Ever returned from a trip to find your business running like clockwork, or did you come back to chaos? My recent jaunt to South Carolina left me awestruck as our landscaping team didn't miss a beat during my absence, proving the muscle of our training and the art of delegation. Alongside my reflections, Brandon joins the conversation, echoing the sentiment with his own tales of time off where clear roles and responsibilities paved the way for uninterrupted operations. We unravel how the 'win triangle' can serve as your business's compass, empowering your staff to navigate decisions even when you're not there to steer the ship.
Strap in as we venture through the gritty details of why sticking to your guns with established processes isn't just busywork—it's the backbone of productivity. A recent gaffe in our mulching routine turned into a teachable moment, showcasing how veering off the beaten path can lead to time-consuming slip-ups. Dan, our guest, brings a fresh perspective on how learning styles, particularly learning from mistakes, can be a goldmine for growth. We wrap things up by championing the trifecta of training, communication, and accountability, ensuring that every team member grows from each experience and stays true to our company's operational compass.
Do you want to grow your business and your profits? Is your business too dependent on you the owner? Improve or implement processes that help you grow. Eliminate stress while improving cash flow. Interested? If so check out LOS. Landscape Operating System with Peer group is for you.
Learn more here https://www.scalingscoresystem.com/los
Ever returned from a trip to find your business running like clockwork, or did you come back to chaos? My recent jaunt to South Carolina left me awestruck as our landscaping team didn't miss a beat during my absence, proving the muscle of our training and the art of delegation. Alongside my reflections, Brandon joins the conversation, echoing the sentiment with his own tales of time off where clear roles and responsibilities paved the way for uninterrupted operations. We unravel how the 'win triangle' can serve as your business's compass, empowering your staff to navigate decisions even when you're not there to steer the ship.
Strap in as we venture through the gritty details of why sticking to your guns with established processes isn't just busywork—it's the backbone of productivity. A recent gaffe in our mulching routine turned into a teachable moment, showcasing how veering off the beaten path can lead to time-consuming slip-ups. Dan, our guest, brings a fresh perspective on how learning styles, particularly learning from mistakes, can be a goldmine for growth. We wrap things up by championing the trifecta of training, communication, and accountability, ensuring that every team member grows from each experience and stays true to our company's operational compass.
Do you want to grow your business and your profits? Is your business too dependent on you the owner? Improve or implement processes that help you grow. Eliminate stress while improving cash flow. Interested? If so check out LOS. Landscape Operating System with Peer group is for you.
Learn more here https://www.scalingscoresystem.com/los
Speaker 1:
Morning everybody. Welcome to Landscape Talk morning show. Seth Brandon Dan here today. I want to talk about a couple of good things today.
Speaker 1:
Again, processes I was recently away in South Carolina for a little bit and the team did great. We have great people, we work at our processes and do this. I just to kind of unpack that kind of get the perspective from you guys and talk about that. Just a reminder if you're interested in growing your landscape business, grow your landscape business, grow your profits. About the LOS is the idea of it's not just for the owners. As an owner, you go to all the conferences, you learn and then you got to kind of come back in and train your team, which a lot of times it doesn't happen. So with LOS you get training, plus your team and key people can get training so you can grow together. So check them out. There's a QR code there but some partners there with the show, so we'll dive into it.
Speaker 1:
So again, you know, last, you know, for the last week or so I was away down South Carolina having a little bit of you know, spend a little bit of time with family, so it was really good. Try to really shut off things. You know, I checked in a little bit but I was trying to take a little bit more of a break. You know things have been busy. We had a new family member recently, so a baby, so there's just been a lot going on. So it's just kind of good to get away and spend a little time with the family. So I guess, you know, when you think about landscape businesses, it's a busy time, right, it's busy time in spring. But I guess just you know, from your guys' perspective, how'd the week go? You know, because I think that's always the thing and you know what. You know, what have we done to try to help make it so people can go away? I know, brandon, like you were away earlier for, you know, for a little bit of time. You know you have a lot of key things that you do and you know, I think you know, hopefully you had a enjoyable time. I think you went to see the Phillies or whatever, and we're down in Florida, you know. So doing these things was important so that, like you know, not just owners can get away but, like staff and key team members can have rest and relaxation too. I think I'd just like to talk about that today and just see how do we do that, how do we help each other? How do you get there If you're somebody that you can never get away?
