You’re ready to hire a new team member…or are you? Hiring and onboarding talent into your business isn’t about putting out a job description and hosting really great interviews. Have you considered the prospect pool, attracting the right people, and the concept of “always be hiring”?
That’s exactly what you’ll learn on this episode, courtesy of Shelli Warren, team and leadership coach with BizChix Inc. She shares how to position yourself to grow your team and what a hiring project plan should look like. And she shares tips on how to onboard your new team members so you don’t scare them away—a lesson so many of us have learned the hard way.
If growing your business and your team are on your priority list for the new year, you don’t want to miss this episode!
Mentioned in This Episode
- Next Best Hire
- Leadership Lab
- BizChix: Letting Go of Control as You Grow
- BizChix: From Teacher to Six Figure Copywriter
- Stacking Your Team: How to Hire Again Despite Past Mistakes
About Shelli Warren
Shelli Warren is a team and leadership coach and the host of the BizChix sister podcast; Stacking Your Team. At BizChix Inc. she leverages her 26 years of experience leading technical teams to deliver multi-million dollar projects for billion-dollar brands at Procter & Gamble Inc. to now help small business owners to hire, fire, and inspire an incredible team of high performers. Shelli is also known for her teaching style, her passion to inspire more women leaders, and her ability to say the right thing in delicate situations. She lives in Canada where she coaches BizChix clients across the globe and spends her Flow Fridays with her daughter Danielle, and grand-baby Ellie.
Transcription
Abby Herman 0:08
Hey there, and welcome to episode 155 of The Content Experiment Podcast, a podcast that supports the idea that content and marketing are ever moving targets in any business. And it’s okay if you don’t feel like you’re doing it all right all the time. You have permission to experiment with little tweaks and changes in your content, to find what works for you, what increases value for your audience and what grows your business, and most importantly, what feels good for you.
Abby Herman 0:37
I’m Abby Herman, content strategist and consultant for online business owners who are ready to make a bigger impact online. And I’m CEO and creative director of the content experiment, a content marketing agency that offers full service content marketing, and podcast management. I firmly believe that success isn’t about what big marketing brands and so called gurus think is the right thing. It’s about you and your business, your lifestyle, and frankly, your values and belief systems. You get to do business in a way that works for you.
Abby Herman 1:11
You’ve heard people talking about hiring and how bringing on team members is a great way to scale or lighten your own load. But you know, hiring is hard to do. It’s hard to find a good fit for what you need. And it’s also really hard to onboard new people so you don’t scare them away. And trust me, I know this from experience. You might have heard me on the bizchicks podcast, I’ve been on twice and I’ll include the Include links in the show notes, or on the stacking your team podcast. I was on that podcast way back in March of 2018, where I talked about mistakes that I had made when hiring and trust me since that episode, I have made many more mistakes in hiring.
Abby Herman 1:59
Well, today I feel lucky to have Shelli Warren, the biz chicks Empire here to join us to talk about the hiring, Team onboarding, attracting the right employees or contractors, and Shelli’s amazing flow Fridays, which I just had to ask her about, because I want to be like her when I grow up.
Abby Herman 2:19
Before we get to the interview, I would be really grateful if you would give this podcast a follow if you like what you’re hearing, or give it a rating and review. The more interaction we have with each episode, the more your podcast platform will share the podcast with others like you. And that helps to grow the audience which is my goal to get in front of as many people as I can. All right back to our guest.
Abby Herman 2:44
This week, I am chatting with Shelli Warren, a team and leadership coach and the host of the biz chicks sister podcast stalking your team at biz chicks, and she leverages her 26 years of experience leading technical teams to deliver multi million dollar projects for billion dollar brands at Procter and Gamble, Inc, to now helping small business owners to hire fire and inspire an incredible team of high performers.
Abby Herman 3:11
Shelli is also known for her teaching style, her passion to inspire more women leaders and her ability to say the right thing and delicate situations. She lives in Canada where she coaches BibTeX clients across the globe and spends her flow Fridays with her daughter Danielle, and grandbaby Ellie. And now here is our conversation.
Abby Herman 3:34
Hi, Shelli. I am so excited to chat with you. And thank you so much for saying yes to being here.
Shelli Warren 3:42
I’m so excited to see you. I missed your face. I saw you online. I hear you in my earbuds but it’s always nice to see your face.
Abby Herman 3:49
Yes, I totally agree. It’s been a while. So before we dig into all things hiring content, could you share with listeners, what you do and who you do it for?
