[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Grow show, brought to you by Mardi Grunder's Grow Group, where we specialize in helping landscaping companies clarify their platform, grow their people, build their processes, and realize profits. Everything we teach is grounded in real experience. Our team's 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 by the support of Aspire, Bob Yard and Exmark. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever 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 something that sounds pretty basic, but I think a lot of landscaping companies struggle with it. And the topic is how to run an effective production meeting. I've got Bill Roselle in the house with us today. He's our director of production operations. He runs our production meetings. Really excited for this one. 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 our recently completed Grow Snow event here In Dayton, Ohio, 100 snow removal professionals joined us for two full days of sharing, learning, networking and fun, all centered on snow removal and ice control.
Really proud of what we did. Shout out to my team. Shout out to Phil Harwood. Next year, folks, we go to Madison, Wisconsin and it's going to be bigger and better than this one. So sign up now. Why it's fresh in your mind. Grow Snow 27, Madison, Wisconsin. I'll be there. Would love to have you there too. Now, on to this week's edition of the Grow Show. Bill. Hello. Hello. How are you?
[00:01:43] Speaker C: I'm doing well.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: I see a lot of you.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: We're.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: We're real close here today. And the comfy confines of the Gross Show Studios. Production meetings, folks. Many companies have them. A lot of landscapers don't have them, and that's a mistake. So what I want to do today was help you make your production meetings better if you currently have them. And if you don't currently have a production meeting, maybe this episode will help you get them started in the right way. So here's the first thing I want you to remember. The purpose of a production meeting is not just to have a meeting. It's. It's not just to get everybody around together and talk. The purpose is to make production run better. That's it.
So if people leave the meeting and they still don't know where they're going, what they're doing, what equipment they need, what problems are coming, what the priorities are, what's going well, what's not going well. You didn't have an effective meeting. You just had a gathering. And gatherings cost money, folks. Bill, thanks for joining us.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Tell us a little bit about your background, how you got to be the director of production operations. Because I. I know it, but I think everyone would enjoy it and I'm really proud of what you've done.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: Well, thank you very much. Yes, I'm a little proud of myself.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: You should be proud of yourself.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Yes. I joined Grunder Landscaping about five years ago. Came in as a team lead on our production side, handling a lot of our hardscape projects out, working on the.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: In the field, putting in patios and hardscaping jobs.
[00:03:02] Speaker C: Yep, working. Working hands on with the guys. Well, I don't know about that, but yeah. Yeah.
So I was team lead working on projects for about a year. Then I got an opportunity to step into fleet manager.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: Take on and establish a program that we had not had time.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Managing the fleet.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: Yeah, managing the fleet.
Got that up and going. And about a year into that, I got the opportunity to come on as
[00:03:30] Speaker B: production manager and been rolling since. Right. Handling here, handling the Loveland office down in Cincinnati in terms of production. So different meetings, folks have different purposes.
One mistake I see companies make is they try to accomplish everything in one big meeting. They invite everyone, they talk about everything. And pretty soon you got 25 people listening to a conversation that applies to three of them. That's not efficient, Bill. At Grundier Landscaping. Company or production meeting, I don't attend them. I would love to attend one at some time. I can hear them underneath the door a little bit. I hear laughter and I always like hearing that.
Because we want people to enjoy their jobs.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: And you have great rapport with them. But I'd like you to talk about your meeting. Just tell us a little bit about the purpose of the meeting, why you have it, and we can kind of just go through your agenda.
[00:04:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, it's extremely important having the Loveland branch that we come together once a week. So ours is every Thursday at 8am it's an opportunity to come together with all group leaders.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: And we just have them on via an out camera. Right in Loveland.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Or sometimes he comes here, sometimes he comes up. It's a small operation down there. There's just the one group leader we're incubating it, growing it on, but he's on there via camera, so he doesn't have to drive the hour up here unless there's some other reason for it.
[00:04:43] Speaker C: Comes in through teams and he joins us in the conference room.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker C: And other outsider joins us is Zach.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Zach.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: He knows a lot of our fleet maintenance as far as scheduling, and this gives us an opportunity to come together and just go a little bit more in depth into what we've accomplished, where we're heading in, some of the obstacles we have to overcome.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: So what does. What does everyone have a say in the meeting? Who, you know, give us a little bit more insight on the agenda?
