Leadership Traits That Retain vs. Repel Employees

Episode 238: In this episode, Vonda and Lori explore the impact of different leadership traits on employee retention. They discuss five leadership habits to avoid that can drive employees away and undermine your authority. By self-evaluating and identifying these destructive traits, leaders can course-correct and create a more engaging work environment. Additionally, Vonda and Lori share five positive leadership traits that make employees want to stay for the long haul. By embodying these traits, leaders can foster loyalty, trust, and commitment among their team members. Tune in to learn how to become the type of leader that employees never want to retire from working for!

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

The good stuff is basically living the way you want to lead. It's a verb. Leading is a verb. It's an action.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your host, Fonda LaFever, and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Fonda.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Lori, welcome back. Yes, yes. I loved your little, do we call it a car pod?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Is that what oh that's good? A car pod. Well, you didn't have any electricity, and I kind of was just on my own, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

We lived like pilgrims. We literally lived like pilgrims for three days. And my niece and I were laughing. You know, luckily we got to stay with my brother and sister-in-law who had a generator. So we were all over there, and I told you we had a little slumber party. And it was actually very fun. We're very grateful. There's a lot. Hopefully, by the time this is out, everybody will have electricity. But as of today, there's still a lot of places that don't have it. Even here in my suburb. Parts of my suburbs still don't have it. I just noticed this morning on the Woodlands Facebook group, and I'm just like, ugh, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

You say pilgrims, I always think of Little House on the Prairie.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was telling my niece's little kids we were talking about Little House on the Prairie because they had seen that before. Okay. This is like how we're living kids. We just don't have any horses and we have a swimming pool and a golf course. Like it is very similar, but not, not at all. Right. Not at all. You can charge your iPads here, and you have already downloaded your movies. So yeah, we're very spoiled, right? How funny. Yeah. But very grateful. Very, very grateful to be back. So how was it recording in the car?

SPEAKER_00 2:14

You know what? It went really well. You hear all of that background noise. You know, when I went to upload it and do some editing, but of thank God for all of the different technology, it could take up all that background noise. So yeah, it went well. Yeah. I was just kind of rambling and somebody said, Oh, it sounded so good. And I go, Well, it was a lot of editing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Somebody said that they're like, imagine was so smooth in our staff meeting the other day. I received a lot of response from our listeners about how much they liked it and how much you inspired them. And many people that have never gone to AIFD Symposium or had been toying with the idea of, you know, getting their what is it, taking the PFDE test. Oh, I'm pressed. I'm impressed. I got the letters right. I did. And you have inspired them. Oh, good. Good. Yeah. So have you recovered from that nine-day?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

I have, yeah. Yeah. It just took me a while after being gone 10 days. Yeah. It's mostly home and work stuff that you're trying to catch up on. Just the first day I was wiped out, as you can imagine, after 10 days and all that running. But it was good. It was a it was a fantastic time. You know, being behind the scenes, as you know, is where I want to be. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

And it's hard for your brain to shut down though when you come back because I would think every day, like a different wonderful memory pops up of oh my gosh, that experience or that experience. And I got to be an observer there. So you were the one doing literally walking 11 miles a day back with you and Julie. Like insane. Insane, but awesome because getting your exercise now. Yeah, now you're like, I want to do that every day. But I came for just a few days, not 10 days, but I got to come and then see all my friends and meet new friends and meet so many of our members that were there. It was so wonderful, more than I had expected. And but I got to come and just sort of be that, you know, observer and networker. And it was so cool for me to see as always that behind the scenes and watch designers watch students. I spoke with a lot of students that were there, and they would come by our booth and say, What's that flower click? Right. Right. You know, and so my mind has kind of been reeling too. And as we were talking about what we were gonna talk about today, I started thinking, of course, my mind always goes to leadership and management and all of these things. And again, that's sort of what we're gonna be talking about at SAF Convention too. And so I found this article about like corrosive habits in leadership that can absolutely destroy your authority. And I thought it was really good. And it's like just little tiny things that we may not think about that we do that we could do as leaders that as the younger generation say, give you the ick now. You know what I mean? Right. Like, I don't want to work here anymore, or I don't want to be a part of this person. I don't consider them a role model anymore.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

