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Empathy, Operations, and Alignment: Katin Keirstead on Leading Frontline Teams
5 Plays1 month ago
In Episode 5 of MustardHub Voices: From the Frontlines, Julie sits down with Katin Keirstead, Vice President of Operations at The Junkluggers, to explore what it really takes to lead frontline teams in a mission-driven franchise organization.
Katin shares her unconventional path into franchising and how her background in adult education shaped her leadership philosophy. She offers a behind-the-scenes look at running operations in a highly physical, people-centered business where frontline employees must balance efficiency, empathy, and customer trust during emotionally charged life transitions.
This conversation dives into aligning leadership teams through EOS, setting clear objectives and accountability, and helping frontline employees understand both the emotional and financial realities of the business. Katin also discusses the importance of professional communication platforms, transparent economics, and treating operations leadership as “connective tissue” that removes obstacles so teams can succeed.
It’s an honest, practical discussion for franchise leaders, operators, and anyone responsible for building aligned, high-performing frontline teams.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Mustard Hub Voices
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome to Mustard Hub Voices from the front lines. Here's where we talk with leaders who roll up their sleeves to support and engage their teams from healthcare care to hospitality, retail to the trades. We're diving into real stories and real strategies from the people who make it happen every
Eco-Friendly Mission of Junk Luggers
00:00:22
Speaker
day. And my guest for today is is Katen Kierstad. Hey, Katen.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hi, Julie. Nice to see you. Good to see you. So, you know, as we, you know, kick things off, Introduce yourself. Who are you? What are you all about? What do you do? give you know give us the scoop.
00:00:39
Speaker
Thanks. So um I'm the vice president of operations with the Junk Luggers. We are an eco-friendly junk removal service. And our mission is to keep reusable items out of the landfill. So whether we donate those items, recycle them, upcycle them, um it's really about keeping these resources that are reusable out of the landfill. So it's a very mission-driven organization and um you know really proud to represent the Junk Luggers brand.
Katen's Journey into Franchising
00:01:07
Speaker
We're also part of Authority Brands. So it's a platform of 14 different home services brands providing service all across the U.S.
00:01:17
Speaker
That's fantastic. So how long has junk Junk Luggers been around? Junk Luggers has been around for about 30 years. We've been franchising for about 20 years, and I've only been with the brand just over a year.
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh, that's really exciting. So how did you get into the franchising space? ah So just like everybody else, literally everybody else in franchising, I got into franchising by accident.
00:01:40
Speaker
um You know, I was, my original career pathway was in massage therapy. So I was a massage therapist and esthetician. I had my own day spa and I started teaching in a massage therapy program. And once I started that, you know, teaching adults, ah partnering with them on their career development pathway, you know, really trying to learn skills to make a better life for themselves and their families, that sparked a real passion for
The Community and Power of Franchising
00:02:07
Speaker
me. And, you know, teaching adults, you know, what adult learners bring that's really unique to the table is they have this whole wealth of skills and knowledge and abilities that they already bring to the table. And so you can really be collaborative with adults when you're, you know, when you're helping them grow in their career. So that was really engaging and an exciting pathway. And I so ah sort of grew my career in adult education for about a decade. um And then I really decided i wanted to transition into more of a corporate environment, um you know partnering with a business to sort of ah
00:02:47
Speaker
really deliver operational training. And that's when I had an opportunity to join Planet Fitness. And I spent ah almost a decade with Planet Fitness building out their training and operations systems and leading their franchise operations team. And that, but that was my first foray into franchising. And what was interesting is in the interview process, I remember,
00:03:07
Speaker
one of the interviewers asked, you know, have you ever worked for a franchise before? You know, did you ever work for Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's when you were in high school? and i just said, no, you know, I was in food service. I waited tables and, you know, did all that, but I had never, it even occurred to me, you know, what the difference might be of working in franchising. And so um that was, you know, joining Planet Fitness was my first exposure and understanding of the power of franchising how,
00:03:35
Speaker
how creating systems and consistency and operations really allows you to take ah like a really amazing brand concept and scale it to something really big. So that just sparked this whole nother interest in me.
Role of VP of Operations at Junk Luggers
00:03:49
Speaker
And so I really consider myself, you know, not a fitness professional, not a junk professional, but I'm really a franchise professional.