Speaker 1:
I think people are very interested in that. I hear it all the time. I'm always working, I can't stop Things like that. What did you see last week? How did it go? Like you know, I'm always working, I can't stop things like that. So you know what, what did you see last week? You know how'd it go. And then, maybe, how do you get there? That doesn't mean we're perfect at it, obviously. Uh, I always say that first. You know we don't have it all figured out, but just for people that are listening, like what was last week? Like um, did anything miss a beat, you know how was it? It's springtime, and then how do you get there as as an organization or company?
Speaker 1:
So I mean, I'll just throw it out there. Whoever wants to dive in first.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean, I think it's um, we have a lot of good processes in place. I think it was pretty much business as usual, um, because everyone knows what their responsibilities are and what they need to do, what's expected of them and their goals for the week. You know, we talked before you left, like is there anything that we needed from you? And we made sure we had what we needed for the upcoming week. And you know just, we just kind of rolled along, like I said, like business as usual. Everyone knows what their expectations are. We had things set up. We didn't need anything from you. We got it ahead of time. You still checked in, but it was.
Speaker 2:
You know, we have everything kind of like planned and set up. It's just basically set the schedule and just do it. And then, you know, I think, as long as you're prepared ahead of time and you have your stuff organized and everything's ready to go, it's not a big deal. And I think that's that's tough for a lot of owners or leadership is like if you're just winging everything all the time. That's where you have problems that come into play is because you're always winging it and putting out fires, as we like to say, um so you're, you know and that and that's, that's normal you can make.
Speaker 2:
You know one thing I learned when I first started you can make a perfect plan and it's probably not gonna. It's probably not gonna go that way. You know there's gonna be changes and I think as long as you're, you have a, you have a pretty solid plan and you have people that are capable of making decisions and you give them the formula to make the decision and you trust in them to make good decisions. It goes that way.
Speaker 2:
We talk about the wind triangle and we talk about it with all of our team members, whether you're entry level, you know everyone, everyone looks at the wind triangle and that's how we make decisions. Like, if you're unable to get hold of a manager in a moment, you have to make a decision. You look at the wind triangle and you make a decision based on that, and and and go from there. So I think you know it was just business as usual for us, because we have good processes set up and people make good decisions, and we had, we have everything scheduled out. So it's, it's just pretty much normal, normal stuff what is.
Speaker 1:
Maybe just explain briefly what is the wind triangle frame. But it's like listening. They're probably think they might say, like what is the wind triangle? Like what is that? Or like how would you just say it in a you know or explain it?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's basically just a triangle that's even on all sides. So, um, we say for us, we have, we have the customer, we have the team member, and then we have the company. As long as all three of those are winning equally, that's a great decision to make.
Speaker 2:
Um, so, uh, you know, I, you know, whatever it may be, um, we tell guys to make decisions on that that it came up the other week where guys didn't follow the process that we have in place for one task, so they didn't get the job done because they didn't follow it accordingly and the job was left incomplete at the end of the day because they didn't follow it. And I said to them, you know, and they're like, well, we could come in the next day and finish it, and I'm like, well, that's great, or you know the next week. But because it was a Friday, and I'm like that's great, but you know, now you're getting overtime or sitting there and it's not getting finished. So, like, the only person that won in that whole scenario is you, the company. The only person that won in that whole scenario is you.
Speaker 2:
The job didn't get done, so the customer wasn't taken care of and the company is losing out because you didn't follow the process and we may have to stretch that in another week, bump another job and or pay you overtime. So if you follow the process, there's a reason for it and that leads to everyone winning. So that's the win triangle. That's how we try to make you know everyone winning, so, um, that's, that's the win triangle. That's how we try to make decisions um for everyone to win awesome, dan.
Speaker 1:
What do you, what's your kind of take on it? Or, you know, what have you kind of seen from your perspective?
