EP 232 Building a High Performance Culture in your Business with Guest Lisa Small
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Sara Mayer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sara Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.
Sara Mayer: Hello, bold goal crushers. I'm super excited about this episode today. I think you're really going to enjoy my guests, but also our conversation. So let me introduce you to Lisa small. She is a co founder revenue, chief revenue. Officer and team development consultant at Habitual Growth, which is the number one process for helping individuals and teams [00:01:00] reach peak performance through intention oriented actions and increased behavioral awareness.
Sara Mayer: Lisa passionately dedicated is dedicated to the mission to grow 5 million lives by 2027. Wow. We're going to talk about that big, bold goal. She's also the CEO for Lisa small consulting and is an accomplished med tech leader with multidisciplinary industry experience, spanning startups to global billion dollar corporations.
Sara Mayer: She specializes in building high performance engaged teams and instilling core discipline and excellence across the company culture. Oh my gosh, Lisa. I am so excited about this conversation. This could not be more timely. Oh, thank you so much. As you were reading it, I'm like, who's that? Who's coming? That is you, my friend, before the show, before I hit record, we were chatting about your bio and this [00:02:00] conversation and you joked and said, Oh, did you read my Instagram post yesterday?
Sara Mayer: So I could not be more excited to jump in. And I want to kick it off because you work with high performers and you work with high performing teams. And many of my listeners come from that culture. They've been in corporate, they've climbed the ladder. They may be sitting in their cube or their corner office and thinking there's something more for them.
Sara Mayer: And so they jump into business. Now they're responsible for not only being a high performer and achieving things, but building that culture for their team. . Yeah. Absolutely. And I've done it. So I speak as much as I possibly can from experience because I think that's what people can relate to and I did.
Sara Mayer: And when you take that leap and. What you had mentioned before you and I were talking about the structure in the corporate world. And there's this built in system that [00:03:00] you operate in and high achievers do very well in that environment. And then there's still something left on the table. So we take the leap and we go out on our own and we build our business.
Sara Mayer: And it's really learning to map where you want to grow your business or develop you as an individual within that business and the team around you. And creating that same system and roadmap on a daily basis so that you can continue to track things. It's we get lost when we get landed in this place where there isn't the system and you actually have to start at square one, build the system, operate in the system, and then hold yourself and people accountable to the system you've created.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. And what a tremendous opportunity. I know many times when I worked at a company and I won't name names, I was like why do we do it this way? This is really interesting. And of course there was always this person who knew everything. We do it like this because back then we only had duct tape and staplers.
Sara Mayer: And so this is what we did. [00:04:00] But when you are on your own and you're building it yourself. When you really get intentional, I love that you use the word intentional when you really get intentional and create that company culture. It's so empowering. It's so empowering, and there's a shift that has to occur, at least there was in my experience, because built into the system in the corporate world, while we question what's happened or how we operate within it, there's also this reward system that is coming.
Sara Mayer: Is a byproduct and so leaving that where we get recognition or reward or just verbal praise or whatever it is you have to find that on your own and you have to be able to create a system for your employees. Yes, that does that in your own business. But then you have to look internally at what's going to motivate you, make you feel rewarded and loved and all those things for doing the work that you need to do.
Sara Mayer: And that actually comes through [00:05:00] intentional action on a daily basis and tracking the progress. So when you look back over time, even though, no, one's clapping and handing you like most, yes, you could, yes, you could give yourself an award, but it. Changes the conversation with yourself when you have to look internally at what have I been doing?
Sara Mayer: How have I followed through? What progress am I actually making? And what am I really proud of that maybe no one yet has been able to see? Because, there's a lot of work that happens in a business before there's any external recognition of the work that's been done. Yeah. And I always share my story right before COVID.
Sara Mayer: I was working at during COVID, I was working at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and they did a layoff like many companies did. And so I was really thrown into the deep end of the pool. And so the story goes, I was already Building one of my courses online that I had been doing in person. And I got thrown [00:06:00] in the deep end of the pool.
