Mixing and Managing The Secret Ingredients of a Successful Team

Ever found yourself pondering over the perfect pizza toppings? This week on the People Gardener podcast, I, Rhonda Delaney, am taking that very concept to knead into your leadership skills. We're tossing up the idea that leading a team is akin to baking the ultimate pizza pie for a diverse group of taste buds. Get ready to discover how to blend the right tasks with your team members' unique strengths, creating a workplace as tantalizing as a custom-made pizza that has everyone coming back for more.

This episode is bubbling with strategies to keep your team engaged, productive, and most importantly, satisfied with their slice of the business. We're not just talking cheese and pepperoni here; we're talking about deepening your knowledge of who your team members are - their aspirations, their talents, and yes, even their distastes. Tune in for a savory session that promises to satiate your appetite for leadership wisdom and leave you equipped to cultivate a thriving environment where every individual feels as valued as the last piece of a delicious pizza.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Well, hey there, welcome to the People Gardener podcast. I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener, thrilled to put this podcast together to help small business owners, new business owners, frustrated business owners and aspiring leaders, whether they're inside business or outside. Each week, we bring you some actionable steps so that you can actually improve your skill as a leader. That's what we're about. We're here to help you become a better leader by giving you access to lots of different perspectives. By giving you access to lots of different perspectives, the guests are varied. We're thrilled to have them. Get out your pen, get out your paper and be ready to learn Every single episode. You're going to be able to take something away that you can implement. Are you ready? Let's get to work. Hey there, welcome back to the People Gardener podcast. Hope everyone had a great week.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Okay, if you follow me on Instagram or even Facebook, actually, I put out a request for people to share their favorite pizza topping combos people to share their favorite pizza topping combos and I've been thinking about this and leadership, and just stick with me here and I'll work on this metaphor to help you understand how important it is that you know your people. So I started getting all these very interesting combinations. Some my initial reaction was that sounds good, and then others would be there's no way I'm putting that on my pizza, because my personal palate didn't like some of the ingredients, and so here we've got the pizza oven outside and every week we're doing the pizzas, and it's so easy to get stuck in a rut and just build the pizzas that you know you're going to like instead of, as the host and hostess, creating pizza combinations that will delight the guest's palate. So I got thinking about just how important it is and I might have talked about this before how important it is that you know your people and what it is they like and what it is they don't like. Now, I'm not talking food, but it's like the pizza.

Speaker 1: 2:50

If you were to spread out the dough and you put your pizza sauce on it, and then you actually asked people what would you like on your pizza? What is it that you want to taste, want to experience in this pizza? And that's like welcoming somebody into your business. Here we are. That's the dough. Right, I know, usually I'm talking about gardens and plants, but let's go with another analogy metaphor. So you have created the foundation, which is the dough, but then you've got to talk to them. You have to create situations where you invite them to share what it is that they like, what they don't like, what excites them, what maybe intimidates them or scares them, so that you're creating this personal pizza.

Speaker 1: 3:55

You know most restaurants. You can order the small, you know personal ones and it's just for you and it's what you like and it's what you want. That's what you're trying to do inside your business creating something that is specific to them, and I know you know you might be sitting there going, whoa, that's a whole lot of work, all these personal pizzas. You know I got eight or 10 employees and now I've got to come up with 10 personal pizzas. Well, here's the thing You're not doing that all on your own. Yes, you have created the dough, you've created the pizza base, but they are supplying you with the information of what they want on top of it, and if you just open up and talk to them, it is much easier and simpler than you're making it out to be in your head. You want to marry the tasks that people are doing with the skills that they have and what it is that they're really good at, so that you can create this personal pizza and it satisfies them and they're excited to consume it and so they're effective in their job.

Speaker 1: 5:24

Is this making any sense? As I was going in my head before I hit the record button, it's like okay, yeah, I can make a case for this. Oh man, we humans, we are so simple and so complicated at the same time. There is no one size fits all in a team of raving fans. There is no one size fits all in a productive team. Every single person is honed in on what they're really good at and they're working at maximum productivity, maximum capacity, maximum enjoyment. That's where you want your people to live. You can't do that with mass production With okay, everybody. This is how we're doing it. With okay, everybody, this is how we're doing it.

Speaker 1: 6:23

When you have such diversity in people, personalities, skills, attitudes, everything, everything there's so many variables, but that's the exciting part is that you can create these unique personal experiences. And when you do that, when you take the time, when you are interested in making sure that they have this fabulous experience, that's when the raving fan emerges and that's when you know more freedom in your business. That's when you know more freedom in your business. That's when you know, more profit in your business because the productivity is through the roof. You know, when you go to a restaurant, typically the owner of the restaurant, the manager, whoever's running it, their goal is that you have a great experience. A great experience to me is different than a great experience to you, would you agree? Yeah, yeah, we're different people.

Speaker 1: 7:39

It's the same as a business owner, with every single employee that you have. You want to create this experience for them, where they leave, at the end of the day, the week, the month, the years, and they feel good about what they've experienced, they feel included, they feel listened to, they feel heard. And you know I keep going over and over and over the same thing, but that is the reality. It is the same thing. It doesn't change. The needs, the basic needs of human doesn't change. We want to be seen, we want to be heard and we want to be appreciated. We want to belong, we want to know that we matter, and one of the ways that you can do this let's get back to the pizza is by creating these personal pizzas. I know it sounds strange talking about pizzas instead of gardens, but I don't know. I'm just on this pizza kick because we got the pizza oven going.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Don't shy away from personalizing the experience of every single person in your business. Now, I know some people. They're concerned about that because it might be favoritism or it might look this way. If the intent of your heart is to ensure that each person feels good about themselves and about the job they're doing, it'll be just fine. You don't have to worry that people are going to pick things apart. I encourage you absolutely. Get with your people, find out what they want on their pizza, what they would really like and enjoy, and in the process, you're going to find out all sorts of really interesting things about the people that you lead. And that is money in the bank when you truly understand and know each person, because that gives you the information you need to make really solid decisions. No, what comes up? Because you have that knowledge. So get out there this week and build some personal pizzas and, yeah, next week we'll probably be back on the gardening thing, but personal pizzas, not generic, not for the masses and make sure what's going on those pizzas are things that light your employees up, that they want to consume and partake of. That's it for this week. We'll talk to you again next week.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Well, thanks for joining me today. Just a quick reminder if you are not on my email list, go to my website, rondadelaneycom, and there's a place there that you can subscribe, keep you up to date on all things people, gardening and leadership. And also a reminder that the Raving Fans Society app is available on the Apple Store and the Google Store. I do have a free membership in there that you'll be able to access some of my material, and then there's also a paid membership, and right now it's $49 a month, and you will receive access to all of my material, all of the teaching content, including a resource library that will really help you along, as well as group coaching every month and then quarterly bringing in guests that will talk on topics that pertain to small business owners and leadership. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you again next week.