And I think that's sometimes might be what we're seeing when we have people who are not showing up for work, right? They work for a couple days and they're like, oh, I'm out of here. Yeah, maybe some of these signs are there that they're like, no, I've seen that before and it didn't work last time. So right.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

And I will tell you this year, 2024, and we're halfway through, has been the year of the statement, people saying to me, I need a mentor in this industry. I have never had people say that to me more than this year, and it probably happened seven times at AIFD, which is I wasn't expecting it there because again, we say they're not really my people, but I was talking to as I'm talking to people, and then you know, like we go out afterwards and you have those deeper conversations, and they're like, I'm looking for a mentor, and da da da wow, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah. So that's why I kind of went into this. I'm like, I wonder if there's people in their life that think they're being mentors, but maybe you're giving them the ick because they're giving off one of these things. So but the good news is we also have five things you can do to not give off the ick. So and to attract your people to keep us to make your employees go, oh, I love them. I want to stay forever. So, anyway, let's uh let's kind of go over these.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Yeah, these were really interesting. When you sent me these, I was like, oh my gosh, these are so I know you did an all capsa, I love this.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

I was like, I did, yay, so the first one, and I will tell you this is one for me, and you don't ever do this, but I have had a boss that does, and it freaks me out, and I don't know what kind of trauma I've had in my childhood to cause me to gravitate to people that don't do this. I've talked to you about how you and my husband are the exact same person. You both don't do this, and it is leaders that get overwhelmed very easily, like you get swamped, you get snowed in, you're just overwhelmed, and then you kind of freak out. I think that's really hard when employees see their manager or their boss or their mentor, their leader have those moments.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yeah, and I understand that. You'd be kind of like, wait a minute, I don't, there's enough chaos here. I don't need to be having the leader give off all those signs like we're sinking, you know, we're sinking. Right. Right. Because your job, right? I mean, I was any boss, any owner of a flower shop, any owner of writing business.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Yeah, your job is to be the person with the answer. They look to you. And I want to say that with a little bit of caution, because Vonda, we're all human, right? We're all flawed. We are not perfect. We're going to have moments because on the flip side, when I teach about empathy and leadership, I also think it's really important to be authentic, right? And it's important to show your flaws. And I think you can show your flaws without a freak out.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

There can be a meltdown. I think there's a difference between a meltdown and a freak out and a freak out. Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Really going, man, I I need a minute here. I'm not sure what to do. I gotta go take a minute instead of freaking out. So I think that's what getting overwhelmed easily. They talked about your job is to be the person with the answers. Your staff needs a plan. Yes, you're supposed to be the one giving them the plan. They look to you. Most flower shops are relatively small, right? It's not like they have a big HR department that comes in and says, here's the plan.

unknown 10:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

You are the plan. You're the plan maker.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

And a lot of times that takes a lot of forethought in the leader of the organization, whatever you're doing. Yeah. Let's say you have a big wedding going out, right? Or a big event. You know it's going to take a lot of prep to make that happen. And as a leader, you have to be in line with, okay, these are the things that happen. This is my timeline. This is who does this and who does that. And if someone doesn't show up that day, then you have to be able to shift around and make those changes and not freak out, you know. Yes. It's preparation that makes you not basically freaking. You and I say, after it's all over, go into your room and then freak out. Exactly. This other one is so true because you and I both work with these people, and that is being indecisive. That is a really bad sign when you're watching a leader just go, Well, I don't know. Um, you know, it's so scary.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

