Do you ever find that your employees come to you with issues that you wish they'd solve without you? It could be that they don't know that you want them to do that, or that they don't have the right guidelines to make those decisions without you.
In today's podcast, I interview an executive business coach from the green industry, who shares a proven framework for coaching your employees, plus some questions you can ask them in a one-on-one conversation that'll help you lighten your load as the leader.
Hey, everyone, Jack Jostes here. Welcome to the Landscaper's Guide Podcast where we share sales, marketing, and leadership ideas to inspire the snow and landscape industry. I'm super excited for our upcoming full day virtual event, the Landscaper's Summit. This is our fourth year doing it. Is it our fourth year? 2020, 2021, '22. Yes, this is the fourth year. It's going to be awesome, and it is a great event because it's virtual. You can bring your whole team for the price of one ticket, and I'm excited to invite McFarlin Stanford back. They crushed it last year with their leadership session, and today I'm going to interview Megan Parker as a preview of her talk. So, make sure you save your seat at landscaperssummit.com and let's dive into the conversation with Megan about how to get the monkey off your back.
01:31: Introducing Megan Parker from McFarlin Stanford
Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Landscaper's Guide. Today, I'm excited to interview Megan Parker, who is a certified executive leadership coach at McFarlin Stanford, who specializes in career, business and leadership topics in the snow and landscape industry. And I'm excited because Megan is going to be presenting Don't Take the Monkey: Lighten Your Load as the Leader, at the Landscaper's Summit, which is our full-day virtual workshop on October 26th. So check that out at landscapersummit.com. See our show notes for a link.
And Megan, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you, so our audience can see a sneak preview of your talk. So, what is Don't Take the Monkey, at a high level, what's it all about?
02:19: Sneak Peek of Megan’s Presentation for the 2023 Landscaper’s Summit - Don’t Take the Monkey
Megan Parker:
Yeah. Well, I'm so excited to be presenting Don't Take the Monkey at the Landscaper's Summit this year. So, thanks for the invitation, Jack.
The high level of Don't Take the Monkey is we are helping landscape owners and team members solve the age-old problem of motivation and delegation. So, how do we motivate our workers to take initiative and solve problems? How do we delegate and trust that the issue will be taken care of properly if we don't have that foundation? And so, that's really what our Don't Take the Monkey session is all about.
02:51: How to Know if You’re a Business Owner with a “Monkey” Problem
Jack Jostes:
And what are maybe some of the problems that business owners typically have that ... What does it mean Don't Take the Monkey? What is that?
Megan Parker:
Yeah. So, the monkey is a metaphor, right? So, what typically happens is workers come to us with a problem and our natural inclination is to give them a solution to that problem. It's time is money and our go-to is, "We've solved this problem a million times, I'm going to tell you what to do in this scenario."
Meanwhile, in our head, we get really frustrated, like, "Why can't they think ahead and figure out a solution to this problem and take care of that?" And so, instead what we need to do is really coach people to find their own solutions so that they learn that process, they gain the confidence and the skills to prevent that metaphorical monkey from jumping from their back to ours.
Jack Jostes:
I like that. Do you ever find that maybe employees don't know that you want them or that their manager or leader wants them to take the problem and solve it?
Megan Parker:
Absolutely. So, what we find is that people want ... Many people are people pleasers, right? They just want to do whatever it is that you want them to do in that situation, so that they know it gets done to your standards. Other times, maybe they just don't have the motivation or the foresight to be proactive enough to solve it, and then maybe they know what to do, but they need your permission to do it.
And so really, instead, we want to use those coaching skills ... And we'll tell you all about how to do this in the session at the conference, which I can't wait for. But yeah, absolutely. So, I think that is very common. I think people want to please their supervisors, they want to do something correctly or maybe they just don't have the motivation to figure it out themselves. I'm sure you see that a lot, Jack.
Jack Jostes:
Well, yeah. So, I have 10 employees and I'm thinking right now, we recently had an in-person retreat where we flew our whole staff out from all over the country. And I have a really great executive assistant on my team who was like, "Hey, we got to finish the food and the catering and all of these things." And I was like, "Hey, Erin, would you like to just decide? I would love it if you would." And she was like, "Yes, I would love to go do that."
So, that was a time that I think of recently where we just got clear of, "I know that you're going to do a great job." And she did. So, it was part of just getting, I think, clear of, who is doing this? Because in other events, I have planned out all of the food and things like that. So, that's an example that I think of recently, and I can see how this can be frustrating for some business owners or leaders where they feel like, "Well, I thought I hired you for this." So, can you tell me a little bit, you mentioned the coach approach method before we started to record. What is that and are there any maybe stories or examples that you can think of?
06:10: How the “Coach Approach” Helps Business Owners Manage & Lead their Team Members
Megan Parker:
I definitely can share an example and share a little bit more about the coach approach. And I love what you did with Erin. And what I would challenge you to do, Jack, is take that one step further. "Hey, Erin, you did such a great job planning all of the food for our staff retreat that we flew out for. What interest do you have in planning those things going forward?" Right?
