The Business & Pleasure of Flowers

"The Retention Revolution": Key Takeaways and Tips from the Book

Episode 206

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0:00 | 37:25

Episode 206: In this episode, Vonda and Lori discuss the book, "The Retention Revolution: 7 Surprising (and Very Human!) Ways to Keep Employees Connected to Your Company" by Erica Keswin. They highlight some of the key points from the book and relate them to their experiences in the floral industry.

Listeners can expect to gain a few good tips on how to keep employees engaged and connected to their organization. Join Vonda and Lori as they share their thoughts and insights on the "Retention Revolution."

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

SPEAKER_02

About like dress or tattoos, like you can't do this, you can't do that, except, you know, of course don't wear booty shorts to work.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_02

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Good morning, Vonda. Hey, Lori, how's it going today? It's going pretty well. I want to share something with you about last week. And this is the pleasure side of our podcast, the business of pleasure of flowers. This has nothing to do with the pleasure of flowers, but has to do with the pleasure of life. Let's just call it. Okay, I like it. I like that. And it's kind of the pleasure of Flower Click because my job title director of community of Flower Click, right? Community. So community being the keyword. So last week was my dad's 89th birthday. So he turned to 89. Almost the big nine-zero. And you know, he's lives in my hometown, little small town in Oklahoma, and I couldn't be with him, which is okay. And you know, he has Alzheimer's. And it is slow progressing, but he's got dementia. He doesn't have short-term memory, is part of his thing. Anyway, he lives in like an assisted living place, as you know. Before he moved into this place when he was driving, before he was diagnosed with all this, after my mother passed away. He used to go to this little bar called the Hitchin Post. I've told you about it. Just this little tiny little bar. Yes, little place. These were all of his friends. And girl I grew up with in high school, Robin, wonderful girl. She's the bartender there. She does afternoon, she never does evening. Like after six o'clock, she's gone. She likes the daytime. So my dad would go there from like four to five almost every day. Actually, about 3:30 to 4:30, because he didn't want to get in the five o'clock traffic in my tiny little town. Anyway, these were his friends. So I'm trying to set this stage for you.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, the picture is pictures.

SPEAKER_02

The picture is set. So fast forward to this last year. He's not in a memory care facility. He's in an independent living, but we have a nurse. So he he can leave, but he doesn't have a car, so he can't go anywhere. However, the people from this bar, a few men, will take turns. And on Wednesday afternoons, one of them will come by and just pick him up around 3:30, 3 o'clock, and drive him over there for an hour, one hour, and have a beer. He only drinks a beer. He used to drink two, now it's just one because he's full. It's about all he can do. And then they take him home, he has a nap, and then he goes down for dinner. So that's missing. Well, okay, love it. Last week I get a Facebook message from Robin, the bartender. So she has always keeps me posted on him, and she always lets me know. I never let your dad have more than two beers. He's fine. You know, she sends me. Oh gosh, it made me cry. She sends me all of these pictures, and she says, We had a surprise birthday party for your dad. Oh Lori. She said, look at these pictures. I could not believe it. I'm telling you, you talk about the land of the misfits. Like you, just these beautiful characters of all shapes and sizes in this tiny little bar in this tiny little town. And the thing is, in every picture, my dad is smiling and he doesn't smile anymore. Like when even when I go to visit, like he smiles for a second, and then you know, we're back watching Bonanza. Like that's it. In every single picture, he was smiling. And as I'm looking through them, I am coming back to my job, I promise. I am thinking to myself, this is community. This is his community. This is where he feels most loved. And these and safe. And all of these people from all walks of life. And I've been to the bar with him because when I come to town, you know, I've told you about it, it's hilarious, and I'm so out of my element there. But I've sat there and I've had conversations with these people, and I've heard some of their stories, and you just I'm in awe, you know, like the guy that's younger than me, and he was right there in these pictures. I'm like, he's there every single day, and he's a veteran, you know, and he was in two deployments in Iraq, and it I get it. I get, you know, and after hearing his stories, right? I'm like, that's my dad's community, that's what gives him life. Love that anyway. It's beautiful. And I wrote back to her and I was like, you do know you have a bar ministry, like that's what you have.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_02

That's what you do. And she was like, You're making me cry, but yes, I do. She goes, I truly feel that. These are my people. She said, I love them with all of my heart. She brought cupcakes and cookies. Oh, and Vonda, you know how my dad always, when he leaves people, he says, Don't take any wooden nickels.