Speaker 3:
um, I mean just going back a little bit to like how we set up processes. I would say like the two key pieces of that are one like how clearly the process is laid out, like how, how kind of simple it is to know exactly what the steps are to get through this process, and also when that's supposed to happen. Because if those two things are true, then you know someone who maybe hasn't done a certain thing before can pretty much step into that role and they know exactly what it is they need to do and when it's supposed to happen. It's like Brandon said if you just kind of leave it to chance or leave it up in the air, like chances are it's not going to work. You know the best that it could work.
Speaker 3:
So you know we always try to have things laid laid out, whether it's, you know, doing an interview, doing some onboarding, um, you know, training somebody, getting guys started in the morning, all these things we want to have like laid out so that if someone does need to step in for someone who's away, you know it's relatively simple, they can pick it up pretty quickly and they also kind of know when that's supposed to happen, so we don't have to be, you know, reaching out and making sure it's happening at the right time, kind of thing yeah, yeah, I think good I just one quick like synopsis or thing that I see there is, like we basically have a playbook, right, and then anyone can open the playbook and call the plays, because it's pretty, it's pretty clear on how we do it.
Speaker 2:
So I think that's that's a big thing for our company.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think that's great. You know, I think the idea is, you know when you can really have, you know like that playbook and processes and like have it trained. I think I think the thing that you know we continue to work on and refine is like from the beginning. So when somebody starts really kind of setting the expectation of, like what they need to do and what they're accountable for and I remember I think it was even yesterday we checked in on, you know, just just talking about, you know, some of our people and you know, a lot of times people look at like even raises or this or that or what you want them to do. But it all goes back to you have to communicate what you want the people to do and what you count on them for, and that becomes a process in itself. And then, if you do that, typically things run a little bit better if everybody knows what they want.
Speaker 1:
I always try to pay attention to what do you say, and this isn't in a negative way, but what do you say when somebody isn't there? And I'm not saying this in a bad way, but like if you say something, then I try to like make sure, like that that's telling me that I need to say that to the person and then we just have to make sure we have a process that helps get that thing accomplished. So I think, like that's those. Um, those are usually the things that need to be worked on. Fixed processes need to be around them or checked in.
Speaker 1:
Um, I think the other thing with process is you can measure it right. So if you have a good process, you can say, like, is this getting done? How well is this getting done? Maybe even what's the score? You know that this is being effective. So you know, know, I think that that's good. I've you know, for brandon, I know you said that you were given one example what was the process at the end of the day that you were kind of referring to, because I think that's helpful to just anytime we can kind of give like a real life example of like what was the process so they didn't get the job done? Um, you know, cause some backlogs, but what was the process that they, that we had in place that wasn't implemented, that needed to be followed?
Speaker 2:
yeah, so basically what happened was a mulch job and, um, we have a special piece of equipment it's called mulch mate. Um, and it had a fluke thing that happened.
Speaker 2:
It went down, so they had to go back to like the old school method of like um, you know shoveling mulch, right, so mulch mate, fills your wheelbarrow in like three to five seconds, makes your life a lot easier. So they had to go back to filling these, the mulch, uh, the wheelbarrows, and what they did was they didn't follow our process of like saying we say we want the whole truck unloaded, so we want to dump everything before we start spreading. Well, they didn't do that. They had someone spreading immediately and what the problem that occurred was they went through all that, got a second truck there but now the first truck sitting there, emptied and it's not being reloaded, and that for this particular property we couldn't.
Speaker 2:
We don't have mulch delivered on sites, we have to run back to our shop to get it, which is maybe 20 minutes away. So what they did was they emptied the first truck, were spreading while doing it, moved on to the second truck and continued to do that same process. Now it's three o'clock.
Speaker 2:
They probably need maybe one smaller truckload, three quarters of a truckload, to finish the day and they have two empty trucks, all the mulch is spread and everyone's standing there twiddling their thumbs.
Speaker 2:
So the reason that doesn't work is now, if a guy goes back to load up, both trucks are empty, everyone's standing around Twitter, lunar thumbs and it's probably going to take him realistically an hour to go back, load and come back and they're not going to get the job finished, whereas if they would have followed our process of dumping, everything they could have been spreading as that second truck was going back and getting loaded up again and then they had the third truck to be working out of there and there would have been no lull in the action.