00:03:58
Speaker
It's so interesting that you say that because no, really everyone gets into franchising by accident and everyone I've talked to loves it once they get there. yeah It's just something that they just did not see on their path.
00:04:12
Speaker
No, that's really fantastic. Some of these conversations that we have, you know, maybe we can change that. Maybe people who are, you know coming up in their career and they start to hear like, wow, there's so much opportunity in franchising.
00:04:23
Speaker
And anyone who's in franchising, you know, the International Franchise Association is an incredible advocacy organization. Once you go to an IFA event, you realize the just how connected people are and how people will bend over backwards to help each other in franchising, even like their competitors. You know, people will go out of their way to help you, connect you with resources, just connect you with ideas and with people. It's like, it was incredible when I like really started to see the power of the of the community of franchising.
00:04:57
Speaker
No, that's really that's that's really true. That was one of the things that struck me so much ah at IFA last year. was my first time um as a second franchise event that we had went to. And it was the first one we're kind of you know hitting our stride, know what's going on. And talking to folks, everyone was so helpful. Everyone was so forthcoming with information and advice and... introductions. it's It's really, it's powerful how helpful everyone is and how passionate they are. You know, it's kind of like, you know, the tide rising all boats sort of thing. um
00:05:30
Speaker
But no, these there's so many great opportunities for people to be entrepreneurs in franchising. And yeah, it's it's wonderful for people to actually discover that not by accident, but realize that that's such a solid, well-supported path to entrepreneurship. Like you don't have to go in and do everything alone and figure it out from scratch.
00:05:49
Speaker
That's true. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about your your role. What does your day-to-day look like? So my role, my my title is vice president of operations, but I'm really functionally the COO of our organization. We have a relatively small team in franchising. We have about 22 folks on our franchise our entire franchise team with the junk luggers.
00:06:13
Speaker
So you know we're sort of small, scrappy team that's very nimble. um We are engaged in a process of continuous improvement. And so my role, ah you know, sometimes has been referred to as the connective tissue of the organization. So while my, you know, technically my area of responsibility is operations, I really um gather our entire team, all the leaders across the team and align us up towards achieving our goals. And we do that through um utilizing the entrepreneurial operating system,
Collaborative Meetings with EOS Framework
00:06:46
Speaker
EOS. it's you know ah It's a framework for management and leadership. It's worked you know incredibly well for our size organization. And what we do is we
00:06:57
Speaker
organize our goals into quarterly OKRs. So objectives and key results. So quarterly basis, I'm meeting with each of our leaders to make sure that they have established their objectives. They've outlined the key results that they're going to need to achieve across that quarter, or sometimes it'll go longer than a quarter, right? You can't just like make magic happen and it's 90 days all the time, but make sure that we're really marching ah in, in this aligned pathway. And we're all kind of, uh,
00:07:26
Speaker
collaborating towards a common goal. um When you do have a small team and especially in operations and franchising, it's very easy to get distracted distracted by shiny objects and to go on side quests, right? Like, oh, well, this is a new piece of AI technology I want to explore. Or, you know, there's this you know other project that I want to you know engage in or learn more about. And some you know sometimes people will go down the rabbit hole and then you know three weeks later,
00:07:53
Speaker
you have to bring them back and say, okay, well, what's been the progress towards the the key results that are going to help help you achieve those objectives. So we've, it's taken us a little while. It takes a couple of quarters to get into the swing of things. um But we are a really well-united leadership team. the,
00:08:11
Speaker
the meeting structure that we use. It's called the level 10 meeting, the L10 meeting. And it's a very collaborative meeting structure. And every every single week we meet in each of our individual like functional teams meet with the same structure. So it's not one of those meetings where like the boss is talking for 90 minutes and you know you're afraid to ask questions and you know maybe you've understood 25% of what the boss just said, right? It is completely not that kind of a meeting it involves everybody reporting on their scorecard metrics so that we know if we're on track or off track right away. um If we're off track, we go and we bring it to IDS, which is an you know you know the issue, solution, discussion. so And so we discuss these situations and we really hash out like, what's going on with you? Are there any resources that we can bring, obstacles that we can remove collectively as a team to help you um kind of move forward? And because it's so structured, we don't
00:09:10
Speaker
it it be it The meetings are very productive because it's not like a rant or like a complaining session. Although, you know, you certainly, i mean, you have this, the bulk of the meeting is is bringing up those issues and having a discussion around the solutions. um It's it has been incredible for me as a leader with a lot of experience with a lot of different you know management and leadership types. What I have seen our teams be capable of through this type of a structure has been incredible because it's not as the leader. It's not my meeting. It's everybody's meeting.
