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.

Developing Your Business Culture Using Flashlights and Mirrors

Written by Kevin Martlage

In previous articles I have written about using flashlights and mirrors to help develop your personal leadership skills and the leadership within your organization. The concept is simple and helps you review leadership ability by using two different tools: a flashlight and a mirror. The mirror is used to help you see and reflect on those things as the leader you are doing to grow, sustain, or detract from the impact you are making on your team and organization. The flashlight is used to help those you are leading see a unique perspective or point of view when it comes to their ability to help grow, sustain, or detract from their leadership ability and impact. As a leader it is important that you are using both to help enhance your leadership, while also leading and coaching your team to enhance theirs. Using the two tools together can help you and your team grow while building trust using intentional communication which are both fundamental building blocks of any supportive and successful business culture. 

To build a successful business culture using flashlights and mirrors you must first identify what a good business culture looks like so you can then assess how you are supporting or detracting from those goals. Throughout my 30-year career I have had the opportunity to collaborate with some amazing teams and in some amazing business cultures around the world. As a leader it is difficult for me to pinpoint exactly what made one business culture better than the other, however, there are common themes that seem to stick out when I think about the ones that were most supportive. If I were to hold the flashlight up to all the business cultures and environments I have worked in during my career the following strengths would be evident:

• Roles and responsibilities were always well defined 
• There was clarity around what is wanted or needed from each other
• There was an elevated level of trust among all parts of the organization
• Everyone pursued solutions that were mutually beneficial
• People did what they agreed to do 
• Information was timely
• Communication was open and honest
• People admitted to and took responsibility for their actions
• There was timely and constructive feedback
• There was proper and appropriate confidentiality
• I felt empowered and trusted to make decisions within my scope of responsibility
• I was asked for my input when appropriate
• I had access to training and development
• Values and principles were followed 
• Opinions were shared constructively and never negatively

If you look at the items listed they can be combined into the following themes:

• Shared Values
• Intentional Trust
• Transparent Communication

As a business owner if you can hold up your ‘culture mirror’ and say that you are actively living up to and supporting your personal and organization values, are building trust with your team, customers, and stakeholders, and doing so with clear, consistent, and transparent communication you could probably say your business culture is supporting the growth of your organization. In addition, if your employees can say the same thing about you and the organization, you are heading in the right direction. If you cannot say that regarding all areas, that is OK, it just means that you might have opportunity to gain experience in those areas as a leader and organization. 

If you do not have your business culture identified or outlined as an organization, that is OK. However, I would strongly recommend that you take time to identify what good looks like and the specifics of your culture that you are trying to build and support. There are many ways to do this including looking into the New Heights Package offered by Arborisk Insurance or to take the free Culture Assessment being offered this month. Both will provide you a high-level perspective on potential areas for business culture enhancement. Whether or not you do either, it is important to start to discuss, build, and document what good looks like for your organization. 

Once you have built your ‘business culture mirror’ by identifying what good looks like, it is time to bring out the flashlight and see what specifically is enhancing, sustaining, and detracting from your culture. The easiest way to do this is to simply ask your employees. Ask them their thoughts on how defined and effective they feel the business culture is in your organization. You can develop your own questions or use some of the following questions to begin the conversation:

• What do you feel are our core values as an organization?
• Do you feel supported in your personal and professional development? 
• Are there any areas of the organization you would like to find out more about?
• Do you feel like my communication to you is effective?
• Do you feel like you are properly informed regarding the direction of the organization?
• What are you enthusiastic about within this company? Do you feel supported in that passion?
• What are you passionate about outside this company? DO you feel supported in that passion?

There are hundreds of questions you could ask, but the most important thing is that you are asking them to help shine the light on opportunities and specifics of what is important to your employees. As these conversations continue, you will start to shine the light on those areas of opportunity where you can further align your leadership approach and business culture with the expectations of your employees. Through frequent, transparent, and intentional communication you will also build trust among the team and within your organization which will help to ‘power the flashlight’ as you continue to identify, build, and assess the right business culture for your organization. 

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.

Remember, Peter Drucker once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” What are you doing to identify and develop your business culture as you provide your organization the opportunity to advance and surpass the strategic goals of your team?

Growing Your Company With Trust

Written by Kevin Martlage

This month we are focusing on the culture of your business and how you can continue to work towards developing and providing a supportive and nurturing environment for your employees, customers, and those your business serves. So far this month we have discussed the importance of a strong business culture and its positive impact on the success of your team and company. We have also discussed how intentional and transparent communication can build trust which is the life blood of any successful company and team.

