048: How to Create a Happier Workforce

Hello, and welcome again to the Scaling Up Business podcast. I'm your host, business coach Bill Gallagher. We're talking all about happiness today. How do you create a happier workforce? How do you be happier in. In your own business? So the secret of happiness is what today's show is all about. And. And we're talking with someone that I've gotten to know and who is the true embodiment of happiness all the time, Heather Patterson. Heather Patterson is the founder of a coaching and training company called Happier Talent Development. She's somebody who's using coaching and training and speaking things to develop happier workplaces. She's worked with other experts in the field and learned this over the course of it. Heather and I have had a chance to do some work together with some of our clients in Hawaii recently. It's one of my favorite places to work with clients, and I think she's got a great story to tell and some great principles for you. Secrets to making your workplace a happier for both you and your people. So welcome to show Heather.

Hi, Bill. Thanks so much for having me.

Nice. And you're where today?

Oh, I'm in Hawaii. Nice and sunny Hawaii. Honolulu.

In Honolulu, yeah. And I know we just made some of our people unhappy.

Sorry.

Right. So, you know, I think right off the bat, there are moments, and our goal, of course, is to have you be able to be happy anywhere you are. Many people are happy when they think about going to a place like Hawaii, and. And as soon as you buy yourself a ticket, no matter where you are, you're happier right in that moment because there's a whole new future for you. So we're going to talk about happiness and how to get into it. Why don't we actually sort of start in the beginning? Like, how did you get. Why is happiness important to you? How did you get started in the world of happiness? And then we'll kind of talk about the evolution of it, and we'll get to the secrets that our listeners can apply to their businesses.

Excellent. Yeah, well, I, you know, I got into happiness pretty early on. I come from a family of five. I'm the middle kid. Moved around as a young person, experienced some trouble, I guess you could say. Traditionally, most people would say, but my take was always to find the light, find the good. You know, if we were moving, it was, hey, I have this new place to explore in a pool or, you know, new people to meet. And that just really carried on into my early days as a, you know, as a young person, and then into my career. I Had sort of fallen into, into sales and, and, and found, oh man, you know, work is so important and it's important for us to be happy. And I decided I'm going to pursue that route and, and really help leaders, managers, owners, people like the audience listening, be happier at work.

That's great stuff. So where'd you go? What'd you do? Tell us about your career and kind of how this work and happiness evolved.

Yeah, sure. So I was working about 10 years ago, I was working in Anchorage, Alaska. So I haven't always been in sunny Hawaii. And I will say I was very happy in snowy Alaska as well. So it's all about mindset and your perspective on things. But I was working in Anchorage, Alaska and I was selling to HR people, business owners and the like. I was selling recruitment, advertising, job fairs, things like that. And my career progression sort of opportunities were pretty limited. It was a small paper and there were some other sort of dynamics that limited my growth there. And you know, I, I hadn't been intentional about what I wanted to do. And I took a step back and said, well, what do I really want to be when I grow up? And I found that correlation, right, that when we're happier at work, we are happier in our life. We spend a third of our time there. And I really made that connection. And then even further, I realized how much influence the business owners and the leadership teams and managers, supervisors had in creating that environment. And immediately I thought, okay, that's, that's where I'm going to go. You know, I'm going to pursue this route and helping, helping people create happier environments. So from there I left the newspaper industry and I entered recruit into a recruiting type field. So I went from selling recruitment advertising to actually selling the job. And I worked with travel nurses and of course they were happy to come explore Alaska, but also going to work in some really interesting conditions. And from there my personal life took me to Hawaii and I continued doing recruiting. I started working for a HR administration firm here in Hawaii, a large group, one of the best in Hawaii. And you know, they, they had a number of opportunities. So I worked with their client companies. I got into HR consulting, I pursued a degree, human resources, and really got the foundation on, okay, what is the organization like? What can we do? What can't we do from a legal perspective? And then what is the developmental aspect like? And I started training and doing some coaching and training around the state and helping people be more successful in their roles as leaders and managers from a client perspective with that group. And that was great. It was amazing. It was an incredible opportunity. They do some work with Rockefeller Habit. So, you know, I got familiar with a lot of the work that you do, Bill, and that was really eye opening for me and certainly is still being used in my work today. And yeah.

