Avoiding the Great Resignation: Questions to Ask Your Team Members

Episode 105: The Great Resignation, or Big Quit is real and the predictions for 2022  call for more of the same. Lori and Vonda share questions that can help employees feel valued and not want to be a part of this trend.  With the challenge of hiring the right person, maintaining a quality employee is even more important than ever!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

But on the other side, a lot of us, like myself, I do require feedback. And if it's too complimentary, I call the yes on this one like.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Wonda.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Lori, we're winding the year down, and this is our very last podcast of the of the year. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

No, no, I can't. I really can't. So we have done this for we are coming up on our two-year anniversary, right? We are. I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Wow. Who'd have ever thought? Exactly, right? So this is 52 this year. Dang. Yeah, it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And you know, when I start thinking, you know what, this has been a fun little hobby for us. Let's, you know, let it run its course. Every time I start thinking that I interact with one or two people that were like, oh, I listened to your podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Right. Really? That's great. So I think it's funny. Every time I start thinking, you know what? We've run our course, we've done what we need. Anyway, I just I think it's kind of interesting how the most random people come across.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

And the other thing I realize is that when you get to that point, and then something that you're reading, you're like, oh my God, that would be a great podcast. So you're energized in two different ways. One that people are saying, Oh, I listened to you. And the other is, oh my gosh, this would be a great right, you know, subject that we really should share. Which is our topic today, right? Today, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

That's what we were gonna talk about, but it became the topic because that's the way my brain has worked the last two years, right? Anything I'm reading or researching, anything, I always not only am I thinking of our flower click members, but I'm thinking of ooh, is this shareable? Is this something that should be shareable? And when I was reading this stuff, the more the black hole of research went down. I was like, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. Because one of the main topics of conversation I have with Flower Click members and just shop owners that reach out to us for help is the attrition problem, the employee problem.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Right. And we were talking about that being the end of the year, a couple things that have been happening this year in employment. One, it was well, I guess there's more than a couple, but it's been hard to hire anybody.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

And then they think they get them hired, and then they do the ghosting. It's like, oh my gosh, I okay, come on in, come in tomorrow. We got everything settled, and then they just don't show up and they don't even let you know. They don't think they're not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

It's interesting talking with shops that say now when they are hiring, if they need like one person, they will hire two, knowing one of them probably won't work out. Sometimes, yeah, yeah, because because of people either not showing up or they show up, and a day or two into it, they're like, eh, or they get a call from another something that might be more money, you know, you just never know. So, what I was reading about, which went down again, down my rabbit hole of attrition, how do you solve it? I came across an article. The concept was three ways to show appreciation to your staff. And we all know that. And flattop owners, probably more than any other boss in the world, are fabulous at showing their appreciation. But one of the things that talked in depth about is something that he called the stay interview. Another way of putting it is you have a hiring interview, you have an exit interview, usually. Sometimes, you know, if it's a healthy, I'm leaving, you usually have an exit interview. But you never have that in-between interview, you never have a stay interview, and sometimes having those stay interviews might be what keeps you from having to have the exit interview.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah, because I think a stay interview would make the people feel like they're being heard, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Right. They're heard, even if they don't have a lot to bring to the interview. The fact that you want to have it with them to be shows you care. Okay. So that's what I wanted to talk about. There are some really good questions that I sent you. And again, these came from an article published by a group called Trabucket Group. It's not like a specific person, so it's uh so anyway, I'm giving credit where credit is due. That's what it is. So the whole point of this is to give them an opportunity to speak about their experience under your watch.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

And as a leader, you should be a good listener and be able to listen to what they're saying, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Another thing that leaders slash manager, owner, whoever you are, that's going to be conducting this interview, you have to be open and flexible. You have to give off the feeling that it's a safe space for them to share their true feelings. You can't come in with like a already a defensive stance, which we've all done, especially if you know it's an employee that it might be on the fence, right? Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

So you can't come in with a I gotta do this, just let me just sit here and listen to what they have to say. Right. It's that that attitude. You can't do that. You really have to be, like you said, and you have to be in the right mindset.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