Shelli Warren 4:01
Sure. Well, I’m Shelli Warren, and I’m a team and leadership coach here at biz chicks Inc, where along with Natalie Ekdahl. She’s our CEO and founder and of course host of the business podcast together her and I host coaching training programs, group programs to elevate the CEOs that come to us that are really looking to their big goals. They want to get there. And so that’s what we do we help them, we help them get there.
Abby Herman 4:28
And what kind of people do you particularly work with? Because you have there’s two programs in the big biz chicks realm and you run leadership lab. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Shelli Warren 4:41
Yeah, so I work with clients that have a team of five or more. Most of them have brick and mortar. Others have fully virtual teams. Many of them have multiple locations, or they serve multiple regions globally. And many of them have secondary complementary business. CES has to. So these women are well on their way, they have a very established business, they have a refined niche. And they have a large team. And so they come to me looking for help, how to get out of overwhelm, and how to, essentially I help them be stronger leaders.
Shelli Warren 5:16
So they’re learning how to lead a large team, and how to structure their day and their strategic plans to offer incredible job opportunities to other people. So the first thing I do is I help them get unstuck from wherever they are, that they are stuck. And that usually involves introducing layers of leadership, so that those CEOs literally get more freedom. So we put the right people in the right roles with the right level of responsibility, surround them with all kinds of supports, trainings and resources, and trainings from me. And then they’re often in running with their new responsibilities. And then the CEO literally gets all this time back and all this focus back.
Abby Herman 6:00
I love that. And one of the things that I think about too, on Fridays, so usually on Fridays, you have something you call flow Fridays, can you share a little bit about that? Because literally, I’ve been, I’ve been trying to tweak my own schedule a little bit. And for a while it wasn’t working at all on Fridays. Now I’m just kind of having a slower start to my Fridays. Can you explain what what your flow Fridays are and what they look like and how we can implement something like that in our businesses?
Shelli Warren 6:30
Sure. So I come from a corporate background where 25 plus years, I was leading really large teams, for a fortune 50 company. And my days typically started at 7am, Monday to Friday, 7am, where I was on, at 7am. Moving on. So when I left the corporate world and moved into the online space, one of the things that I really wanted to have in my life was more harmony. And so one of the ways that I wanted to do that was to work four days a week, and have Friday’s as, as my flow day, so and Natalie, our CEO is very supportive of me and having this lifestyle.
Shelli Warren 7:11
So Fridays are typically designed for me to either do my hair appointments, nail appointments, doctor’s appointments, you know, any kind of a personal care or vehicle maintenance gets done on those days, or I might have lunch with a friend. But typically, every afternoon, I spend that with my daughter, and my grandbaby Ellie, who’s soon going to be too. And my daughter has just recently moved back into the working world. So she works two Fridays a month. And of course, then I have la for the whole day on those two days.
Shelli Warren 7:47
But it’s really designed to unplug from the business unplugged from clients, pour into what fuels me, slide into the weekend, and then come out of the weekend with more energy to lean into. Here’s what I found. And you may be able to relate to this. Typically we can we kind of pick up speed by Tuesday or Wednesday. Mm hmm. Because Monday, you’re coming off the weekend. And for some people, their weekends are just incredibly busy, because their kids may be in some sort of schooling or camp program or some sort of, you know, scheduled activities through the week. And so you have them all weekend.
Shelli Warren 8:29
And so what happens on that weekend, is that it can it’s although it’s a lot of fun, and it fills your heart and you know, it’s exactly what you’re looking for. You can come into a Monday morning feeling depleted. And so typically for a lot of people they don’t they’re not as productive on a Monday as they normally would be. So they don’t start ramping up until Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So I’m although I’m an empty nester and I’ve been an empty nester for years.
Shelli Warren 8:54
What I’ve started to really help my clients understand is that you can make the weekend whatever you want the weekend to be. It can be your weekend can be Thursday, Friday can be Friday, Saturday, whatever works for you. But for me, I’ve found having Fridays to be flowy where I could definitely work many times they do work in the morning to get caught up on things.
Shelli Warren 9:16
But having that boundary of noon hour, I’m unplugged. It really helps me switch it off. And then that helps me stay switched off for the weekend so that I can come in on a Monday refreshed because I don’t have any kiddos that I’m looking after on the weekends.