00:09:44
Speaker
And it's going to be a really boring meeting if people don't bring topics for IDS, you know, and we have an ah you know opportunity to do shout outs and, you know, have people headline. So that has been, i would say it provides structure to my role because it gives us, you know, we have the quarterly cadence, but, you know, we're we're always either planning ahead for the next quarter or sort of reflecting back on the previous quarter and what we achieved and, you know, where we went off track.
00:10:14
Speaker
yeah That's... You've said a lot of things that I really like um because one EOS entrepreneurial was an entrepreneurial operating systems. Holy cow. Those I've talked to so many people that have seen so much success and such a great job in terms of setting alignments and goals, intentionality, being able to grow their business, collaborate with their teams, get just incredible alignment from working with an EOS implementer. And we've talked to a few EOS implementers on voices behind the build, the show that Curtis Curtis hosts.
00:10:47
Speaker
I highly recommend that for so many organizations. Like, geez, that can get you so far ahead with when it comes to so many things, including, you know, with communications and with your people and getting that alignment. um And there's still so much more I want to learn from it. I still, I'm still sort of like a baby, you know, I'm still very early in my EOS exploration, but even just the tools that we have been utilizing has, it really has been transformational for our team.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, I can imagine.
Challenges in the Junk Removal Industry
00:11:16
Speaker
And even, gosh, as you're talking about, you know, getting that alignment with leadership, you know, that's something that we see a lot of times, you know, here with Mustard Hub, you know, we talk about like people problems. And so often those people problems really start with leadership. And it's not necessarily that there's a lack of alignment or lack of communication from leadership down. Sometimes it's even within that that leadership team itself. Yeah.
00:11:38
Speaker
So it sounds like, you know, while there's always room to improve, it sounds like you're getting a lot of things right that really hang up a lot of other organizations. Yeah, thank you. So I guess, you know, as we're kind of thinking about some of the franchisees, um,
00:11:55
Speaker
what what kind of what kind of things do you see when it comes to, let's say, people problems ah within the franchisee organizations themselves? Yeah. So when you think about franchisee organization, they're hiring the the frontline service providers. So in in this industry, these are junk removal specialists. So it's very much manual labor. Their day starts at 7 a.m., you know, and it is It's this combination of like just manual labor, but, you know, really providing service that we call it service that knocks your socks off. And um for when you're providing this level of service, you're showing up at somebody's door and they're welcoming them you into into their home.
00:12:38
Speaker
That's intimidating, right? You may have these. you know typically men or you know people who are strong individuals and you're welcoming them into your most you know precious environment. and And they're taking away things ah you know oftentimes that once were precious to you and your family. So there is this combination of um sort of that strength and you know physical ability, but also that being attuned to that empathy that um a lot of times our customers are going through some period of transition in their life. So there may be a death or a divorce or you know, maybe a parent is moving into an assisted living home.
00:13:13
Speaker
This is, this is a ah time of, ah you know, a lot of, you know, emotions come up. And so, what we really want from our luggers is, you know, not just brute strength and someone who's going to show up at 7am, but really importantly, who's going to have empathy and understanding for sort of the challenges that come with our customers when, when they're in those transitional periods of their life.
00:13:37
Speaker
And because we're so focused on keeping items out the landfill, you know, ultimately if there's ah a reusable item, we want that to find a new home, you know, that may be somebody's dining room table. And, You know, that might be, you know, it might not be a a beautiful table to you. It might be kind of scratched up and, you know, maybe faded, but that's probably the table that that mom, you know, taught her kid how to read or help them with their homework. And there are these um like.
