You Can't Find Great Team Leaders, You Have to Build Them with Marty Grunder

Episode #176: Finding great team leaders is one of the biggest challenges in the landscaping industry, but what if you're asking the wrong question? In this episode of The Grow Show, Marty Grunder shares why the best team leaders aren't found - they're developed. Drawing from decades of experience at Grunder Landscaping Co., Marty walks through the systems, habits, and leadership principles that have helped build high-performing crews and future leaders from within.

Resources Mentioned:

BOBYARD is an AI-powered takeoff and estimating platform that automates the most time-consuming parts of bidding work. Contractors report up to 65% reduction in takeoff time and 3-5x more bids submitted per estimator.

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Key Learnings

Great Team Leaders Are Made, Not Found: Stop asking where to find them. Start asking how to build them. The best crew leaders come from within your own company, developed with intention.

Great Days Start the Day Before: The biggest mistake team leaders make is arriving in the morning to start figuring things out. That's 12 to 15 hours too late. Great days start at 3 PM the day before.

Ask Where Your Weakest Link Is Tomorrow: Before the day starts, ask what could stop you and where the weakest link is. Then get ready for it. The weather, a missing crew member, a picky client. Anticipate.

A Team Leader Should Never Say "Nobody Told Me": The information is there. Read the notes. Study the prints. Know the plan. Ownership starts with reading what's in front of you.

Group Leaders Are the Ones Training Team Leaders: Mowing group leaders can handle 10 crews. Construction group leaders max out at 5 because the work is more detailed. Land keeping group leaders handle about 6. The group leader's job is to mentor and empower, not to give every answer.

Own the Morning by Prepping the Night Before: Show up at 6:45. Truck is fueled. Trailer is checked. Tools are staged. Notes are reviewed. The morning is about executing, not figuring things out.

Every Crew Member Has a Job: The number two (team tech / team leader in training) reads the tablet on the way to the site. The number three loads supplies, fills seed, fills fuel cans. Chaos in the morning means chaos all day. Organization creates profit.

Get Better From Every Near Miss: When a pintle pin gets missed on a trailer, don't laugh it off. Have a meeting, retrain, and get better. The goal isn't getting to the job fast. It's getting everyone home safely.

Great Leaders Coach with Questions, Not Commands: Don't say "do this." Ask "what's your plan?" Ask "what did you learn today?" and "what could you do better tomorrow?" Those aren't adversarial questions. They develop people.

Team Leaders Think Like Owners: They understand waste. They don't throw away usable mulch. They take care of equipment. They protect customer property. They know if we sell 150 hours and finish in 130, that's good. If it takes 170, that's bad.

Finish Every Job Professionally: Walk the site. Check quality. Take photos, post in Aspire. Clean up. Review tomorrow. Would you be proud to show this job to your family? Would you pay for this work? Would you want this crew at your house?

Pre-Plan, Coach, Review (Jimmy's Three Habits): Know tomorrow before tomorrow arrives. Make your crew better every day. Learn from every day before starting the next one.

Your Crews Are Your Reputation: Salespeople spend 1-20 hours with a client. Your crews spend 100+. How they drive your trucks, how they show up, how they behave in front of clients - that's the impression that lasts.

Reflection Questions

Are your team leaders arriving in the morning to figure things out, or arriving with the plan already made?
When was the last time your group leaders let a team leader make a mistake and learn from it, instead of jumping in to fix it?
If you asked your team leaders what they learned today, would they have an answer? What does that tell you about your coaching?

Additional Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn