Ep46: How To Grow A High Performing Team with Kyle Erikson

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to another podcast episode. This is the PT Profit, Leverage and Lifestyle Show. I've got a international speaker with me today all the way from the US Mr. Kyle Erickson. How are you today?

I'm doing well, Matt. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Awesome. Thanks so much. So for those who don't know who you are, and we obviously recently only just connected ourselves, do you want to give us a bit of a background into, you know, what experience you've got, whether it's, you know, with fitness or business or whatnot, to give people some insights before we.

Yeah, no, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, definitely, man. You know, 20 years of, you know, athletic coaching experience at the collegiate level here in the. In the US and as well, going down that current path, leadership, executive leadership experience, and, you know, manufacturing Worlds for about 15 years and, you know, just kind of seeing the. The blend of, you know, success and in business and how it, you know, basically correlates to success and coaching and kind of blending those two and how they go back and forth in that world. So right now, I'm currently the director of operations at minstar Group. Minstar Group is a wire harness manufacturer. So basically a lot of different things require wire harnesses, whether it's appliances, cars, you know, heavy equipment, and so on and so on. So that's my current role. And like you mentioned, I've been Northern Minnesota here, where summers are beautiful and winners get cold.

Yeah, it's. Yeah, we're talking obviously, just beforehand about, you know, your. I think it was your brother going from Melbourne to Brisbane. It's very, very similar because Melbourne. Melbourne gets very, very cold in winter, but in Brisbane, it doesn't really get too cold. It's pretty much. It's pretty much warm all the time, to be honest. That's the.

That's the breakdown I got as well. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's awesome. So thanks so much for joining. Joining the podcast today. So, you know, I'd like to dive into a lot of stuff around, you know, business and terms of operations, optimum performance and that type of stuff. So let's. Let's maybe start because obviously a lot of people that are listening to this podcast, you know, personal trainers, they're currently running a business on their own, but they had aspirations to, you know, hire a team and perhaps have a bit more leverage in the business. So what are your thoughts or philosophies or even frameworks around, you know, building a team or even managing a team for optimal performance?

I think it's. I think it's you know, for, for your listeners, I think it'd be important to kind of define, you know, I mean, it is pretty straightforward and pretty simple. But what I'm about to say, but I think, you know, truly spending time on there to make sure it is truly defined, is what do you want your mission to be, your values to be as a company, right? You kind of hear a mission statement a lot of times and, you know, what we call the nonprofit world, but nonetheless, that cadence, that guidance, the values of how you want to operate your business is critical because that's what you're gonna, you know, if, if you have, you know, a listener that's basically kind of on their own right now, kind of doing their own thing, but they have aspirations to grow and bring in more employees, expand whatever those things can. Can. Can really fall off the rails pretty quickly. And, and that's kind of what I've observed for people, small business owners that I've kind of had experience with. And to me, I think it just comes down to. To values, right? And, and where you want to go, having alignment with that. And, you know, I'll kind of. So I'll kind of parlay that to, to the athletic experiences that I had. And, you know, early in my coaching career at the, at the college level as a college softball coach, you know, had had some success, right? Went to the College World Series, where that's where you want to be, right? That's the epitome of you want to go. And, you know, I've thought to myself, all right, this is gonna be a fun run, right? It be a fun ride. We're, you know, we're doing things, right? Little did I know I just kind of got lucky, right, by bringing in the right people. There wasn't any science to it. So a year after we make the College World Series, it, It was a disaster, right? Went from, from the high of highs to like, what in the heck just happened here? And, you know, I remember looking at myself, reflecting on myself and, and frankly, it came down to it. I did a horrible job in the recruiting process. You know, I brought in some talent, but I didn't bring in people that shared the value, shared the alignment issue. I frankly didn't bring in good people. Hell of an athletes, just their, Their. Their values is, Is where we wanted to go as success as a team wasn't there. So then, you know, the next year I kind of, you know, brought in my executive experience and in, in the business world and linked it to coaching. And, you know, you don't think about that. Right. You're like just. No, it brought it in together where, where even as college softball program, you know, you had a mission statement, you had your values. You know, in the onboarding and recruiting of, of potential athletes, making sure that alignment is clear. Right. I think that's going to be the most important thing to success where, where you have a clear vision of where you want to be but what type of people you want to get there. Right. And, and so what do you value as a, as a business owner? And then that'll bring the alignment where somebody can come in and help you. And coaching is coaching. Right. I mean I think what I've experienced is, you know, right now if I'm bringing somebody on board, there's some questions that I'm asking them, you know, but you know, basically I want to see if they align with, with the company or my personal values to, to ensure that we're on the same page right now. We can all have differences and this and that. You know, this person might like to do this in their free time but, but, but that's the first question I'm asking. And the second one is, you know, do they, do they get it? Do they truly understand what we want to do? Do they have the capacity? And then the final one is, is do they even want it? Right. But the values and alignment is the most important path forward I think for, for somebody kind of starting out.

