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Rebecca Monet On The Science Of Successful Culture
12 Plays1 month ago
The more you know about your organization's culture, the better you’ll be able to further build and support that culture and see better outcomes. There is no one better to discuss this than Behavioral Scientist and Zorakle Pofiles Founder, Rebecca Monet. In this installment of MustardHub Voices: Behind The Build, Rebecca breaks down the data and trends in the evolving world of work. She provides incredible insights on how these metrics impact finding, training, and retaining talent and fostering employee engagement.
About Rebecca:
Rebecca Monet is a behavioral scientist who specializes in human performance specifically as it relates to business ownership and leadership roles. She is the founder of Zorakle Profiles, a profiling tool based on 7 statistically validated sciences. These sciences determine franchisee/employee compatibility and predict performance. Zorakle tools provide franchise companies a means to reduce training, support and litigation costs while increasing employee and franchisee satisfaction, validation and performance.
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Transcript
Introduction to Fireside Chat
00:00:02
Speaker
Hi everyone, welcome to today's fireside chat, Mustard Hub voices behind the build. where we talk with people building, backing, and running better
Meet Rebecca Monet, Behavioral Scientist
00:00:13
Speaker
workplaces. I'm your host, Curtis Forbes.
00:00:15
Speaker
My guest today, ah brilliant Rebecca Monet. Rebecca is ah behavioral scientist who specializes in human performance, specifically as it relates to business ownership and leadership roles.
00:00:30
Speaker
She's the founder of Zorical Profiles, a profiling tool based on seven statistically validated sciences These sciences determine franchisee employee compatibility and predict performance.
00:00:44
Speaker
Zorical tools provide franchise companies a means to reduce training, support, and litigation costs while increasing employee and franchisee satisfaction, validation, and performance.
Personal Anecdotes and Family Traditions
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome, Rebecca. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you, Curtis. Me too. where are Where are you based? Where are you chatting with me from today? I am from the Ozarks. I am in Northwest Arkansas right now. um What a change from San Diego after 40 years in San Diego, but I'm adapting. I'm adapting.
00:01:21
Speaker
So before we dive in, i have a super personal question. You have a really interesting LinkedIn headline. Tell me quickly about being a professional cupcake maker.
00:01:32
Speaker
Oh my gosh, Curtis. I love making fancy cupcakes. Cupcakes. It actually started years ago when my kids ah came out to visit me with their two children, my grandchildren, and it was Easter and I decided we were going to decorate cupcakes.
00:01:51
Speaker
So I got all the special gear to make designs and fluff things up. And I'm sitting with my beautiful daughter-in-law, my granddaughter, and at that time, my four-year-old grandson.
00:02:05
Speaker
And my mucho macho son, who's like 250 pounds, all muscles, six foot two, and he just thinks he's a manly man, right? And we're decorating cupcakes and he's like, men don't decorate cupcakes. We don't do this kind of thing.
00:02:22
Speaker
But he's also OCD. He likes perfection. yeah So as we're making cupcakes, he is going insane because he thinks he can do it better. Pretty soon,
00:02:33
Speaker
He's like in the midst of those cupcakes, fixing things and decorating things. Suffice it to say, it's become a tradition. Any main event that we ah have at my home, we decorate cupcakes. And the boys, it's mandatory. The macho boys also ah participate.
00:02:50
Speaker
I bet you didn't see that question coming right up. No, I wasn't expecting that at all.
Rebecca's Professional Journey
00:02:55
Speaker
So you apply your knowledge, your experience and talent in the world franchising.
00:03:02
Speaker
How did you end up in that unique niche space? um And franchising is indeed quite unique. um Honestly, the history of it is I was a therapist years ago and I worked exclusively with entrepreneurs.
00:03:19
Speaker
I didn't deal with marital issues, alcohol issues. It was what's between the two ears that's causing success in someone's ah business. Today, we would call that a coach, but back then I was a therapist, a licensed therapist to do that.
00:03:36
Speaker
um And then from there, one of my clients who ran a big business in San Diego asked if what I was teaching, which included the psychographics, if I could do that in a group situation.
00:03:49
Speaker
So he put together 300, uh, ah entrepreneurs into a room at a hotel and we began to teach them some of these philosophies and techniques.
00:03:59
Speaker
And that took me ah to traveling all over the world, teaching entrepreneurs how to build businesses. um And then one day my daughter ah became a little wild. She was a teenager, wild child, like a lot of teenagers.
00:04:15
Speaker
And I decided it was time that we stopped the traveling, stopped going all over the world. And so I went to bed one night and I prayed and I said, God, I can't travel anymore. I need eyes on my children. I was a single mom.
