that could change someone's life for the positive, and we withhold that, that's cruel. Right. So we we cannot decide for somebody else this is gonna be negative feedback. All it is is information. It's it's helpful information for you to get better at your job. And if we can take that mentality and to bring it full circle, if we can assume positive intent and hear that feedback in in a way that's constructive and though this person wants the best for me, that's gonna change how it feels around here. Right? I imagine a Han ready mix where a leader is giving feedback, an employee is listening with an like with a positive intent, and everyone's getting better because of that. And it improves the culture, it improves teamwork, it improves productivity and makes things better around here. Um, that's that's the goal. That's what we want to see. Now, will a leader always give great feedback? No. Will we always hear things with a positive intent mentality? No. But that's where we go back to the drawing board and say, we can remember, we're in this together, let's fix it and go back and try again. So yeah, I I think it's a it's a big topic of of assuming positive intent and receiving feedback and accountability with uh as kindness. Um, but I think it's a big game changer when I think about helping people win uh through leadership. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Great. Well, we are at probably this is by far our longest podcast, which is great. I'd there's nobody I'd rather do it with. Uh so I did have one question from Sam, I think asked it. Uh and uh he wanted us to ask it real quick on here. And the question I think was about the the impact you had on all of us and and how much you rubbed off on all of us. And we're curious um how much we rubbed off on you and how many times a day do you swear now versus before you listen?

SPEAKER_03 36:15

I have caught myself several times in session with other people uh in in settings where swearing would not be uh encouraged. I will say something and I'll go, oh yeah, it's just it's just there. And uh yeah, so you have definitely rubbed up for me. Um, success. Yeah, it's it's you I I I do think about you all every time it happens. Uh I roll that dice and go, you know what? It'd be totally okay at Han. So it's gonna be okay everywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

We feel like we wore you down over a couple of seasons. We we're like, all right, we get we got them loosened up a little bit. Good. Absolutely. So awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on here. This was a great discussion, and um I I hope it's um interesting and informative for all of our folks. And um, yeah, we really appreciate seeing you anytime. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Thanks for having me, and and good luck to you all. You guys are doing great work, and um I love seeing you guys out driving around. And please don't hit my van when you're in your trucks. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Just don't park close.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

Don't park close and don't hit me when you're driving around.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

All right, thanks for listening, everyone. We'll be back next week.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

Thanks.