Yeah. 100 it makes you make a very good point there and just reflecting back on myself as well, like when I was pretty much running a personal training business on my own and I think a lot of people will relate to this. We don't think about values or mission statements or purpose or really a long term vision at all because you're busy doing everything yourself. Like there's no one else to do it or to help you in the business. So I think it's a really good, good point you bring up. And I think even if you are working in your business on your own at the moment, I think being super clear on your values, your mission or where you want to take it gives you a really good clear direction on what the next steps are as well. Instead of just being reactive to what's happening in the business and then you can actually be more proactive as well. So one of the things that come up, come up for me when you were talking is like an organizational chart regarding, you know, who exactly do you need to hire or to bring on board to your team to get to XYZ Result. So in your experience, is that something that you've done during your time as well, or is there a different way that you go about it?

Yeah, I think it's, it's, you know, you're finding an outage, you know, you're, you're trying to what, what are your strengths? Right? You know, what do you, what do you do well at, what do you think you can exceed at? And, and then, you know, looking at, okay, where, where do I need to get refined or polished up at or you know, who, who what, what area am I looking that could come in and assist, right? So thinking from a mindset of like, you know, just running your own business, just the one person show, you know, so, so it's kind of a different than, than you know, small business, mid size, large business where there's multiple employees, but kind of finding that person that's gonna complement your skill sets there naturally. But I think the key is, is, is you got to have trust. And with that, you know, you want to promote an environment where if you bring in, let's say a number two, for lack of a better description there, you're going to listen to that person, right? You're not going to be offended if they tell you that they don't think that this is a good decision to make. Now granted, it's your own business, but in my opinion, you know, if you brought in the right person based on your mission statement, your vision and where you want to go, then you got to trust the people there to get there. You got to be able to have those, those conversations and you know, kind of confront, you know, if you have trust, you know, it's a building block for success, for anything that, that you can do. So that's kind of my, you know, my thought process on that is, is kind of looking at, okay, where am I really excelling at? You know, if I need a, if I need to have a numbers person, accountant and this and that. Right. You know, that, that's, it's, it's a lot of times an individual that grows their business, I mean, that's one thing that they just, they miss. Right? And, and then, and then you leave the money on the table, if you will, or you're not, you know, you're selling yourself short, not, not collecting the income, the revenue that you could be. And that happens kind of quite often, I've noticed in an individual kind of taking their business to the next level.

Yeah, yeah, 100% completely agree. And in terms of our values and mission statement and that type of stuff. This is more than likely a new process for a lot of people who are listening. So do you have any, do you have any tips or advice on how to actually come up with company values or a company mission statement to kind of get the ball rolling for that so they can actually think a bit more long term?