00:04:33
Speaker
And what's what's next? What should I be doing? And the answer I got was business broker. At that time, I didn't know what a business
Franchising Fascination and Challenges
00:04:41
Speaker
broker was. So I reached above my refrigerator, got the yellow pages down. If you remember those, you might be too young, Curtis. Oh, definitely.
00:04:51
Speaker
Do you remember those? And I opened it up. I called every broker, a business broker that was in book. There's four of them in San Diego. And I called and I basically said, my name is Rebecca Monet. I'm a behavioral scientist.
00:05:05
Speaker
I want to learn everything you do. You don't have to pay me. I'll come to work for you. Just let me follow you around. And I met a gentleman who said yes. Three said no. One said yes. His name was Howie Bassick.
00:05:17
Speaker
He was the inventor of franchise brokering. And so we spent the next several years him teaching everything about franchising. I taught him everything I knew about ah behavioral science.
00:05:32
Speaker
But the fascinating part about franchising was I was able to, in seclusion, ah measure the skills, aptitudes, value sets,
00:05:45
Speaker
all of the things necessary to grow a business for an individual that ran their own business. But I had never been able to measure something that's in a living, breathing organism like franchising, where they're providing an operational system, right?
00:06:00
Speaker
And then the franchisees working underneath that, but they're still somewhat independent. So as a behavioral scientist, I'm like, yay, I get to measure more things. I get to figure out what happens to a franchisor as they grow and what happens to their culture and their systems and how that affects their franchisees.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I can also measure all these attributes of a franchisee as they themselves grow, sometimes in tandem, sometimes faster. So that's how I was introduced to franchising.
00:06:32
Speaker
And like many, I have fallen deeply in love with franchising. I call it the last bastion of the free enterprise system. So I'm a big believer in the free enterprise system.
Trends and Training in Franchising
00:06:46
Speaker
it's um it's It's, I mean, it's an incredibly special a place um it's ah it or space, I should say. And the people just, you know, in the entire world of franchising are incredibly welcoming. So what kind of clients do you work with in franchising?
00:07:07
Speaker
You know, if you had to maybe specifically, right? And then tell me, why do they come to you? So I work with three types of clients. I work with the franchise or to help assess their franchisees and audit their systems to determine who's a right fit franchisee for them.
00:07:28
Speaker
I work with franchise brokers who work with candidates looking to buy a business and wanting to know what who that individual is and also where they're going to be a good fit.
00:07:41
Speaker
And I work with franchisees ah to assess ah employees that would be a good fit within their franchise organization. So the problems I solve are everything from retention issues, engagement issues, performance issues, ah sometimes even horrible things like litigation because they have a poor fit.
00:08:03
Speaker
um So all the typical things that would happen, ah cost of training, cost of support, Those would be the issues I would be dealing with, whether it's at the Zora level or the franchisee level, a lot of which can be solved by making sure someone's a good fit within their organization.
00:08:22
Speaker
and and And just for reference and context for anybody listening who's not familiar with the franchise space, this one of the things that I learned a long time ago when I got into it. Franchisors, we refer to as Zors, aptly enough. And franchisees, we refer to as Zs, the Zs and the Zs.
00:08:40
Speaker
um So you kind of answered this next question I i really had about problems that you're you're really kind of obsessed with solving for these organizations. But what do you... What are some trends you're seeing and in franchising or or maybe what's the next trend in franchising that we don't really see coming yet through your lens?
00:09:02
Speaker
So I've been in the franchise space now 32 years, started in 1993. So I've seen many, many things evolve and change. A couple notable ones is we are seeing more and more women stepping into business ownership.
00:09:20
Speaker
When I first started, i would go to a conference and maybe 10% of folks that were at those conferences were women. ah Now it's about 30%. So women actively searching for businesses.
00:09:35
Speaker
And what's really fascinating is women tend to rise to the top in franchising. They seem well-suited. for franchising.
00:09:47
Speaker
ah The other trend that I am seeing is the age of our franchisee is dropping. When I started in 1993, the average age was almost 52 years old.
00:10:00
Speaker
ah Today, it's 44. forty four So people are catching on that you don't have to have corporate jobs. There's another option. You may still choose the corporate way and that might be the right ah fit for you,
00:10:13
Speaker
But younger and younger individuals are choosing business ownership, entrepreneurship, and of course, ah franchising. The third trend that I'm seeing that I'm finding fascinating because I am a baby baby boomer is baby boomers who are investing heavily in these younger generations, putting their wisdom and experience and education into younger people even financing them, coming in in as partners, coming in as financiers, coming in as coaches and mentors, which is allowing these younger people to come in with a greater stability and encouragement than maybe I had when I was that age.
