Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Grow show brought to you by Marty Grunder's Grow Group where we specialize in helping landscaping companies to clarify their platform, grow their people, build their processes and realize profits. Everything we teach is grounded in real experience. Our team is actively involved in the day to day operations of Southwest Ohio's Grunder Landscaping Company.
New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays and are made possible with the support of Bob Yard. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Now here's your host, Marty Grunder.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever the case may be. This is Marty Grunder from Grunder Landscaping Co. And the Grow Group. Thanks for downloading the Grow Show. Today we're going to talk about what do you do when things aren't going according to plan at your business or work? In other words, how do you keep a clear head when you feel like all the guns are pointed at you?
But first, a reminder. You can get the latest edition of the Grow show delivered to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts or Watch us on YouTube for an enhanced learning experience.
The Grow show is the greatest thing since spending time with my brother Rich. Rich helped me start Grunder Landscaping Co. 42 years ago and was an awesome worker. He was hired and fired a record 47 times, eventually leaving to go to fight forest fires in Alaska and then moved on to Portland, Oregon and then to Seattle, Washington where he's been for over 20 years working in the financial industry.
He does great. He's the best folks. He's funny, he's smart and witty and an awesome person. I got to spend time with him, his wife, his son who's going to go off to Santa Clara University in the fall to study business.
My brother's awesome. Love him dearly. So shout out to Rich and if you want to hear our most listened Grow show of all time, go back into the archives and download episode 150. It's with me and Rich and I know you'll like it and expect to hear from Rich when we come up on episode 200. Today is 163. Thanks Richie. Love you brother. Now onto the Grow Show. Today we're talking about something every single one of us deals with. Whether you're in the field, the office or leading a team, what do you do when things don't go according to plan?
It's something, quite frankly, we've had to work on here at Grunder Landscaping Co. Because with growth and means change and change pushes you out of your comfort Zone. You're doing things you haven't done before. Seth, our president here often talks about flexicuting a word that he made up. I like that. Someone once said, blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Man, I love that one. Because it's real, folks. Clients get upset, Vendors miss deadlines. Team members disagree. Your truck doesn't start. You spill coffee on your pants on the way to work, and. And sometimes it hits all at once. Well, here's the reality. You can't control most of that, ladies and gentlemen. Well, maybe the coffee part you can, which is one of the reasons I don't drink coffee. But you can control how you respond. And that right there. That ability is one of the clearest indicators of leadership. It's also one of the key things we look for when promoting someone into management at glc.
So today we're going to break down how strong leaders stay steady under pressure, handle adversity, and keep their teams moving forward even when things go sideways.
First of all, you got to control what you can. Let's start with the foundation. You can't control other people. You can't control every outcome. Trust me, I used to think I could. Yep, I did. But over time, I've learned this. You can control three things.
Your attitude, your effort, and your response. That's it. But those things are everything, ladies and gentlemen. When something goes wrong, most people react. They get frustrated, they get defensive, they get angry, they get emotional. Leaders truly do something different.
They pause.
They ask what's actually in my control right now? And one of my favorite questions a leader can ask is this. And if you've been with me or I've coached you or. Or you've been in one of my sessions, you know what I'm about to say. And what I'm about to say is, what am I? What am I, Marty Grunder. What am I doing or not doing that's getting me the results I don't want? That's the first question you should always ask. That's ownership. Because reacting emotionally doesn't solve problems. It usually makes them worse. And blaming others or making excuses, well, that never works. Think about it. If a client is upset and you match their energy, what happens if they yell at you and you yell back? What happens if a disagreement turns into ego versus ego? What happens if you yell at someone? Does that make it better? No. And furthermore, when you yell, no one hears your message. All they see here and feel is your anger. It just escalates the situation. And leaders don't escalate problems, they stabilize them. To be blunt, they lead. They bring calm, clarity, and direction. They don't add tension. They actually reduce it.
All right, so we got to calm things down.
Secondly, we have to have a growth mindset, and mindset has to be a part of what you're doing on a daily basis. A fixed mindset says, things like, this shouldn't be happening to me. This is a problem. Who did this? A growth mindset says, this is part of the process. When you grow, this is part of the process. In the spring, what can we learn from this? How can we move forward?
That mentality shifts everything, folks, because adversity isn't the exception. It's the norm. Plans going sideways isn't failure. It's reality. It happens.
Strong leaders expect challenges. They don't get thrown off by them. They adapt. And more importantly, they model that mindset for their team.
If you panic, your team panics. For goodness sake, you're at the top of the food chain, folks. If you stay grounded, guess what? Your team stays focused and grounded. Your mindset actually can become part of your culture.
The next step is. Let's talk a little bit about handling frustration and disagreements. Let's get practical here. What do you do in the moment when things get frustrating? We just hinted at this.
Slow it down.
Not everything needs to be an immediate reaction. A few seconds to collect your thoughts can completely change the outcome.
Saying something like, let me think about that, and then separate the issue from the emotion. Trust me, I have learned a long time ago this business is my baby. Nobody is ever going to care as much about Grunder Landscaping Company as Marty does. So I have to separate the emotion. And I have to ask myself, you have to ask yourself, what is actually the problem here?