00:14:04
Speaker
there are these physical items that have these like really emotional stories. And so having luggers who can um honor the person and, you know honor these items and not just like chuck them into the back of the truck, right? Like, but really like treat them with care and assure them and provide even, um you know, documentation that those, items have found a new home. I think that's, um you know, you really want people with heart and with empathy. I'd say another challenge when it comes to our luggers is getting them to understand sort of the sales part of the business. um
00:14:37
Speaker
And that that will be that's an ongoing challenge that we're we're always looking for you know ways to either motivate or compensate our luggers sort of be sales representatives of the business. One of the things we say is don't spend with your own wallet, right? So what might seem like a very expensive job to a lugger, like a full truckload, you know maybe several you know hundred dollars, might sound seem like a lot of money to that person. It might just be like, oh my gosh, yes, whatever. Tell me whatever the number is and make this, you know, this problem disappear for me. So ah ah getting our luggers into a sales mindset sort of
Understanding Finances and Sales Mindset
00:15:17
Speaker
starts with them, like not spending with their own wallet.
00:15:20
Speaker
And the other thing is, is When um I'd say frontline employees look at a business, they look at the business owner. Oftentimes a franchisee is involved in the frontline. of They may not be like a service provider, but most franchisees, especially in our brand, they're they're there every morning when the trucks you know go out of the yard.
00:15:40
Speaker
And the loggers don't always understand unless you really help them understand um where where are the dollars that come into the business, how they're spent. So I think that a lot of times frontline employees will look at the owner and be like, you're you're ah a wealthy business person. you know You took in X amount of dollars this week. You're making a lot of money. So it actually helps by breaking that dollar down so that our loggers understand like that $1 that came into the business
00:16:10
Speaker
this percent went to labor, this percent went to the gas, this percent went to disposal charges, this percent went to credit card fees. And like, how do you dice that dollar up? So at the end of the day, they can understand the profit margin. And so when they're, they may be, um they may want to just like give a discount just to kind of get the, get the job and get it over with, helping them understand that um the value of that being a sales-minded individual. So that's a lot of things to consider, you know, in the process. So, you know, I think, um, we, a lot of franchise owners, you know, one of their big complaints is, you know, it's hard to hire people who are motivated. Like people aren't motivated. They don't want to work hard. And, you know, ultimately, um,
00:16:58
Speaker
I think of an owner a franchise frontline franchise leader or owner needs to look in the mirror and say, you know, what have I done to really explain to those frontline employees, the mission and how critical these actions are and, and how that fits into that overall, you know, vision of whatever business successes is, you know, profitability and um you know, getting, you know,
00:17:24
Speaker
getting efficiencies out of the business. So it's like easy to complain that people, you know, nobody wants to work anymore and nobody's motivated to work, but um it's harder to slow down and take the time and sort of stand shoulder to shoulder with your frontline employees and help explain it to them in terms that they will understand.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, you know it's it's so interesting because you know a lot of folks in a lot of a lot of sectors, they're like, oh, well, it comes down to training. But it's so many areas because one, those soft skills, especially when you have someone going into someone's home, those soft skills are so important. And even in terms of overall employee happiness and satisfaction, all these other things, um it seems that soft skills,
00:18:12
Speaker
also create their quality of life everywhere better, which leads to more presenteeism and more employee retention and all these other great things. And of course, customer satisfaction, customer retention, because I can't imagine if you know I'm helping, let's say, maybe a relative out of a hoarding situation, or I have to downsize because I'm moving into um maybe an assisted living facility, having someone coming in and just being like,
00:18:38
Speaker
Hey, where can I, you know, just taking this box of family heirlooms out, you know, can you move the other family heirloom out of the way? Right. I just kicked it. Yeah. You know, like you need to have someone that cares, that cares. And at the same time, you know, these folks are, they, they are beyond your front line. They have crossed over to it. They have zippered in to, you know, to the,
00:19:01
Speaker
the the client's world. So yeah, no, definitely being able to one, understand, you know, the sales perspective and understand how you can actually help them. So I've never heard like, don't shop with your own wallet, but that is that is so true because, you know, it's whatever, what is going to help them the most, what is going to solve that? And that's really hard to untrain for a lot of folks. yeah And also, gosh, the money breakdown is so important. um I used to own a business, the marketing agency, so very different. But there are so many times where it's like, well, why can't we discount this client? Well, why can't we do this? Why can't we buy that? you know They just signed a $100,000 contract with us. And it's like, well, you know that software we needed to get? like that's
00:19:46
Speaker
That's a quarter of it before I pay any of you for the what You know, it's like, there's all these things that go into and it's not like we're taking this money and using it to, you know, wallpaper our office. yeah It's like, no, this there.