Yeah, I think it's, you know, I mean, you could, you could go through, I mean, there's a couple different ways you get there, you know, and, and you know, frankly, you know, if money wasn't an option. Yeah, you bring in a consultant and just, hey, let's have a, let's have an intellectual dialogue. Well, that's not always the case, but I think just kind of like looking at what, what makes you unique. Right. What makes unique you as an individual unique. And, and what you can do in an essence to separate yourself and, and as long as there's alignment with, with that, I think you're going to have some success. Right. You know, let's say, you know, your mission statement is, you know, personal trainer that, you know, really wants to, to work with, you know, people with, let's just say some limited occupational ability, your physical ability limitations, if you will, and run it with that. You know, if you want to work with athletes, top performers. I mean, I, I think if you're too broad, you're just going to go all over the place. Right. But if you can kind of zero in a little bit on where, what your target is, that'll always bring you back. It's like your compass and it'll always bring you back to, to the compass facing north where you can kind of get back on track pretty quickly if, if for whatever reason you, you got off, got off rope. If that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah. 100 great points. And then in terms of, obviously we talked about like values, mission statement, etc, so what about actually the recruitment process? Because obviously it's a pretty big decision to, or who to hire or who to bring into the team because, you know, for most people, their business is their baby, essentially. So.

Yeah.

What do you kind of look, what do you kind of look for? Obviously you want to make sure that the person is aligned with the values and the mission statement, etc. But is there anything else that you kind of look out for when you're building a team to. Or. Yeah, to, to build it to scale.

Right? Yeah, I think like we kind of hammered that value point, but beyond that, you know, so, you know, whether or not you're just having a dialogue, whether it's an informal conversation Having a cup of coffee, you know, but, but the other thing is, is, is, you know, understanding what this role is, right? Defining what this role is looking like, whatever that role may be, just having a, you know, just, just the definition of it. So it's, it's clear between the two parties having this conversation. And, and it's one, do they, do they get it right? Do they get what this role entails? Right. They might have something in their head that they think this role entails. But, but bringing it back as, as, as the owner. And today there's their alignment there, right? So do they get it? And, and they might, right? A lot of them probably. Well, some of them might not, but do they have the capacity to do it? Meaning, do they have the skill sets to do it? And, and I want, I'll put a bigger focus on the values and them comprehending what this, what this job is going to look like. I think certain capacities, like skill sets, you, you can coach that up, right? If I need to hire a mechanical engineer, well, you know, I need a mechanical engineer. But if there's certain areas that you can kind of coach that up. So you kind of want to balance that, right? And then, and do they want it? I mean, do they truly want this job or are they just looking for a job? I think if you follow those four core concepts and in looking to bring somebody on, I think you're going to have success. Hiring is a, is a risk any way you cut, right? And sometimes you're going to succeed, sometimes you can fail. And I think by following those kind of four, four pillars, if you will, for, for an onboarding process, you're going to have a lot more success than not.

Yeah, completely, completely agree. I think just to touch on what you said there, I think if, if the role is clearly defined and everything is just black and white in terms of what they are required to do, it's going to set them up to succeed as well, rather than just kind of figuring it out on their own. And then you might be wanting them to do a certain thing, but then they're thinking of it as something a little bit different in their perception. So it's going to be better for both parties to have it super clear and defined. But let's talk a little bit more about, you know, probably a bit more on scale. So let's say, for example, you might have, you know, three to five people, maybe even 10 people. How do you, how would you suggest to optimize performance of a team to ensure that they're still Growing as an individual, and they're obviously still growing as a company, right?

I think that's a good question. Right. So I mean, you know, certain.

Certain.