Trust is present in almost everything we do as a tree care professional so why is it not always a critical consideration in our approach with our teams and our company? When I think about trust in the tree care industry, there are numerous things that come to mind. For example:

• Climbers have TRUST in their climbing equipment that the manufacturer made it safe.
• Our customers TRUST that we have a level of knowledge to ensure we properly take care of their tree.
• We TRUST that our customers will pay us the amount of money agreed to in our accepted work proposal.
• Our customers TRUST that we will do the work to the best of our ability and according to the work order.
• Our crews TRUST that as owners we will provide a certain framework and resources to do the work we are asking them to complete.
• We TRUST our crews to do the work with a high level of safety, accuracy, and professionalism.
• Climbers TRUST that the person who might be belaying their rope will not let go!
• Climbers TRUST that their review of a tree and their equipment before using SRT will ensure their safety if they follow the proper procedures.
• Tree Care Owners TRUST that Arborisk will have their best interest in mind as they insure their company.

Trust is evident in everything we do regardless of if you are a climber in a 50-foot oak, the ground crew member clearing and chipping brush, or the owner of 5-person, or 500-person tree care company.

There are also examples of trust in our personal lives which is what we probably all think of first when we hear the word trust. I am certain you can probably identify a negative situation which had a root cause of trust being challenged or not being present. If you review that situation close enough, I can almost guarantee that if trust was present the situation would have been resolved more efficiently while helping to continue to build the foundation of trust for any potential future situations with that person. You could also probably agree that trust was challenged in that situation because both sides were not on the same page or made up their own “story” about what was going on.

Bottom line, without trust we are left to our own mind and resources to try and figure it out, to tell the “story” and to protect ourselves, which can lead to confusion, lost productivity, and misalignment among our staff, colleagues, friends, and family. 

So why then do I call trust the life blood of any successful company and team?

The reason trust is so vitally important to success is because without trust, you are enabling your team to get sidetracked as they try to understand your decisions, question your intent, protect themselves, or simply feel comfortable about being on the same page with you. In extreme circumstances, a lack of trust can even help foster resentment and the need to be defensive and always right which ultimately takes away from collaborative progress and success of the team. 

Building Trust is sometimes difficult for organizations because it must be intentionally built over time. Much like a personal relationship or friendship, it takes work and intentional focus on providing the context, intent, and insight regarding your thoughts and approach. Whether you are interacting with a friend or a member of your team, trust is always on stage, and either being built or broken depending on the situation and conversation.   

There are numerous ways to build trust among your team and within your organization. However, there is one thing that can kickstart your journey of building trust. You must first start by looking inward as a leader to understand how you are impacting trust within your own company. To do this, I would recommend asking yourself these questions:

• What “stories” might my team be trying to figure out?
• How can I always provide a great experience of understanding and collaboration for my team?
• What are some things that I may be questioning? Chances are my team is too.
• How is a lack of trust impacting the productivity of the company and team?

By looking inward, you can then start to identify some key areas where you can adjust your leadership approach. These adjustments, while unique to you, should be centered around the following:

• Always ensuring you are providing transparent and intentional communication
• Providing information designed to help eliminate the need to “make up their own story”
• Communicating your intent by providing the desired outcome and reasons behind your decisions

Providing insight in a transparent and intentional manner, will allow your team the opportunity to build trust with you because they understand the intent and reason behind your decisions, communication, and direction of the company. You are helping to eliminate the unknown and offering a collaborative approach to the direction of the company.

A culture built on trust will help to empower you team to make sound decision without the fear of betrayal or misunderstanding. Trust will also help to create a team that will be focused and aligned on moving the organization forward instead of being consumed by trying to answer the unknown or making up their own stories or direction. Trust is certainly difficult to build, and it takes times, however the return on that investment will pay dividends that will help to build a foundation for your company that is both sustainable and flexible.

As you build trust I guarantee it will become the X factor regarding your organization and be the secret sauce that takes you to the next level, helps to retain your employees, and streamlines your operations. This will ultimately help you enhance your ability of being the place where everyone wants to work, and your customers want to do business with. Thus, making Trust one of the most important ingredients to the sustainability, success, and growth of your company.

For additional help with growing trust within 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.

As part of ArboRisk’s Thrive family, we are also offering a FREE business culture self-assessment to help you begin to identify some ways in which you can continue to enhance your company’s culture. The assessment is extremely easy to complete and will take you less than 5 minutes. Following the completion of your assessment, you will receive a summary of recommended areas of impact to consider as you continue to enhance your company culture.