You have the right mindset, right? And and you gotta watch those non-verbal cues, those, you know, crossing your arms, those anything that you're gonna give off negative, I'm not really listening to you. Like that's not gonna work. But I will tell you, the people that have a tendency to do all those negative things aren't gonna do these anyway. So it doesn't matter. So here, um, basically it's listening to the employees' experiences. You're asking them what worked for them and what could be better, and then coming up with a plan of action if they have some things that they think could be better or things they want to work on, coming up with a little plan of action for you and that employee, whether it's you that are going to mentor them through this process or it's another staff member or whatever. The goal is when they leave, not only do they feel heard, they also feel like they have a little bit of a plan, you know, moving forward. So here's some questions that you could ask them. Number one, what about your job makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

That's your question. I know.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Oh my gosh, Lori. It's okay for me. The other thing that's funny is I got an email from another marketing company that I follow this morning at the same time I read this article, and that was one of their questions. It just was uh reframed a little bit, but it was talked about for your 2022 vision. You know, what are those goals? Make what is it that makes you pop out of bed and go, oh my gosh, I cannot wait. Write that down. So that's a great question across the board, whether it's a part-time employee, full-time employee. It there are no wrong answers.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

No, no, and we learn from that.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Oh my gosh, you know, yes, yes, exactly. So if your part-time employees, like when I wake up, the first thing I do is check social media. I love it, I can't wait. We'll make a minute, going, Oh, let's have her in charge of our social media as you love. As simple as that, right? Um, okay, some other questions here, Vonda. What have you felt good about this year that you've accomplished? I think it's important for people. You know, I used to say all the time to my kids, I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. But a therapist once told me to flip that and say, you should feel so proud of yourself. Wow. Should teach them. They don't need me to be proud for them. I am, but you need to feel it. You need to be proud of your accomplishments, and so that's what I feel like that question sort of is.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

And I think it's important to be able to identify that because sometimes you think, oh, I feel pretty good. I did a I had a great year at work. Well, what was it that made it a great year? You know, what did you accomplish something this year that made it like extra special for you?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Right, right. This is a good one because you and I have had this conversation among our staff. Yes. How do you like to be recognized? How does it compare to what you're getting now? So you know it is not my favorite thing when you recognize me in the big group. That's seems weird because I love being in front of a big group. I just don't want to be recognized as, oh, look what she did. I like that, I like that crap in private. It's just not, it makes me uncomfortable. And it's my uncomfortable. Yeah, it makes me uncomfortable. And so the first thing I do is try to throw out a compliment to somebody else in the room to get it off of me. And that makes everybody feel even more awkward because then that person gets it and they're like, oh, wait, I thought this. So think it's it's weird. I know I need some extra.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

It's like throw the compliment here, catch it. Okay, catch it. You know, I don't want it either.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

I don't want it.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Hot potato, hot potato.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

And that's kind of how our whole team is. So we end up going, oh, all of us are great.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Because it's but that's a really good question because some people do, they're like, want to be put up on and let everybody know how well they're doing this year.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yes, and there's nothing wrong with how people receive the how they are most comfortable, it's just personality, right? Right, you know, so if you are somebody that loves to be, you know, kind of stand out in the crowd because you won the bonuses or or I'm not saying bonus, whatever it is, that's fine during your one-on-one. So I love when you compliment me in front of people because it makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing. Whereas I would love when you text me, good job, thumbs up. You know, it's like that's all I need. Yeah, it's different for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

And the other part of that I love that you have down here what feedback would be more helpful, you know, because maybe you're a leader who's really not giving any feedback and they need more feedback, and and this gives them the opportunity to tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, a lot of times, and we've talked about this on the podcast. The words feedback, advice, critique, all of those words can sometimes usually, if we know we're getting it, you're like, oh no, it's gonna be bad. Our defense mechanisms kick in, right? That's human nature, right? But on the other side, a lot of us, like myself, I do require feedback. And if it's too complimentary, I call BS, honestly. Like, you know, you know my experience with that. I was like, I don't believe you. You're not even looking at what I did because I know there are errors. I need to know that you know there are errors. So transparency.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Transparency, that's the word, too. My gosh, so many great words this year.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

