Brian HoppeBoard-Level Advisor to MSP CEOs, Brian Hoppe Coaching · Board-Level Advisor to MSP CEOs at Brian Hoppe Coaching

MSP Leaders Shouldn't Punish Innovation

25 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment of the talk, the speakers discuss a team member, Jeff, who automated much of his work and now saves roughly six hours each day. Despite the productivity boost, Jeff appears nervous about potential repercussions, fearing reduced pay or job redundancy. The speakers emphasize that a culture that compensates for outcomes rather than hours, combined with strong, supportive leadership, is essential to reassure employees, encourage experimentation, and prevent innovation from being hidden or penalized.

One of the guys on my team, Jeff, he comes back to me about 60 days later and he says, well, I don't know how to tell you this, but I've saved about 6 hours per day of my job.
So wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. So he's— so your guy comes to you and he's probably nervous, right? He's like, hey, I've automated away 3/4 of my day.
Right. Right. Yeah. And so we have a great relationship. We have a good culture around we pay you for outcomes, not for hours. But even still, that's what I want to highlight. We've got to lead really well because I could tell he was still nervous.
Yeah.
Like, are you going to pay me less? Do you not need me anymore? Like, there was— he didn't say those words, but you could tell he was a little cautious. And so I think if we lead poorly, we won't give people the leash or the comfort level to experiment, and then— or they won't come to us and they'll want to hide it.