Isn’t that Interesting?

Written by Kevin Martlage

The great CS Lewis once said, “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.” I absolutely love that quote and how it illustrates a very important point that is critical to think about as you continue to build a supportive business culture. That point is centered around awareness and your ability to intentionally understand the present, while leveraging the past, to advance towards the future. All leaders can do those three things to some extent, but my challenge is that to be a great leader, you must intentionally impact those things through your awareness of how it is impacting others and being perceived. Specifically, how can you intentionally impact the present so that you are providing enough context and understanding so your team is always in alignment with you and the strategic direction of the company?

As a business owner, your awareness around the ‘business’ side of running your company is at a high level. If it wasn’t, chances are you probably would not still be in business. As an arborist, your awareness regarding trees and how to care for them is something that you not only value as a business opportunity but is something that you are most likely highly passionate about. As a leader, you must have the ability to lead your team towards strategic and common goals and your ability to effectively lead is centered around your approach which resonates and connects with those you are leading. Awareness of what supports and detracts from that ability is important to understand as you continue to advance your team and leadership skills.

Awareness, and specifically intentional awareness, is critical to understand as you continue to enhance your business culture.  In the world of consulting my goal is to provide awareness so people can make choices. Choices about how they approach and impact their team, their leadership style, and ultimately their life. The more you can align your reality with that of your employees, the more effective you will become as a leader and the further you will be able to advance as a team. With all of this in mind, I want to introduce you to a key concept important to advancing your culture, team, and organization. That concept is what we call Mischief™. Mischief™ is something that is so incredibly impactful once understood that I personally feel it is important for everyone in the world to understand, be able to identify, learn how to eliminate, and how to effectively overcome all while building trust with those around them. With the elimination of Mischief™, I feel that the world will become a better place as we work to intentionally align perception with reality in the pursuit of greatness.

Mischief ™ is a term coined by my father that describes a key detractor which impacts personal interaction along with team and organizational effectiveness. Once understood, Mischief™ cannot be unnoticed and will be evident in everything you do. In fact, it is so prevalent in your day-to-day personal and professional lives, I challenge you to find a situation where it is not present at some level. This concept is the basis of all the consulting work I do and has significantly influenced and advanced teams and organizations around the world.

To understand Mischief™ you must first understand how it is created. The root cause of all Mischief™ is the misalignment of perception and reality. When perception and reality are not aligned, it allows those involved to become consumed with trying to figure things out intentionally or even subconsciously. When you spend time trying to ‘figure things out’ it causes disruption in terms of productivity, effectiveness, and understanding. While it ultimately disrupts your operations and team effectiveness, it has the biggest impact on team trust and alignment, which are both important for any team to reach their full potential. To help align reality and perception we must provide the proper context behind what we are communicating, the decisions we are making, and the direction we are going. To illustrate Mischief™ let me tell you a story about my friend Rick and his new boat.

I had a friend named Rick who purchased a new boat which was always something that his kids wanted, and he personally thought would be cool to have. All his family ever talked about was being able to cruise around the lake water skiing, tubing, and having fun. After doing some research, and finding a great deal, Rick purchased a 2-year-old, 24-foot Mastercraft ski boat from a High School friend. After an extensive and very expensive trip to the local water ski shop it was time for them to take their maiden voyage and do some water skiing and tubing at a relatively smaller lake near their house. Once they arrived at the lake, Rick put the boat in the water for the first time, loaded up all the equipment and kids and they headed out. As they slowly drove past all the people in the swimming area on rafts and the marina full of boats they eyed a spot about a hundred yards out for their first tube ride. Once in place, the kids jumped into the water, he hooked up the tube and off they went. While they started off slow, he quickly increased the speed and started to do donuts and S curves all over the lake. The donuts created huge waves that the kids could jump, and the S curves made it exciting for the kids to try and hold on as they drove around the lake. They were having a great time. Rick was on cloud nine, and so were his two kids, as they were realizing their dream of tubing and owning a boat.

All was going great until another boater flagged them down and waved them over to their boat. Rick slowed down and idled over to the other boat to see what was going on. Upon arrival, the reality of the situation quickly came into focus when the other boater looked back toward the shore to point out the numerous rafts and swimmers who were waving their hands trying to tell Rick to stop. Apparently, the donuts and S curves were great for tubing, but not so great for sunbathing on a raft or trying to swim in the designated swim area. Rick quickly realized that his reality of owning a boat and having fun with his kids had unintentionally disrupted those around him by not being aware of his impact on others. In his mind, he was having fun with his kids helping them live out a lifelong dream. In the eyes of those on the shore, and in other boats, he was just another ‘cowboy’ on the lake speeding around causing problems and was someone they wished would just go away.