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Okay. Well, of course, like every meeting, we start off with the mission statement.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:05:11] Speaker C: And then we break it down into categories. Usually I have Zach present anything that he has for us as far as what's out in repairs and what the schedule looks like for it to come back.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: So that's what you start with. Kind of stuff that's been out. Because they're going to have questions about that.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, they do. And also for the group leaders to bring something to his attention that they hadn't had time to do so yet.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: So I like having Zach first because it gives him an opportunity to be released after that.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: That makes sense because I was going to say he. If we're talking about having an effective meeting, we don't need him sitting through personnel discussions. And quite frankly, you may not want them to be in there. It's not. Those aren't his guys.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: No, not. Not when we continue to get into the group leader.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Level. But also he handles a lot of our service. He's our service tech.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: So it keeps him free to go
[00:05:58] Speaker B: instead of sitting in a meeting another hour. That's not really that productive for him. Yeah. Yep, yep. And Zach does a nice job for us.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: Yeah, he does. He does a great job.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: He does. He has a great attitude. He's a very friendly young guy. I always enjoy seeing him. I. I think I make him laugh. So.
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Yes. Yes.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Who. Who else is in the agenda? What. What are we doing there as far
[00:06:18] Speaker C: as working down the agenda? Usually after that we go into safety.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:21] Speaker C: We go into safety and issues.
This gives us an opportunity to look at any near misses we call them in the field. Have we had any acc?
Now, this has been our big focus since last year, and I believe last I saw our sign, we're at 855 days without a work missing work.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Knock on wood, man.
[00:06:40] Speaker C: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Right now we've had little 850 days of no lost time accidents. That's pretty cool.
[00:06:47] Speaker C: We've had little injuries. No, no.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: No lost time at all.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: So then we look at that, and then we go into some of the issues that we see come up that week.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Like, give me an example of what an issue might be.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Well, right now, be honest with the MOTE team. We had the weather today. It's. It's the weather and how we get around it.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: And how we continue to schedule. Yeah.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: And it's not. You know, I. I sent an email, kind of, if you saw. I ran some air cover for Lorenzo last night.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: And it wasn't it. Salespeople, I think, thought, we're just trying to get out of the schedule because we have schedule pressure. It wasn't just the schedule pressure. I attached some pictures of some residential lawns that we rutted up.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: And we can't be tearing up lawns either. We'd rather let the grass grow, move the mowers up to four and a half inches, and then get it back under control later.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Right, Exactly.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: I mean, I don't know how you deal with that. Maybe somebody listening to the Grow show has a better idea, but I would love for them. I know, but we don't. Like you're tearing up a lawn. Like, I don't want my lawn mowed. Let it grow.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: I'd rather you come in at 5 inches and get it back down than put ruts in my yard.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: That's the exact conversation we had this morning.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And so that's. What. What are some other issues that come up?
[00:07:49] Speaker C: Other things we look at is crew structure, what teams are achieving above and beyond.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: I see. So you're watching hours on Aspire. You're knowing that.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: You also are saying, who's had callbacks? Who do I have to go out and babysit? Who did a good job at this all.
[00:08:04] Speaker C: Exactly. Exactly. And also, if we have anybody going on vacation, do. Is there anybody we have to switch to mo. Recover from them off of construction. I got it.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:15] Speaker C: So just going to more in depth in the crew, those things. Yeah.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: You know, one of the things we like to talk a lot about about Grunder Landscaping, and Seth kind of established this mindset here, but we want our leaders looking at tomorrow.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Most definitely.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: How do you get through the meeting there in the cadence of what you're doing? Is that a focus? How do you get Gaston's an Excellent group leader. For example, he's really good at thinking about tomorrow. Like, we were just in here right before we went live. He's calling me about a job that doesn't go till the middle of October.
[00:08:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: And he's asking me a question. And I didn't. I thought he was. Wasn't following me, so he called him. He was right. Somebody went and seated something they're not supposed to. We didn't do it. So now we got to go try to scrape the seat. I don't know what we're going to do. That was not good news to hear today.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: No, but we'll get it.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: But it. But he's really thinking ahead.