So many great words, but but asking them how do you like that? Again, are you fine with me coming and giving you feedback when you're in the middle of designing and four other people around? Or are you that type that really prefers that one-on-one? I think you got to be real careful there because when you're in a hurry as a manager and you're running around and you don't mean to upset that person, but you're like, hey, that's really not what they ordered. They said we needed to be doing it this way, depending on the personality, that person's either gonna shrink and then like have bad thoughts of you, or they're gonna have bad thoughts of themselves, or they're gonna just go, oh, okay, that's fine. You got to figure out which way, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

That's really good. I like this one.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

A lot of things keep you an eye up at night, but what frustrations keep you up at night or show up in your mind while you're driving to work? What could reduce or eliminate those? Now, here's the thing about this: it doesn't have to be related to your job. You have to let them know, you know, are you having child care issues? Is that what's keeping you up at night? Are you having uh, you know, you can't get your bills paid? Like, what is it? If you are willing to share that, I would love to figure out how we can help solve that problem. And that really tells them you care huge, huge, huge in attrition, yeah, right? And keeping employees that know, hey, you know what? They I finally was brave enough to share with them that I'm having a hard time getting my kid to school because I have to be, you know, whatever. And you're like, we we can fix that, it's figure outable, right? Let's figure it out together. What is keeping you up at night? Because if there's something keeping you up at night and I can help you with, that's gonna make you more productive at work.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

That's the make you more happy to come to work, it's gonna make you more happy and more valuable employee. Yep, exactly. I love this one because it really does question whether you have the right person in the right seat, and that's kind of a big thing. If I could wave a magic wand and change your role, what would it be? Yeah, and they might just say, Oh, I love what I do, I don't want it really. Is there anything that can change? If you just could do anything else in our store, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

No, because I was thinking about as I was reading these this morning, and I sat with that one a while and I thought, I don't know. I don't know. So because I couldn't really come up with an answer for my role, I also want to make sure if people do use these questions, which if you want a copy of these questions, email me, laureateflowerclick.com or Vonda, email us. We can get you a document. You need to give these early, you need to give them the questions before you meet. There you go. Because every one of these, they need to be a little thoughtful. You don't want to put people on the spot.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

These really need a lot of thought, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

You know, a couple days and just give them to them in advance and say, you know, these are the things we're going to be covering because I just value you as an employee. And you need to go over these. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

So the the last one, and it doesn't have to be your last one, but the last one we have would be to end the conversation by saying, What have I not asked about that could make a difference to you and your job going forward? And that again, you have to be in a vulnerable, open position when you have this conversation, or none of these are gonna work. You're just gonna get the fake back and forth. Oh, I'm fine, you're good, and all of a sudden that person will be gone.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

In some, even though you give these questions early, depending on the relationship you have with that employee, some of them might be nothing. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, be prepared for that because they they might be that way. And sometimes to open up that conversation, a two-way conversation, is when I start about what makes you jump out of the bed in the morning. And if they are like, just coming here, yeah, and then you could just put some of your personal spin on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

You can even answer that by saying, you know what makes me jump up out of bed in the morning? Coffee. Coffee does that to me. I wake up and I was like, if I get up, I'll have a cup of coffee. Like, you know, you might have to do some icebreakers.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