Isn’t that interesting? The reality and perception of the situation was not in alignment so therefore, those on the shore thought he was self-centered and only cared about himself. What they did not know was he was a first-time boat owner who was trying to give his kids a great time as they lived out their lifelong dream. On the other hand, Rick did not realize the impact he was making on others, but as soon as he realized what was going on, he stopped and moved further out onto the lake where it was not making as big of an impact.  While Rick may have been a bit embarrassed, he was provided with insight into the reality of what was going on which allowed him to make a choice and move further out into the lake. In addition, those on the shore, once told what was going on, understood the reality of what was happening which helped to explain their perception of Rick and his boat. While they still may be a bit upset, they at least had more context around the situation which allowed them to understand what was really happening instead of spending time making up their own story about him while letting it ruin their day.

The boat example is a great illustration of Mischief™ and the misalignment of perception and reality. In the context of your tree company, how many times has Mischief™ come into play and disrupted your team? Specifically, have there been any situations where your best thought out decision was not well received by your team and caused lost time as they tried to “figure it out”? Have you ever been ‘Rick’ with the best intentions in the world only to find out that the perception of those you are leading is not in alignment with your reality or thought process? On the other side, have you ever been the ‘person on the shore’ that can only see the ‘Cowboy’ on the lake where you immediately thought the worst only to find out later that maybe you didn’t know the whole story and NOW it makes more sense?

I’d like to challenge you to spend the next few days trying to identify those areas of your organization, and even your personal life, where Mischief™ is present. When you identify those instances, I want to say to yourself, “isn’t that interesting” as you try to  understand what is really going on. The phrase, “isn’t that interesting” is one that we teach to all our clients to help identify when Mischief™ is present and to trigger their mind to start clarifying the perception with the reality, or facts, of the situation.

Isn’t that interesting that Mischief™ is everywhere? Eliminating Mischief™ will significantly improve productivity as you intentionally align reality with perception which will allow your team to trust the path forward. This will not only enhance your ability as a leader but will also help your team continue to understand and advance toward their full potential.

To learn more about the concept of Mischief™ be sure to join us for the Culture Webinar later this month. Also, be sure to check our other Weekly Tips articles throughout the month of July.

If you are interested in learning more about how to identify, build, assess, and nurture your business culture, please feel free to take our culture assessment which can be found at the following link:

Company Culture Assessment

Once completed, a Thrive Consultant will review the results with you and develop a high-level action plan of next steps. 

For additional help with growing your company, contact a member of the ArboRisk Insurance team! If you’re looking to improve upon your communication skills or want to help one of your key team members develop personally, sign up for the Thrive Leadership Development package today! Additionally, if you find it difficult to find or keep quality employees, check out our Thrive Hiring & Recruiting Package.

What if Everything You knew about business culture was wrong?

Written by Kevin Martlage

The ArboRisk Thrive Team has dedicated the month of July as Culture Month. Throughout the next 4 weeks we are going to be providing you with insight and information regarding how you can build a supportive and thriving business culture within your tree care company. However, we are not just going to talk about any business culture, we are going to discuss building a business culture that will significantly impact your employees, your customers, and your ability to identify what you are leaving on the table regarding productivity, communication, trust, and impact.

I want to challenge your thinking by asking you a question, what if everything you knew about your business culture was wrong? More specifically, if I were to ask you how you would describe your current business culture, what would you say? Do you know what a good business culture looks like and if so, is your perception of ‘good’ in alignment with what your employees would say and feel is important? Those are some tough questions to answer especially if you are running a busy tree care company that is focused on getting the work done and providing great customer service.

My guess is that you would probably answer those questions by using a few key responses like, “we have a great culture” or “my team knows I am here to support them” or “what’s a business culture?”. All those statements are very common things I hear as I continue to work with clients, in all industries, regarding building a supportive and thriving culture. To be honest, what good looks like for your company may not be what good looks like for your competitor down the street, or a tree care company in another state. Your business culture is unique to your team and your company and is grounded in your leadership approach and style. However, there are a few key things that need to have intentional focus placed on them if you are to truly advance the business culture of your company.