00:19:59
Speaker
And it's, it's helpful that degree of communication and transparency and understanding is so helpful. Not only just for everyone will want to get on the same page, but to, you know, when you, when you own a small business that you're a person, you're not just the person.
00:20:15
Speaker
the pocketbook you are in it. Y'all are in it together yeah as opposed to being the, ah you know, in the back office and sending out marching orders. Like, no, like this is, this is what the reality is and this is the reality we live in. So let's, let's do this together. um Yeah. So it's really, yeah. A lot of ongoing training, upskilling. Yeah.
00:20:38
Speaker
That's really, that's really, that's really neat. How big are the average teams for a lot of the franchisees? Yeah. Hmm. It's really, um the teams are really tied to the trucks. So we have, you know, groups that are running 20 trucks or more a day. And we have, you know, smaller independent owners who might be running one truck a day. So the teams are tied to the trucks.
00:20:59
Speaker
And you have a driver and you have a lugger. Sometimes you'll have two luggers in a truck. um You know, sometimes you'll have a business development representative. That's ah a great way for them to build awareness with our commercial business in the area rather than just focusing on residential. So it really varies.
00:21:16
Speaker
Okay. Interesting. And I guess I'm curious just because so, you know, I'm from Australia, I'm a tech company. So if I don't ask you about tech, I feel like I'm totally dropping the ball on my job of hosting the show. right What kind of technology do the franchisees in in corporate or what kind of ah technology do y'all use to connect with them? I'm just curious about what's in that
Effective Communication Platforms
00:21:41
Speaker
ah tech tool. I mean, first of all, technology is woven into every single aspect of our business. You can't do this business. You know, it's, it's not as simple as a truck that you, you know, put things into and bring them to the dump. You, I mean, technology is embedded in every aspect of our business.
00:21:57
Speaker
um When I talk to, especially new franchise owners about, you As they start to build out their teams and they we really focus on communication platforms. Now, the the franchise owners have the ability to sort of select their own internal communication platform. So what I talk to them about is I say, you know, be intentional and think about how you want to communicate with your team because you're going be communicating with them all day, every day.
00:22:23
Speaker
all day, every day. And it's going to be, it'll be like, you know, covering schedules and, oh, we just picked up another job and where are you? Or, you know, don't forget to go to this gas station across town because it's, you know, five cents a gallon cheaper, right? You're to all day long, you're communicating with the team, but the franchise owners really get to select what platform that they use.
00:22:43
Speaker
And I say platform very intentionally because um just that typical group text, right? ah You know, running group text or just like a WhatsApp situation really isn't ideal for a franchise type of environment. So I think being really selective about the platform that you use is critical.
00:23:05
Speaker
um There is something to be said for, I think, once you start just texting one-on-one, there feels like there's like a, maybe like a I don't personally let love it as much. And I didn't realize that, you know, I used to be the boss that would text my team. And then when I came into an environment where we would not really text, we we were more on Microsoft Teams and we would use Slack. Like that just felt like a better professional boundary to me also. So that I realized like, oh, wow, this feels like a more of like a, you know, energetic hygiene for me. Like I get to sort of, you know, cut that off. Like I realized like that's actually really important to have intentional platforms in franchising so that franchisees can communicate with their teams back and forth.
00:23:43
Speaker
I find Slack works really well for us um and for franchisees and their teams. And there's like there's a couple of different reasons why. I think having a lot of visibility into the communications um top down and side to side and you know sort of bottom up is really important.
00:23:59
Speaker
for so many reasons. um you know Sometimes if when things go wrong or if a you know a team member isn't succeeding or not doing the right thing and then they say, well, you never told me that I was supposed to do that. And you can easily not only say this is exactly when I told you, but everybody else are it too. So there's some built-in accountability by being very selective ah with um with those types of platforms.