You do, yeah. And don't be afraid to do that. I mean, they might come in thinking, I am not going to say a thing in this baby. I know these answers, but um, I know short answers that I can just get in and out of here as quick as I can.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah, no, I agree. And this is hard, it's why it's not done very much. This is this is hard because again, it's your responsibility as the business owner. If this is not your cup of tea, you better make sure your manager can execute these meetings very well. Like one of you has to be able to go and do this, yeah, to lead your team well, to let them know you're all on the same side.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well, Lori, we've always talked about after a holiday, we need to do okay, what did we do right? Yeah, and what did could we do better? And so having a staff meeting after the holiday and doing that will be great, and then lead into, you know, the other thing is I'm gonna set an hour aside for each one of us to get together and I'm gonna give you some questions for us to talk about. So, but I think that would be a good segue into it. Here we have this, we're all talking about the team and what we could do, but now individually, I think it's important that we that I hear from each of you and I have some questions for you.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I think that's a really good point. Um, I think having the staff meeting first. First, a short one, not long one, but a short one, of course, with snacks. It's always important to have snacks at a meeting, I believe. Yes, of course. Um, and that is where you're kind of sharing the vision of what you're forecasting in the new year, which I know right now a lot of us are like, I don't know what we are, but you know that we're gonna be doing it together. You can come up with some things, you don't have to get super detailed with them, but you do need to make sure they share in that vision. The other thing in this article that I told you that I loved is when he was talking about the importance of when you're sharing with the team and sharing the vision, you need to invite everyone's crayon to the picture. And I love that, I think, because I was a school teacher and I probably have crayons in my desk drawer right now. But it's so true. You're paying you've you've drawn this picture of what 2022 is gonna look like, right? But you want every single employee to have their crayon, their different colored crayon ready to color it in on the spots that they want to work on. And I think that's such a good visual picture. If I were a shop owner and I were having my half-hour staff meeting to begin with, I think I would do that. I would get like a big piece of poster board with some sort of whatever and hand everybody a crayon just to give them that feeling of I want every one of you writing something on here. Let's do this together. Um, and so in that, after during that meeting is when you would say, in the next week, I'm gonna have 30-minute conversations with you guys because I want to know what's going on. I want to know how you're feeling. I want to know, you know, that type of thing to set it up so they don't think, oh no, is this like my annual review? Am I in trouble?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Am I and you might even say that this isn't an annual review. This is just time for us to establish what it is that we could do better for you.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

So anyway, I liked that. I liked the whole crayon. I do too, yeah. Or you could say, what flower do you want in the collage? There you go. You know, something like that. But I do like the crayon thing, the little activity they can do.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Activity, yes. And then the last one, and it seems so simple, and it it is simple for a certain personalities. I can name a lot of flowershop owners that I know very well that do this so well, so well, and it is actively letting their staff know how much they're appreciated, not just at a during a new year or Thanksgiving, you know, the whole where we usually, yes, what are you thankful for? I'm thankful for my staff. That's great. But what about in the middle of July when you're knee deep in weddings and it's 150 degrees? And you know, like those moments when the next day you go up to each one of them, or maybe you just wrote a little post-it note, you know, that's on their time card or something. Couldn't have done yesterday without you. Just little nuggets, little deposits, right? Those little deposits that fill up our cup, fill up our cup, fill up our cup.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yeah, you've said many a times it's not all about the money. You know, sometimes it's just those kind words, it's little notes that make all the difference. They just want to be appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Just appreciated and heard.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Right. And I think um when when I talk to shop owners now that are losing people, having trouble with retention, and they're shocked. That uh somebody left and they went to another job. I think if I get myself in the mindset of that employee, if they're not feeling part of the team cared for, respected, you know, all of the stuff, they kind of flip the mindset to, well, I can make more money going over here and be treated the exact same way. So I might as well go. Yeah. And that's the disconnect there. It's not just that they went over there because they were making more money, they would have stayed had you been building into them.

unknown 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

So that's that's the cold hard truth.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

And that's why it's so important to think about the in-between interview. I love it. I love it's called that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, the in-between, or he called it, I think, the stay interview. But I think I don't know, I would be super excited if I was working and my just randomly, you know, my boss said, Hey, I'm gonna have an in-between interview with you. And here's what I want to ask you, not with you, because I talk to you every day and I tell you everything I feel at all moments, so I don't think it would there'd be no surprise. But if I was working in a flower shop, it would make me feel that wow, they they want me, I get to bring something to the table.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I think that's really great. And your personalities definitely need that and would feel very valued. But I do think we again, I want to revisit that. That some people will be like, like one of the girls that worked for me. I mean, whenever I brought it in the office, she started crying. I just wanted to ask how things were going. Yeah, but it's it's the nervous part of going in the office with the boss. Yes, even if you're setting the stage saying we're just gonna chat, there's nothing, nothing that's not a review. We're just gonna chat. Here's some questions I'd like to ask you. Yeah, some of them will be very reserved.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