Sara Mayer: I posted on LinkedIn. I was like, Hey, if anybody has anything they need help with I'm here. And I've been busy ever since. But what, going back to what you said about being really intentional was then all of a sudden I had all this work, but I didn't have structure and. I also didn't like, I was known for accomplishing the seemingly impossible in my day job.
Sara Mayer: And it was because I had a strong team, like I could walk out of a meeting and be like, we're going to do this wild idea that nobody's ever done before. I'd go to the next meeting and someone would say, How are you going to do that? I don't know. By the time I walked out of that meeting, the team that I talked to about it had already figured it out.
Sara Mayer: So I had these great minds on my team and then I was in business. I'm like, I have this wild idea. Huh? Who's doing that? Oh, me? Only me. All right, here we [00:07:00] go.
Sara Mayer: Sort of a visionary and you have the infrastructure behind you in the corporate world to have a team or whatever that builds it. But then to look at your own schedule and now you don't have the luxury of just being busy to be busy or delegating all the things that you. Might have normally delegated, you actually have to build a roadmap and then build your days with intention, which is why I think living with intention is so important because if you don't know the direction that you're headed and the outcome that you're ultimately trying to achieve I love your big bowl goals.
Sara Mayer: I am so in favor of that for people because it sets them in a right direction and then you build the roadmap and then you. Drill down into every single day. What are the needle movers that are going to get me to where I go? Because in business, there's 8, 000 things that happen on a given day.
Sara Mayer: And there's 5 fires that come up before 9 a. m. And you really have to have the level of personal accountability to do the actions that are going to move the business forward [00:08:00] and not get lost in all the shuffle. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that you talk about key indicators. If somebody is, sole entrepreneur or just starting, what would you suggest be some of those indicators?
Sara Mayer: How would they go about setting those? It depends. The worst answer ever. It depends on the business and what they're looking for. I ask people to track Even just small things at the beginning when they're starting is take 2 or 3 weeks and stick to your plan of building your calendar out with focused time blocks time that you're going to build your website per se time that you're going to dedicate to learning time that you're going to dedicate to customers and start to build a routine of focused action before you do anything else, because then you're going to be able to follow the metrics backwards and say.
Sara Mayer: Did this make a difference for me, or did it not? And that's ultimately what you want to do is as you put work and effort into all the [00:09:00] things it takes to lift your business off, you'll start to understand as you look back in time yes, that actually did move the needle for me because I got 5 new customers out of that.
Sara Mayer: Or, you know what? I'm really terrible. At website design, that's something that I'm probably going to have to take off my plate and hand to someone else. So it's understanding where your capabilities and strengths are and what you can personally move forward and what should be delegated to somebody else.
Sara Mayer: I love that. And when you first started a business, it's really about. Exploring. It's a lot different than when you start with a jobby job or a corporate job, whatever you want to call it. And they're like, here's your job. And then there's always six things that they didn't know was your job. But when you start a business, you get to really explore what do you like to do?
Sara Mayer: How long is it taking you to do these things? And then when you build the future of that, who could possibly be the support? And that takes time. As you mentioned, you're coming out of [00:10:00] a corporate place and you don't really know what your capabilities are. You've operated largely probably within a job responsibility document that says, here's what I do.
Sara Mayer: And this is what I'm really good at. And I can give you an example. I come from medical device world and part of the skillset that I had to learn in my business was sales and marketing and building social media content and all those things. And it hasn't been easy, but it's allowed me to grow and develop in a way that I didn't think that then I can apply to other areas of my business because I've got a cadence and so some of what I encourage people to do is.
Sara Mayer: Don't rush the process of learning what you might actually be interested in because it seems foreign to you at that time. And then there's parts of it that, that you are like, yep, no, thank you. I'm going to hand this off as soon as possible. And that's part of the discovery process. For you as a business owner, as well as what do you want to own and what really doesn't drive you, because then [00:11:00] you're not going to put forth as much effort, it's not going to be the Polish finished project that you want it to be.