So that company, Pro Service, has been a sponsor of us and our workshops in Hawaii and a great friend and ally and a longtime user of the Rock habits and was a great place for you to learn the Rock Habits and the application of the Scaling up framework. So it's great to put a shout out to them too. And I think you underscore something interesting that we opened the show with, talking about how just hearing that you're in Hawaii right now is going to bum some people up. But you can be happy in your office, wherever you are, in the miserable ice storm, thinking about Hawaii, and then you can find yourself in Hawaii being miserable that you're about to head back to the office the next day. But if you live and work in Hawaii. Right. Every day is just that. And we know wherever we are, there are moments of happiness and sadness and frustration and elation and all of that. So there's something to develop there. Right. And I think you're about to talk to us about kind of going out and beginning to do that work outside of the company and what you've learned to apply. Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So after my time at Pro Service, I went on to be an HR director at a large dental organization here and helped with their leadership and executive team as a younger group. So help them come together and work on their values and their goals, who they were as a team. And that's where I really started getting more into the development side for the others. And. And then opportunity just came up and I decided to leave that role and really strike out and pursue the happiness at work, the business, the happier talent development that I'm doing today. And it's been so much fun. There's a lot of opportunity. Even though we have the palm trees and the rainbows and all of that, it is still work. And there's still the same dynamics and the same things that come up here that come up in the middle of Michigan or New York or wherever you might be in the world. Right. It's the palm trees don't make it go away. Right. So I guess one story that comes to mind that really sort of drives it home. I started working with the team leader of a large real estate firm here. So mainland roots, but local presence here in Hawaii. And, you know, he's been in the business a long time, probably 30 years or more. You know, very experienced, very knowledgeable about real estate. And he has a passion for. For that business and wants to grow leaders. And I was introduced to him from one of his. One of his agents, one of his top producing agents who I had done some work with. And he said, hey, you need to. You need to work with the top guy. And I said, okay, you know, sure. And we. I came into our first meeting, Bill, and he was real skeptical. You know the types, Mary, like, what. What are you gonna do?

Every single time we start working with a new client, there's a CEO that brings us in or some money that brings us in, Right. Some money backers, or the CEO brings us in, and then there's at least one person around the table who's like, yeah, this is all bs. You're gonna have to show me something.

Yeah.

And some people, they're just that way about everything. They hang on to that for a long time. But you're right, there's always something like that. It sounds like this is your first meeting with the guy.

It was the very first meeting. He. I mean, the. You know the type, right? Arms crossed, eyes rolled, I'm too busy for you. What are you going to teach me? And, you know, my. My technique or my style is to just acknowledge that it's not going to go away. And so I just said, you know, look, I understand. It's a. You have every right to be skeptical, right? Who am I? This happiness thing can see seem a little like out there and airy, fairy, you know, so. So let me bring it down for you. And we talked about. We spent some time. I. I caught his attention for maybe 30 minutes, and we talked about his relationships with his people. I had had some. Some information already that the relationships were sort of floundering, that nobody was happy, nobody knew what was going on or what their role was, if they were doing a good job or not. And so we dove into that and he said that that was a real pain point for him, that he really thought that he knew how to communicate, but maybe he. Maybe he could work on it. You know, that was his thing. Well, maybe I can work on it, right? And I said, okay, you know, so here's where we would start. And we ma a plan and we worked together. It was his group, his team. And then I was with them every month, and then I was with him every other week. And so we would do one on one session and then group sessions. First session we had A visioning with the team and what do they envision about the office and where do they stand right now to where do they want to be? And they had the opportunity to give live feedback in front of everyone, share and elaborate what they meant. And that really created this action plan. And it wasn't, you know, I think the beauty and where he really came alive was like, it wasn't me telling him what to do. It's never me telling them what to do. It's taking the time in a safe and facilitated space so that the people can say what they want and need and then the leader has the opportunity to respond. So that's just one example of an activity that we did, we did some others where people got to know each other more on the human level, you know, who they were, what was valuable to them, what was important in their lives outside of work, which really helps, you know, humanize everybody. And then, you know, real practical things and actually borrowed from, from the rock habits and gazelles is things like, you know, they didn't have meeting agendas and they didn't have follow through, you know, mechanisms like the who, what, when, so doing things to help them really understand what were the action items, what are we discussing keeping to time to the agenda. We implemented some real simple, they're not complex, real simple things like that. And in turn what I found is they've experienced less turnover. People know what they're responsible for and they really trust in that leader. They are confiding more in them, they know what they're responsible for and they have just a more engaged team. Actually started working with the top 20% of their producers, so about 10 of their agents. And we do monthly sessions together. And then of course, this success has resulted in numerous referrals to other organizations of varying types, varying industries. And people are really coming together and enhancing their relationships and getting stronger results at work and therefore they're happier.

