Interview Series: Barrett Chow on Taking Care of Your Team

Barrett Chow, Executive Coach with McFarland Stanford, joins Marty to discuss why the green industry's approach to human resources is fundamentally broken—and how to fix it. Barrett shares the strategic framework that transforms HR from a cost center into a growth enabler.

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Episode Chapters:

00:30 - Episode Welcome

02:51 - Barrett’s Journey: From PGA Tour to Green Industry Coaching

04:23 - Why the Green Industry Is Different (And Better)

06:46 - Leaders Are Bringing in HR Much Earlier Now

09:34 - Why “People Operations” Eliminates the Grim Reaper Stigma

12:07 - Ways to Improve Your People Operations

16:29 - Transformational HR Practices

18:04 - Building a Positive Company Culture

23:06 - Defining Your Company’s Unique Value

24:14 - Creating an Inviting Workplace

25:10 - Managing Employee Engagement

27:28 - Promoting from Within

31:28 - The Importance of Stay and Exit Interviews

40:08 - HR Predictions for 2026

43:26 - Please Like, Share, Subscribe to the Grow Show!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

Stihl  

Show Notes:

HR Is a Philosophy, Not Just a Department – I heard the president of SHRM say "HR is not a department, it's a philosophy." Poorly run HR pits employees against the company, where people go to HR when they don't like a policy. That creates tension that's not needed. Well-run people operations creates strategic partnership.

Leaders Are Embracing HR Much Earlier Now – We're seeing leaders embrace HR a lot earlier in their business lifecycle. Before, you had to be $15-20 million with over 100 team members for it to make sense. Now we're bringing in HR professionals earlier so they get to build the foundation for a company to grow on versus trying to be an add-on.

Rebranding to "People Operations" Eliminates Stigma – At Lifescape I rebranded HR as "People Operations" because of the stigma—if HR is in the room, you did something wrong. There's a joke that I was known as the grim reaper: if Barrett asked you to bring your computer charger, you knew what was happening. Rebranding allowed people to see me in a different light.

COVID Shifted HR from Cost Center to Strategic Partner – COVID turned HR on its head. We're now seeing that shift from "this is a cost center" to "this is my strategic partner, this is strategic enablement for me to focus on areas in my business that I know nothing about." Owners themselves can be the biggest HR issue—that's where you need a partner.

Onboarding Separates Top Performers from Underperformers – The difference between your top performers and adequate performers and underperformers comes down to: did you set them up for success from day one? It's not just the first day or week—it's the first 30, 60, 90 days where you're continually checking in on expectations.

Stay Interviews Matter More Than Exit Interviews – Exit interviews tell you why people left, but stay interviews tell you why people stay. We should be asking our current team members regularly: What keeps you here? What would make you leave? What do you need from us? Don't wait until someone quits to have important conversations.

Your Workspace Should Be as Nice as Your Home – When you walk into someone's home, there's pictures on the wall, it's inviting, comfortable. But then you walk into someone's shop and it looks like a dungeon—cinder block walls, no windows. We should make our workspaces places people want to be, especially when we're competing with remote work options.

Promoting from Within Creates Loyalty and Culture – When you promote from within, you're showing your team there's a path forward. You're also ensuring the people moving up understand and embody your culture. External hires at senior levels can disrupt culture if you're not careful about fit and values alignment.

Compensation Should Be Transparent and Systematic – Team members should understand how compensation decisions are made. If you don't have a clear compensation philosophy, every raise conversation becomes a negotiation and creates inequity. People need to know: What drives increases? How often are reviews? What's the path to more money?

The Green Industry Gives Back Unlike Any Other – The makeup of our industry is unlike any I've really seen. We really do give back to not only the industry but to each other, more so than any other industry. Software can be pretty cutthroat, but this industry does an amazing job of coming together to share and grow with each other.

Reflection Questions

1. Do you view your HR function as a cost center or a strategic partner? Are you waiting until you hit 100 employees or $20 million to bring in people operations expertise, or are you building the foundation now that will support your growth for the next decade?
2. When was the last time you had a "stay interview" with your best people? Are you waiting for exit interviews to learn what's working and what's not, or are you proactively asking your current team what keeps them here and what would make them leave?
3. Would you want to spend 40+ hours per week in your shop or office? Walk through your workspace with fresh eyes—is it inviting, clean, and comfortable like your home, or does it look like a place people can't wait to leave?