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: And how do you get him thinking ahead? What are the benefits to thinking ahead?
Why is that an important mindset for a group leader that's in production to be.
Be part of their philosophy?
[00:09:16] Speaker C: Well, one, we always talk about it. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Right. So we even take it down to the team lead. The team lead supposed to be looking at their current job and their next job within that week.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: Group leaders supposed to go two weeks and out, especially knowing what the schedule is, what's coming up at the end of our meeting. The bottom part, I should say, we have open discussion where every group leader has an opportunity to talk about anything they want.
Well, that's where I bring up the schedule. That's when I bring up reviewing projects, where we're at, how many more days before we're done, what's next, what's coming up. And this is what I'm seeing being one three weeks out. Okay. So we have that communication weekly just to put it again at the forefront for them.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: So Gaston, for instance, who runs our projects, he knows, okay, this project up here might looks like it's getting pushed back, but I heard this one's available.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:07] Speaker C: Let me start investigating that, see if we can pull it in.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: And then you also attend the first part of the sales meeting every Tuesday. And you're only in there maybe 20 minutes.
[00:10:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: And you bring some of that insight in. Like, we need little jobs that can be moved up, like, three weeks ago. And it's. I think it's common for salespeople to doubt this, but you tell your sales team, just sell it. We'll get it done. And they're like, oh, really? So I had you and Seth come in and, like, drive that home, because we have, like, two or three very large projects. Classic. When the general contractor says it's ready for us and when it really is ready for us, or like a month apart, two months apart. So we said like, look, whatever you sell, don't worry about, I'll get it done. So now we're, we're moving things up and that's some of the stuff that comes out of production. Like, hey, look, this job's not ready.
We've got the next three weeks. I got plenty of openings. We can move things up.
And especially on the residential side, when you sell someone something, they want it installed soon, if you can. So you're making friends there.
What else about production there and how it helps with that, those kind of standoffs that end up happening between production and sales. Is there anything else in that meeting that helps communicate looking forward?
We were just kind of joking around. I don't want to give too much information, but we had to change.
And you said, well, I think the sales team can probably tell that Gaston's does things a little bit differently because they're getting pushed on their notes. Hey, what does this do? What is that? I mean, they have to like it. Like they're, they're being told two weeks ahead of time. I don't understand what you meant here on this note. And that is better than, hey, all the men have stopped working at the Roselle job because they don't know what to do.
And the farther out you have the planning, the better that we can handle those situations as well. Anything else with production and planning and going forward like that?
[00:11:57] Speaker C: Well, I do ask that question. Is there anything we need on our side that we're not getting from sales?
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: For instance, it could be an LK visit. Yeah, it could be a MO visit.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: And they could be like, I think we're really under hours on this.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: So that allows me then to look into it and bring it into the Tuesday meeting.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: And then I can look and say, why did you do a thirty thousand dollar job and not get input from production? You know, it, it's, it doesn't necessarily stave off all mistakes, but it helps us learn from them and not create the same mistake again by getting feedback. Like, look, you can't, there's a three foot wide gate there. What machine are you going to take in the backyard there? You can't take a bobcat in there. Do you have money to take apart the fence and fix it when we're done?
[00:12:36] Speaker C: No.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: What were you doing here? Like, we've gone over this and it doesn't happen a whole lot because of how we learn with things and what we're doing, but we also, you know, we do quoting clinics that you and Seth have been involved with, and that's where everyone's information is presented there at seven in the morning. Seth heads them up and we go over everyone's bid together because we're trying to teach people how to bid better. But also with Aspire, the industry specific software we have in the kits is pretty cool. How we can put jobs together.
[00:13:06] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: All right, folks, now let's hear from one of our trusted partners in our success at Grunder Landscaping.
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Okay, welcome back.
We do a lot of complicated jobs, and some of them haven't gone so well. Just being frank and not in terms of, like, the end result. They look beautiful, but the more complicated, the more opportunities there are for mistakes. So we're learning a lot.
Talk about complicated installations, because not every job's the same and you're sending a maintenance crew to a property that they service every Tuesday. You get in a groove with that, you know, really by the third or fourth mowing of the year, if you got your old guys back, even if they have a new guy or so, you're probably in a groove. But construction is a little bit different.