Well, so how many people in this team.

On the team they have 300 agents and then the smaller team. Right. So I wasn't working with the whole company, but just to give you an understanding of the size of people that they're sort of leading the charge with. And then the sort of admin team, there were six. So a small administrative team, but a large agent force.

Right. Well, I think it underscores something really interesting and it goes actually to our Rockefeller habits. Right. So one of the Rockefeller habits of the scaling up framework is that everybody can say on the team, can say quantitatively whether they had a good day or week. And when you know what's expected of you, you know your metrics, you know the, the result, you know what results are expected, you can drive for that. And that can have a really significant impact. Right on the.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So that's the first thing. And then the other thing I heard you dealing with there is the way people relate to each other, the relationships that they have. When you sounded like when you first talked to the person that the head of the firm, they didn't have any idea kind of what a mess they were creating or what they were dealing with.

Yeah, yeah, right. He. He was the type that would sort of what I call the, like, have a drive by at work, you know, I mean, just sort of roll in, sort of make a bunch of chaos and move on out. And he would admit that I'm not saying anything he wouldn't say himself.

Right.

And so we just helped him organize his communication. And in a way that was clear and it was understood that they knew what the priority was and they were communicating in regular increments. Right. So that people could actually communicate. It wasn't, you know, sort of didn't have this chaotic filter on it. It was more calm.

And yeah, I totally get that because I hear also in that creating predictable rhythms for communication too, which is one of our other things. And the other thing that sounds like you do something similar that I've done frequently with teams is set up regular assessments. So I'll send a leader out. In fact, I did this just this morning with a rising manager on a growing team, one of the companies that we're helping to go nationwide right now. And this guy's. He was having some issues with the founder of the firm, the CEO. So the first thing I had him do was go interview that guy, ask for his assessment, his real honest, fully open, candid assessment. And I had him do it with the other people around. Now, I also have CEOs do this sometimes. Founders, entrepreneurs, and they go around and they get a full assessment. They say, really? Tell me, how do I occur for you? I've got to grow this company. I've got to play this role in this company. I'm inspired, I'm committed, and I need to know how I am. So I want you to really be honest with me. And that's probably the biggest thing, is creating a reason for someone to be honest and inviting the real frank, kind of candid conversation. So that's the first thing. And then of course, they begin with asking. And some folks will say, you should do this one way or the other. And the person I first learned this from was Fernando Flores. But I think it shows up in lots of different environments. And so I'll usually have people tell me, what am I good at? What are my strengths, that kind of thing. And I think it makes it easier. And then after that, great, then we go into what am I not so good at? What do I suck at even what do I struggle with? What can't I be counted on for? And then you have to probe that a little bit and really let people know it's okay to really speak it all to you. And in that environment starts to emerge a picture of stuff, some of which is, you know, you may not feel as accurate or real. Right. But all of that is starting to heal or creating openings to heal the relationship.

Yes, absolutely. There's definitely, I mean, there's wisdom in starting with the good stuff. It gets people oiled and primed, you know, to start sharing. And I mean, I don't know, Bill, I don't think that there's one right way or another. I think if you can, if the leader can have that one on one conversation, that's ideal. But sometimes the damage is done or you're dealing with other sort of nuance, like maybe the hierarchy is such that it creates this boundary. Oh, I couldn't possibly say that. Or we have in Hawaii especially, there's some cultural things. Oh, age or race or that thing, they are less forthcoming with feedback. And so having a neutral third party to help draw that out and make it safe can also be really beneficial. So, you know, I sort of feel it out before I say, oh, this is the way, you know, we're going to do it this way. But collecting, collecting the feedback is, is essential and it's crucial. It's a crucial part.

Absolutely.

Create the roadmap without the feedback.

Right. Well, I think there's a lot of merit that and I think that we often see that there's damage in the relationships and people don't know what's expected of them. And so I think you're really teasing out two big points. Right. And these are your kind of core principles. Right. Let people know, help people to improve the results in part by just letting them know what results are expected.