Abby Herman 9:33
Yeah, yeah, I have found that I spent many many years working all weekend long and or at least working four or five hours each day over the weekend. And then and then Monday’s would come and God I just didn’t want to be even in my own business. It was hard because I felt like I never turned it off. I’ve been an empty nester all of I think seven weeks But I feel like, you know, this is my time to do what I want. And I’m, I’m kind of trying to figure out what that looks like at this stage and, and what I want that to be for me, and one of the things is definitely, yeah, trying to take more time and space for myself and to do the things that I want to do. And I think that’s so important. And I am not here for working all weekend anymore.
Abby Herman 10:27
Especially as I build my team as I grow my team and I and I don’t have to. So thank you for that I vote. Yeah, I have watched you on Instagram Stories talking about your flow Fridays, and I think I’ve I don’t know if I’ve heard you on your podcast, or on stalking your team podcast, or on this chicks podcast talking about it, also, but it’s so important to have that lifestyle, you know, build your lifestyle business.
Abby Herman 10:52
So I want to talk as we, you know, finish up 2021. And people, businesses seem to have recovered a little bit from COVID. Or they’re shifting a little bit, as COVID continues. And some people are talking about hiring team members and growing their teams. At the same time, I know from personal experience and my own mistakes that I’ve made, you can’t just decide that you’re going to hire somebody, and then just go out and do it. There’s a lot of things to consider before that.
Abby Herman 11:24
Can you talk a little bit about some of the things that business owners should consider before they hire anyone, whether it’s an employee, or a contractor? Or you know, someone just doing, you know, a project one off project? What do we need to think about before we make those hires?
Shelli Warren 11:41
Well, the first thing we need to realize is that it’s a whole new world out there. And so the hiring tactics and the philosophy that you had round your hiring strategy before the pandemic, is null and void now, so what really is happening out there in the world is there has been so many people that have stopped and reconsidered what worthwhile work is for them, the definition has changed. So what that has led to is more people being available within this labor market, the labor market has shifted drastically. So thinking that you’re just going to be able to slap up a job posting on Indeed, and get this, you know, incredibly top talented person to come and join you is just foolish, it’s not going to happen.
Shelli Warren 12:28
I recently did a podcast episode called hiring tactics you now need to consider. And it was exactly that. So what you need to do now, as a business owner, especially in the small business space, whether it’s online, or whether you do have a brick and mortar is you need to become your own marketing agency. Now, you need to not only be marketing yourself to continually to attract great clientele, that fits your niche, you now have to position yourself as people’s next best career opportunity.
Shelli Warren 13:03
So it’s that whole idea of how are you going to be able to stand out in this new labor market where people have choices, and they’re willing to change their lifestyle, to match the new choice that they want, meaning they’re very willing to relocate, they’re very willing to move across the country into a whole nother continent. They’re very willing to work from home, they’re willing to work in a Work Share type of an environment.
Shelli Warren 13:34
So the options are endless. It’s really about how do you stand out amongst everyone who’s hiring right now, because I don’t know about you. But I don’t have to go too far in my city to run into multiple signages multiple visuals that people are hiring, everyone is hiring right now.
Abby Herman 13:54
And so what do we need to do to market ourselves as a great employment option, or, you know, to attract those team members to us?
Shelli Warren 14:03
Well, the first thing that you need, and everybody needs this, you need to have a career page on your website. And that career page always has to have fresh job postings. So here’s the secret. Just because you have a job posting that’s open and available and people can see and they can apply to through your career portal on your website, doesn’t mean you have to hire anybody right now.
Shelli Warren 14:27
What you’re doing is you’re creating momentum, you’re creating brand awareness, and you’re collecting quality candidates through these applications. And oftentimes, people will be interested in what you have available there. And it might not be a perfect fit for them. But it might be a fit for them or a perfect fit for their sister or their a former colleague. And often what also can happen is once people come to your website and they see what you have to offer, they’re learning about who it is that you serve, and how you serve them, they can come sometimes come up with these ideas as to how they could contribute to your business. And the job posting isn’t even there.
Shelli Warren 15:12
So what they will do is come through the portal and kind of pitch to you, hey, here’s where I think I could add value in your business. And depending on how that pitch is structured, and how excited you are about that, it’s definitely worth doing a first interview with them. Is that like, an example of always be hiring the yes saying, okay, yeah, yeah. So you, you know, I, you hear me say that all the time, hashtag always be hiring.