[00:14:56] Speaker C: Yeah, it is.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: So how do we handle those complicated jobs in terms of the production meeting and just setting them up for success?
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Well, for one, I'm a firm believer is you try not to make it complicated. Okay, so for instance, we have a job that we're getting Ready to start. It's over 3,000 man hours. Okay. And if you look at the scope of the work. Yeah, it's a little overwhelming, but you can't look at it that way. You gotta break it down in phases. Realistically, what phase of this is gonna happen first?
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Okay, I see.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: So then you jump into that. You know what else is happening outside of that phase, but yet you're more concentrated on that one. So you break it down as. Okay, that's just a little project.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: So that's 50, 60 hour jobs or whatever. Yeah, right.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: You break it down. Yeah, in those intervals.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: And what does that do for the team and for the group leader mentally?
[00:15:41] Speaker C: I believe it helps in from being overwhelmed.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: I think so too. They can see it, they can see progress and they can see an end in sight from that.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean we had one last year that kept us all winter. Yep. And that was the mentality going through it. And before you knew it, it was completed and it was also spring. And it's like, wow, we've been on this that long. But it didn't feel like it because the way we had to break it up and how.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: So Gaston's probably involved in that 3,000 hour job. You are too, I'm sure.
How are we. What are.
Does Gaston get overwhelmed or how do you get him. Does he see it like that? Did he used to see it like that? You had to work with him to get him to look at a smaller job. How? Because he seems pretty calm. He's kind of a calm guy anyway, which is good.
[00:16:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: How do you, how do you get. How would you advise someone that's watching or listening today, that's trying. They've got a good block of clay to work with in a production person, but they, they don't see the forest through the trees like they see 3,000 hours and say, how in the world am I ever going to do that? What do you do?
[00:16:38] Speaker C: So it. You got to be familiar with who you're working with and you got to build a report, understand how both of you operate.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: I see.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: So I know what stresses him and I know I can take that off his plate because it doesn't stress me.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: And a lot of it is just early on, especially larger projects. I'll stay main point of communication and then I'll communicate that to him.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: And that helps down to the team. Stay calm.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Because not only that project, but you got to think he has 10 other teams he's communicating to with.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: And, and there's a lot that goes in, there's material staging.
Is he responsible for that? How do we handle that?
[00:17:15] Speaker C: We both break down materials. He does it on his side, I do it on my side. Then we start communicating. Have you done a site visit? What's the site look like? How much material can it handle if we direct shift? Okay. And what's also the timing? Because again, if we're not planting for three months, we don't direct ship trees net tomorrow.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: No.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Right. So it's just communicating.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: So the production meeting is everyone. But then are you also doing one on ones with the various group leaders?
[00:17:40] Speaker C: Yes, every other week a little bit
[00:17:41] Speaker B: about how you do those.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: So every other week we have one to one scheduled. And I schedule in person.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Sometimes on teams.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: It just, you know, sometimes on teams, sometimes over the phone, especially with John and I. And yeah, right here it's. I try to do face to face in the morning.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: I know you go and see John in Cincinnati often and you're talking to him a lot. Because I think that's important.
You know, it was sort of interesting in the recently completed Gross know, Jason Ostrander is a fantastic snow removal professional on the east coast. And he talked about how that snow managers have a tendency just to text their people and say, you know, bill, how you doing out there? Is everything okay? Well, on a text you're probably going to say, yeah, I'm just fine. Everything's great.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Yeah, okay.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: But he said, you know, you don't really know. So I like to call him on the phone or I like to go see him. I think similar thing with that. Like, it's okay to do it on the phone once in a while, but I'm sure John in our Cincinnati office, who's just a super nice person and very personable, he probably loves sitting down with you.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. We. I scheduled a luncheon with him just last week. Okay. Two weeks ago.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: But yeah, just to have that make sure we don't lose it. So.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: And we think, I think sometimes on the surface that the one on one benefits them, but how does it benefit you?
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Well, it gives me more insight not only to what's going on because I can watch their projects as I do on the spire, and I can see how well they're doing in the field, but it helps me see firsthand how. How are they doing? Are they being overstressed?
