jerry and sheryl - cvc success group (1)

CVC Succcess Group coaches Jerry & Sheryl Isenhour

Join The Chimney & Fireplace Success Network for the latest release Soar Like An Eagle. 
 
In this episode, Jerry and Sheryl share their ideas and concepts for cultivating a team of superstars. Superstars who soar like majestic eagles in flight, each and every day that they take care of your customers.
 
 

Transcript

Jerry Isenhour: We love to see eagles soar, just think about it. Think about standing there, looking up to the sky, and watching eagles soar over. A majestic eagle, maybe you are standing on top of a mountain, maybe you are on the beach, wherever you are. A majestic eagle soaring overhead simply gives you inspiration.

But you know one of the things we must remember is that before an eagle can soar, the first thing they must do is learn to fly. And the eagle starts life in an egg, much like your eagles are going to start with you as a new recruit, likely they have no idea how to soar, the reason is they do not even know how to fly. Now your goal is to make them soar like eagles. So stay with me, as we provide you the rest of the story.

 

Is The Challenge A Big Box Store?

I was reading on a Facebook forum the other day, an industry forum, and I saw a poll asking the following questions. What are the main challenges that the hearth industry faces in the coming days? It gave a couple of choices to pick from. Number one was, is the challenge going to come from big box stores? The home improvement centers? Number two, is the challenge going to come due to e-commerce? Number three, was it going to come because natural gas was being banned in more and more communities around the country.

Another choice was is changing consumer shopping habits. Is that going to be the challenge? And lastly, the choice was the transition from brick and mortar stores to an entirely new way that the consumer shops and buys today. But you know as I looked at this poll, and I thought about it, the answer really was not there, he had not supplied the right answer.

 

The Workforce Has To A Culture Driven Workforce

Because my answer was that you have got to build a culture driven workforce, and that workforce has got to be properly equipped to handle any of these challenges and more. the guy that made that poll up was Grant Falco. And he came on and cheered my addition, and said he agreed with me, yes, he agreed. So, what I had done was offer him a different point of view from what he was thinking, and he found my point of view was one he shared.

Success Requires You To Be Open To Other Points Of View

And you see that is what we need to do in the world today, we must be open to other points of view. But this is the big challenge, the big issue that you face today as an owner, as a manager. And it’s a two-fold, two-phase challenge. Because the first thing we must do is we have to find the people to teach to fly.

Once You Find Them, Then What

And once we found them, we got to make them into superstars. Superstars that truly do soar like eagles. I want you to think about this for just a minute, what if you had a team of soaring eagles on your team? Soaring eagles that could navigate no matter what the storm was. Superstars to be viewed as the king of the sky, much as the majestic eagle is. But how do you do that? It is tough out there today to accomplish this task. 

Where Do You Find Your Eagles

Because first, you got the problem of finding them. And in today’s market, I need to ask you the question, what is the bait that you have got to throw out to attract the right people to come on your team? Not just more bodies, not just someone that may have the skills, but has the right culture. You see, the secret of success in today’s time is culture, and it has really always been this way.

We Can Train Them For Skill

We got to look for the right culture because we can certainly train them for the skills they are going to need. You see, the systems are out there for you to put it all together. But you must open yourself up to different points of view, different ways of doing business. Because this is what is going to take if you are going to provide them their eagle wings.

You see, you got to learn to understand what’s involved in these high playing acting’s. How does that eagle soar? Like it does on the clouds, on the wind. And what we must do at that point is keeping home with the tricks required, the processes required for them to learn to perform flawlessly. But if you are going to do that, the first thing is you must understand them.

Do You Understand What Is In Their Heads

We also must understand what we have in our heads and how are we going to transfer this information to them in a way that they get it, and they can use it. Let me share with you a little story. This is one of my gold nuggets of my life because I’ve been training for a lot of years. I’ve trained live; I’ve trained with recording sessions. I have done live stream; training is something I have done for over 35 years now.

One Of The Magic Moments Of My Training Career

And the following is one of the magic moments of my training, and I often share this with people. Because what I was doing, I had a classroom full of students, probably close to 100 people in this room. I was talking about standard changes at NFPA 211 that were published in the year 1984.