It's really scary because if you're going to your boss with an issue, so think about that. You already have a little bit of fear and doubt, and then your leader is indecisive and doesn't know what to do either. That's scary. You have nowhere to turn. So indecisiveness, that's something I've seen in two of my three children when they were younger. And I saw it pretty quickly. There's two of them that still struggle with that. And I I try to push them because I'm like, don't you know, let your yes be yes, your no be no. Um, where do you want to eat? You know, like that's always I don't know. I was like, no, let's think about it. Even those little, like practice those because I can go down that road a little bit too, but practice even the small decisions if you struggle.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

And that comes with teaching our children when they're smaller. One of my sons had a terrible time making the decision. And I still remember it clearly. I think he was nine years old, and it was like there was a decision that needed to be made, and he was crying. He was there, was like a meltdown. Yeah. And I'm like, what is wrong? This is not that big of a decision. He's like, I just don't want to make the wrong decision.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

And then from that point, it was like, but it doesn't hurt to make a wrong decision. We learn from those decisions and just move forward. Make the decision. If it wasn't right, you'll know that. So next time you can use that information to make the correct decision. And to this day, he makes good, quick decisions and knows that it's not quite right.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

We just learn and move on. That as children, but we didn't know we had to learn it. And our parents, even me as a parent, I didn't know I had to actually teach that. You know, and so a lot of us grew up indecisive.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

But I do think that so many times, and I see this, Lori, the parents are making the decision for the child. Absolutely. And not allowing them that teachable moment. I mean, we're not teaching.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

No, it's gonna fail. They're not allowing them the consequence and then move on. And yeah, no, it's it's all of those things. So we we have to learn to make decisions and be okay with the consequences. Again, it's not always failure because you're gonna learn from whatever the consequence was, and then you move forward.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Even as a leader, making these decisions, okay, we're gonna do this, right? And knowing that it's not always gonna be the right decision, but you come back at it and the feel like the people who are following you are listening and watching, and you're making that decision. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I love the quote in this article. They say, Listen, movement is movement, even if it's in the wrong direction. Yeah, there you go. Just keep moving. That's okay. And I'm like, gosh, that's good. That's that's gonna be on a post-it note for me. There you go. Movement is movement. There you go. Movement is movement, you're still building momentum, you're still getting experience, even if you go the wrong direction. Somewhere you can always make a U-turn, right? All right, number three. Number three, number three can be a big one in this industry, especially because of the small businesses. Number three is complaining about people and problems. This one can be really tough. Um it feels good, right? It feels good, and sometimes we do need to do it, but I think uh when you are a small business owner and you are running uh a store and you have employees especially, especially uh I'm gonna use the word impressionable employees that are looking to you for guidance, for mentorship. Uh they're aspiring to be just like you, like you know, they're not at the same maturity level, maybe as you. Right. You are, I'm using quotations, people. You know, I do it every podcast. You are venting to them about somebody or a even a customer, like it doesn't even have to be about another employee. Chronic complaining is a really, really bad idea. Because number one, if they love you, they're gonna agree with every word you say, even if they don't, right? Because that's what we do with friends. You're like, yeah, I hate them too, even though it might be their aunt. They're like, oh shoot, I they're my I gotta see them at Thanksgiving, but yeah, I hate them too. And number two, you're modeling for them. Well, once I own my business, I can complain about every single customer that comes in too with my employees. Like, it's just a bad idea.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

