How Robert Cornish Grew Richter Company by Focusing on Sales and Revenue

[00:00:00] Hector: Hello and welcome to another episode of the how to scale a business podcast. My name is Hector Santhia stubborn and I am your host. Your guide for today and our special guest today is Portia Parker Griffin. She is the founder and CEO of fly high coaching and someone who has been working with businesses to untangle a lot of the generational Webs that have been woven over time. So anyways, Portia, thanks for hanging out with us today.

[00:00:22] Porschia: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Hector. I am excited.

[00:00:25] Hector: So give us the story. Cause I was just saying before we got started that, you wear a lot of different hats and you've done a lot of different things, but most recently you've been helping, in the coaching and consulting space. So, talk to us about how you got there and a little bit about what you're doing with your clients now.

[00:00:39] Porschia: So, what's interesting Hector is we just celebrated our 10th year anniversary. So Fly High Coaching turned 10 and I don't know where the time has gone. but prior to starting Fly High Coaching, I worked in the consulting industry, out in LA, out your way. And, I was helping to consult with financial and tax issues, for businesses.

[00:01:04] Porschia: And, I had a lot of people's corporate story, stressed out, overworked, had a health scare. And, I thought, you know what? I would want to work with clients, but in a way that's more meaningful to me. so I heard about this thing called coaching 10 years ago, I was wondering if it was a real thing, right?

[00:01:22] Porschia: Because there weren't as many coaches out there as there are today. And, Got certified, did my research and then started coaching individuals while I was still working in consulting for that firm. And then eventually when I resigned and went into my business full time, some of the companies that I had helped with, when it came to the financial consulting said, well, hey, do you work with companies, and do workshops and coaching for companies?

[00:01:50] Porschia: And I said, sure I do today, right? I do workshop and consulting for companies and coaching and all that stuff. And Hector, one of the first challenges that, one of our business clients had was what I like to call a multi generational challenge. And, this client, he was. a Gen Xer and still is a Gen Xer.

[00:02:14] Porschia: And, he had been having issues with one of his millennial employees going on glass door and just kind of talking about the company and, giving the company, those average, but not so great ratings and he was. So baffled by this and he couldn't understand why this employee wouldn't just come talk to him.

[00:02:35] Porschia: He saw this employee almost every day. And I realized that there were some differences in communication between what some millennials felt comfortable talking about and how Gen Xers might address the situation. so in that first business, Coaching and consulting engagement, I really thought about, Hey, this is a cool place to specialize and, there's a lot of generational issues.

[00:03:03] Porschia: I like to call them that are undercurrents, when it comes to what's going on within businesses. So, if you take that first client and fast forward into the coaching and consulting that we do today, we do a lot of that, multi generational work. CoachingBadminton. com

[00:03:18] Hector: Yeah, that's exciting. One of my first forays into the content creation space was, created brand called Millennial Skills. And most of the things that I create are just because I realized I don't know anything. And so it's my way to learn what I, can.

[00:03:33] Hector: And what was interesting in that journey was just realizing how different and distinct Okay. Our generation was from the previous one, and that was even before there was Gen Z, right? We were the young people at the time,

[00:03:49] Hector: There was boomers and Gen Xers now you throw Gen Z into the mix, and it adds, an even greater complexity. I think you're speaking to, this is something that businesses dealt with in the past, but not at this extent, not where you've got perhaps four different generations of people working in the same workplace, right? You know, I would imagine that. Maybe you had one or two or, then with millennials, so I'd like to go with this is what other symptoms, what other problems, challenges do you see businesses having that are a result of these intergenerational conflicts or whatever may be? to nuance the question a little bit more, is there any that might be, not so obvious or things that people don't typically think of. They think I don't have problems with, intergenerational. I'm, great, but actually there's this thing that's happening that people aren't realizing is caused by this lack of communication between these two groups or three groups for,

[00:04:48] Porschia: Right. Absolutely, Hector, and I will try to keep it broad for the audience because I know that it sounds like with your generational work that you've done, we could really nerd out on this. So I'll try to keep it interesting for everyone. , but yes, there are a lot of symptoms. I think I'll start with the most obvious and then work to, the main part of your question.