Shelli Warren 15:36
So what I mean by always be hiring is really two things. One, always be positioning yourself as someone who is growing your team. And then the other one is to always be collecting quality job applicants, because it’s so much easier to dip into a stack of pre screened, pre reference checked, even pre first interview, versus starting all over again, on indeed.com.
Abby Herman 16:06
Mm hmm. Yes, because I yeah, I’ve actually posted jobs on indeed before and got hundreds of applicants, and so many of them were not quality applicants, that it was really difficult to sift through them all to the point where I just didn’t because it was so overwhelming. Okay, so have a career page on your website, what are some other things that we could do to always be hiring to be attracting the right people to us?
Shelli Warren 16:36
Well, I think the most common missed opportunity that I see, amongst even I’ve seen this in corporate too, but amongst small business owners is that they fail to leverage their existing team members. And that could be even if you have one person on your team, two people on your team, or doesn’t matter how many you have, what you want to do, is leverage them and their story. And you can do that on any social media platform, where you’re introducing to your fan base and to your followers who and who it is that works alongside you. What are their skill sets? What compelled them to even come and want to join? join you? What’s the secret sauce, what secret skills do they have.
Shelli Warren 17:20
And so what you’re doing is you’re telling a story to anyone out there that would be interested, Hey, these are the kinds of people that you’re going to be working with. And what better way to learn who those people are than to showcase them on social media, showcase them on your LinkedIn company page. If you have a podcast, bring them on your podcast. And you can have them do intros and outros for you, or have them do mid rolls. Or you could literally do one of those elliptical like a compilation episode, I like to do compilation episodes with my clients, where I’ll bring them all on to give a little snippet about one, like a bit of a success story.
Shelli Warren 18:03
But what the audience is getting is a taste of oh, so these are the kind of clients that work with Shelli. You do the same thing on your podcast, and it would be a special episode feature your team members. And those team members come on and talk about what like before they found you. And now life that they have this incredible career opportunity. What did they learned? What did they stumble through? You know, here’s one tip from Hillary, about how you could really, you know, be a rock star in week one of joining us here are here’s why we’re so compelled during our interview to ask this particular question. It’s so meaningful to us. And here’s why. Right?
Shelli Warren 18:44
So it’s all of those stories that you can get your other team members to talk about, that it really does showcase the culture that you’re building. And it just amplifies why other people would want to come and work alongside you.
Abby Herman 18:59
Mm hmm. That is so great. I love that, especially because I like to, you know, this has nothing to do with what I do, necessarily, but I love to ask about, you know, your lifestyle and the things that you do to make work work for you. And, you know, we have set hours, you know, in my business, but we have flexible schedules. So, you know, things, things happen. And, you know, sometimes we have to take things take time off, or we have to make up some time on the weekend to get something done. But we’re I’m super flexible.
Abby Herman 19:30
You know, my team members or my two employees are local, but then I have contractors who are not local, and they’ve had to travel for family reasons, family emergencies, and like we have the flexibility to do that. And I think that that’s definitely a perk for working at The Content Experiment. So to give myself a little plug there it is that
Shelli Warren 19:54
Yeah, I love that. One of my clients has two large dental practices. And so what I love to see her team, I mean, her team have so leaned into social media. And so it’s really fun to be able to see a day in the life of the front desk team at a dental office. So literally, they film themselves doing Insta Stories. And so what’s happening in those instances is they’re attracting parents who want to make sure that when they bring their kids, she’s a pediatric dentist. So they’re those parents are going to quickly understand why they need to take their child to this particular dental office, because they take the scary out of going to a dentist office.
Shelli Warren 20:37
And you can see it right there in the Instagram stories and how they’re engaged that team is and that multimo trick practitioners are, they’re so dedicated to children. The other thing that’s happening there, though, is if you were a dental hygienist, or if you wanted to be a billing expert in a dental office, or if you want to that level of customer care, you’d be watching this team in action and saying to yourself, that’s where I want to work.
Abby Herman 21:04
Mm hm.
Shelli Warren 21:06
Because it’s proof, it’s evidence, there’s no, you know, there’s no veil in front of the camera. This is real life at the dental office. And these, this is where business owners can really like stop trying to make it complex, or fancy pants or, you know, incredibly produced content. All you need is an iPhone, and a team in action. And man, oh, man can ever take your story along the way?
Abby Herman 21:33
Yeah, oh, yeah, I’ve seen business owners who like, I think to myself, I want that person as my client, because they just are so much fun, because they’re, they’re using social media in a way that, you know, helps them to get their message out. And they just seem like a lot of fun. It’s just a personality. So I love that.