So it goes back to what my father said, and yours probably did too. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. Yeah, and people are watching, people are listening, and it's just it's just not a good idea. It doesn't help anyone when you're doing that. If you need to vent, because sometimes we do. I mean, right, let's be honest. We all need to vent. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Just consider your audience when you do because go in the back room, call your friends, it's I mean, let's be honest, we all have to vent. You and I do it. I'm not trying to act like we don't, but you have to think about this big picture. Like if you're leading a team, think about who you're leading, who you're mentoring, who you're building up.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Yeah, that doesn't help the culture of your business. You know, that just brings it down. Right. The next one is always hanging back. This was kind of interesting because it you don't want to be in the front lines as the leader. You want to kind of be listening, and I almost want to say I would be hovering so that I could kind of know what's going on, but you don't want to be in some of those conversations and thing, but you want to be there when the bomb goes out and it needs to be solved. Right. You want to be close enough. Yeah. So don't hang back so far that you're just like, oh, I don't even want to be a part of that. I don't want to solve that problem. Yeah. Just need to be close enough to know who's causing the undercurrent, let's say. Yeah. And be able to expect that, anticipate it, and be ready, or maybe head it off before it even happens.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah. You and I both have talked to shops before, managers, owners, people that employees that have actually left businesses because of other toxic employees. And the owner or manager has completely tuned out the toxicity going on. They just pretend it's not happening and walk out of the room because they don't want to deal with it.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Because they don't want to deal with it because that's a good working employee, right? So sometimes it's like, oh, well, if I ignore it, maybe it'll go away, which it never does. Right. And it causes more problem than just heading it off. And that kind of does roll into the next one, is about making excuses, right? You're making excuses about that person, perhaps. And then it what happens is one person blames the other. And you as the leader maybe are blaming others. And boy, if I was an employee, I'd be out of there. I I couldn't, I couldn't take that.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Well, this reminds me of a long time ago, you and I were teaching, and I think Ellie was just this, I think it was at SAF. I don't even remember where. Years ago, one of the oh, I remember this. I know we were, it was a full room, and we were doing like QA and it was going great. And this one sweet lady raised her hand, and I don't even remember what our topic was, but she said that one of her employees, I think it was even a relative, somehow related, is always late. Remember that great employee, but she's always late no matter what time they tell her to be there. It can even be nine o'clock, nine thirty. She's always half hour late, always run late. And the rest of the employees are starting to get really mad. And she's talked to her, and finally, she's like, Well, she finally had a meeting with the employees and just said, Listen, that's just how she is. Blah, blah, blah. And now she wonders why they're all so mad. Remember? And she wanted us to support her. And like the whole room turned against her. Even like the wholesale house managers were like, What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Get her out of there. She should not be there.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

All that were just like we stay 30 minutes late for every time. And she's like, No, but she's a good worker. I'm like, we don't care. You're gonna lose all your employees. But she was so unaware that she was making excuses. We felt kind of bad for her, but thankfully, we weren't really the bad guys because there were some people that were like, all the hands were going up.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Remember? Oh, I do. Lori, I remember that very well. Yeah, because she was, she kept making all these excuses, but, but, but, yeah, and they're like, no, there's no excuse, you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

No excuse here. And one of the guys who was a manager of a whole, they're like, My employees have to be there at 4:30 a.m. at the wholesale at like a not 435, 4:30.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yeah, that was a really good lesson about not making excuses for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Or at least it was a consequence for her. Like, for every time you come in 30 minutes late, you will stay 30 minutes late.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

But I think she had done that. She had tried to do that consequence thing, and that didn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

She always had an excuse. Like, oh, I bet I I can't say they today, I'll do it tomorrow because I have to go pick up my kid. Like she never did the consequence. Kind of like when my husband would always ground one of my kids, but then leave town and never follow through. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a whole that's a whole nother podcast. So anyway, those are the ick traits.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Okay, so the ick traits basically the conclusion is leadership is more than a position, it's a way of being. I think that is just clearly stated. I love that. Yeah. You know, yeah. So getting easily overwhelmed, being indecisive, complaining a lot, never getting to the front lines, and making excuses. Those are the five icks. Yeah. So let's move into the good stuff. Okay. Okay, Lori, we're going to take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. FlowerClick's Expertise is your online store, your website. We create and professionally photograph current, trendy designs and add them to your website. Just like your physical shop, you have to change out the displays on your website. We do that for you. We merchandise the products on your website to entice customers to buy from you. It'll make you look great. You'll sell more at a higher price. And did I mention those are profitable designs? Your website is your best salesperson. And there's so much more to FlowerClick, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our tight-knit community of members. We have like-minded business owners who respect and really want to help one another. Our members are amazing, which drives us to do all we can for their success. Don't underestimate the power of what FlowerClick can do for you.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