SPEAKER_01

Like that's to say, they all had wooden nickels. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02

They gave him one, and each wooden nickel represents one free beer, is what they told him. So he's gonna die before he finishes all those because he only gets one every time he goes.

SPEAKER_00

So now he has all of these wooden. Oh, isn't that fashion? Oh my gosh. Lauren, you're gonna have to post a picture or two in our um Facebook group.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I will.

SPEAKER_02

But anyway, I just like that. Is pure love and community.

SPEAKER_01

And anyway, it just made me just made me. It has nothing to do with what we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_00

It has everything to do with community and safe space, though, which is what we have in Flower Click, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it really did, and that's what it was reminding me of, you know, and talking to a couple of our members last week and some stuff they're going through. I was like, it's it's that same feeling of I will do anything to help you, like to try to make you feel better in this moment. Anyway, I don't know. It was thank you. I was so surprised. It was so great. I didn't even know they knew it was his birthday, like I had no idea. Heck, he didn't even remember it was his birthday.

SPEAKER_01

So well, somebody remembered. Somebody remembered. I don't know. I know. So anyway. All right, as my dad would say, I'm gonna switch horses on you now. Okay, okay, when we're switch those horses, talk about something else.

SPEAKER_00

So all right, it's book review time, Vonda. I know you sent this to me and you said, Hey, let's look at this and see if we think we should buy this book. Isn't that what you were wondering?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, because I will confess, you know, I am an addict. I'm a book addict. I I buy way too many books, and so I'm trying to decide whether to buy this one or not. And so it is called The Retention Revolution. And I was really curious, it's by Erica Kesswen, and I think this is her third book. She's written a handful of workplace type books, and uh it's basically seven surprising and very human ways to keep employees connected to your company, which was intriguing since I feel like the last month all I have been doing is adding people to sales prep school or removing people from sales prep school, pulling progress reports for our members to see if their employees even did the training. Like this has been ongoing. I've probably done at least 25 to 30 progress reports in the last two weeks.

SPEAKER_00

In the last two months, and this is on the top of your mind because you sent me this TikTok just last week on the business vibes and what's going on and why this kind of thing is happening. So this has really been on the top of your mind, and so it was not a surprise when you sent this, and you're like, let's talk about this because there's a lot going on as far as employees and leaving, and how can we keep them? So let's do an overview of this. Where do you want to start, Lori?

SPEAKER_02

Well, so I first and foremost, neither of us have read the book. I started reading papers or blogs about the book, which, as you and I both know, you can get a ton of information just that way, right? So I pulled a lot of information and I thought we would just kind of start there and talk through the bullet points about the book and see how it might apply. It really talks about the seven steps, and then I'm assuming the book goes into more deep dive. I think for our listeners, the book will probably be pretty corporate-you know. Our language we're gonna use. And so that's my only hesitation to even deep diving into the book. So we're taking those seven steps and only looking at him in our industry, right?

SPEAKER_00

We're gonna buy him to the floral industry because that's that's that's our audience.

SPEAKER_02

Right, that's who we are. So the first one there's an invisible person at my door. I don't know why, but Bo doesn't like it.

SPEAKER_00

Mm-hmm. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02

With a little chirping in the back. Every once in a while, he's just gonna yell to get out. Okay. So anyway, okay, number one takeaway from the book is onboarding matters, which we know, we talk about that, but make it the beginning of your new employee's job, not just an administrative drill that they have to check off or that you have to check off, like if you're the manager slash HR person.