Abby Herman 21:53
Okay, so we have been creating stuff and making sure that people know, you know, or prospective employees or contractors know who we are, or attracting the right people to us, as we are starting to think about hiring and we’re getting ready to hire, what do we need to have in place in order to find the right person? So like, what kind of content should be available both to prospects and to the people who you’re interviewing to help them be a little more informed about our organization or business?
Shelli Warren 22:26
Well, I think one of the easiest ways to think about how do I track great candidates to come and want to join our team is to show off, show off the transformations that are happening with your clients, because they’ve chosen you to work with. So you can do that in a number of different ways. You many people have a stream of testimonials on their websites, for sure.
Shelli Warren 22:51
But what I don’t see them taking it a step further. They’re not taking it to the other social media platforms or to their LinkedIn company page, where they can literally tell the story like the before and the after, where a team member could look at the type of content that you’re producing, or the output that you’re producing, or the products and services that you’re delivering you and your team, they could look at that and say, Yeah, that’s the kind of caliber of work that I do.
Shelli Warren 23:19
So I know that I would be a great fit for them. Or they would look at that and say, Yeah, I’m beyond that. And that’s great information to have, too. Or they can look at that and say, Man, I’m inspired. Is there a way for me to get in on the ground floor with that small business and work my way up? So that I’m also having that kind of an impact with transformation for clientele?
Abby Herman 23:45
Yes, yes. I totally agree. What about things like, like, values and vision statements? And things like job descriptions? Like how do we is there a way to frame content like that, so that we’re attracting the right people? So that the right people are applying the right people are see themselves in the position or in the or in the business itself?
Shelli Warren 24:12
Yeah, so Well, I like to say that hiring as a project is a project. And so we need a plan, just like any other project. And last year, we launched a Bitrix, we launched our signature course, it’s called your next best hire. And it literally takes you from the minute you decide you need to hire someone right up through to their first 90 days. And it includes everything. And the first thing that we teach people how to do and do it really well is craft a job posting that is so compelling, that it literally is creating a story.
Shelli Warren 24:47
And people want to be a part of that story. Or they don’t want to but either way, it’s all good, right? We want to either attract the kind of people that we want our team, and then we want to repel the ones that we don’t want on the team. So within that job posting, what you really want to do is tell the story of, hey, here’s what it’s like to work here. And yes, I am all about values.
Shelli Warren 25:13
But it’s not good enough, Abby, it’s just not good enough for people to think I’m going to take my core values and slap them up on my website, I’m going to slap them into my job posting literally means nothing. What people are wanting to look for is evidence that you’re bringing those core values to life. And so what they’re looking for are stories, photos, facts, transformations, they’re really looking to say, you know, this is a top value of ours here at the business. And let me tell you why. And here’s a great example of how we live this every day, though, that’s the kind of structure that you want to have written within your job posting as well as everywhere on your website, especially that career portal. It’s on your web page.
Abby Herman 25:58
Yes, I agree. I think, you know, sometimes we go through the process and the motions of creating those vision division value statements, but then we kind of forget about them and the busyness of just work. And so you’re right, like being really intentional about showcasing what that actually means in our business is so important, not just for, you know, new hire prospects, but for your clients, too. It’s I think it’s important. And I know I’m guilty of not always having them top of mind when I’m, you know, doing the work. So thank you for that.
Shelli Warren 26:34
So the other thing that can happen is they can become so intrinsic to us. That’s just how we roll. But how do you ensure that that prospective client or the prospective new team member really understands that this is how we roll, and here’s why.
Shelli Warren 26:53
So other things that you can do on that career page. And these are just really simple things like this is not rocket science. But when you put your hat on as a potential team member, and you think about what would be stopping them from applying, if I had a couple of job postings that are up on my website, on my career page, what potentially could be stopping a really great candidate from falling through and applying, one of the things that they would probably want to see is something like, yeah, meetings, meeting meetings? Are you you know, are you fearful of the plethora of meetings that you think you’re going to have to attend here with us? Here’s, here’s, here’s a snapshot of our monthly meetings, like just take your calendar, like your drumbeat, where you have all your team meetings, your one to ones all your different touch points that you have, take a snapshot of that and throw it on your website.