00:11:02
Speaker
So those are three really big trends ah that we're seeing in the world of franchising. yeah um and So one thing I really want to learn a little bit about I know that, you know in your experience working with franchise systems, you probably see some people related challenges, right? Given what you do, that create roadblocks to maybe some operational or strategic progress. um I kind of want to play off of, you know, these trends that you're seeing about
00:11:35
Speaker
how the average age is skewing younger than it has historically. um you know Oftentimes, a lot of younger people don't necessarily have the ah management experience, right? And so I'm kind of curious if you see that playing a factor um where they're jumping into some of these you know these roles or business ownership right without having some of that leadership experience.
00:12:02
Speaker
And if you see that as being one of those, you know, things that might create some of these challenges or, you know, tell me a little bit about that. I'm kind of curious. I love this question because clearly there are issues that um these younger generations are dealing with that are unique to them.
00:12:25
Speaker
um The leadership, the management skills that you talked about, Many times they haven't had the opportunity to build experience in those um areas. So they do ah lack in management skills and leadership skills.
00:12:41
Speaker
So we would call those hard competencies or skills. But the area where I'm seeing greater challenges is in the soft skills.
00:12:52
Speaker
and Things like grit, right? The ability to go over the mountain, through the mountain, under the mountain to get to your goals, that tenacity, that resilience, that drive, the optimism that keeps us going, um even things like initiative ah and commitment. We're seeing those markers actually dropping ah where folks um that are taking less initiative, which is a form of courage. Initiative is a form of courage.
00:13:28
Speaker
And the younger generations haven't had those same risk levels that, let's say, a baby boomer would do or even a Gen Xer. So they don't have that muscle to get through the hard times or take risks like we used to or make that phone call or reach out to that networking group or ah step out of their comfort ah zone.
00:13:55
Speaker
So they're, they're not quite as capable of commitment. You know, we're all about instant gratification. Now we're all about technology now.
00:14:06
Speaker
um So it's the soft markers Curtis that I'm noticing um are dropping and honestly causing me some concerns as to future success, how franchisors might be ah adapting to that, to help um franchisees that maybe lack some of these skills to make sure they um learn them and build those muscles so they can build the businesses they want.
00:14:32
Speaker
how do you How do you advise? if you If you see those on the radar, how do you advise your franchisor or your franchisee, frankly, right? If you're helping them with you know more, you know building their teams.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah. That's a tough one. Because we are a research firm, a technology firm is is what we are. So I can bang the bell a lot of times and educate, right? It's one of the ways that I can handle that is ah warning our franchisees that there's some trends going on that they need to be prepared for.
00:15:11
Speaker
Franchisors that reach out to us for specific help, um there are many recommendations, some of which they're already doing. um When you have a younger franchisee running a business and they lack in the soft skills and the hard skills simply due to lack of education or lack experience or lack of you know opportunity even, then things like mentoring and coaching and assigning them to someone that's a few steps ahead will definitely be ah beneficial.
00:15:45
Speaker
the all When we call something a skill, whether it's management skills, operational skills, sales skills, initiative skills, or commitment skills, these are skills, meaning we can learn them.
00:16:00
Speaker
So a franchisor can provide field coaches training and support to develop that, which obviously means first they have to measure it to know where that individual is.
00:16:13
Speaker
and look at ways that they can um you know expound on that or enhance that particular ah skill. I mean, what what what are some of the most recurring talent or culture-related issues you see cropping up in the growing franchise businesses today?
00:16:31
Speaker
um Are we talking culture in terms of the company's culture or culture that someone is coming from? Because both obviously will affect. ah Well, that actually brings up a really interesting point. I was initially referring to you like the business and the company's culture, but that's a very insightful kind of way to, I think, interpret that question because I didn't see that.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, and it's it it really is both. Culture has a huge influence on performance and on compatibility and on retention and on engagement.
00:17:10
Speaker
of an employee as well as a franchisee. So someone a company that understands their culture and creates best practices and systems and environment that nurtures and rewards that culture will create a more consistent brand, of course, but also create consistencies in how we address certain things or how we take care of a customer, as an example.
00:17:40
Speaker
So I would just say, first and foremost, understand your culture, quantify it, right? Identify it. Because the more you know about your culture, then you can set up your best practices and your reward systems to reward the behaviors
Company Culture and Leadership
00:17:58
Speaker
that create that particular ah culture.