Speaker 2:
So that's, that was the problem. And they would have. They would have gotten the job complete. Even with the equipment going down, they still would have been able to complete the job. But because they didn't follow our process, that led to them saying like, well, and you know it would have been a late day, they would end up having to work later than they normally do. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So because they didn't follow it, it turned into this snowball effect where everyone was losing except for I guess you could say the guys.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think that's a great example. You know, in that area it's really really important to. So I think what I want to share is it's really important to identify what might have been going wrong. So, like, how we got to that point was through seeing it a lot of times and knowing that, like, when trucks are doing this, maybe they're not being efficient.
Speaker 1:
So that's where we put a process in place, and I think that's the other thing that's good about you know, peer groups, or talking with other companies or or, or paying attention, you can kind of understand what is good and what isn't, and you kind of get ideas of, like how to do that and you know that can be really, really beneficial so that you know you can eliminate that. Then you make a process around that, you train it and then you hold people accountable. So, like, when something doesn't go right now, you can say, like you know, you were trained on this, we did show you this, you know this is something that we need to do and it becomes a teaching point versus oh no, why didn't we get it done and we never talked about it? So I think that's good. Um dan, anything you can think of or want to add to the well it just reminds me, um, about you know, people have like different learning styles kind of thing.
Speaker 3:
They, they. You know, we, we always go through our, our training program with, with guys, um, either new guys or guys that could just use a refresh on certain things. Um, but like you know, at the end of the day sometimes it sometimes it takes just like a little, a little little mix-up early on to say, okay, this is kind of an example. Now you've experienced it, you can see how it would have worked better a different way. Sometimes some guys kind of need that, they need to do it themselves before it really fully sticks. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think, just to elaborate on that. So like that's a great example. Sometimes, like you know, I think of a kid and you're like, hey, that's hot.
Speaker 2:
And you're like they keep trying to reach to touch it and you're like, hey, that's hot, don't touch, it's gonna hurt, you're gonna have an ouchie, and then they touch it and then they go, oh, they start crying and they get burned and you're like I told you like, and then then it like sinks in. So I think you know example of dan said, and then, just to elaborate on that, so, like that happened, friday, we have a tuesday meeting with our, our guys every week and everybody, and we sit down, just go over some key points. Well, uh, we immediately addressed that on tuesday and was like talked through it with everyone and I think it like dawned on everyone on like why, hey, we, we do know what we're talking about. There is a reason that we have these things and we want you to follow them.
Speaker 2:
And I think everyone like realized, like you know, okay, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. We understand, they all went through the training program, they all watched the videos, they all did the quizzes on what our process was, but they simply didn't follow it. Sometimes people think they know better or maybe they just get caught up in the moment and they don't realize it. But I think sometimes, like Dan said, it's like you can talk and talk and talk, but sometimes you just need to get burned by the stove to realize. Okay.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I got to remember that for next time. And I think the thing that's really, you know, really interesting with this is it does and I say this a lot but it just takes time and energy to do this. I mean you have to, you know, you create some training and then it's, you know, it's on kind of like management and the team to be to be able to find when it's not going well kind of quickly so that it just doesn't keep repeating. I can think of like years ago when we were doing this, where we just kind of let people keep touching the stove or keep letting them do the wrong thing inefficiently and we didn't even know. So like that's a whole nother thing is like once you identify it, you have to create something to do it and improve it so that it does. I think also tying earlier to what we said about you know, going away and giving people breaks and things like that is really goes back to the, to the processes and clear roles of what people are doing, so that you know, when somebody goes away, like this is what this person is doing and somebody can can cover it.