Jack Jostes:
Mm-hmm.
Megan Parker:
So, you talked about how you were setting those expectations. It's a matter of expectation setting, and now you're moving the bar again, right? So that she feels like, "Oh, I can just do this now. I don't necessarily need to check in with Jack." And so, that's what I'd encourage our listeners to do.
So, use a coach approach with your team members, right? So, if they don't know ... We'll talk a little bit about skill and will during our session, but if you feel like they have the skill to do this and they have the will to do the job, then your job is to coach them through the process to help them gain confidence.
So, coaching is essentially focused on development, not necessarily the problem at hand. So, your goal is to coach them through the issue or problem, to help them develop their own leadership skills to help them gain confidence. So, what that means and what that looks like is lots of open-ended questions. So, I'll give you a story.
So, I had a client recently who had a production issue, right? So, some inventory needed for an important job that wasn't showing up on time, and the team member came to the production department head and said, "I don't know what to do about this. We don't have the stuff we need for this project. What should I do about that?" And the person told me after the fact, right? "I was so frustrated because we've done this a million times, right?" We talked through the situation and essentially he took the monkey, right? The monkey was poised to jump on his back. He took the monkey, accepted ownership, and he ended up making the call to their friendly competitor down the road to get the parts that were needed for the project, to keep the project on time.
So, what we talked about, I challenged him to do, since this is a common problem, "Next time, what happens if you shift that?" So, if you shift that and you say, "Well, what have we done in the past in situations like this?" All of a sudden you've approached that question differently. You've made the employee think about, "What have we done before?" The light bulb goes on, "Oh, sometimes we contact so-and-so to get parts." "Brilliant. Would you be able to give them a call?" And then it logically follows from there that you've transferred that initiative over to that employee. And so, the next time that situation occurred, bingo. Right? And it was just that simple shift of asking that open-ended question. So, I see the monkey, I'm not letting the monkey make the leap.
Jack Jostes:
I like that. So, you're asking them open-ended questions to help them think of how to solve the problem, and also letting them know that you want them to do it?
Megan Parker:
Absolutely. And they're capable. If they have the skill and the will, they are more than capable and they probably know what to do. They know that we usually call so-and-so, our competitor down the street, and we routinely swap parts or trade inventory or whatever. They're just asking because the expectation and the habit has been formed that they come to you as the leader for that request.
09:42: How to Coach Team Members to Empower Them To Perform
Jack Jostes:
Well, how do you handle, or have you ever had a situation where you believe the employee has the skill and the will, but maybe they're afraid to do it?
Megan Parker:
Mm-hmm.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. Talk to me about that. How do you coach people where you see that they have the skill and the will, maybe they don't, maybe they don't feel like they have the confidence to do it. What are some ways that you can coach people through something like that?
Megan Parker:
Yeah. That is an excellent question, Jack, and I'd love to hear some feedback from you on this. So, what were to happen, Jack, if you were to say to someone, "Okay, I hear you're stuck, right? What's holding you back from doing this?" Helping them to mentally identify what the roadblock is.
So, "You had a really aggressive sales goal. You were really excited about that sales goal. We had a plan in place, and you've made some progress, but I see that your calls this month haven't been on target to where we thought they would be. What's holding you back from making those calls? You've got a solid pipeline, they're not getting through the pipeline. Help me understand what's holding you back, what's keeping you stuck?" And if they can identify some of those, help them move to the next logical step. Okay?
Jack Jostes:
I like that.
Megan Parker:
That's one thing that we could try.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. Giving them one thing. Or, what if they don't have the skill?
Megan Parker:
Yeah, good question.
Jack Jostes:
So, is that more of a training then?
Megan Parker:
It might be. So, it depends on the person, right? There's no one size fits all with that. It could be potentially a training block. Maybe they're new to the role or they've been operating under a role for a long time. Those expectations need to be made a little bit clearer.
I was just at an offsite last week, right? Where it was apparent they maybe didn't have the skill. And so, what we ended up doing was modeling what that should look like and literally showing them, and I wouldn't necessarily call it training, but modeling for them what that should look like in terms of the pace that they needed to perform their role. And so, it could be training, it could be modeling for them, it could be goal setting. It could be finding out what's getting in their way. It could be that maybe they just don't have the capacity to perform that role, and sometimes people aren't a good fit and we have to coach them out of the role.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. Or, into a different role, right?
Megan Parker:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
Or, maybe realize that you need somebody else. One thing that I'm thinking about right now, one person on my team used to work at Baskin-Robbins, and they said to me this week, they're like, "Hey, I want to help solve this problem, but I need to know how many free ice cream cones I can give away before I need to come." And so, that helped me. And then we worked through a budget, if you will, to then ... There was an issue with a client and we wanted to know how to solve it and what can I offer them?