SPEAKER_00

Right. You want to set them up for success. You don't want to just like, okay, like we were doing this week, right? Oh, they have a new email address, they have a new process they need to go through. So the administrative thing is one. But what is it that you need to do to set them up for success for the position you're putting them in?

SPEAKER_02

Right. And make it inclusive from the get-go, right? Mm-hmm. That's right. That's the thing. I think walking into the business the very first week is probably the scariest feeling, especially the younger you are, you know, if it's maybe your first job or second job. And in this industry, it very well could be you're going on your second or third job. You might be, you know, younger or part-time. The quicker you can submerge that person in to the rest of the team and get them integrated and onboarded, the better.

SPEAKER_00

The quicker. Well, I think in a flower shop, it's it's like a family. You know, it is not just like, oh, these people all work here. I mean, in my case, let me just go to that. We were all family. So when a new person came in, if they felt like they were outcast or not part of that circle, right, they're not gonna stay, right? So, as you're saying, what can you do to make them feel more included in everything that's going on? And I think that's everybody reaching out and saying, hey, welcome, you know, let me know what I can do to help you as well. And so it's not just always the steps of what they need to do to be successful in their position, but it's what everybody else needs to do to include them in the culture of the shop, which we've talked about many times before.

SPEAKER_02

Right, right. And I I think back, and I know we've said this before, as a matter of fact, we've had Cameron Pappas on here from Norton's Flowers, and he talks about when he is interviewing someone or even getting ready to hire them, right behind him on the wall are his vision statements, are his goal, like everything about what his company is about, you know, his moral, everything. So if they don't like it or agree with it, that is the time for them to jump ship, like get all that out there, right? You know, so there's no surprises, they don't have to agree with it, but they have to know up front this is what I base my life and my business around. Can you work with that? Right, you don't have to do it, but you have to comply with it while you're here.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. It kind of goes to that TikTok that you had, is that now job positions are not just a job, they are kind of that lifestyle. Yeah, yeah. That just like hit us in the head because it was really talking about how you know, young people when they're coming into a position now, yes, it's about now. Do I have to agree with their religious political politics, their religion, their everything? Everything, and it's it's tough because it is that's what they believe they need to believe in the same thing that is going on in your shop, and they don't have to. Yeah, they don't, yeah, you have to be able to respect them for what they're believing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's so interesting because I've had that conversation with my three adult children before, too, about you know, we've gone through life. Like, I've walked in, shopped at a store that be there's probably people on the board of Dillard's department store that I might not agree with, some of their politics. I don't know. Like, am I really going to go down these like that's a lot of brain space and energy to keep going in there? But it's your choice, right? Yes, so but but these are things you don't you don't have to always let's let's go back to what our grandma did pick and choose, be real mindful on these things, but just be aware.