Shelli Warren 27:47
And so people can literally see, okay, this is this, Oh, my Lord, this is how many meetings offered or didn’t go, okay. It’s, that’s reasonable, I get it. Other things that you would want to share our facts and figures, like, talk about how many clients are served within your niche? Or talk about how many RFPs? You know, how many requests for proposals, do you submit? Or is there a particular niche that you’re becoming really well known for? Like you’re really building a reputation within a particular industry, or within a particular client niche?
Shelli Warren 28:25
Talk about that, you know, talk about how many projects closed, if your website builder talk about how many websites that you’ve built? And, you know, what, what were the transformations that those clients have seen, the other one that I think is really becoming more and more important, is for in terms of positioning yourself as standing out amongst the crowd of all these people that are available to hire is talk about your philanthropic work, like talk about how much money did you pour back into your local community? And why? And declare out loud, that your charity of choice is this organization. And here’s why. And here’s how our whole team supports that cause.
Shelli Warren 29:10
So what you’re doing is you’re showing evidence of those core values that you have, or you say you have, how you’re bringing those to life within the local community. Like you’re no one’s looking for you to save the world. What they’re looking for is, can I leave my stamp in a small way, within a local community or region, where I’m going to feel great about being a part of that?
Abby Herman 29:33
I love that. Yes. And I think that, you know, even for solopreneurs or you know, really small teams, I think a page like that is super important. And I also think that prospective clients will go and look at that to see, you know, what is this company all about? What is this business owner all about? So, great advice. I love it.
Abby Herman 29:56
Okay, so you’re ready to hire you’re putting The feelers out there you are getting people in for interviews, you’re selecting the person you’re going to hire, what do you need in place in your business behind the scenes to make sure that that new hire can hit the ground running can feel, you know, really welcome. And really in tune with the business, are there things that we can have in place ahead of time so that we’re not the day before the person starts floundering around and figuring out what am I going to do tomorrow with this new person? I don’t know.
Shelli Warren 30:33
Yeah, so that’s all part of your project plan. But the other thing I really want to encourage your listeners is, get someone involved other than you. So you hear me on my podcast all the time, I say the people that are closest to the work know the most about the work. So those individuals should be writing that job posting. And they should be setting up the compelling interview questions. And they should be part of the interview and part of the selection process.
Shelli Warren 31:01
Because in reality, this new person that’s coming to join you is going to be interacting with these other peers, their co workers on the team. So there’ll be a higher level of ownership for the success of this new person, if you have at least one person from your team involved in this whole selection process. So get them involved, get their input, get their point of view, and get them rallied around this new person that’s coming for sure. And how you can do that is really by designing an interview experience that feels like a conversation. It feels like a chance to get to learn about this new person, not just how they would you know what skills and experiences that they’re going to bring to your team. But who is this person. And that’s more easily facilitated when your interview literally is designed like a conversation.
Shelli Warren 31:57
And so in our course, we have compelling interview questions. And then I just recently talked it up with more compelling interview questions, because I wanted those secondary compelling questions to really help that CEO that’s hiring someone that’s going to directly move into a leadership position.
Abby Herman 32:16
Can you give us like an example or two of a compelling interview question?
Shelli Warren 32:21
Well, for like, the first interview, like with someone that’s coming in, what I like to hear, I like to ask questions, like, tell me about the most difficult person you’ve ever worked with. Because what people don’t understand is when I asked that question, the person that’s answering is telling me more about themselves than the person they’re having a hard time with.
Abby Herman 32:42
Uh, huh. Yes, absolutely.
Shelli Warren 32:44
Yeah. So if you listen, you will hear so much valuable information about the individual, because they’ll be telling you, I don’t like this, I don’t like this. I don’t like this. And I don’t like this. So that’s when you can go through that self check in with yourself that says, okay, this person is not going to fit in because we do that. That is part of our process, she will be working remotely. We only have team meetings once a month, you know, like, you’ll be able to go through all that and realize, okay, this person’s in fit, just by them telling you about this most difficult person that they worked with.
Shelli Warren 33:18
So when I’m looking to interview someone that’s going to be coming in and directly coming into a leadership position. And what I mean by a leadership position is they are going to have people that they are responsible for what we want to hear our stories, success stories and transformation. So tell me about a time when you had an underperformer who was part of the your responsibility. Tell me, how did you turn that performance around.
Shelli Warren 33:48
And so that’s when they’ll come in and, and you’ll be able to hear whether they are genuinely a people person, whether they are more compelled to just give direction. And you know, kind of like lead with the fierce fist, or whether they have a heart for people, and they’re really interested in helping that person be successful. So they’re looking to switch up their own leadership styles to find a better fit for this particular individual. So that individual could shine.