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: Where can I step in?
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: What assistance you need? I mean, for instance, I was coming, going in between projects yesterday, just. It wasn't scheduled. Just called John, hey, how's the day going. Right.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: Which is good.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Just continuous communication. Yeah, that's the main.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: He doesn't feel left alone down there.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: No, no.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: And I think also the other thing about the one on ones, that's a forum that they know they have with you. And so instead of them calling you every minute, they have an issue, which if it's a serious issue, obviously you want to talk to them.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: But if they think that dump trailer number seven in Lovelands, like on its last leg, that's not something to call you with right now, like that's something for the production meeting or the one on one or whatever. And so that's where I think sometimes owners and leaders of companies don't understand that a meeting can actually save you time. If you run the meeting the right way.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: And if you do those one on ones the right way. So, Bill, you deal with a lot of equipment and logistics on the side of our business. Let me ask you, when you're. When you're planning for tomorrow, when you see the biggest problems occur.
If we haven't communicated properly, like how far should a group leader be looking ahead in terms of equipment, the people, the manpower, the big thing on the equipment, like, we've got a lot of equipment and we're. We. We're not. I don't think we need too much. But how far ahead do you look for equipment? When do those decisions and discussions come up?
[00:20:33] Speaker C: Minimum two weeks. Okay. You got to be looking two weeks out. Because if we do need one of the larger machines that we might not have available, then we got to coordinate that with a project that we will be pulling it off of.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:44] Speaker C: And does two things. One, we might not need to bring that machine back here and then take it to the next project.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: When that team is finished coming by, they can drop it off for the next team. So it just helps logistically.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: And I know we have. I don't know, I think we have four Vermeer mini skids. Better planning can help us continue to have four. Bad planning. You got to have seven of them.
[00:21:05] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: And then I know there's specialty things like at this point, I don't think we're considering buying a mulch blower.
But we have used a mulch blower quite a lot to broadcast compost top dressing lawns.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: If you wait till the day before that job is going to then try and find the compost blower, you might not find it.
[00:21:26] Speaker C: More than likely it's not available.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: That's what I mean. And so that's why all this stuff is so important to be looking at jobs. And we were just talking about how an ineffective group leader just kind of comes in every day and says, okay, what do I need to do today? Yeah, a great group leader is not doing that. A great group leader knew last night exactly what they were doing today. But they're like, Gaston just called us on a job that goes October 10th.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Trying to make sure he understands it.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: And I love that. Like that that's how we, you know, he might see something that maybe every. Maybe I missed the bid. Well, if it's three weeks out, I might be able to go back to my client and say, hey, you're not going to like this.
But I. There's more square footage there. Somebody else, you know, did some more grading here. What do you want me to do with this? Like, I don't have enough in the bid to do this. Do you want that area done too hard to do that the day of the job?
[00:22:17] Speaker C: Yeah, it is. Yeah.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: And I just think, you know, the Boy Scout, the boy Scouts say be prepared. I've said many times, all planning is good. That's, you know, as I listen to you, Bill, that's the biggest thing with production is, is to plan.
[00:22:30] Speaker C: It really is like just going with the mulch blower for our receding, we have a project that starts next week. Then we have a project that's scheduled three weeks out. Why am I going to rent it twice?
[00:22:42] Speaker B: I see.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: So if we can reach out, if
[00:22:44] Speaker B: you're talking about it, you can just take the mulch blower, finish it up. It's, it's always cheaper to rent it for four days than a day here and then a day later.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: Most definitely. So, so try to group things like that.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: Makes so much sense. Yeah.
And if you don't have the conversation now, we're pretty fortunate to have Aspire, which a plug for Aspire, wonderful industry specific tool that helps us stay organized. That's the biggest system we have as Aspire, if you ask me.
But no, that's a, that's a great point.
So what can a team leader do to make your job easier?
[00:23:15] Speaker C: A team lead.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: So we just had a meeting last
[00:23:19] Speaker B: month and the group leader has like Lorenzo probably has 12 teams.
Gaston has eight or nine, he has 10, John has five or six.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. So.
So we've been talking to the team leads, especially this, this year.