SPEAKER_00

But and we'll have to take a little sidestep there. My dad didn't let us do business with anybody that didn't do business with us. Well, that's true. Yeah, no, we don't go there because they don't do business. Yeah, yeah. They don't like me, I don't like them. That's true. That's true. Well, that's why we have to step back from what we were brought up with. Yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Like, okay, yeah, we have no, that's very true. We've you and I have talked about that. We have it's unlearning we've had to do sometimes. My kids do, and their kids are gonna have to have it, and it all goes around.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, what's the next one, Vonda? Forget about micromanagement, right? What it's saying about flexibility. Well, you really do have to have the person there at that job at the certain time. But when I talk about micromanagement, what comes into my mind for flower shops is, and we've talked about it before. Here's how you wash the bucket, this is the way it's done. The end process needs to be that. If in between you find a different way to do it, as long as the bucket's clean and sanitized at the end, it's okay. So the forget about micromanaging every step. No, no, no, no, that's not how I showed you to do that. No, no, yeah. You know, that's not how I ask you to do that design. As long as all the process is there. I mean, from one, how they get started and the end product is what you need in your business, you don't have to micromanage the in-between.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. You don't have to micromanage at all. You can be flexible. I also think, because he said, you know, don't micromanage and be flexible. And again, she's talking more from a corporate level, but if you're a brick and mortar retail flower shop, you can't just work from home. That's not flexible working. But what you can do is when you have great employees that work hard for you and they need flexibility in their schedule, when you build into them and say, hey, let's work through this together, that shows them you care and they're gonna care. I mean, it's it's a loyal I wrote down in my notes, loyalty goes both ways. Yeah. You know, you show them loyalty, they're gonna show you loyalty. And in reading the background of where a lot of this got lost in corporate America, that got lost. Companies back in the 80s and 90s, you know, men and women, you stay with one company your whole life, right? And they're always loyal. You are loyal to them, you get great benefits and 401 okay and bonuses and all of this stuff, right? And then all of these mergers and acquisitions start happening and divisions and boards go away and they become publicly held company, and all of this stuff starts happening, and you realize no one's safe. And that's when this loyalty idea gets blown out of the water and in corporate America, but there's still a lot of loyalty in small businesses, in small businesses, but I'm saying small businesses get the brunt of it because in big business it's kind of gone. I'm like, small businesses are incredibly loyal, they just need employees to be loyal to them, right?

SPEAKER_00

And it then it's like you're saying, if we as owners are loyal to our employees, they will be loyal to us. Yes, and flexible, flexible, flexible, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Hopefully, yeah. Right. The next one was uh clinging to outmoded ideas, which I don't know of any at least flower click member I've spoken with recently that does this about like dress or tattoo, like you can't do this, you can't do that, except, you know, of course, don't wear booty shorts to work or you know, something crazy like that. I think this was more embrace the individual authenticity. Again, I think our industry, more than a lot of industries, do this really, really well.

SPEAKER_00

I totally agree. I don't think there's that happening so much in the industry. I I do think that, you know, like with the tattoos or the piercings, whatever the person themselves self-monitor that, sure, knowing who the clientele is that they're working with. Yeah. And I think they have respect for who they're working with, working for. I don't think it's anything that we have to go, oh, you can't do that. Because no, you're right. I think we uh really embrace that right already, right?

SPEAKER_02

You know, it's funny, speaking of piercings, my son, who's 23, his girlfriend has a nose ring, and they've been dating over a year now. And the very first time I ever met her, um there was no nose ring, and she also has a tattoo, but she the first time I met her, she had long sleeves. Anyway, I knew these things before I met her, yet she was, but I I thought if he's she's gonna be in his life, I want her to be authentically her. I don't care about those. I care about her heart, I care about how she treats my son. I care about her health, I care about all of these other things, anyway. But she was self monitoring, right? She was like, I want to make sure she was just aware, and that's one of the things I love about. Her, she's a wonderful girl, she's very self-aware, and so I've told him before because she's gonna meet his grandmother, and I was like, tell her it's okay, it's okay, just be her, be authentically her, and it's okay, anyway. But that's that's exactly what you're saying. Yes, exactly. That's just the next one is what? Oh, this one. I don't think our people have a problem with it. I was thinking about me, flower click. Don't schedule meetings for the sake of a meeting. We don't do this. I do like this, you know. I think it's important to schedule staff meetings, especially before holidays. I thought this was kind of fun though, because they did an acronym PPP. When you schedule a meeting, make sure it has purpose, presence, and protocol. Um, so when you do it, here's why we're having the meeting. The presence, is it virtual or is it have to be in person? And I always say if it's in person, make sure you have snacks. That's right. 100%. And then the protocol, here are the guidelines for the meeting. It will only be one hour. You will clock in, you will clock out, you will, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and we've also talked about not actual meetings, but just check-ins with the employees and how important that too. But don't do it just for the sake of saying, oh, we've got to do this. No, you have to be again, go back to authentic, that you really want to know right what's going on and work with them on that. So, yeah. So the meetings. This is a really good one. Don't limit professional development to job-related tasks.