Sara Mayer: And so having the awareness of who you are, what you like and where your strengths lie and looking in the mirror and say, yep, that is, or isn't me right now, today. Am I willing to put the effort in to become a subject matter expert in this area, or this is something that's going to be the first to go when I start to churn some revenue and can start to take things off my plate.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. And we both have the experience of building businesses. I'd love to hear your experience. Like you left a structured environment, you built a business and now you're. You have your own business, but you're also in, in another business. So what was your journey like? Oh it's rocky. I don't like to sugarcoat it.
Sara Mayer: It's really hard for a long time. My identity actually came from my corporate career climbing the corporate ladder and getting all the accolades and [00:12:00] recognition, leading very large teams. Those things made me happy. And while I. Wanted to start a business and learn to create impact in a different way.
Sara Mayer: I wasn't prepared for everything we've just talked about the structure that isn't there the need to have to look internal to find fulfillment because that's not coming from anywhere else and how long it's actually going to take to see results in your business because you work day in and day out.
Sara Mayer: I get up and I, work on the business. I work in the business and. It doesn't move as fast as we think it's going to. And you were referencing one of my social media posts yesterday. And it really was like I'm a generally positive person. So I left my corporate career and I was like, yes, let's go.
Sara Mayer: This is going to be the most amazing thing. And now I operate through faith that the work I'm doing with intention on a daily basis is ultimately going to get me the result because the wheels are solely [00:13:00] churning. And so that's been a very. Long lesson for me, years in the making to get to the point where you, I've built the system.
Sara Mayer: I've engaged the right people. I've learned what my strengths are and I'm humble enough to say, I don't know that and I'm getting better at that. I'll share with your listener listeners. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. You find a capability within yourself that you didn't know existed and you own your days and what you do with your time and the impact that you're making, like that is all yours as an, as a business owner.
Sara Mayer: And that's incredibly impactful. Yeah, it's a tremendous responsibility to, I saw back to a post, I saw a post yesterday, welcome to entrepreneurship, where you feel like you've done a million things in a day, but you've done absolutely nothing. Yes.
Sara Mayer: Exactly. But I think that's like that in business too. I know when I worked at. I've worked several corporate jobs in the education and nonprofit [00:14:00] sector, and we had conversations at the leadership table of how did we get here? And it was like this underlying some people called it the machine.
Sara Mayer: They're like it's the machine because we're trying to do this, but the machine keeps doing this. And until you change the machine it's just going to keep going because people resort back to what we've always done or. There were things in the business that we didn't even know were happening. And until we really took the machine apart and looked at it and said, Oh, why is this person spending 18 hours on this spreadsheet?
Sara Mayer: Yes. When we have a whole team of programmers over here that could build that in 15 minutes. Yes. What is going on? And that was the cool part of being in leadership, but I think there's such a tremendous, it's also a responsibility, but there's tremendous excitement in being able to create that machine [00:15:00] from nothing.
Sara Mayer: Yes, absolutely. And it's so true. There's machine of entrepreneurship, which you create and you build. And then there's the machine in the corporate world that people live in as well. Yeah. And you have to apply a realistic behavioral assessment on both in both machines. One as a leader, you're looking over your team in the corporate world and saying, okay, why are people doing these things this way?
Sara Mayer: How can we do them differently? What kind of. Small changes do we need to create within the teams to ultimately get a different result? And you have to do the same thing in your own business because you can get lost in this pattern or a habit of doing things a certain way. And you, a lot of times as a business owner, you, when you start, you're an end of one.
Sara Mayer: So it's just you. And so being able to step back and look at it and go, why am I doing it this way? Does it make sense? What other. Processes or systems can I put into place? What if I tried [00:16:00] it a different way? What would the outcome look like then? And so it's a similar mindset, but you're still looking at the machine.
Sara Mayer: It's just harder to do when you own your own business because you are the business. Yeah, I always. I always think back to my one, one stint in education. Several sins in education, but there was this one particular time where I became obsessed with goals and I can pinpoint the exact point.