The good stuff is basically living the way you want to lead. It's a verb. Leading is a verb, it's an action. We are living the way we want to lead. So you think, okay, I'm not just hired to be a leader. That's not just like a noun. It's like, what's your role? I'm a leader. Well, I gotta live it, right? We're modeling it. We're doing it. Action verb, always doing it. I've never thought of it that way, but yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. These are five traits of leaders that employees actually want to work for.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

Like hey, I will work forever.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Number one, they're consistent. Have you ever worked for a moody boss? No, I have not. I'm trying to think if I have, I don't know that I have.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

I've only had a couple bosses, so that's true.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

That's true. You've been your own boss. So if you're like a moody person or inconsistent, if you say, hey, we're gonna do this today, and then you don't do this, you know, inconsistencies, you lose trust also, right? I know there have been shops that will like set up reward incentive programs and then never follow through on those. Yeah, that's inconsistent, you lose trust, and then the employees are like, Yeah, I don't believe you. You're not gonna do that. I've done that in parenting when the kids were little. Yes, we'll go tomorrow. We'll go tomorrow. Well, we don't ever go. We've done that, we've all done things like that, but this is on a bigger scale. We're not gonna talk about my parenting skills right now, but this is on a bigger scale. Rules enforcing things for on some employees, but not on others.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

That can be a big problem in a small business, just like a huge problem because it's like, how come she gets away with that and I do the same thing? Right, and you reprimand me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Right. So-and-so get to come in 30 minutes late all the time, but you got mad at me because I was like the same kind of thing. So, yeah, consistency is key. Right. Well, you need to know when you walk into the door, clock in, you don't need to fear or walk on eggshells. What kind of mood is he or she gonna be in today? What am I walking into today? So it's both emotions and rules, consistency across the board. Okay, gotcha. Number two is going back to yours, it it just reiterates be close enough to hear when the bonds go off. So you don't have to constantly be micromanaging, but you do need to be aware. We've talked about this before. If you're one of those that you're in the back doing your business stuff, okay, but you better have somebody's eyes on it. Somebody has to have your eyes.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

I have you have Kevalore, yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

You have to have a lawyer. You have to have somebody's eyes on it that can come back, knock on your door, and go, hey, code red, code red, get out here. There's something going on. We need your help. Something went on because you're the one responsible.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

And the next one is they're transparent, which is really important. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

I I talk about this, like I said, every chance I get. We don't have to model perfection. In fact, don't, because nobody can ever live up to perfection. None of us live in an Instagram world. No, we don't. We feel like we do. We want to, but that's not truth. If you saw my house right now, you would know it's a battlefield, right? Because I'm still trying to clean out my freezer. I'm having no electricity. It's just reality. Be transparent. If you're having a bad day, be authentic and go, guys, I'm struggling today. I don't know why. I'm just kind of struggling. I'm I'm gonna try my best, but I want to apologize in advance. If I if I seem short, I don't mean to be. I truly don't. Like, give them a heads up. Be authentic, don't make them walk on eggshields wondering, did I do something to make you mad? That is the worst feeling ever. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

You know, and it says sure leaders need to have some secrets. So the transparency is different on that because some of those secrets are financial secrets. Absolutely. You don't want to expose everything you have, but they need to know when we talk about cost of goods sold, for instance, for a small business that's a flower shop. It's like, hey, you guys need to know we are way over on our cost of goods sold, and I really need your help to make this happen. So there are things that even financially that are in your best benefit to be able to be transparent with them, that's because they're the only ones who can help you solve that situation. You can't do it. There are things that we do need to keep back, but really, like you said, making sure that they know that what they see is what they get. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Well, and I think doing those types of things makes them feel more a part of the business, also. I know one of our members, well, more than one, but I'm thinking of one in particular. Uh uh one of her employees, a designer, uh, asked for a raise. And uh she thought about it. Uh, and this designer is a lovely person, but she's very slow. And as you know, uh that affects your productivity, your labor, everything. So she sat down with her in a closed room after everyone else had left. No, but no other employee knew this, it wasn't like a big deal. And she said, Hey, I want to go over this with you, and literally showed her, was very transparent, showed her how it actually is costing the company. She's like, You actually owe us money if we were to do this. And she didn't do it in a rude way, but she just was very transparent with her about I can't give you a raise because you're not helping us make money. I love you and a great designer, but there's no good tools, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