You know, one of the things you could say for those people, because I do know there's a lot, there's probably more people like that than like me. But when you're when you're telling your staff you're gonna be doing this, and and this is the honest to God truth, you're actually doing it for yourself, like you're needing the feedback, and you're trying to gauge how you're doing as a business owner. That's right, the relationship part, you know, and in the management part. So they're doing you a favor by doing this, it's not reversed. That's right. You're the one on trial, not them in them in those moments.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

So, how can you say that to an employee when you go up and you're talking about you're gonna have this time together?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah, well, that's what I would say. I would I would have my staff meeting and I would say, here's what I would love to do with your permission. Again, I want them to have their crayon in in my story, in my picture. I I want to make sure I'm doing well as a boss. That doesn't mean just profit-wise on paper financially, it means leadership, management, communication, all of these things that I want to make sure I'm doing okay. So here's what I'm gonna ask of you. I would like to set aside 30 minutes for each one of you and have a one-on-one meeting. I will send you the questions that I'd like us to discuss. Don't say that I'm going to ask you, because again, that puts them back in the frame. Oh no, that I'd love for us to discuss. I'll send you those ahead of time so you can be, you know, think things through. And then we have the meeting. There are no wrong answers. This is just to help me know how where I need to grow or what I need to do better. So I think you just put it on, and I think it's true.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

I love that. No, that that's what I wanted you to really lay out here for our listeners because they think that's important because the way this is executed is everything.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yes, it's all in the delivery, it is all in the delivery. I say that 20 times a week when I'm dealing in sales training, and I'm talking to an employee that is the most monotone person I've ever spoken with. And she answers the phone. I was like, you gotta, you gotta have some sparks when you answer the phone. It's all in the delivery. But it truly is. It is true, it truly is, you know, and and your employees, I would imagine they're more intuitive than you think. They're gonna know that you're for them, and they're also gonna know if you're not. And if and if you're not and you're getting a lot of pushback on this, maybe you need to call me and we have a conversation.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

But uh I would say do the your very first interview, do with the one that you're most comfortable with. Yes, because then when they go back, because you know they're gonna go back and talk. How was it? Oh my god, I'm not looking forward to this. And if they're like, oh my gosh, it was just a great conversation. So pick your first one is important. Pick the one who's gonna go back to the team and be excited and comfortable about how the execution was.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah, I also think just maybe it's because we're in this industry or we're women, but I think it would be fun when the whole thing is over that you have a little gift bag for them. Just just nothing fancy, but just some little things in there.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Because we all like a little gift, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, it could just be, you know, it could be some funny stuff, it could be some candy, it can be whatever, but just something again.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Appreciation. Yeah, because it's a little thing. So so Lori, speaking of appreciation, I hope you know how much I appreciate you. I will tell you right here, on I know it's on public, but we're doing it anyway, and it's so you can't pass that on to some comfortables. I trapped you, I trapped you. Oh no, in a hot flash, because it this has been a great year, right? On our podcast. It's been great, and just the two of us together on here have been wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

It has, and it's become, you know, I think you and I forget it. We kind of look forward to our Friday morning cup of coffee podcast. Who knows what we're gonna talk about, right? Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows, right? Exactly, but it's okay, it's okay. And um, again, it's I would never have done this without your uh idea. My long-term goal. Your long-term goal, and I'm like, sure, I'll come along for the ride. I don't know. What do I know? It's been great. This year has gone by faster than 2020 for me. It's just been way faster. I think back, you know, and I thought 2020 went by fast because I feel like I was so sick for so long with COVID. But 2021, wow, what the heck? What the heck is it? It's uh and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's just a thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

So I think we should just end this one saying happy new year to everyone.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Happy New Year. And we appreciate every single person that listens to our little our little pod.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Our little pod and share it. Please share it with others and make 2022 that much better.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

So exactly. All right. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.