Sara Mayer: It was, I was in sales similar to you emissions and worked in that environment for a long time. And then my boss came up to me and said, I want you to be the director of financial aid. So this was really bizarre because I knew nothing about financial aid. Like I still to this day cannot package a student's financial aid package.
Sara Mayer: And I just was like, why is that? Why am I, what? And his response was because I need somebody to look at it from a different perspective from the sales perspective. And it's, not going to be longterm. It's [00:17:00] until we find somebody I'm like, okay. And one of the goals was. To get a little in the weeds, but one of the goals that they had set was to package to basically provide a financial aid package to 100 percent of the students that admissions had received applications on, which seems like a great goal.
Sara Mayer: A hundred students a month, we're going to get a hundred students through this process and financial aid. The representatives had met that goal for years, but when we started to really look at it, what was happening is in order to achieve that goal, the financial aid reps were like literally blowing up these kids phones to get them on the phone, to get them a package, to get them into class.
Sara Mayer: And it would take one, one statistic was like 25 phone calls to get the student on the phone. Oh, so what do you think happened once they got into class? They're sitting in class. [00:18:00] But they're not really it was an online school. They're not really going to class. So they're in the course The teacher thinks they have 40 students They really only have 20 because the other 20 had to took them 25 calls.
Sara Mayer: You can get them on the phone And so then we had teachers getting paid for 40 students We were two weeks three weeks later Dropping 20 students and they really were only teaching 20 students and we could have told you that from the beginning And it was a tremendous waste of time, energy, money, resources.
Sara Mayer: And so I was like wild and crazy at the time and I was like, what if we set the goal at 75%? They're like, no, the goal needs to be a hundred percent. Like everybody needs to, I said what if we set it at 75 percent and five phone calls? That's it. Like after five phone calls, we let that person go and they have to outreach to us.
Sara Mayer: Oh, that'll never work. It saved so much money. Yes. So many [00:19:00] resources. Our retention rate went up and the frustration went down. The faculty was like, why do we have these kids who are never going to sit in our class? And we were actually able to reduce some of the. Some of the numbers of faculty members that we had to staff for classes because they were really going to show up.
Sara Mayer: So I became obsessed with goals because I was like, why is this the goal? How did we get here? Yeah. And what is the impact of this team actually meeting this goal? And also what pressure are we putting on that team to actually meet it? Yeah, I think that's such a great example and a good call out because there is the behavioral awareness and it.
Sara Mayer: In this case is in relation to goals, because a lot of people set a goal and it's it's this way or the highway. And there's the, this is the only bar that's going to be set. But if you step back and you look at it, you can still achieve a result in the general direction that you want to go with less effort, less [00:20:00] people and with more happiness along the way.
Sara Mayer: It's just crazy. Yeah. And so that's a great example that yeah. Looking at just the way things. a different perspective and bringing an outside perspective or changing the way you approach an end result and saying, how could I get there in a lot of different ways? I don't know. I, if you'd like to draw or do things, I always doodle when I'm trying to create goals and it's like you circle in the middle.
Sara Mayer: All right, here's what I'm looking for. And then I start to draw spider webs of possibilities of all the different things that could feed into that goal and then look where. Things overlap from a commonality standpoint and try and figure out what the needle movers are there and build the goals around those.
Sara Mayer: You just hit the nail on the head. So many times people have goals, but they aren't really focused. They don't know what the needle movers are to actually achieve the goal. Yeah. Or they don't define them or they don't create that level of [00:21:00] granularity. And I think that's so needed. And I feel.
Sara Mayer: From my perspective that we rush our goal setting, it's a January 1st activity or beginning of the fiscal year activity. And it's we got to throw these goals on paper and it, then you don't have anything. Realistic to work towards because it's not measurable. It's not specific. You haven't defined what the needle movers are and you have no idea on how you're going to achieve it.
Sara Mayer: It's I put it on a piece of paper and I'm good. End of story. Yeah I take really those tactics that we need to think about. Like I have a client who one year had this bold goal, which was great. She's I want to double my revenue. And, she had put it on her vision board, had a little thing, whatever, it was all declared to the world on social media.