[00:05:09] Porschia: So, what that first client was seeing and what I think a lot of, Executives, managers, and other professionals see at first is a communicational difference, right? they might prefer to communicate one way and in one fashion, and then they're finding that a lot of people in another generation prefer to communicate in a different way.

[00:05:31] Porschia: Now, I'm saying generation. We know that everyone is a unique, special snowflake, but there are patterns within generations, right? So the communication piece, I think, is the first one. That's the most obvious. second, I would say is, employee turnover, right? And that leads a little bit into employee engagement.

[00:05:52] Porschia: one of the. Thank you. Biggest problems that companies have when they start working with us, or most common, I should say that I see is they say, Hey, everyone's quitting. And I just don't know why. And a lot of times when I dig into things a bit deeper, usually, there is a key executive or CEO who is a boomer.

[00:06:12] Porschia: Origin XR, and they have a certain way of doing things that they've done for the last 20 plus years, and that way is not working anymore and people are quitting. so that is another thing that comes up. And then as we dig a bit deeper.

[00:06:27] Hector: is there, do you have any examples that can

[00:06:29] Porschia: Oh,

[00:06:30] Hector: articulate, cause I feel like that one is so prevalent and the problem is that, This is how we've always done it. And so it doesn't even seem like a problem even. Right. But I would imagine that when you shine the light on something and you go, Oh, it was actually, Jim wants to build it this way.

[00:06:49] Hector: And that way doesn't really make sense given all of the new technology and all the other stuff that we have. So I would just imagine that those are really Big, holdups for businesses that are kind of like blind spots, if you will.

[00:07:02] Porschia: absolutely, Hector. So to your point, technology can be one. And, lack of a better word, I'll say sometimes millennials and Gen Z, or sometimes, we can be technology snobs. I have had some conversations and interviews and sometimes, millennials and Gen Zers have said, this company is just not using the most up to date technology.

[00:07:22] Porschia: I don't really want to work here. And so it's like literally all of the other good that's being done. The company's just not seen as innovative as moving forward or, just as interesting. Right. As another company that they could be working at. So technology is definitely one. I think another one is very abstract, but it's culture.

[00:07:44] Porschia: and I think what's great is there's been a lot of talk about this over the last decade or so. So companies are trying to move away from this. And a lot of people are at least cognizant of it, but it's still out there. just the Hey. we've always done it this way. I roll out information in this fashion and, everyone should just be happy to be here and get a paycheck.

[00:08:05] Porschia: Right. Isn't that enough?

[00:08:08] Hector: Yeah I worked with an organization that when you talk about culture, there was this, culture of, a good old boys club, Where it was a startup and then that startup. was a bunch of guys and it was all, youngish guys who, built it in a, game room, basically,

[00:08:24] Hector: and that company ended up taking off. And challenge was, that once it moved past that startup phase, that culture of it being, almost like a fraternity house lingered on and, The new employees that were coming in not only were they not included in that culture, but it just wasn't a culture that they wanted to work in. And so you had these people who just were great people and it seemed like things were, great. But they kept leaving. And the challenge is that oftentimes, well, I can't say oftentimes in this particular instance, and then I would imagine oftentimes that the source of it is an executive or a leader.

[00:08:59] Hector: And so it's hard to point the finger or put the responsibility on someone like that, because of all of the things that come along with it. So yeah, I've seen that play out in my own experience.

[00:09:09] Porschia: You are absolutely right, Hector. And that's very, very common. And, When I think about the companies, sometimes people wonder like, Hey, well, what's your sweet spot? Who do you work with? And usually the minimum kind of level. Now we work with much smaller companies. Sometimes we work with solo, business owners.

[00:09:27] Porschia: I like to think that with coaching and consulting, if someone gets it, they get it right. They see the value and professional development, leadership development, these sorts of things. But for most, of our business clients, At a minimum, they have at least 25 employees. And that is what I've noticed over the years is one, a lot of other employment law, kind of things kick in at that point.

[00:09:48] Porschia: But to your point, they've grown past that phase where it's just someone, his frat brother, his cousin, and, you know, his uncle, right. And now they're hiring more employees and that culture or familial bond that they had. No longer is enough to keep employees engaged, attract new employees and really grow the business.

[00:10:12] Porschia: And so that's where we come in a lot of times to help those companies, cut the cost of turnover and improve the performance of their employees.