Not the tone, not the frustration, not your personal concerns that you're taking here. Taking it personally. What's the real issue? Okay, so separate the issue from emotion. And then step three, stay objective, especially in disagreements. And I think this is probably the hardest thing to do because this business is your baby. All right? And instead of saying you're wrong, how about trying to. Trying to say, help me understand your perspective. Tell me why you did this. That one shift is keeps things productive instead of personal.
And it shows the person that you have the disagreement with or that's involved in the conflict or can help you. It shows them to respect their opinion. You're going to work on this together.
Step four, focus on solutions.
Not blame. Not frustration. Solutions.
Not who did this, what did this? Not why did this Happen, Okay?
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Not.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Not who's the person that made this happen? Why did this happen?
Blame looks backward. Leaders look forward when something goes wrong. The question isn't who caused this, it's what's the next best step when we address mistakes, folks, mistakes are going to happen. That's not optional, all right? So you're going to have to learn how to address them. And I think what is optional is how you handle them. And hopefully today on the Grow show, you're seeing some ways that. That you could look at things a little bit differently and try to move on. Just because there's an issue doesn't mean the business is going to close. It could be an opportunity for you to get better.
Weak leaders punish mistakes emotionally. Strong leadership uses them to improve the systems and the people. And actually, in many ways, they should run towards these problems. They should look at them as an opportunity to get better.
And I put together a simple framework here for you to deal with this. Number one, acknowledge the issue clearly. Don't avoid it. Don't sugarcoat it. Just acknowledge. Take ownership where it's needed. Okay?
Sometimes the issue comes down to unclear expectations or communication.
Then focus on learning and ask yourself and ask your team, what can we do differently next time? This drives me nuts. Companies and leaders make mistakes. They rush to fix it. They complain about it, but then they don't do a postmortem analysis. They don't talk about how we can keep this from happening again and another week or two or three weeks or a month later to do the same darn thing over again.
Move forward quickly. Don't let mistakes linger or define the team. You're going to waste money on most mistakes. So get something out of your investment. Figure out the right way to do it. Figure out how to use it as a learning experience.
Because here's the truth, folks. Teams don't lose the trust when mistakes happen.
They lose the trust when the mistakes are handled poorly. And you can't learn from that. If your team sees that mistakes lead to growth, not punishment, they will stay engaged, accountable, and motivated. I want to say that again. If your team sees that mistakes lead to growth, not punishment, they'll stay engaged, accountable, and motivated. And if you think your company is going to be in business without making mistakes, you're nuts. Many of you are laughing with me.
We'll go here in the last quarter of this Grow show this week, trying to help you deal with stress and problems when you feel like all the guns are pointed at you. Staying calm under pressure, staying resilient. Under pressure. Earlier this year, one of our young aces in our peer groups asked a great question.
He said, what are the most effective strategies for leaders to stay resilient, make clear decisions under pressure, and, and keep their teams motivated and engaged? That's pretty much word for word what he said. Well, here's the answer boiled down, folks. Clarity beats chaos.
Even if you don't have all the answers, give direction. They're looking to you for that. And if you need time, say so. Tell them you need to think about it, but follow through. Don't avoid it, don't sweep it under the rug. And also ask your team what they think.
What would they do? Quit taking the monkey, right? That's how you develop people, by asking them to help, to see what they have to say, to have them be included so that they know that they need to be thinking through problems as well.
Consistently handling issues like this, folks, it builds trust. If your team knows that you, the leader, will stay steady, they'll follow you through just about everything.
Communication is everything.
Silence creates uncertainty. Keep people informed. Let them know what's going on. This energy is so contagious. You, your attitude, ladies and gentlemen, it sets the tone. If you stay composed and focused, your team will too. And finally, perspective matters. Not every problem is a crisis. I see that from my team all the time. It may be something they're stressing over, so you can't get upset with them, but you got to get them to learn how to handle situations because not everything can be a crisis. And, and as you get better and better at leadership, you know the difference between a crisis a crisis is the building's on fire. The crisis is, is we've had an accident. A crisis is not there's a complaint because a client's back deck didn't get blown off. All right, we've got to put them in a clear perspective here.
So in closing, as we move through this spring, folks out there, and as things inevitably get hectic, remember this.
You don't control everything that happens, but you do control how you show up. And that's what leadership really is. It's not about having perfect plans. It's about responding the right way. When those plans fall apart, Stay focused and keep growing. Thanks for tuning into the Grow Show. That's going to do it for this week's edition. If you haven't done so already, would you do me a favor? Subscribe to the Grow show and subscribe. And if you can give it a rating or share a comment that helps more success minded landscape professionals find us. We really would love to see you there. And also subscribe to this on the YouTube version so you get it. That would help us. And if you really want to help your buddy Marty, take this episode, text it when you share your episodes on your podcast, whatever platform you use, send it on to them. Tell them you liked it, you want them to listen to it and talk about it. Only going to be about 13 minutes and that'll help us get more success minded landscape professionals to find us. Thanks for joining us on the Grow show this week. We'll talk to you next week.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Grow show and thank you to Bob Yard for their support of this episode. Visit growgroupinc.com for more resources to help your landscaping company succeed. We'll talk to you next week.