SPEAKER_02

What do you think about that one? I was wondering what you thought about that one. Really? From a well, yeah, my boss. What do you think about that one?

SPEAKER_00

I think that the person who you've hired, if they feel that a development is important to them and they come to you with that, I would support it wholeheartedly. You know, if it helps the person.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. But think about this, because you're the boss here. Okay. I'm I mean, we're gonna be super honest here. I'm asking you this because I'm trying to put myself in the business owner's mind. It says don't limit professional development to job-related tasks, support the employees' careers and offer upskilling. Basically, what this was saying is if I come to my boss and say, Hey, I would love to take some classes in needle pointing. I love it, it's my passion, it's what I really want to do. I would like you to pay for that. Would you be willing to pay for it? And I'm a good employee.

SPEAKER_00

But that's I would have to say, yeah, I would probably say, how does that help you in your position at work? So that's how I would do it. I would say I would be happy to give you the time off to be able to enjoy that needlepoint, Lori. You know, if you need that time off, do it. But as far as paying for it, I probably wouldn't. Yeah, right. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02

This one's a tough one. You know, uh, I understand companies like this one gave the example of Chipotle offers free college courses, you know, we'll pay for some of your tuition. Good, that's amazing. I know a lot of big corporations can do that. Uh a flower shop can't do that. No, but I do believe a flower shop should pay for design classes or something like taking your staff to pro a pro an SAF profit blast or next gen, send your employees to next gen, like investing in your employees that you know want to grow that show that sort of motivation.

SPEAKER_00

And something like Next Gen or Society of American Florists, AIMD, or AIFD, or Texas State, right? Associated or Great Lakes, any of those. When you send an employee or go yourself to those, they're not limited to just one, it's not design, it's maybe sales, but sometimes they have a wellness course there too. So it's really well rounded. Marketing. Think about the marketing stuff at those kind of things. Yep, they even start the day with yoga on the sugar there. Yeah, you know, so it's not wellness, it's sales, it's marketing, it's design, and it's an investing in them that maybe it's not their only position. Maybe they're a designer, but they're gonna do sales and marketing because that's gonna help them in other ways for them to be better at what they're doing. And you know, you're investing in them. Yeah, at that point.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. That one was tough for me when I look at it from a small business owner perspective. Yeah, if I'm Chipotle, yeah, well, I don't care what you're gonna major in. Uh, you work, give me this many hours, I will help pay for your education, go for it. But if I am Lori's flower shop, if I'm paying for it, it better be floral related. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Or at least have help me grow my business, you know, it's gonna better somehow.

SPEAKER_00

And get them more excited about what they're doing, honestly. You know, you want them to learn more about the floral industry, the floral business, or social media, or just something.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I was thinking if it were me, I would have them uh kind of do a isn't it orange buffett that used to say, give me a proposal, and if it can't fit on like one page, I don't want to see it. Like dumb it down for me. Tell me why and how it's gonna affect our business, right? Make me understand what it is, your case, prove your case, right? And I'll probably do it, you know, and should make sense. Simplify it, not dumb it down. We don't use that, we don't use that kind of language. No, okay, number six, and I kind of want you to talk about this one. Instead of overlooking your managers, celebrate them. I'm all for elevating your managers and having all of your employees know, hey, your managers are great, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I wasn't real sure about this one because I don't know of a flower shop owner that just completely overlooks their manager.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think this was not applicable, quite honestly. I think this is more corporate. I mean, we have some managers, but our shops aren't overlooking anybody. Yeah. Our managers weren't their butts off. This is not applicable. I'd say move on. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02

Because I started reading through it, and then I went down this rabbit hole of manager articles, and I just was like, this is different. So, number seven, the last one that I wanted to talk about for this retention revolution. I thought it was interesting was don't just show the employees the door when they quit, create a positive exit experience because they may come back. I do know of cases we have members who have had employees leave and then return. It's it's insane to me, but it has happened. Okay, good. But more often than not, nowadays, when employees leave, they leave by just never coming back. So they don't have an opportunity to show them a positive exit strategy. Yeah, that's the issue. They don't give a two weeks notice, and hey, I'm I'm leaving, and here's why, and you know, they're not offered that opportunity to sit down and have that exit plan.