00:24:24
Speaker
um There is a, you know, that real time communication being very critical. And then, you know, there are aspects of the job that, you know, they're not always on a junk removal job. They're not always driving the truck to, you know, a donation center. Sometimes they've got downtime and they're doing, you know, sort of organic, what we would you know refer to as guerrilla marketing. So hanging out door flyers and putting out yard signs. And that has to become a very important part of that downtime the only way to really quantify that is to have some sort of a feedback loop and like proof that, you know, those lawn signs that you've spent a lot of money for actually went out on the streets that they needed to go. And so having that ability to, um, capture that, you know, inspect, would you expect sort of thing? I think that's one of my earliest pieces of guidance to franchise owners is be very intentional in the platforms that you use, you know, naturally the next level of, of, uh,
00:25:23
Speaker
Technology for engagement is really around rewards and recognition. So I think, you know, showing, you know, recognition, you know, you can do that through ah yeah platforms like Slack. But I also think a platform like mustard hub, where you're also able to tie those actions with rewards can be very powerful. And I think, especially for, you know, any organization, tying it to the core values, when you see something, uh, some of these actions, that's really representative of your core values. Like that's what's really worth celebrating in that, in that moment in real time. So whatever platform you choose, um, you know,
00:26:02
Speaker
taking that time regularly, you know constantly to to celebrate those wins is is just crucial. You said, ah of course, thank you for talking about Mustard Hub, but you know you said a lot of other things though that i think are so valuable. um A big one I think is, especially that communication piece, having that boundary between personal and professional, because a lot of times when you're thinking about for a lot of small businesses, um a lot of fran a lot of franchise locations,
00:26:30
Speaker
These are hourly employees. These are not salaried folks. You can't expect them on their personal devices to be getting texts. we talked I talked with someone ah yesterday that they use a business Facebook group. And it's like, wait, so their personal social media to talk about work, like,
00:26:50
Speaker
Gosh, you know that's that's a lot to request of someone, again, an hourly employee, um that they're not you know i don't they're not getting compensated for that. That just seems like like an extra tax and extra burden um and being able to not kind of escape the work-life balance. um you know As a former entrepreneur, I get it when you, you're like, well, I live i live this, I'm breathing it, I eat it, whatever. Right.
00:27:15
Speaker
They don't. It's fun for you to be working at midnight on a Saturday. This is your passion, but especially because this is such a high turnover environment. When you have frontline employees across any franchise industry. that high turnover environment, it's like, okay, oh, add this one to the text chain and remove this one. Like there's just so much, I think there's risk that's sort of built into that.
00:27:43
Speaker
But I also really believe that you know when you're bringing a new team member on, that onboarding experience, if it feels elevated and really professionalized, it really sets you apart. And if you're really thinking about it, like the junk removal industry, that's, you know there anybody with a pickup truck,
00:28:02
Speaker
or trailer could get get into this business. And I think it is around that professional, you know, the professional systems, technology, um you know, branding. I think those are the things that really set us apart. So not only does it make you become more of an employer of choice for that, love that talent pool, which, you know, we have folks in that we have folks who are junk removal professionals and they go from brand to brand, you know, there's, you know, mergers and acquisitions happening all the time. And so,
00:28:32
Speaker
you know, you want to get the best of that talent pool, just like in any industry. Like I want to have like the best, you know, service minded, empathetic junk removal professional who, you know, wants career growth to get and attract that
Professional Onboarding in Franchises
00:28:46
Speaker
talent. You have to have that professional level onboarding in those services and those platforms that are going to really show them that you've invested in in ah at a higher level.
00:28:57
Speaker
Yeah, no, and even that professionalism, as you were saying about some of the things that happened in the downtime, guerrilla marketing, placing the signs. That's another thing, too. if you're If you're like, well, this isn't a very professional organization, like i this guy just like texts us some stuff like at midnight, like what, I'm in bed already because I have to be here at like 6 a.m., what is going on? Yeah.
00:29:16
Speaker
that lack of professionalism. It's like, well, why would I go and do this? You know what? Let's just go like, but let's go get a sandwich or something. Let's go kick it. Like, let me, you know, Hey, we're in my neighborhood. Do you want to like go in and like play some video games? Oh yeah.