But take that information, how much you're paying them, how much they're producing, how long it takes, all of that. And it's pretty clear for you to be able to have those conversations. And the nice thing is, whoever that boss was taking the personal out of it and just putting the productivity part in it, it's nothing to do with you, honey. It's everything to do with what I'm seeing here. This is what you're doing, and this is what you're bringing in, and they're not equaling up. If these were higher, I could give you an increase. And I think we have to do that as bosses, which is really hard with each one of our employees, is that sometimes what we see is not what you're hoping as an employee that we see.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

That employee just didn't put two and two together. She just thought, well, I've been working here while I make the designs, maybe I get a raise. Like she didn't know. And so I think she did it very respectfully. Um, she didn't do it like, hey, you're on the border here, you might get fired. Like there was none of that, but she just said, I want to shake it. She could have easily just said, I can't give you a raise right now. Yep. Right. And that would have made the employee even feel worse. Well, well, she doesn't value me. And that's not being transparent either.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

That's just no, because she didn't mean that. We value all of our employees, it's just that you have to look at that based on the business and see if money is being made by that person or if there's a hard conversations, it's a hard conversation.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Right? Because they could get defensive. I mean, you just don't know. But thankfully, this went well. To me, when I was reading this one, she popped in my head because I was like, that's that's a good boss. To take the time and effort and to do all that, yes, for sure. Let's see here. The next one is good leaders have high standards. They have high standards. I'm not saying they're perfectionists, that's not what we're talking about, but they have high standards, they do everything they can to meet everybody else's needs and to help elevate everyone around them. Absolutely. That's the difference. We talk about being the ladder climber or a ladder holder. I believe 100% great leaders are ladder holders. They great leaders hold ladders. Yep. I think I've said it a million times. Their goal is how high can I get everybody else? That's my job. That is my job as a leader. They flip my bar, they hold their staff to high standards. Just like when I was teaching school, you know, there are so many studies out there. The teachers that set the bar high at the very beginning and hold their students to a high standard at the beginning are so much better off those students than them starting the beginning with, like, oh, I don't know how this year is gonna go with you guys. Like, you have high standards at the beginning. Every one of you, I have high expectations because I know you're very smart. And I know you can do it. I expect this, this, this, and this because I know you can do it. If you couldn't, you wouldn't be here. That's how you should run your business.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Perfect example, Lori.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

So don't lower the bar. We shouldn't keep lowering and lowering. We shouldn't keep saying, oh, well, she's only 30 minutes late. Oh, she's only 40 minutes late. You're just lowering and lowering and lowering. You're not helping that woman, or you're ruining the rest of your staff. And think about this: if that woman leaves that job and goes to the next job, she's not any better than she's ever been. She hasn't learned a thing except that she can go to show up work late because that's what she's been taught.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Perfect example of that is one of my favorite movies. And you know me, I don't watch movies. What's a favorite movie you have? To Sur with Love.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Have I seen that one? Who's it? Sydney Portier.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Oh, Poitiers, I love him. So to Sur With Love with Sydney Portier. Okay. Just say to watch it. You will love the movie, but it's fucking wrong. And setting high standards and not Mr. Timbs.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Nope. Oh, okay. That's him. That's Mr. Ibs. Do you pull up the old movie, Lori? Aren't you Seaglo's? Proud of you. I have never in my life heard you say you loved a movie. I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

No, yeah, I have two. Top Gun. Top Gun.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Top Gun's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Have you seen the Maverick? Yes. Couple.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

I've watched them many times. Good for you. Which one do you like better? First one. Yeah. Same. Same. Always. All right. The last one, Vonda. What is it?