Your job as team leads not only perform the work that's put before day and do it in a manner that is A grunder way. Yep. But also start communicating outside of that.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:44] Speaker C: That's where the one to do days.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:23:46] Speaker C: You know, you should already know what your schedule is tomorrow based off today because you took time to look at it. Now continue to go, but then take it a step further. It's not the group leader' job to always make sure you have certain things if you're on a project. Yep. It's your job to communicate to them, hey, in two days, I think I'm gonna need this tool.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: So then we start doing it.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: That makes sense.
How often and what. What do you like to see out of the group leaders in term of the time they spend in the field actually working or supervising? What do you like to see there?
[00:24:17] Speaker C: Typically their mornings are.
First couple hours are here. Okay. Because they're moving anything around that came in that day, there might have to be some shift to scheduling because somebody took off or whatever and then they're in the field. Typically you don't see them back here until 3:34. And that's just going over the plan for the next day, making arrangements and
[00:24:38] Speaker B: talk about what we do. Because we set all of our schedule boards by 4pm for the next day. Why do we do that? Just talk a little bit about what goes into that.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Well, we set it at that time for the next day. That way it allows communication to go out to clients.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: Right. So we don't want to sales people know. Exactly. Sales people know internally. But also the clients will get notifications that night.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: They'll get an automated notification out of Aspire that, yeah, you know Jorge's coming to do your job tomorrow.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: Yep.
And that stuff helps. What. How does that help the. That would also help the team leaders. Like, I know when they come in here at night, if they're finishing up a job or they're on a job, they can go and check the notes. The board gets set. Oh, I need a trailer tomorrow. What? I wonder what we're doing there. Hey, Lorenzo. What am I doing there tomorrow? Yeah, you're going to take those trees. Okay, I got it. It just. And then to me, it lets. It lets it kind of ferment on their mind at night. And then they come in the morning, they're ready to go. I know we've done a lot of field trips here. We've had tons of owners and leaders of landscaping companies come through and see us the last last month. You've been speaking a lot and they say, man, your. Your morning rollout is so smooth. And that's a product of all those things that we do the night before, in part because we're not, like, we're not handing out work tickets. It's all on the board. You're picking it up on your tablet on Aspire. Your. Your truck is parked in the same spot. Your name's on your truck. It's the Matthew in the yard has the plants, pool. There's. There's, like a system to all this stuff.
[00:26:04] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. And it was mentioned in today's circle. You know, it's Friday, end of the week for most. But just remember how you finish the day today sets you off for tomorrow and next week.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Now let's hear from another one of our trusted partners in our success here at Grundier Landscaping Company.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: This is Emily Lindley with the Grow Group. Come see Marty and I at our home base, Grunder Landscaping Co. In Dayton, Ohio. This year, we host small groups for our GLC field trips to show how we operate a successful landscaping business and how you can, too. Sign
[email protected] before these events sell out.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: All right, welcome back. We're with Bill Roselle, our director of production operations at Grunder Landscaping Company. We're talking about effective production meetings, and we've kind of gotten into a lot more than that.
Let me ask you this. In a perfect world, when that production meeting is over, what do you hope the group leaders and everybody goes out of there? Like, what is the what. What do you hope everybody leaves with mindset or, you know, the whole reason for the meeting? Like, you had a great meeting. Why was it great?
[00:27:08] Speaker C: Okay, so you. You mentioned it earlier. So anytime we finish a meeting and we know we covered things in depth that we need to do, and we set up clarity for when we leave that meeting, everybody knows where they're at.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: I got it.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: And yet we end in laughter.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:24] Speaker C: I love when our meetings.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: I can tell. So do I. It makes me feel good because I know it's stressful. I do. I know you and Seth have your hands full right now. You know, it's been a rough year.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: We.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: We were supposed to get our H2B workers March 1, and we got some of them. But we didn't get 25 extremely experienced guys. We had to go for 75 days without them. It wasn't fun. And we're behind. We're trying to catch up on revenue. It's just been difficult. But when I hear the laughter, you know, laughter, it's like you can feel the stress just like going out your Ears out, your fingertips. You know, it's just like. And I always like hearing. I really do. Honestly, when I hear the bellowing laugh underneath the door, I love it.