00:18:02
Speaker
For example, if you have what we call more of a clan or collaborative or family-like culture, then you're going to create systems that has regular communication ah that's got collaborations. You've got buyer co-ops and sharing and marketing expenses if you're a franchisee with your neighbor.
00:18:24
Speaker
ah You will have ah the older ones mentoring the younger ones. You're going to reward and give awards out at your conferences acknowledging the person that was most collaborative or offered the greatest advice or help somebody else or went on a holiday with someone else.
00:18:43
Speaker
So once you determine what your culture is, then you determine the values, because that's a big part of what culture is, the values and the um specific behaviors that will echo those values that will keep those values in place.
00:19:04
Speaker
um And that's not that hard to do. You just have to be able to measure it and then develop those tools and regularly communicate that to your employees as well as your franchisees.
00:19:18
Speaker
i um So I'm curious in your opinion, and I think that this is... this is perfect for a data scientist. Tell me a people blind spot that you've observed, maybe something that business owners tend to overlook when they're trying to fix performance, growth, execution issues.
00:19:39
Speaker
Tell me one of those people blind spots. And I'm sure you have a whole bunch that nobody would think of
00:19:46
Speaker
You know, there's always blind spots but that we're not aware of ourselves or companies not aware about us. um One that we've done a ton of research and especially now ah with some political changes going on and some tariff things.
00:20:04
Speaker
ah But this is true generically, no matter what's going on politically and economically is fear um that Many of us won't admit our fears and the fear for you and the fears for me are going to be different.
00:20:22
Speaker
And if a company doesn't understand the fears of their franchisee or their employees, then things can go sideways. Fear ah will could be everything from a social fear, an emotional fear, a relational fear, and of course, a financial fear But it's different based on the values of that org that individual.
00:20:47
Speaker
So, for example, ah we have a type of individual that we call the emulator. And he or she is very innovative, loves autonomy, loves independence, ah is, you know, always up for a good challenge, loves competition, loves recognition, loves being with companies that have some sex appeal or prestige or uniqueness ah to them.
00:21:12
Speaker
but their fears are very specific. They have a fear of being embarrassed. It is overwhelming. It's like they have this deep child that cannot handle being embarrassed.
00:21:28
Speaker
So if they mess up at work or they don't have the numbers as a franchisee, or they make a mistake that is humiliating and embarrassing. Whereas a manager or as a franchise or,
00:21:41
Speaker
you may think, this is a mistake, we'll move on, right? But for them, it can dramatically affect their self-esteem. It can dramatically affect many days after that mistake, how they perform, how engaged they're going to be.
00:21:56
Speaker
They'll become more withdrawn. And again, that's just their fear, their number one fear. But you and may have other fears. That's really interesting. Could it possibly have but ah negative effect even to publicly reward somebody who has that same type of adverse reaction to um just this public display of of feedback?
00:22:24
Speaker
It can. it can have a negative It can have a negative effect, especially for the type I just talked about, that that emulator. Emulators are high-quality. really big about recognition, but we don't want to show their boo-boos or their mistakes or their incompetence or their inadequacy.
00:22:43
Speaker
We want to show how they bootstrapped, how they overcame the odds. We want to show how they came up with a really great idea, how they did it alone without money and talent and all of that stuff. So what we're rewarding and what we're recognizing in that individual is different than it would be for another type. That's maybe you want to reward or acknowledge or bring to attention things like a contribution or making a difference or helping someone else.
00:23:15
Speaker
That's what wants to be rewarded. um So you have to be cautious what you're rewarding and what you're not rewarding um because it can have in some cases a negative effect and some cases a positive effect.
00:23:29
Speaker
That's goes back to your culture question, right? What's the culture? Do we have the right person that matches that culture? Then we put the proper reward systems in place to nurture that. But if we're attracting, let's say this emulator into a societal business, that's more about making a difference, education, knowledge, justice, fairness, equity, all of those things, two different people.
00:23:56
Speaker
If we put them in the same culture and reward them the same, one will be deflated and one will be inflated, right? So we don't, we want to make sure that we have a consistent, congruent culture and that we're attracting people that fit within that culture.
00:24:13
Speaker
So across you know, the best run franchise organizations that you have analyzed, what are some consistent leadership traits or team dynamics that stand out to you?
00:24:29
Speaker
um in So there are some consistent things that are needed across the board. But if we're talking about leadership, that includes things like conflict management, team building, collaboration,
00:24:46
Speaker
ah being a good change catalyst, someone that can instigate change and get people on board. It includes influence, meaning I have enough authority, enough credibility, enough respect, enough love for you as my employee or my franchisee ah that you're going to listen to me and you're going to take my advice and my direction.