Business owners, you know, kind of understand situational leadership theory, which, which adapting your leadership style based on the, the maturity of your team, the competency of your team, and, and you know, kind of just, just scaling it to what your team looks like. Now if you don't have that, right, and, and some business owners do, some businesses owners don't, it's going to be important to kind of have, you know, know, a right hand person. You know, the, you know, like the old saying, the king's hand, if you will, somebody that's, or the queen's hand, you know, somebody that's there that can, can kind of, you know, run with that. And as you scale that, you know, I think it's mightily important that, that you do not hinder the ability to have creativity. And by micromanaging every process and every step. And a lot of these, you know, a lot of these listeners, this is my baby. I want to see it grow. But I think you have to be receptive and open to not micromanage every process because there's a lot, right? There's so much going on, especially when you're going from one person to three to five to 10. You're gonna have to trust, you're gonna have to, you know, believe in the team that you created. You're gonna have to motivate, right? And I think that's the biggest thing. But there's not enough hours in the day to manage every single process. And when you do that, it is incredibly difficult to again, stay on track where that compass is pointing north to what you, what you want, what your mission, what your values are, when you're, when you're on every aspect of it, right? So you got to let that go. And you know, sometimes, you know, for me, success for me is, has been. I'm making sure I'm not the smartest person in the room. And, and that does not bother me at all. So you kind of sometimes have to do an ego check, right? You know, that might be a situation there, and that could be tough, especially when you're pumping your own money into this. You know, your, your livelihood's online. But, but I do think empathy plays a, plays a huge role in the world that we're in right now. Empathy goes a long ways, and I think when you get that, then you have, you know, trust, then you have a relationship that can really just take off, in my opinion.

Yeah, completely agree. And regarding the empathy side of things as well, I think, yeah, as you said this, this day and age, I think it's become, you know, vitally important for people in management leadership roles to, you know, show that empathy side because otherwise people will just, you know, as, as people say, people, people don't leave jobs, they leave companies. Obviously many reasons, but I think that is up there. And, and you mentioned a good point as well with, with the management side of things. If you are like micromanaging like every single project, the whole purpose of, you know, hiring a team is so you can reduce your workload. In that sense, you're actually, you know, increasing your workload. If you're going to be like checking on every single task that every single team member is doing, then it doesn't leave you much time to actually do the things that, that you want to do. And just based on that as well. For me personally, my philosophy for hiring is I'll be hiring people for things that I think I'm either not good at or don't see the value in or, or it's not my skill set. So if you can find something, you know, as you said before, is possibly smarter than you to solve that problem for you, then you can focus on something that you're really smart at or you're really passionate about. And then you have two people or even three or four whatever, that are really excited about certain parts of the business. And then obviously everything kind of flourishes.

Right.

So.

And I think, not to cut you off, but I think it's important too.

Right.

You know, growing a business isn't always a good move. A lot of times it is. But if, if you, you know, are growing and I have an example of a friend of mine now, it's, it's not personal training, anything like that, but it's, it's in the H Vac world, you know, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, business was booming. Groot had a, you know, quadruple revenue, you know, brought in more employees and, and it was an absolute disaster in the sense of just more money, more money bringing in. It became less profitable. Again, these things that just kind of a lot of listeners know. But I think where I'm going with this is, is, is he also, you know, wasn't able to go to his kids sporting events.

Right.

It's just managing every little nuance and it just became so cumbersome and exhausting. And I think it's finding that, that balance where you, you know, if you got a family Right. You got to make sure that's getting taken care of. So you, you're getting checked with them and you're getting checked in the professional world. And, and as you morph and as you grow to like say 10 employees, I think the most important higher you're going to make to ensure that you can have that work life balance is, is that second in command. And, and if you can nail that, things will be all right.

Yeah, completely agree. So if people want to follow along and get some more value from, from you or for the company that you work at. Are you actually, I haven't, I don't think I've connected with you on social media and do you. What's the best place to connect with you? Is it Instagram, Facebook or what's.

We should, we should have talked about this before I came on. I'm not a big social media guy, to be. To be very honest with you. I got, I got five kids and so my, my focus is kind of when I'm outside of work is, is rolling with them. Right. But I'm on the long. Excuse me, I'm on LinkedIn, Minstar Group. So Minstar.com that's MN S T A R. So maybe some one day one of your listeners might need a wire harness. And, and we're kind of the wire harness experts, you know, certainly domestically here in the US and expanding globally as well. But yeah, LinkedIn, my man.

LinkedIn. Happy days, my friend. Well, thank you so much for, for jumping on today and yeah, that was an awesome conversation.

All right, thank you.