[00:28:04] Speaker C: That's good. Sometimes I wonder.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: I know.
[00:28:06] Speaker C: Going on in here.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: I know, but that's important. So they leave there in a good mindset. Little laughter. What else?
[00:28:12] Speaker C: Direction.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Okay? Direction.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: Direction and clarity. That's the two main things.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: And I think probably also I'm thinking of your personalities you have in there in the group leaders, and even Zach, who's our fleet, you know, fleet assistant, that they felt listened to. I think that's important. You know, nobody wants to. You know, even at my age, 58, at home, if. If. When we go on our family vacation, if nobody asks me where I want to go to dinner or what I want now, if they ask me, I'll. I probably will say, whatever you guys want is fine. But, like, I want to. I want to hear my. I want to be included. Like, I don't want to be cast aside. Am I that old and decrepit that, you know, I can't be involved? So. So I think that helps. So, you know, folks, if you're thinking about your production meetings, look, get organized, have an agenda. We'll include our agenda in the show notes. Start on time. Have everybody stand up, if that's what you got to do.
Solve what needs solved. Assign responsibility.
Don't confuse the length of the meeting with the quality of the communication. I think sometimes a short meeting is great, too.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: I don't ever want to go over an hour. I know that.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Same thing with sales. You know that same thing with me. Because it's like, God, two hours if we can't get it across. I'm trying to make my sales meetings 45 minutes. Why? Because I want them selling. We want your guys out, pushing work, like getting it done. And if you're organized, I think you could do that. So everyone should show up at a production meeting, knowing what's happening, being able to say, this is where I'm stuck. This is what I need. Here's what I'm responsible for. That's a production meeting. All right, so if you're looking to own your production meetings this week, folks, ask yourself a couple questions. Bill talked a lot about clarity. Does this meeting have a clearly defined purpose? Are the right people in the room and only the right people? Zach, our fleet assistant, he's not in the room the whole time.
I've never been to a meeting, and you invited me. I might come in. I'd like to see what you're doing, but I don't need to be there the whole time. Be mindful of this because I think one of the unintended consequences.
Most owners and leaders in your position, we're jamming on man hours and then the meetings are meeting and we're droning on about nothing. And I could see where a group leader could be. Like, gosh, Bill tells me all the time to get moving and like, this is just stupid. Is this meeting's not getting anything done.
[00:30:24] Speaker C: So.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So are the right people in the room? Are we talking about tomorrow or just explaining yesterday? We don't need report cards. We want to be looking forward. And does everybody leave, like Bill just said, knowing exactly what's next? I think if we can get those four things right, folks, your, your meeting's going to be a great meeting because when production leaders communicate effectively, crews become more productive, equipment gets where it needs to be, the materials are there, problems get caught earlier as a result of planning, man. That's when team leaders become stronger, clients have a better experience, the business makes more money. That's a, that's an effective production meeting. Folks.
Any last parting words of wisdom about production meetings you'd like to bestow upon us?
[00:31:08] Speaker C: Like we always say, keep it simple.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah, keep it simple.
[00:31:10] Speaker C: Prioritize and execute.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: Prioritize and execute.
[00:31:13] Speaker C: If a production meeting's running too long, then, yeah, I'd be wondering what the production's like in the field.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And I guess with all you have going on, it's. I mean, if you're like me when I'm in that sales meeting, like, I'm keenly aware, like I want to get them back selling.
[00:31:27] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: All right. Now I want to, you know, and my meetings are like yours. I mean, I'm having the right people in there. I want it to be some recognition. I want them to know they're heard. I want to know their priorities. We're going to keep working better together. Bill, thank you.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Thanks for all you do. Love working with you. Well, folks, that's going to do it for this week's edition of the Grow Show. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to the Grow show and if you can give it a rating or share a comment that helps more success minded landscape professionals find us. And if you really want to help us, take out your phone or tablet right now and share this YouTube link or the podcast link with a friend or somebody you think would benefit from what we're doing. Thanks for joining us on the Grow show this week. We'll talk to you next week.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Grow show and a special thanks to Aspire, Bob Yard and Exmark for making this episode possible. Well, we'll talk to you next week.