And that was part of how we figured that out was having some parameters, because there are certain things where I may want to be involved. And it wasn't clear for them. And luckily they had the foresight to ask, "Hey, what are the parameters that I can have to negotiate this issue?"
Megan Parker:
I love that. And another thing I love about that is they identified a clear need. "I need to know how many free ice cream cones I can give away." And so, if somebody doesn't have that foresight, that's a great coaching question for you to ask, "What do you need to be successful in this role?"
Jack Jostes:
I like that. I think those are some good questions that I'm going to try out, Megan.
Megan Parker:
Yeah.
13:50: Megan Shares How to Solve Common Team Challenges in the Green Industry
Jack Jostes:
So, we've talked about ice cream, we've talked about the supply issue. What are maybe some things that you're seeing in the snow and landscape industry that are challenges that are coming? So, there are often crew leads or sometimes there's a design salesperson who then has people reporting to them. What are maybe some of the challenges that you see that are common, that some of our audience might be facing?
Megan Parker:
Gosh, they really run the gamut. But I would say one that we hear quite often is, "Sales to production handoff, it's not going smoothly. I'm not getting what I need. I don't know what to do about X because I don't have the information I need." Right? So, that's definitely a common one.
And then I do think with the team leaders, crew leads, it's, "It's raining today. Should I call them off? What do I do? Do I send them home? Do I keep them here? What projects should I have them work on?" So, those kinds of things are also really common where they come up frequently enough that they could be anticipated and thought through and they likely know the answer, right? "What have we done in situations like this in the past?"
15:15: Why You Should Attend Megan’s Presentation at the Landscaper’s Summit
Jack Jostes:
What else can we expect from your talk? So, we've talked about a couple ideas. What else is there to the complete Don't Take the Monkey session that we should come and hear about?
Megan Parker:
Yeah. So, the main reason you should attend this session is because it's very interactive and you're going to walk away with three coaching skills that will help up your game as a manager.
So, we'll have three specific coaching skills. We'll have an opportunity to practice those skills in the session. And you get to try out some of this because it's fine for me to say, "Use the coach approach, ask open-ended questions." But until you practice that and you practice receiving pushback from someone, and knowing how to handle that, it is a technique that takes some practice. [inaudible 00:15:51].
Jack Jostes:
So, are you going to take some of our audience and maybe even role play with them?
Megan Parker:
Absolutely.
Jack Jostes:
Wow. Okay.
Megan Parker:
Yeah, it's really fun.
Jack Jostes:
That sounds really helpful because I know that sometimes I listen to these management ideas and ... I did personally get to be asked the questions from you. So, they made me sting a little bit, like, "Oh, I'm thinking about that." And I know that that'll be really valuable for people to come and hear you and we'll be able to pull some people onto stage. It's a virtual event, it's a virtual workshop, but we do it workshop style, meaning it's like a Zoom meeting where we're calling people. It's very interactive.
So, it's going to be really cool and you've got to attend to see Megan's full presentation and the rest. And we invite you to check out landscapersummit.com for more. And Megan, in the meantime, for people who may want to connect with you, ask a question, see some of your social media content, how can we connect with you before the show?
16:54: How to Connect with Megan Parker from McFarlin Stanford (and Even Submit a Question in Advance!)
Megan Parker:
Yeah, great question, and I'd love to connect with folks. Make sure you send me a connection request on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my primary platform. I'm connected with a lot of our landscape companies there through McFarlin Stanford, and for the peer groups that I facilitate, and would love to answer any questions in advance, but happy to connect there. And can't wait for the session, and I can't wait to attend some of the other sessions too. They all sound great.
Jack Jostes:
Cool. Well, Megan, we'll put the link to your LinkedIn page in our show notes. Everyone check it out. And Megan, thanks so much for coming on the show.
Megan Parker:
Thanks for having me, Jack.
Jack Jostes:
All right, everyone, thanks for checking out today's episode. Megan told me she's going to send out a download for the audience. So, when you register for Landscaper's Summit and attend, she's going to not only give you an opportunity to ask questions with her on stage, but she's also going to give you a worksheet with some very powerful questions.
So, hopefully you learned something today that'll help you ultimately empower your employees to do great work and allow you to focus on your job as the leader. I definitely learned some things that I'm going to try, and I can't wait to learn more at the Landscaper's Summit. So, see our show notes for a link to that, landscapersummit.com. My name's Jack Jostes and I look forward to talking with you next week on the Landscaper's Guide.
SHOW NOTES
Watch the full episode + see the transcript at: https://landscapersguide.com/podcast/
Get your ticket for the 4th Annual Landscaper’s Summit: https://landscapersummit.com
Tell us where to send your beef jerky: https://landscapersguide.com/toolbox
Connect with Megan Parker from McFarlin Stanford on LinkedIn.