Over my 30-year career, I have had the opportunity to work in, help build, and support some of the best business cultures on the planet. In contrast, I have also worked in, help build, and support some of the worst business cultures on the planet. As I reflect on what made the best cultures the best and the worst the worst, one thing always comes to mind and that is alignment. Alignment is something that is so critical to building a supportive business culture, it is typically the root cause of what is causing all disruption when I am hired to work with a company to enhance their culture. Alignment is also why I challenged you with my first questions about what if everything you knew about business culture was wrong. Typically, alignment is not the first thing that comes to mind when someone is asked to describe their business culture. Usually the description is around communication, trust, support, impact, etc. While those things are certainly important, it is the alignment of perceptions with reality around those things that is critical if you are to define and advance your culture.

To illustrate my point, let’s look specifically at verbal communication. Verbal communication is certainly important if you are to keep your employees informed, provide them with feedback, or simply talk with someone while you are on the job site. It is also critical as you continue to build relationships with your team members, so they feel supported and engaged in the business. Without verbal communication, it would be nearly impossible to interact with each other effectively while you complete a job, and it would be difficult to provide great customer service as you try and figure our exactly what the client has hired you to do regarding their trees. I would assume that we could all agree that without verbal communication, your job as tree care owner, being a supportive leader, or being a crew member would be very difficult.

Regardless of my point about how communication is important, you could still figure out a way to communicate through written communication, sign language, gestures, or emails. Luckily we can communicate with our team almost instantaneously through verbal interactions, face-to-face meetings, text messages, cell phones, and emails so typically communication is not a problem. However, how do you make sure that your intended context about what you are communicating is received exactly how you intended it to be received? How do you ensure that your team understands the same reality that you are talking about? Are you providing enough context and information to ensure your team is on the same page? When your reality is being perceived differently than how you intended it, that causes disruption due to misalignment.

Another way of looking at the importance of alignment can be centered around the last big decision you had to make as a tree care owner. Any successful owner would go through the proper steps to ensure that decisions regarding the company would be the right ones. This may include a financial analysis, a review of risk vs reward, and a determination of how much of a positive impact the decision may have on the company. That is just common practice as you continue to grow and advance your company that you started and have nurtured for all these years. So, after the decision has been made and you progress with making it happen, has your team always been on board with that decision? Have there ever been times when you thought you had made the best decision ever, only to find out that others did not feel the same? Perhaps, you even had to reconsider your decision after already making it because there was push back from your team that you had not considered.

If you reflect on those instances where maybe a decision was not received as well as you thought, I can almost guarantee that the negative response had something to do with alignment. Specifically, the alignment of your reality and the “why” behind your decision and the other person’s perception of what the decision should have been. Additionally, I bet once you realized there was push back, you tried to defend your decision to show them your thought process and to convince them it was the right approach. Wanting to be right is basic human nature. No one wants to be incorrect or proven wrong, so how as leaders do we ensure that our intention and the “why” behind what we do and how we support our team is aligned with what our team thinks and believes is being supportive?

The reason alignment is so crucial to building a supportive work culture is because when reality and perception are not aligned it causes lost productivity and lost time because we are trying to “figure things out”. Alignment is also important because as leaders we need to always ensure that the perception of our employees is in alignment with what good looks like in their mind and what we want to provide. We can have the best work culture outlined and in place while being the best leader on the planet, however if our employees do not feel the same about what’s important to making a supportive work culture or your ability as a leader, you will never reach your team’s full potential.

During the next three weeks we are going to challenge your perception of what a supportive work culture is like. We are going to introduce you to a few concepts that will significantly transform your team, your culture, and your business. These concepts have been taught and proven effective in global fortune 100 companies, family-owned companies, church groups, athletic teams, and some of the most dysfunctional teams you could ever imagine. The first concept, Mischief, will be the topic of next week’s article. Mischief is all about the alignment of perception and reality and how, as a leader, you can intentionally provide context and meaning so that the path forward can be trusted. Our goal is to provide you with some unique insight and awareness that will allow you the opportunity to make some choices on how to advance your team. We look forward to taking you on this journey and appreciate your commitment to your team, your company, the industry, and the impact you as a leader can make.

If you are interested in learning more about how to identify, build, assess, and nurture your business culture, please feel free to take our culture assessment which can be found at the following link:

Company Culture Assessment

Once completed, a Thrive Consultant will review the results with you and develop a high-level action plan of next steps. 

For additional help with growing your company, contact a member of the ArboRisk Insurance team! If you’re looking to improve upon your communication skills or want to help one of your key team members develop personally, sign up for the Thrive Leadership Development package today! Additionally, if you find it difficult to find or keep quality employees, check out our Thrive Hiring & Recruiting Package.