Speaker 1:
I actually had a, you know, conversation with somebody that I was working with and they were going away in September and they've been really struggling to like get things off their plate. They do everything. And then they basically said that you know they have to do everything, right? So like I have to do everything. So then I said, well, who's going to do it while you're away? Like well, I'm making a list of what I need to do, what I do, so somebody else can do it. I'm like, did you just hear what you just said? So so many times, it's really about just really creating what needs done so that somebody else can do it. And she realized at the time she's like, oh, I guess somebody else can do that. I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And then I said, well, who did it before you? And they're like, yeah, so so that was helping get that off the plate. But we have to identify, give clear things that we do and then you can. Then you can have people do it and help out. I think that makes it better for everybody. And I think it's tough you know it's tough to always, you know to give things away and and follow up. You just really have to know what, who does what, when and when to step in if it isn't, if it isn't working.
Speaker 1:
So great topic today. You know, just want to. You know switch to. You can't make it up again and can't make it up. Or the things that you see where you're just like. You know, I just can't believe that they're doing that. I give the example a lot of times you've tuned in and heard strapping down dirt. You know just different funny things like that that you just can't make up. So what? What has you? Have you seen anything recently that you know you just want to share, for you can't make it up. If you have things, please share it in. You know, we were just making a compiling, a list of different things and yeah, it's going to be fun. We're going to give some awards for some of the best you can't make it up yeah.
Speaker 2:
So I can think of one um, ironically just happened this morning. Um, I was messaging someone on linkedin networking. Um, you know, it could be a potential like link up for like, uh, you know, connecting and stuff and and lead into maybe some like work together and stuff. And uh, I was just following up, sent a previous message and just was following up with some people. Hey, just you know, checking in and following up on my last message, and she, just you know I I probably sent messages that maybe to her, maybe like a week ago message, and she, just you know I I probably sent messages maybe to her, maybe like a week ago. She got back to me and was like, hey, you know in regards to what? And I just said, you know, networking. And then, um, she got, she came back and was like, okay, I can meet now. And I'm like, well, it was like two minutes later and she's like if you can't meet now, let me know I have something else to do.
Speaker 2:
So I, it was right before this, this uh, um, recording of what we're doing right now. And I was like I, unfortunately I can't, I have a meeting, um, but I'm you know, I'm available later today. And she's like um, she says, uh, forget it, like, don't message me, don't contact me, uh, like, stop stop reaching out. And I'm like what? No, like, how does it? How do you change from like, yeah, sure, I'll meet with you too. I can't right now to immediately be like don't talk to me, never contact me again, um, lose my number. It was just really bizarre, um, a really bizarre like scenario. I'm just unfortunately the this very moment. It didn't work out for me, um, but I'm pretty available.
Speaker 2:
I want to call or else lose my number yeah, I mean, it was like insane a little bit. It was like and I thought it was like extremely like rude, but I was just like okay, well, you know, sometimes I guess things work out for a reason and maybe that was somebody I didn't want to really be dealing with or talking with um, but it was really bizarre and I feel like you can't make that up, like it's just yeah, I can meet with you. Oh, you can't write me right now, forget it don't ever contact me again so yeah, that's my, that's my.
Speaker 2:
You can't make it up. It's hot, fresh right off the stove this morning, so yeah, dan anything you can think of.
Speaker 3:
I mean, the only thing that comes to mind for like real recently, that was the quoting of projects involving like a planting job.
Speaker 3:
And you know, sometimes it's always good to give like some recommendations, but sometimes when you know the client, the client has a, has a clear, specific vision of like exactly what they want. You know she, she sends me some, you know pictures on Amazon or whatever some stuff she found and you know they're like super specific, like hybrid varieties of things you couldn't possibly get anywhere unless you ordered them online. I was like, well, you know I I can supply these specific things, um, but you know I I can't like guarantee that they're gonna get established. It's gonna be from like bulbs and seeds and whatever. Or you know, I can get you like some more standard varieties still in the same like color scheme you're going for, and it'd be a lot you know simpler and I could you know better guarantee it's gonna do well, um, so, like you know people, people wanting like just super specific stuff, that like, because they don't they're not really big into gardening themselves. They just kind of find something online that they like, they're like that get, get me that yeah, yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:
It's just wild out there. So a lot of good, a lot of good things. We have your. You can't make it up. Send it in. Check out LOS if you're looking to improve your processes, scale your business, grow your profits. Thanks for tuning in and we'll be talking to you soon.