Abby Herman 34:18
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I love the idea of kind of mixing up the questions and really digging into who they are as a person.
Shelli Warren 34:25
Yeah.
Abby Herman 34:26
And so then once you hire somebody, and you’re bringing them on board, first day comes, how do you make a new person? Is there something that we should have available to them to make sure that they’re feeling really welcome? Is there like, how do we onboard? How do we onboard someone without it taking us out of the business or the leader who’s going to be supervising that person out of the business completely?
Abby Herman 34:49
Is there a way that we can kind of like I hate to say the word automated because that’s not really what I mean, but really give them maybe homework that they can do content that they can consume. To make them feel welcome and to make them feel like they know kind of the structure of the business.
Shelli Warren 35:06
Well, I’m a fan of the paid trial, and the paid project. So when you can bring someone in, and give them some direction, and literally give them a paid project, like, here’s the thing that I need done, here’s the direction, I’d like to see that in three days, you know, bring it back to me, you can see the output, like what they’ve delivered. And that can be really telling. But during that pay trial, or that onboarding experience, what leaders really need to embrace is the fact that that is your focus, you’re bringing someone new onto your team, which is why I like to say hiring as a project, because that project needs to be planned out.
Shelli Warren 35:46
So you are bringing someone new into your business, the most successful onboarding experiences for you. And for the new hire is one where it feels worthwhile, where that person feels welcomed, and more that person feels that you’re ready for them, and you’re prepared for them, that you’re not a burden. You know, you’re not a boat anchor tied around your ankle, and that you’re dragging them around with you for the week, because you got all these other things to do.
Shelli Warren 36:13
So what you want is a plan. And it doesn’t have to be you executing everything, it could be you and another team member, or it could be you and a couple of other team members. But the idea here is that there’s a plan, you gotta have that. And we want to also think like a new hire. So there’s ways to help them feel welcome, including a Series, I mean, you are the queen in this, Abby is email sequencing, you could design an email sequencing plan for bringing on a new her from everything from the interview, to the job offer, to sign the job offer to walking them on their first day, you know, here’s the things that we need to have before you come to the first day, here’s what you can expect on day one.
Shelli Warren 36:58
You send them some swag, you know, it’s that whole idea of here’s your day one agenda. And here’s your single point of contact for the day. And here’s what you’re going to be focused on day one. And then here’s what you’re going to be focused on for day two, because a lot of the problems that happen in onboarding is, they literally get fed from a firehose, and a lot of the training doesn’t stick. And so then what happens is, It’s day four or day eight, in, you’re asking yourself, why don’t they know how to do this, we did this on the second day, they were here, it’s just too much information at once. So knowing what to expect day by day, and then having those close a business check ins, like I’m a fan of the close of business check in.
Shelli Warren 37:41
So and this is how they can become more self sufficient. And then over time, you can start to step back, they become more aware of what they need to focus on for the next day, you’re giving them access to resources, resources can be written material videos, and people, you’re giving them the access to those individuals, and they then can become very self sufficient. So at the end of the day, you’re taking 15 minutes at the end of the day to check in with them either virtually or in person to ask them, how did they go? What were the stumbling blocks? What would you like more practice in? What was something they learned today that surprised you? And what did you nail today that you’re feeling great about? You know, they you have those those discussions?
Shelli Warren 38:26
And then you say, Okay, tell me about your priorities for tomorrow? What’s the first thing you’re gonna focus on tomorrow? Walk me through your day tomorrow. Right? And that’s when you’re giving them the direction through that and where you can say, of course, correct, or add more value. And you say, You know what, I think Jennifer could really help you when you get to that task. So let me just whip off Slack message to her and let her know that I’d like her to be available to at one tomorrow before you start that task. And then you can team up on that. And then you have a better experience with that task.
Abby Herman 38:55
Yeah, yeah, you’re giving them direction and your end, I’ll also feel like asking them, you know, walk me through your day tomorrow. You’re giving them ownership of it and letting them kind of set the speed as well. So that I mean, for me, I’m much more likely to remember something if I’m the one who is setting the direction and setting the tone for you know, whatever it is that’s coming. So that’s great advice. I’d love that.
Abby Herman 39:23
So as we wrap up, first of all, I, you mentioned, the hiring course that you have, but you didn’t tell us where to find that where can we find that? Because it sounds like a great resource.