Yes.

And then producing more results is really core to the work that we do together. And then in scaling up and then help to heal the relationships which we do with leadership teams. But, but you really want to do it across the whole organization. So after you've done work with the leadership team to get healthier by improving trust and communication and creating healthier conflict there and doing things like that. Then we want to start to move that down through the organization. And that's where my work ends and your deeper work begins, right?

Yes, absolutely. That's exactly right. It's really important to have relationships with the leadership team, like you said, but, you know, throughout the organization, because it's all interrelated, those relationships are suffering, then in turn the results will suffer. And we've seen that, you know, passive aggressive behavior, stopping workflow, being uncooperative. That's all an outcome of poor relationships. General. I shouldn't say always, but, you know, usually.

Right, right. A lot of unhealthy behaviors. So we see this, we see people in leadership teams who don't speak to each other. Right. So they're not really saying what's going on. They're being covert. They're being. They're withholding things like that. And then we see where they don't have productive arguments, where their arguments aren't conducted with respect. So they either don't say anything and then they say they're nast things later or they say things mean or they withhold stuff and then they bring it up later. There's a whole range of things like that that goes on in the beginning of, of having the team really be healthy with each other or they sort of sell each other out. There's little collusion and things like that. Like, okay, well, you know, you and I'll wink at each other because we know the boss is being an ass right now.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, you can. Those looks are, you know, we as coaches can see them. Right. And sometimes. Well, sometimes, yeah, yeah.

But you definitely can sense.

Oh, yeah, yeah, you can sense. And then, you know, having the ability to bring it out. And I think that's also important is up front is, you know, really going, hey, you know, sometimes I sense that things and I'm going to bring it up, you know.

Right.

You know, that's part of our relationship. And that makes people uncomfortable a little bit. But the job isn't there to make me, you know, have them be comfortable all the time. It's to get them functioning and have the good results and the good relationship totally getting uncomfortable occasionally. Yeah.

So the secrets, right. We promised people, the secret secrets is to have people being able to produce results and know what results are expected of them. Right. So you can't really produce results if you don't. And if, if the results that are expected of you are ones that you're never going to do, then you're never going to be happy and nobody's going to be happy with you. So getting clear about that and seeing that this is in fact a job for you or not. So that's the first. And then the second thing is that our relationships are good. That means that we have and can trust each other. So we do a variety of exercises to improve communication. It is one of the places where an outside facilitator or coach can help you in clarifying things because they can get to it faster than you can living in your world in the way that you do. So that can make a difference as well. But the combination of those things. I've got great relationships. I'm a result producer. I know what's expected of me. When you have that culturally in your organization, you've got an organization that works and that's the work essentially that you do. Yeah.

Yes, yes, that's exactly right.

So we want to give people a place to turn to find out more and to talk to you and see if this is a fit for them and so on. So we'll put a link to this, of course, in the show notes down below or wherever you find the show notes on your podcast. Happier TD Happier Talent Development is what that stands for.com happiertd.com is where you'll find Heather and of course if you are doing any work with us in Hawaii, she's been known to assist our sessions there. We always have a couple of coaches working to both facilitate the work that we do. So when we work together, Heather is listening for are people happy and drawing to my attention? Yeah, I think that guy's a little off. You should go put your attention on him. So we were going payers a senior certified coach with an assistant coach in the work of scaling up and we've done a number of sessions now together so it's great if you happen to see us. So you'll find her at happier talent development happiertv.com and of course you'll find us subscribe and like our show on itunes or stitcher or YouTube or wherever you got like and share the stuff if it's helpful for you. If you've got any question or anything like that, you can pop them in the comments if you've got that available or drop us a line and we're happy to interact and help you with whatever we can. If there's some work to be done in some area with you in an area that we don't serve, we're happy to also help you find. Of course, we know coaches in both Scaling up and all the related things all around the world. So if we can refer you to somebody that we know and have good, you know, I know folks from, from South Africa to Dubai, from Hawaii to, to London. So all over the world, we know folks that might be able to help you. And it's our great pleasure, all of us that participate and engage in this work love to be a contribution. Helping companies scale up is is really our purpose. So once again, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Thanks for joining Scaling Up Business. And thank you, Heather, for being on the show today.

Thank you for having me. Sam.