Sara Mayer: And then we started talking and I was like, did you run the numbers on that? And she's what do you mean? I'm like are you willing to work double the hours or are you going to hire someone? She's what do you mean? I was like you charge per hour. [00:22:00] So how are we going to get to that goal?
Sara Mayer: I think you should change your whole pricing system and charge per project. And it's totally doable and blah, blah, blah. She's I worked really hard on my pricing. I'm like I'm just helping you get clarity on this goal. But I think sometimes we have these bold goals and these ideas, and we need to really break them down in order to make sure not only are they achievable, but do we have the tools and resources to do it.
Sara Mayer: Yeah, absolutely. And as business owners, we get very attached to the things that we're doing and the goals that we've set. And it almost feels like a personal insult when someone challenges us. It's wait, this is my business. I know how to do this. And yet sometimes we're the people in our own way.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. When it comes to actually setting that roadmap and ultimately figuring out the best way and most efficient way to achieve those goals. Yeah. And I think the other thing too, is there's such beauty in coaching and [00:23:00] consulting, she was charging per hour and she was designing websites and the reality is it didn't take her that long.
Sara Mayer: It would take me forever, but it did not take her that long. And so she was actually penalizing herself because she got really good on at her craft because she could do it so quickly. Other people were out there charging way more money, but. Her only way to achieve that money would increase their hourly rate or charge by project.
Sara Mayer: And so I think it's just looking at that perspective, having a different perspective. And I think that's an, it's an evolution of your business as well, because you may start with 1 model of revenue generation at the beginning because. You need the credibility, you need the experience, you need the customer reviews or, referrals, whatever it might be.
Sara Mayer: And then there's a point where it starts to shift because you move away from learning and gaining that experience to gain [00:24:00] credibility into a space of true revenue generation, because you're now an expert in whatever field it is that you're working in. Now I know you do a lot of work with teams and many of the listeners are building a team or creating their team, or maybe they even brought over a team from when they left.
Sara Mayer: What are some of the tips, tricks? Tell me all your wisdom on how long do we have, tell me everything. I think there's a couple of things that have worked well for me for business owners that are just starting out. I think it's really important to find people who. Are multiple and multiple in that they're willing to learn and grow in a lot of different areas.
Sara Mayer: So you may bring in, let's say, someone in a sales capacity, and they also have interest and capability to help with. Marketing or customer relations or something [00:25:00] that so you can utilize that person with more than 1 hat because you're going to be spread. Then you need to be able to offload things. So looking for someone that's really multiple is a great start.
Sara Mayer: Obviously you have to find people that are aligned with your core values and what you personally believe in because. I hire someone and one of our core values is integrity. We do what we say we're going to do. And if I've hired someone that doesn't live by that same set of values, that's going to be a very difficult relationship to maintain as a positive one, because we will operate very differently just based on who we are and what we believe in The other part is learning to do a couple of things for people.
Sara Mayer: It's one to build respect with them. And you have to go first as the business leader or the business owner, you need to follow through on the very smallest details so that your people learn to respect you. And then you work hard and they see you working hard when you gain their trust. And you start to invest in them, whether that's their own development, [00:26:00] stretching them in the business, providing them with recognition awards, you gain loyalty.
Sara Mayer: And so people become loyal to you because you've allowed yourself to build a trusting relationship and now you're rewarding them and showing that you care about them as a person. And then the one that really kills people and it's so hard to do is to hold people accountable. So you've set a standard in your business and there are certain expectations that you want people to raise to, or to have a minimum bar to, and then to have the hard conversations people, whether it's a business owner, a corporate environment, that is the number one thing is people struggle with.
Sara Mayer: Having the conversations to hold people accountable. And that's actually a huge leg of building a strong foundation of employees within your company or your team. Yeah. I love that you brought up accountability. I think this is something that, especially women entrepreneurs, if I could use them as a little group they do have a hard time holding people accountable in [00:27:00] my experience.