00:25:11
Speaker
So leadership has many facets to it, some which we're great at, and someone we're not great at. We're typically thinking about leadership as someone that can cast a vision, right?
00:25:24
Speaker
um And get people excited about it. But leadership is much, much more than that. It's about um feedback and accountability and things that allow someone to know that they're on target. It's about communication.
00:25:41
Speaker
Otherwise you just have a motivational speaker, right? someone can get people charged up, but you're not moving a project or a company ah forward. You're simply getting people riled up and excited and loving you.
00:25:54
Speaker
um And I think that's one of the biggest issues with leaders. In fact, there was a book on this some years back um about the top five mistakes leaders make. And number one was they want to be liked.
00:26:07
Speaker
And so they're so busy being liked. that they're not making those tough decisions, they're not confronting things, they're not handling conflict. They're looking for kumbaya rather than what it takes to move the ball down the field.
00:26:22
Speaker
I mean, I think that that's a really important distinction to make, you know, identifying how some of these high performing operators and what they do differently from those who maybe repeatedly miss the mark on execution. And, you know, I think you you you listed a couple of them right there.
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah. oh do How do trust, clarity and alignment between corporate and the you know local operators influence you know measurable outcomes?
00:26:59
Speaker
So the question was, how do we trust that they're aligned? How do those things like trust and clarity and alignment between you know corporate and your your your local operators, how does that influence those measurable outcomes?
00:27:11
Speaker
Huge, huge. You can imagine, Curtis, and I'm sure you've seen it yourself ah with folks that you work with and clients you work with. It's huge. ah when that's not available, when corporate and franchisee or franchisee and employee aren't in alignment, they don't share the values, meaning they're not going to make similar decisions. They don't have similar belief systems.
00:27:37
Speaker
um they They're not going to spend their time, money and energy in similar. If they're not aligned in those values, we're naturally going to not trust them they because they have a different agenda, a different set of beliefs, a different direction. So we have to be aligned with our values.
00:27:54
Speaker
And then, of course, there needs to be an alignment with culture, which in part is the values and the best practices and the initiatives and the environment and the reward systems.
00:28:05
Speaker
But um a lot of that is we have to know exactly where that franchise or company is in terms of the culture, values, stage of growth, skills that they're bringing to the table, their value package, and exactly what a franchisee or an employee needs to bring ah to the table.
00:28:25
Speaker
When those are in alignment, trust happens. yeah We are seeing the world the same way. Have you seen differences in leadership efficacy based on whether a franchisee is like an owner operator or versus a multi-unit investor?
00:28:46
Speaker
um Yes. And I say that because I've seen emerging franchisors choose to bring on multi-unit operators, which typically, to your point, have stronger leadership skills, stronger marketing skills,
00:29:05
Speaker
stronger sales skills, stronger operational finance skills. They usually also have stronger EQ, emotional and social intelligence skills. And so what happens frequently is if you have this, someone truly wired for a multi-unit operation, they are consciously deciding I'm going with a franchise because there's an operating system and brand recognition and processes in place that will help me scale and help me replicate.
00:29:37
Speaker
But they could technically do it on their own. That's a different franchisee than someone who's a hands-on owner operator, maybe a man in the van or ah pest control guy or something like that.
00:29:51
Speaker
That's a different franchisee. And the way the franchisor manages that relationship is completely different. but It's going to, what's going to be effective for that multi-unit operator is different than that more hands-on.
00:30:07
Speaker
Even the culture will be, will be different. And if leadership isn't congruent and consistent with the model they've chosen, the multi-unit versus single unit versus area developer, or even a subject matter expert, more of a technician, let's call them, um there's going to be breakdown in in performance.
00:30:27
Speaker
And never mind the cost of supporting and training those franchisees is going to go up dramatically because you're basically running two different types of businesses.
Spot On Profile Tool for Fit Assessment
00:30:37
Speaker
um So I want to learn more about Spot On.
00:30:41
Speaker
Tell me, tell everyone about what Spot On is, who it's for, what it does. Tell me everything. So the Spot On profile is a psychographic assessment.
00:30:56
Speaker
um that is used with franchisors, franchise brokers, and franchisees to determine a right fit of either a prospective franchisee or an employee.
00:31:07
Speaker
ah It's based on seven statistically validated sciences. So it's meta-analysis approach. So when you think of meta-analysis, think medicine, right?