SPEAKER_00

No, that this is kind of a non-issue again, because most of the time when somebody's leaving, they either don't give two weeks notice or the employees sometimes don't want a two weeks notice.

SPEAKER_02

Right, right, they're fired. Right. They're just fired. I mean, it's very rarely, just very rarely, is the two weeks thing. I don't think uh millennials in Gen Z w will are real familiar with the two weeks notice thing anymore. No, I I think those generations, that's kind of a moot point. Uh it's just it's not a thing. I can remember quitting a job. This was in 1991 because I got another job. Um, and so I gave my two weeks' notice. I was not loving my job anyway. It was in a retail space. I was working at a very high-end, like Ralph Lauren type stores, a stylist. Imagine that. Oh, there you go. Anyway, it was I was moving out of that and into something else. But I was in a manager position and I gave my two weeks' notice, and it's hard to do because you have to go in and you have to give it, and then you have to stay that two weeks. I mean, these are hard things you have to see through. And I had to go through like corporate came down from Dallas, and I had to meet with them. They had an exit plan and they went through, I had to go through two different, three different exit interviews before I left because they were trying to make sure I wasn't leaving like mad or you know, I think I lied just to not deal with any of it. But these are life lessons, these are things that grow us.

SPEAKER_00

Right, right. And we I don't think that's the opportunity. I don't think there's an opportunity there for us in the floral industry. Most of the time, when people are leaving, they're moving out of town, right? Or they're having a baby or or they're having life-changing events, right? Or they uh now they just or they just don't show up, right? No, I I agree.

SPEAKER_02

That's what makes me sad, though. When you don't show up, you're missing out. You gotta learn how to go through these things and finish them.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you learn more about yourself when you do that. Yeah, yeah. That's part of self-discovery, and they don't want part of that.

SPEAKER_02

No, I had to have courage, like you have to muster up courage to go in and sit down and have these and look people in the eye and like do all of the things. My communication degree came in really handy at that moment. Oh, then it did.

SPEAKER_01

I remember I was very scared. I was more scared to leave than to interview to get the job.

SPEAKER_00

So, my question to you after all of this is are you going to purchase? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No, because everything is about high tech and all the stuff that I was reading more. It's just too corporate y, but it's fascinating. I I would read it, you know. I would read it. I think it's probably a very simple book, and I think anyone would benefit. I think any business owner would glean lots of information from it if you're struggling with retention, even in our industry.

SPEAKER_00

Well, the other two books that Erica has written were Bring Your Human to Work and Rituals Roadmap, which could be kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Bring your bring your human to work. What's that?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. We might have to look into that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't know. But this was good. I feel like we've talked about this kind of thing a million times, but it's always good to rehash something, I guess, and look at it from somebody else's perspective. I did learn some different methods from reading through this. I think I would recommend the book. I just don't know if I'll read the whole book. I don't know if I'll get it. I've got too many other books I have to read right now.

SPEAKER_00

But you know me. I don't you're not gonna read it. I read this is what I read, and then I rely on you for asking.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, I would tell you, I think if I thought one of us needed to read it, but I definitely think if this is something you're struggling with, but I think for our industry, it might be a tad to big corporate. I would love it if it was more.

SPEAKER_00

But if it's an easy read and you're having problems struggling with this, you probably could get some really good nuggets out of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I do have a free Audible credit, so I could listen to it, but I don't follow well on Audible because my mind wanders.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

It's not good. I have to follow along in a book. So know thyself. Yes, exactly. All right, Von. Till next time. See you next time, Laura. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_00

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.