[00:10:21] Hector: Yeah, this is great stuff and absolutely something we haven't touched on the show and so vital to I'd imagine so many businesses right now when we get back from break Porsche, I want to talk about. So once executive or a leader wakes up to the fact that, Oh, I do have these challenges.

[00:10:35] Hector: Yeah, I've got, Sally, who's, in her sixties and, she's working right next to Ray, who's in his twenties, but, once they realized that, oh, my goodness, I do have these dynamics. I'd love for you to share some steps or some things that they might be able to take, to work through those things or create an environment where everything is flowing.

[00:10:52] Hector: And so we're gonna get into that, right when we get back from break. Hey y'all. Thanks for tuning in. Today's episode is brought to you by amplify media and we are a podcast and content production company.

[00:11:01] Hector: So chances are if you're listening to this, you have a product, a passion, a mission, a message, something that you want to get out to the world, but chances are you might not have the time, the team or the tech skills to be able to do it. And so if that's the case, we can help go to amplify media dot com.

[00:11:14] Hector: That's a m p l a f y media dot com. You can also check the show notes for info. And with that, let's get back to today's episode.

[00:11:24] Hector: So Portia, there is a, I think the first step is awareness. and, one thing that we try and bring to this show is, to highlight as many blind spots as possible, because I think one of the benefits of working with someone like you or having someone with your expertise and experiences that you've had a larger sample size than one, which is where most of us are coming from. We're only seeing it from our own. And so highlighting those blind spots is really valuable. But the second thing that we like to leave our listeners with is something practical that once they've realized that, Oh man, maybe I do have this challenge.

[00:11:54] Hector: Maybe this is relevant to me. What are some initial steps, questions found date, you know, like where's the first place to go or, the first place to think about,

[00:12:04] Porschia: All right. great question. There are a lot of different things that you can do and a lot of times people feel a little overwhelmed. With this whole conversation, because there are a lot of aspects to it, right? This, issue could show up in a lot of different ways. We already talked a little bit about, turnover, people quitting, employee engagement, all of that.

[00:12:26] Porschia: the first thing that I recommend companies do, and it's going to depend on their size and their resources. I mean, we can come in and help at any kind of size with this, but. Sometimes they can get started themselves is to really look at their employee engagement data, So look at their turnover data, look at how many employees are making it through the process from receiving and accepting an offer of employment to staying.

[00:12:54] Porschia: think with one company that we're working with now, the owner really needs people to stay for at least 18 to 24 months before they can make a return on the training. So, I mean, are you losing employees before a certain, period in time where the company has lost money? so look at that turnover data.

[00:13:14] Porschia: If you do any types of surveys, look at survey data and see, you know, what do people think about the company as far as satisfaction? As far as, morale, there are a lot of things that you can pick up from survey data. So those are some simple things that you can start to look at on your own.

[00:13:32] Porschia: also another thing to consider is, leadership and leadership development. When you think about the multi generational Workplace. A lot of times people of different generations had different styles of leadership that they thought were the best styles of leadership. And, when we go into companies, we tend to look more at personality and preferences.

[00:13:58] Porschia: And, help people to really improve their leadership skills and not necessarily fall back on this is the default that I saw, my whole life, how people are or how a leader is supposed to be. and then I would say the third thing, Hector, is to really look at the conflict and how conflict is handled, in your organization.

[00:14:18] Porschia: does your organization tend to avoid conflict? Are there a lot of things that need to be said that haven't been said? So, there are a lot of different outcomes things happening because a conversation just hasn't been had or, is there a drama of the week every week? Right? And it seems like there's so much conflict going on, due to a lot of different reasons.

[00:14:40] Porschia: And again, that can, show up in different ways, based on not only people's personality and preferences, but sometimes, generational preferences too.

[00:14:51] Hector: yeah, and I think that generationally, we handle all of those things differently, communication conflict, all of those things. What I did notice you know, you're talking about leadership. I think that that's probably the closest thing to having a constant, right?

[00:15:05] Hector: Like the closest thing to being universal between generations is that they will respond to good leadership there's so much to that. So it's not like being a good leader looks or acts in any one certain type of way. But I think that that is something that, sews up all of those things, right?