00:31:20
Speaker
You go with some ailments to your doctor. He's going to run a blood chemistry. He's going to do an X-ray, he's going to, you know, run different tests and then he's going to look at each of those tests to come up with some ah conclusions and a protocol.
00:31:37
Speaker
So this is similar. Instead of using like a personality test or skills test, we combine seven different pieces of logic into a single assessment. So it gives a deeper, more meaningful, more predictive model to know if somebody is a good fit, where they're going to need some additional help or have some challenges.
00:32:00
Speaker
So that's what Zorcal is. That's what the spot on profile is. Now, are these are these seven proprietary ah or can we can we talk about what they are? Yeah. So they are open source.
00:32:15
Speaker
So you can find these anywhere. ah The first science is called a values based logic. It comes from Stanford Research Institute. a program called VALS, where we're looking at the motivators, the drivers, a true predictor of future performance and fit and retention.
00:32:33
Speaker
The second science is ah the stages of growth science. This is Neil Churchill's work, the Carothers Institute ah work, where we um measure the predictable stages of growth every company goes through.
00:32:47
Speaker
Things we're looking at is their leadership style, their organizational structure, their current initiatives and goals, um how involved the concept originator, what challenges and growing pains and crises are they going through?
00:33:01
Speaker
Some people fit better in early stage companies. Some people fit when the franchisor is, you know, a mega company. So that's called stages of growth. We use a cultural model that comes out of the University of Michigan.
00:33:15
Speaker
ah This determines on six primary markers exactly what a franchisor's culture ah is. And then we also look at competencies.
00:33:27
Speaker
We used to use an aptitude test or a skills test for that. But we found that people that are coming into franchising, owning their own business are usually very successful people in the corporate world.
00:33:42
Speaker
So they're VP of technology or they're director of human resources. So we needed a tool that looked at their strengths and how highest and best way of using their strengths.
00:33:54
Speaker
So there's an algorithm that is proprietary where we take their strengths from Gallup research, a strength finder, and we overlap that on the competency. So even if you've never sold, you never marketed, um if you have strengths, you can learn it and learn it quickly.
00:34:10
Speaker
And then, of course, we talked about the emotional and social intelligence, Dr. Daniel Goldman's work. And then one of my favorites, is ah from Dr. Robert Nedford. He's a sports psychologist.
00:34:24
Speaker
And what we're looking at here is this performance zone where someone is just challenged enough that they have to push themselves. There's enough pressure on them. There's big enough goal that they're going to perform.
00:34:39
Speaker
And what happens when there's too much? Where will they start to drop the ball and make mistakes? And the opposite. Once they master something and they become bored and unengaged and it's not interesting or challenging, where will they start to drop the ball?
00:34:54
Speaker
So those are the seven sciences, all which are open open source. We borrow them. What makes Zoracle unique is how we combine it. We're the only company that uses all of these sciences.
00:35:07
Speaker
and reports individually on them and collectively and what that means. Do you administer these through survey? Is that the typical way to administer administer these on a per person basis? Yeah. yeah help Sorry, go ahead.
00:35:23
Speaker
It's a questionnaire. It's a survey. yeah Have you noticed any maybe surprising ways that companies are leveraging SpotOn or other tools you know to support their their people or or make better choices when it comes to building their teams?
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's so interesting when we first created it, it was designed to help franchise brokers sell more deals. Right. And then it evolved into, way way wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:35:48
Speaker
We don't want you to sell on deals. We want you putting people in the right place. So they'll ramp up well, retain well, perform well, validate well. ah So it started to be used more for proper ah fit.
00:36:00
Speaker
As time has gone on, more and more of our companies are using it, not just to screen their franchisees and their employees, but to recruit more like that.
00:36:12
Speaker
We have a lot of neuroeconomics and neuroscience built into our logic that helps the marketers go after the right types of individuals. So we can tell them the fonts, the colors, ah the as music, the text, everything that's scientifically based.
00:36:31
Speaker
that stimulates the brain to make, to be attracted to something and to make a decision. So we call it neuro economics. It's a science that's much newer that I am fascinated in studying.
00:36:45
Speaker
So we give a lot of advice to marketers. how to do that. In fact, we just did a class on that yesterday, Curtis. might have to take this. I'm going to send it to you. I'll send it to you. And then the other way that it's being used is, okay, so we have this current franchisee and we have some markers that are causing some issues. They're having issues keeping employees.
00:37:06
Speaker
ah They're not performing as well. And so field coaches are using these eclipse reports, a spot-on eclipse report, because it does a side-by-side comparison of ideal versus you.