I Got A Problem

Well, a young man in my class held up his hand, and I said, yes, what is your question? And it wasn’t a question; he made a statement. He said Jerry; I got a problem with what you’re saying. I asked him to share with ne his problem. He stated, you are trying to teach me stuff that happened before I was ever born.

A Gold Nugget Of Learning As A Trainer

This was probably one of the magic moments, one of the gold nuggets of personal learning for me. Because it was at this point in time that I became aware that what I had learned in little dribbles and drabs and by living through many of the changes of the industry I was teaching about. I was able to absorb this as it was happening. I was able to absorb and put it to use little pieces at the time.

It’s Not Like That For Your New Hire

But in today’s world, it is not like that for your new hires. In today’s world, there’s a lot to learn. A lot of things that we did not have to know earlier. I had another one some years ago, and it was at the first heat shield conference back in 2011. And I had the majority of the presentation for that. John Meredith, a very good friend, allowed me to do the majority of the presentation. And I was doing a presentation about changing your DNA to today’s way of doing business.

It Sticks With Me To This Day

And after it was over with, there was an attendee, and that attendee is retired today. But his sons are running the business. His name was Don Ryan, so Don, if you are listening to this, I want you to know you said something that day that still sticks with me to this day. Because a real good friend of mine named Clay Lamb was doing interviews with attendees, video interviews.

It’s Like Drinking From A Fire Hose

And when he came up to Don and asked Don what his thoughts were on the seminar that he just said, he said the following. You know, listening to Jerry, it is like drinking from a fire hose. And that’s one of the problems. I’ve had to learn to slow down my presentation style because I put it out so fast. It was faster than people could absorb it, that was a big change for me, as you can hear if you are listening to me speak right now. But that is a challenge each of us must go through, the ongoing change we face in life to become the person we want to become.

Sometimes You Have To Take A Pause

I have had to learn to take pauses; I have had to learn to stop for just a second, so my thoughts would embed into your thoughts. So anyway, those are my thoughts for the day. Now, here is the thing, I want you to hang with us, because what is coming up next, you do not want to go away.

Sheryl’s going to be stepping up to the mic, and I know that she has her usual tips of wisdom that she is going to share with you. So stick around as she shares her part of the story for the week.

 

Change Comes From Within

Sheryl Isenhour: I am often asked if I can change someone. I am here to tell you that just is not possible. I can help alter how someone feels about something, in hope that they will want to change. But I cannot change them.

Always remember, change comes from within. Even in the prison systems of the day, they work to rehabilitate the prisoner. If he accepts what they are doing, and they can show him the things that would benefit him or the things that would be adversely negative, he can then choose. Again, choose to accept these ideas and to begin the changing from within.

Unless you are ready to accept change

It is no different in any person’s life if you take alcohol, a smoker, or even an obese person that is possibly shortening their life, and then they are doing nothing to lose the weight. We can ask them all we want to stop what they are doing, and, in certain situations, they can even be forced to go into programs to stop.

It May Alter Them For Awhile

But if they do not want this from within, it may alter them for a while, but they will not sustain and return to the same old ways we see it day after day. You probably actually know someone that this has happened to. And actually, you have probably, if I would guess, you have heard that it takes 66 days to change a habit. I know that because that is the number I respond to when people ask.

It Takes Two Months To Feel The Effects

And many say well, why 66? I was always told 30. Well, basically, the reason it gives you two months to feel the effect of the change, then it’s your decision if the change is worthwhile. If it is, you’ll continue; if not, you’ll go back to the old habit. Many people never make the 30 days believe it or not, much less than 66. The key is to understand that you cannot extinguish a bad habit, but you can change that habit.

It’s A Matter Of Wanting To Change

And you can still get the same rewards you currently get from the old habit; it is a matter of wanting to change. Again, it’s changing from within. Now, I am pretty sure you are wondering and asking what does this have or not have to do with my business. Well, let us say you have got an employee not working at full potential; they have just had too many bad habits. Question, what do you do? Many companies often offer higher pay to improve the performance. And does this really work? I have always believed that the best way to approach a problem is to open a conversation.

You Have To Explain

It needs to be a two-way conversation; you each have your own opinion. You must explain to them in your part of the conversation, what good can come from the change? Such as higher salary or promotion, or what negative things can come from a change. Such as losing their position in the company, or even worse, being fired. Again, with this, the change must be their decision, and the outcome of the decision must be yours.