[00:15:22] Hector: That if you can create better leaders naturally that's going to trickle down into better communication and better conflict. You know, all those kinds of things can be improved by just people becoming better leaders. but that's no easy feat,

[00:15:33] Porschia: Absolutely. because to your point, everyone is unique, right? And so, how someone naturally leads can be different. I would say. Preconceived notions they have in their mind about what a good leader is also comes into play.

[00:15:50] Hector: right? I think you hit on is that a good leader means leading people the way that they want to be leaded. And you know, the greatest leaders don't have like a one size fits all kind of thing. The greatest leaders have the ability to you. See the snowflake, to observe the snowflake and then to be able to accommodate for that.

[00:16:07] Hector: So I think it's a great point. wow. I look at the time and I feel like we've covered so much so quickly. So my last question is, other things? That people should be aware of, and you can feel free to take this anywhere, a book, a resource, something you guys are doing.

[00:16:24] Hector: Is there something else that for someone who is, like, wow, three are great. And I think that we can implement those, but I'd really like to sink my teeth or go deeper. is there something else that someone might do or, learn or get into to go further down this rabbit hole, if you will,

[00:16:38] Porschia: Yeah, there are a lot of things, so I'll try to keep it succinct one, as a company, we. Scour the research, read tons of, articles and studies and whatnot to stay on top of that. So if someone wants to know how we've approached things, we have some case studies, that, they can contact us.

[00:16:58] Porschia: for and we can send over our own case studies so that they can learn more about our thoughts on it, but, other external research, there are different studies that I read all the time. I'll tell you about 1. I was reading most recently, great places to work, recently released. I study and it got picked up.

[00:17:20] Porschia: There was an article about it in fortune, in their publication, and they were talking about wellbeing, specifically, and they looked at it from all of the different major generations in the workplace and what was. So fascinating is that they found that having a sense of fun in the workplace was the number one driver of well being across all generations.

[00:17:48] Porschia: And, we were actually just on LinkedIn today, kind of having this conversation, but what is fun? What does that look like? But, there are a lot of commonalities among generations as well. And, What does wellbeing look like? Because again, that's going to lead into employee engagement, retaining your, teams and your staff longer.

[00:18:10] Porschia: so there's a lot of great research out there, like, the greatest places to work. Deloitte has a really good, study that they put out just about every year it used to be millennials specifically, it was like their millennial survey, and they've now. Opened it up and they talk about other generations in there too.

[00:18:28] Porschia: So yeah, there's a lot of great research out there. If someone is a nerd like me and just wants to read it.

[00:18:34] Hector: Well, it seems like what it always comes back to and thankfully is that if you just care about people if people are at the center of what you're trying to do, then generally that's gonna help. regardless of how old they are, what gender they are, where they come from and, you know, underneath it all, we are people.

[00:18:51] Hector: So I think that's, assuring. I don't know.

[00:18:54] Porschia: Yeah, I think it is too. And to your point, Hector, most of the research shows that actually, employees of all generations want the same thing. But how they go about expressing what they want, what actions they take, that is what differs. But generally like the top three things that people want it's across generations.

[00:19:16] Hector: Yeah, such a great conversation. Portia. If people want to get more in touch with you, consulting firm or just learn more about what you're up to, where's the best place to go?

[00:19:25] Porschia: Yeah. So I would say the best place to go is our website and that is fly F L Y dash high H I G H coaching. com. And, On our website, you'll find a lot of information about us, how we help with coaching, consulting, and training programs, for companies. And if you want to just follow me personally, a LinkedIn is where I hang out.

[00:19:50] Porschia: So, you can just type my name in on LinkedIn and let me know that, you heard about me through the, how to scale a business podcast and we can connect.

[00:20:00] Hector: I love it. Portia. Thank you for hanging out with us today. All of you who made it and stuck around today. We appreciate you. If you got any value out of today, we would love and be humbled by a rating or review wherever you get your podcast. If you know someone who is scaling a business, please send this to them.

[00:20:15] Hector: Thank you. Love for you to help grow the community and then reach out to Portia and let her know what you learned. Take some action on this stuff and share that with her. I'm sure she'd love to hear about it. But thanks as always for being a part of the gang. We'll see on the next one later. Y'all.