00:37:18
Speaker
And then the field coaches are using it. Operational teams are using it to develop new training, new support, new systems ah for those individuals. So what we originally thought was just gonna be a sales tool, has turned out to be much, much, much more.
00:37:36
Speaker
yeah Well, I mean, I can i can i can see why. and and and it makes me wonder, and this is, I think this is right up your wheelhouse. when When you're analyzing workforce or operational data,
00:37:51
Speaker
Where do you often see a disconnect between what companies measure and what actually drives long-term performance, right? What's being tracked that matters and what's being tracked that doesn't matter?
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah. um It's so interesting because usually it's numbers that are being tracked, you know, sales, um um number of leads to sales, customer retention, average ticket sales, number, you know, those kinds of things, profit margins.
00:38:23
Speaker
um But what they're not looking at and we're really preaching is the number one financial indicator of both success and compatibility is emotional and social intelligence.
00:38:35
Speaker
A individual who's off one or two percentage points in any one of the 20 markers and emotional and social intelligence leaves anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000 on the table in revenue. that So we're not measuring that. I mean, we do. Zirkle does. But many of our companies or franchisors aren't measuring that.
00:38:58
Speaker
And if they worked on those EQ, SQ markers, performance would skyrocket. Just choose three where universally your franchisees aren't so good at it Pick three and work on that and you'll see your financial ah definitely increase.
00:39:17
Speaker
So they're they're not dealing with the human side of the business, right?
AI in Franchising and Decision-Making
00:39:22
Speaker
And those softer markers, yeah they're measuring things like, do they have operational skills? Can they look at a P&L statement?
00:39:31
Speaker
That's all fine and dandy. yeah But what really makes a difference is the soft skills. that's ah That's amazing. And that you're able to sum it up in that way. I mean, I feel like the world needs to hear that. Yeah.
00:39:43
Speaker
it's like you've answered the maybe the next hundred questions that I have. um But how do you see the the role of ai of automation, of predictive analytics kind of reshaping how franchise leaders manage their teams?
00:39:58
Speaker
I think there's a good and a bad to everything, right? um What I'm seeing as a trend, in fact, I just got off a call with someone, we just talked about this, where AI is being used more and more to predict behavior and buying patterns and attraction strategies based on social media and other things um and, you know, gleaning that and then making recommendations based on that.
00:40:26
Speaker
um However, social media usage for folks that are franchisees is much lower than someone who is not inclined to business ownership.
00:40:40
Speaker
So you're not going to garner as much information of those that really are wired to be business owners from scouring using AI, social media things, right? its It's limited, especially since we are becoming more and more cautious as human beings of what we present.
00:40:58
Speaker
We are guarding our reputation. We are guarding the way we look. So if we're using that to make decisions, I think it's not the full um picture. So that's a negative.
00:41:09
Speaker
The positive is if we can use ai in combination with psychographics, which really is that human being. They've told us that it's not their social media that's saying I'm fabulous and I've, you know, whitewashed my hips, you know, and made them thinner.
00:41:29
Speaker
it's It's really who they are. If we use ai to enhance that, how do we communicate with them? What are their fears and concerns? ah What is it they need in a business?
00:41:41
Speaker
How would they like to be acknowledged and rewarded? If you combine the AI with the psychographics, I think we've got a great formula. has there I agree, by the way.
00:41:52
Speaker
um Has there ever been a moment where your data contradicted leadership intuition? Maybe they went a different direction, or maybe they didn't, but proved right in hindsight?
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah. um I can think of a fitness concept we work with just a handful of years ago where we assessed we did an audit on the franchise or and we assessed all of their franchisees. They were categorized based on performance and fit and the franchise or their perception of the ideal franchisee was so different than what the high performers were.
00:42:37
Speaker
They were going after the guy or the gal that was about sex appeal and prestige and recognition then muscle and nutrition and all of those things.
00:42:50
Speaker
um And because they were combination of fitness and nutrition company. right And the reality is the superstars in that organization were anything but that.
00:43:01
Speaker
They were trying to make a difference. They were trying to solve health issues. They were educators, they were consultants, they were advisors, they were ah advocates. They were folks that ah were leading from their heart, not from their physique, right?
00:43:16
Speaker
A very different individual than what they thought. Ultimately, what happened after we completed the spot on blueprint for them and the marketing blueprint for them, they repositioned their marketing efforts, those bright reds, you know, those ruby colors that attract that that more image conscious individual.
00:43:35
Speaker
was toned down to attract a different, we changed the fonts, we changed ah the the messaging to attract more of what we call the societal belonger.