Sara Mayer: And. I think it's because they want everybody to be happy and to be in their business and be excited. And it's hard to hold people accountable, but going back to that corporate culture where there's structures in place, the reward systems, when you build some of those levers that are. Easy. I, in my experience, many people that I've had to hold accountable as a leader in corporate, they knew they weren't doing well.
Sara Mayer: And I didn't really have to say anything. I just, how do you think you're doing? And they're like, totally suck. This job's not for me. I really, there was only one time where I was like, okay, you think you're awesome. And. You're really not, but most of the time they knew they just didn't know how to fix it.
Sara Mayer: And so it's like holding them accountable, but also giving them the tools and resources to, to do better in that role or maybe explore a [00:28:00] different role. And so I love that you brought up moldable because when you have employees in your business that maybe aren't so tunnel vision on the one job, there may be an opportunity to move them into something that they're better aligned for and they might enjoy as well.
Sara Mayer: Absolutely. And that's why I am a firm believer in all capacities, whether it's small entrepreneur business versus corporate environment is getting to personally know your people and develop them in a holistic manner, because when you do that and you change the conversations that you have with them to not just be, Hey, we're going to move you along this professional career path, or, Hey, we need to get these business objectives done, but.
Sara Mayer: What else are you interested? What else are you focus? And I cannot tell you the number of people that I've had the opportunity to lead that say. I want to be a people manager or a people leader. And I'm like, great. We don't have any tracks currently open, but there are opportunities that you can invest in, in your personal [00:29:00] time.
Sara Mayer: I can give you, a Friday off every quarter, if you want to go do Toastmasters, but then you start to change how people view their own development. You are, as the manager or the business owner are investing in them and they're going to increase trust, respect, all of those things, loyalty with you, but then you get to see them in a different lens and, Hey, this person's been working really hard on this.
Sara Mayer: I might give them this extra project or see if they can help in this capacity. And so it just creates the synergy within your business. When you look at people holistically and all the ways that they're trying to grow and develop versus I only see Sarah in her sales role. Yeah. And it's so interesting.
Sara Mayer: You brought up the people leader. Many times I've asked people. What are your goals? And they're like, I never want to manage people like, okay but a lot of times their managers would assume their former managers would be like she's the next person because she's the most senior. And so I love that you brought up getting to know your people because [00:30:00] so many times.
Sara Mayer: They truly know what they want or what they don't want and having that connection and that respect really brings out the best in everybody as you're building the culture of business. Yeah. And asking why, people leadership is a great, it's an easy example to use because I've had both. Yes. No, I never want to lead people.
Sara Mayer: Why not? And a lot of times the objections that I've heard come from fear, lack of experience, uncertainty. What do you like? What kind of support system would be built in. And so when you allow those conversations to naturally happen, and then you ask questions with really good intent, because you want to understand that helps you better guide.
Sara Mayer: With your people and address some of their fears or concerns or lack of experience. Yeah I could absolutely talk to you all day and I know the listeners are probably like, Oh yes, we could talk all day. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you or work with you, how might they do that?
Sara Mayer: And then what might they [00:31:00] expect? Awesome. Thank you for this opportunity. Yes, you can find me at work with Lisa small dot com. You can send me a direct message there. You can also find me on Instagram at the real Lisa small or send me an email at least at habitual growth dot com from. An expectation perspective, I'll just sit down and get to know you.
Sara Mayer: I'll hear what you're looking towards and start to build a custom solution with you. So short introductory call, and then we'll figure out if we're a great fit and if I can provide value and what that might look like for us as we walk down that journey together. Awesome. I love it. You have so many years of experience and I know that you've provided tremendous value on the show.
Sara Mayer: So I know everybody's going to get a lot out of it. So thank you so much. Oh, thanks, Sarah. It was great to do this with you today. Yeah. All right. Bold goal crushers. It's time to crush your goals and everything that gets in the way. So you do not have to work double time. [00:32:00] So let's get to it.
Sara Mayer: Thank you for tuning into the bold goal crusher podcast where we crush goals and everything that gets in the way. I always love to support my community. Thanks for tuning in.
Sara Mayer: I look forward to seeing you crush your goals this year.