Shelli Warren 39:37
You can go to the website at bizchix.com/yournextbesthire, and we spelled chicks with an x here. So it’s biZchix.com/yournextBesthire. And you know, that course was designed for our clients. It’s complimentary with any of our clients and our program because what we found is people were thinking They had to go and hire a recruiter. And believe me, within the leadership lab, I have some clients that literally do have recruiters because they’re looking to hire doctors, you know, they’re looking to hire like more like that high, high qualified professional to come in and take over practice or launch a secondary practice.
Shelli Warren 40:21
So there are times where recruiters can be a godsend for sure they can, but they’re also expensive. And they, you often have to get on some sort of retainer program with them, which you might not need. So what we decided to do was help our clients out by giving them another choice, rather than having to invest in recruiter. And that’s been the feedback, like so many of them have said, I was just about to hire a recruiter, we I did the course I don’t, I don’t need a recruiter now. So they’re stalking their team. They’re building their team up with quality people. And they’re keeping that skill set within the walls of their team.
Shelli Warren 41:01
So it’s in house, and they’re getting their leadership teams involved. And I have lots of clients in the leadership lab that don’t do any of their hiring anymore. Their leadership team does all their hiring, materialistic. And they’ll say to them, you know, here’s our top two talents. And let me tell you why. So we’d like to have a final you to have a final interview with them. We’ll be there with you. And of course, it’s such an accelerated way of getting there. And then of course, the teams are doing all the onboarding, all the 30, day, 60 day, 90 day evaluations, they’re doing all the paid trials.
Shelli Warren 41:35
And that’s where you can get to, when you bring that kind of really like business ownership attitude about hiring, and you start to build those skills in house, the CEO literally starts to walk away from those tasks. And so whether you’re hiring one person to person, or whether you’re hiring in bulk, that course is designed to literally walk you through from the minute you decide, I need to hire, right up through to the first nine days.
Shelli Warren 42:01
And it is in true business out there. Sorry. In true biz chix style, it is full of templates, samples. Checklists, like you name it, it’s in every really want to be self sufficient. So the success we’ve had for our clients was now available for anyone, anyone can go and get it, and use it within your team, and really be able to help build up that team of individuals of people that want to stay, you know, and that you want them to stay, instead of that constant churn of team members. Let’s get you the right people in at the right time, and have them be delighted to continue to stay with you longer.
Abby Herman 42:42
Yeah, I love that. And as we go live with this episode, you have the leadership labs open for new enrollees. And where can people go to find out more about the leadership lab,
Shelli Warren 42:54
They can also go to the biz chicks website bizchix.com/leadershiplab. And that program is it’s a group program. And it’s designed for women who have an existing business with a team of five or more. They can have a brick and mortar or they can have a virtual team. But it’s it’s really about learning how to be a better leader when you have that team. And it’s really about teaching how to leverage the team so that you can literally get more time.
Abby Herman 43:27
Yeah, and I can speak to I haven’t been in leadership lab, but I can speak to the quality of this chicks programs. Because I’ve been to visit chicks live a couple of times, I have been in a couple of the programs and have gotten so much out of the programs, and my business has just grown so much just as a result of you know, support from you. And support from Natalie Ekdahl is check so so thank you.
Shelli Warren 43:53
Hey, thank you. We’re a big fan of you. For sure.
Abby Herman 43:57
Thanks. Where can people find out more about you, Shelli?
Shelli Warren 44:01
Well, I mean, you can absolutely follow me on Instagram, on Instagram. I’m @stalkingyourteampodcast. And of course on LinkedIn. I’m Shelli Warren, Shellei with an I. I’d love to connect with you.
Abby Herman 44:11
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.
Shelli Warren 44:14
Thank you, Abby.
Abby Herman 44:17
I think it’s so true that hiring today looks so different from when you and I applied for our first jobs by having to walk into a place of business, ask for an application, and then fill out a paper application. And just like we should always be looking for our next clients. We should also always be looking for our next hire so much to think about from this episode.
Abby Herman 44:41
What were your biggest takeaways? take a screenshot of the episode on your phone and share it over on Instagram stories along with something that you learned. Be sure to tag me @thecontentexperiment so I can give you a shout out and Shelli @stalkingyourteampodcast. The more you share the more we can get the podcast into the hands of more business owners just like you who need to hear the message that they are not alone.
Abby Herman 45:07
Until next time, take care
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