SPEAKER_00 35:05

The last one. They learn and they adapt. Boy, isn't that the truth? Pivot. Pivot. That is a COVID word. This is a great quote from Forbes. Leaders who are lifelong learners will be able to not only draw upon the knowledge they've acquired over time, but also apply it in an innovative way. They will use the experiences and ideas of others in addition to their own. It's that broad view that will produce the best results. I think that says it all, really.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Oh, it's so good. When I was reading that part, well, and the one above it, I laughed because it was like the rock star leaders are the ones that have committed to being lifelong learners. Yeah. The reason I liked this article so much, because this is actually two different articles, right? That I pulled that I found, one that about gives you the ick, and the ones that we love. Because this one reminded me so much of our Flower Click staff.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Particular one, because we have a lot of staff members that are lifelong learners. Ellie and I both love looking. I was gonna say you and Ellie are at the top of the stuff. We go down tangents. I was thinking yesterday, because we were giving out our awards, you know how we do that. Our top pros, and Leslie Breydendorff, who's on our web team, she likes to learn too, and she's great at researching. But the things that she likes to learn and researches are completely opposite than the things that like wake me up at night and get me excited to get out of bed. Like we could not be further, and that's why I gave her the award, right? I was like, I'm so grateful for you because you will research this stuff so that I would never have to touch it with a tinfoot pole because I would, I don't know what I would do. I would just, I would crawl under my desk, I guess. I don't know. But this is us. We are so lucky that we not only have lifelong learners on staff, but lifelong learners that want to learn different facets. Yes. And then, like, I might hear something she says, or I'll hear something Ellie says, and then that connects a dot in my brain, which connects a dot. And that's how we'll come up with a whole new marketing idea, right? Because we all brainstorm together.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

I love this because it says they do this for others, not because they want credit, it's because they know it's the best way to lead. Yeah, it's like boom, there it is.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

That's so true because when we research something and find a new idea, credit, who cares? I can't wait to share it in hopes that Ellie, I'll see a spark in her eye, and she can go with it and create I don't care. Credit means nothing. No, you know what I mean? Like, I want someone else to take it and run with it.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

And then something else. And you do that all the time. You you do that, and then you plant this little seed, and then you plant or vice versa, and we just all go around.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

And so, anyway, you want people on your team to do that, right? So when you're a leader or owner of a flower shop, look for employees, whether they're designers, even if they're salespeople, look for those types of personalities. Are do they love to learn? What kind of things do they like to learn?

SPEAKER_00 38:57

And when they share something they've learned, don't shoot them down. Celebrate it. Celebrate, celebrate that, even if it's something you're not like all that interested in, but you need to celebrate that with them because it's like, oh my gosh, thanks for learning that because that's gonna help us with this and this and this.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

It just yeah, so many to elaborate, even like where would you use that? Where do you think we could utilize that in this business? Like, see where they're where they might go with it. Where their minds are going with that. Yeah, because you may have some really great untapped resources in the minds of your employees right now, and you don't even know.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Okay, so the conclusion on this one be consistent with your standards, your values, and your energy. Stay close to the action and maintain that fingertip feel at the workplace, or else have your lorry there. Make sure that you know when a bomb's going off. Yep. Be as transparent as possible, set high standards, and then do everything you can to get people with them to those standards.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

You set those standards, you model those standards, then you elevate them, then you help them get to those standards.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

And then commit to lifelong learning. So those are great. Great ones you found this time, Lori. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Easy easy peasy, right? Easy to do.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

But I think honestly, if I would look at the ones that you shouldn't do first, I would look at those and go, okay, I've got to make sure I'm not doing those. Because really, they're just the opposite of the good.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Exactly. I I think that's a really good way to put it. When this podcast launches, we put it in the Business and Pleasure of Flowers Facebook group.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

So they'll be in our Facebook group, the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. So look for it there, Lori will have it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

All right. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your morning or please.