It’s Going To Take A Period Of Time

And this is not going to happen overnight; it is going to take a period. But if the change does not start, then what do you do? The problem is many times; when they don’t change, we just hold on to the employee, and we just keep talking and talking, the same old conversation over and over. The one thing I can tell you for sure is that if you see it, so have your other employees.

They Will Get Upset And Resentful

Some will just pass it off, but others will do one of two things. Number one, they’ll get upset and resentful of this person. Or worse yet, they will quit trying so much. Because if you let this person do it, then why should they not be able to slack off? So now, what’s your decision? Do you do you bring them in, do you talk to them again and again, or do you set your expectations?

Set A Good Example

To begin with, expect your managers to set a good example. Make sure you set a good example. Employees tend to mimic the behavior of their authority figures. If your managers are not doing their jobs or spending most of the day coming up with inventive ways to avoid work, chances are your employees will follow the suit.

What Is Expected Of Them

Make sure your managers know exactly what is expected of them, and follow up with them regularly to make sure they are serving as role models for the rest of your employees. Good leaders create good followers, remember as Jerry said earlier, to soar like an eagle, and I’ll add, and not float around like a duck. So enough of me today, let’s turn it back over to Jerry to add some more thoughts and conclude this podcast for today.

 

Jerry Isenhour: Well, I hope what Sheryl just shared with you gives you some value. I hope what she shared with you gives you some of the tools that you’re going to have to put to work if you’re going to have a team that’s going to soar like eagles. I want to remind you something, as a leader, how do you gauge your leadership of your team? It is simple; you gauge it by the results that they deliver.

Sheryl Talked About Change

You know Sheryl talked about change, and when she and I went through some of our training for public speaking with Larry Winget and Suzanne Evans. One of the things that we had to do was develop what’s called a POV or a point of view, and this was very difficult. Because this is what you speak from, this is what is at the meaning of everything that you do.

Here Is The Point Of View

Sheryl came up with hers, very easily. This was a challenge to me to come up with this. But here was the point of view I developed, and the title of it was, and what did we call it? Change can be painful. It’s up to you to make that decision. Do you want to continue going through the present pain you’re in? Or do you undergo the pain of change? I would like to offer you a free gift today.

Can I Give You A Free Gift?

I would like to be able to send you something, and if you would like to have this, all you got to do is send me an email at Jerry@cvcsuccessgroup.com. Earlier this week, I did a keynote presentation for the infrared camera users in the home inspection industry. And the title of my keynote was 2020, A Year Of Chaos: 2020, A Time For Reinvention. And I would love to be able to send you a link to that presentation; it may give you some ideas.

Some Companies Did Not Reinvent

I have talked about some of the companies that have had to go through reinvention, and where they are at today. But on the other side, the companies that did not reinvent. That were really strong in the marketplace at one time, and now they have basically disappeared because there was a lack of reinvention. And reinvention is what I’ve been talking about today because, in order to get that team of yours soaring like majestic eagles, it’s probably going to take some change. It is going to take some change and thought processes.

It’s Going To Take Changes

It is going to take changes on the onboarding level. It’s going to take changes in your dedication to the training that your people go through. But it is possible; it is very possible. You just got to make that decision. When is your magic moment? When will be that magic day and time that you’re going to make the decision that your people are going to soar like eagles? That you are going to make the decision, that hiring for culture is a much better process than hiring for skill.

The Secrets Of Successful Business

But you have also got to remember this; this is one of the secrets of successful business. Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. Put that in as your operating process, as your mission to your customers, because once you do that, you are going to be providing that team of soaring eagles to your customers. And the skies are waiting for you to float through.

It’s A Privilege

And with that, we are going to end this episode of the chimney and fireplace success network. It’s always a pleasure; it’s an honor, and to be honest with you, it’s a privilege for you to give me and Sheryl these minutes every week, as we share with you the thought processes, the points of view. What we’re seeing can and will work if you’re ready to implement.

So join us next week, another episode will be coming out. And with that, this is Jerry Isenhour with CVC Success Group. Keep in mind, if you are ready to face that magic moment, if you are ready to start those new processes, send us an email, let’s talk, let’s have a conversation. Because you may just find out that the processes and the procedures that we share might just be the answers that you have been looking for. Talk to you later.