00:29:29
Speaker
You know, why wouldn't you do that? If it's not a professional organization, if everything just feels casual and loosey goosey, it's so much of that perception that you're putting out there. And even in terms of ah modeling behavior and being able to see what other folks are doing. If you don't have that transparency into what other folks are doing, like if you're like, oh, no, Jim and Bob just go and duck into Jim's house and they play video games for an hour if they're in his neighborhood. um ah You know what I mean? Like, I'd be like, oh, well, they do that. No, if it's in this thing, you'd be able see like, oh, no, people actually do this. I am underperforming if I do this. Like if, you know, if you see Jim and Bob do this, you may call them to the mat as a colleague and be like, bro, that's not good. You know, like you're holding everyone to a higher standard and anything you can do in a small business ah to improve
00:30:21
Speaker
infuse that degree of professionalism to be like, no, this is an actual workplace. This is an actual job. Um, it helps. And I feel, you know, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to talk shit about texting, but geez Louise, you know, that's, that's kind of having these platforms, having systems, having tools, the more professionalism and systems and organization you can have, it's going to do so much better in terms of employee retention, reducing burnout, employee satisfaction. um A presenteeism, productivity, like just the works and these tools and systems, they don't have to be expensive. They're things like but in my mustard hub plug.
00:30:59
Speaker
You can get you can start using it for free. You know it for setting rules. You can create a set of s SOPs and guidelines for your team. on a spreadsheet that you hand them laminated pieces of paper that to keep in the truck. Like it doesn't need to be wild. You just gotta, to you just gotta do the stuff.
00:31:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's so true. Yeah. So as we wrap up, you've given a lot of great stuff. um I'm curious about, you know, one last final idea, a tip, a call to action, you know, what would you want to leave as that last little bit for um people who are listening in, especially I'm going to redo that part.
00:31:46
Speaker
Excuse me. There they are. Devil cat. I'm happy they're at least playing together and not murdering each other. i don't hear any crying or screaming. Yeah. So let's not do that right now. Okay.
00:32:01
Speaker
Excuse me.
00:32:04
Speaker
Guys. Guys. Okay. That worked. All right. night I'll dial it back then. Um, So as we wrap things up, I am curious about if there's one final call to action, a big tip, an idea, what you'd want to leave our listeners with, whether they are any kind of small business owner, whether they're a franchisee or someone in franchising, someone in operations.
00:32:29
Speaker
what's what's the What's the thing you want people to take away from
Leading a Geographically Dispersed Team
00:32:32
Speaker
this? Yeah. So I talked a lot about frontline employees, but I haven't given a lot of love to the folks that I work to with every day. And for me, you know, technology, when you're leading geographically dispersed team is everything.
00:32:49
Speaker
And what I've realized is it is a lot harder for me. I mean, I love people. My number one personal core value is love. It sounds cheesy, but I believe everything in leadership can be an expression of love. It is really hard for you to express that love when you're not in the same room as somebody. And you may be across the country from somebody that's on your team.
00:33:10
Speaker
And so i you know, my challenge to myself is to show up constantly and really be ah collaborative and and connect with our team, you know, at minimum on a weekly basis. And what I really try to leave them with is that, you know, my role as a leader is to remove obstacles and provide resources, whether that be might be like a you know, financial resources, investment in the business or information resources, you know, so what I always try to leave my team with is, all right, guys, you know, before we go out and, you know, you know, do our jobs this week.
00:33:45
Speaker
Is there any information that you need, resources that you need or obstacles in your way that I can help with so that you can be successful in your role this week? Like that's my scripted line because and i really try to make sure that my teams understand, like my job is to remove obstacles and and solve the big problems for them so that they can solve the other meaningful problems for our franchise owners.
00:34:08
Speaker
Love that. That is absolutely fantastic and a really great note to close out on. So if people want to keep up with you, where do they find you? they stalk you on LinkedIn? Definitely. I'm a LinkedIn lurker. I admit I don't post nearly as much as I should, but I'm Keaton Kirstead on LinkedIn. And if you want to learn about the Junk Luggers, we're at junkluggers.com.
00:34:29
Speaker
Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here. This was a really great conversation. Thank you. It was a pleasure. It was really nice to chat with you, Julie. You had so many great insights. So love this. And everyone else, thank you so much for watching and or listening to Mustard Hub Voices from the front lines. Subscribe, like, share, all of that kind of good stuff so you get to see future episodes so you don't miss any really great, insightful conversations like this one.
00:34:54
Speaker
ah And also visit mustardhub.com. Find out how you can get started for free while you are there. And thank you for showing up. Till next time.