00:43:46
Speaker
And what we saw was performance and retention, by the way, go up in that franchise or. that's ah that's really That's really, that's amazing.
00:43:57
Speaker
um I wanna kind of reflect a little bit and maybe um reflect and and look at look ahead.
Future Leadership and Engagement
00:44:05
Speaker
Give me a people insight, cultural competency that tomorrow's business leaders are going to have to develop in order to thrive.
00:44:19
Speaker
Curtis, I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question? I didn't hear you. So what's one people insight or a cultural competency that tomorrow's business leaders will have to develop in order to thrive?
00:44:36
Speaker
I think one of the biggest things is meaning. People are screaming to be significant. They're screaming to be seen.
00:44:47
Speaker
They're screaming to be heard and recognized as an independent, individual. Everyone wants to feel that that they are here for a purpose, that they have meaning.
00:45:01
Speaker
So I think companies, franchisors in particular, need to find a way to pull that meaning out to discover it. It is the greatest form of compassion and empathy if you can ask yourself, what does this person want me to feel about them.
00:45:24
Speaker
What does this person want me to recognize that might be hidden just a little bit? And how can I recognize him or her? And it almost always goes back to it's that thing that makes them feel significant.
00:45:40
Speaker
It gives them meaning for the role that they're in, for the business that they chose. And oftentimes it is unconscious and it's rarely spoken or touted. But if companies can learn that.
00:45:56
Speaker
I think we're going to get more engaged employees. We're going to get more profitable franchisees. We're going to have no problems with retention because this person now is seen, heard, respected, appreciated for who they are, not what they can bring to the table. not performance-based.
00:46:16
Speaker
Performance is a consequence of us recognizing that. So if a founder, a franchise operator, asks you for your single most important piece of advice about managing people well.
00:46:33
Speaker
Oh, wow. You're to limit me to one? am. One and a half. I think it's just what we talked about, Curtis. I really do take time to know this person and pull out of them.
00:46:51
Speaker
What makes them feel they have significance and meaning? Acknowledge it, recognize it, and they will go to the ends of the earth to get you and your company where you want to go.
00:47:05
Speaker
I think that's, um first of all, i think that's amazing advice. I think that I did i did you justice by limiting you to one. um And I think that that's a pretty powerful, um you know, closing thought, I think.
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah. I really appreciate you sharing all of this with us. ah One last question before we wrap up. If you could wave a magic wand and every business owner adopt one belief about their people.
00:47:38
Speaker
What is that belief?
00:47:42
Speaker
That that you want them to adopt. Wow. Wow. I'll tell you something. I don't want to answer for you, but I do want to tell you something that really stood out to me. Yeah.
00:47:55
Speaker
What you talked about, about how all of these things that they think and feel and their fears
00:48:06
Speaker
are all different. And i think that that's an easy thing to accept and understand and realize. and write and I think that we all sort of maybe have that general perception that it is very different.
00:48:18
Speaker
but I don't know that we really reflect on it, at least not significantly, right, when we think about managing people, right? We all know, i think, conceptually, oh, we're all different, we all think different, we feel different, we have different fears.
00:48:33
Speaker
But then when it comes to actually managing people and understanding how we talk to them, how we reward them, how we criticize them, how we offer feedback to them, what their thoughts and and hopes and dreams and fears and all those things are all so different. Again, I'm not trying to answer for you, but that really, when I ask the question, it's something that's already standing out to me in my mind.
00:48:55
Speaker
and I agree. I would echo completely what you what you are saying. um And sometimes I think that's simply because managers and owners are juggling so many different hats to take that time to really dig in that way and see these things ah takes concerted effort.
00:49:17
Speaker
It takes meditating on it and writing about it and thinking about it and asking questions and they're busy, right? And they have a timeline and they're, they're juggling plates and there's a goal. And, and, and so oftentimes what we're thinking about is, okay, what do I need to get to this point?
00:49:38
Speaker
And how can I get these six employees to help me get there? Forgetting that these are human beings. These are not robots, right? These are not robots.
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:49:49
Speaker
Thank you, Rebecca Monet. I want an extra hour or five. i want to do 10 more of these with you. I feel like we could talk for ages about all of this stuff. So I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you you know kind of enlightening all of us right now.
00:50:07
Speaker
My pleasure. yeah Thank you for tuning in to to Mustard Hub Voices behind the build. If you got something out of this conversation, share it with a friend or a teammate.
00:50:20
Speaker
Check out mustardhub.com to see how we help companies become destinations for workplace happiness and turn culture into a competitive edge. Until next time, thank you.