19. Jill Knittel: Transitioning from Day-to-Day Operations to Strategic Growth
EPISODE 19
Julie interviews Jill Knittel, the founder of JK Executive Strategies. Jill shares her nearly 30-year journey in the recruiting industry, emphasizing the importance of building deep client relationships and understanding company culture.
This discussion covers the challenges of scaling a business, transitioning from day-to-day operations to strategic growth, and the role of technology and AI in streamlining processes. Jill also highlights how to foster a positive work culture through flexibility, accountability, and team-building initiatives.
Catch the Conversation
-
JK Executive Strategies, LLC (JK Exec) was launched in August 2017 by Jill Knittel to serve the Executive Search needs of high performing organizations across the United States with best-in-class search methodologies and processes. The JK Exec team follows a proven methodology and discipline for every search, resulting in clear expectations, timelines, and communication throughout each engagement.
With 26 years of experience in direct hire and retained search, Jill Knittel and her team have completed successful searches including national retained searches for: CEOs, Executive Directors, CFOs, Vice Presidents, General Counsel, and VPs of Human Resources amongst others. In addition to search work, JK
Exec provides HR Consulting Services to organizations in need of hiring, onboarding, and process expertise.
In 2023, JK Exec launched a Nonprofit Consulting Division working with individual organizations, their boards, and professional leaders to help nonprofits work at their highest level by maximizing the organization's potential. Today, her team assists companies across the country in executive and leadership search, project services and talent search to help companies make the right hire at the right time to elevate business. Demonstrating just how effective her unique approach to hiring is, Jill has expanded her team by more than 500% in just seven years’ time with talent search specialists in non-profit, education, human resources, manufacturing, and professional services.
Headquartered in Monroe County, N.Y., JK Executive Strategies is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and is nationally certified as a NYS MWBE Certified Firm, Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Additionally, Jill is an active member of the Vistage and Global Entrepreneurs' Organization.
Past accomplishments and awards include a finalist of the Organizational Athena Award (2024), the Champion of Hope Award (2023) Rochester Top 100 (2023 and 2022), Circle of Excellence (2022), Business Person of the Year (2020), Women of Excellence Award (2019) by the Rochester Business Journal, a recipient of the Rochester Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award (2006), and a finalist of the Women’s Council Athena Award in Rochester (2014). A proud St. John Fisher University alumnus, Jill received the University’s Dean’s Medal in 2014, and is involved in multiple volunteer roles including serving as a
member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Strategic Enrollment Committee. Jill also serves as Chair of the Hillside Family of Agencies Board of Governors as well as an honorary board member of Bivona Child Advocacy Center.
Jill has her Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from St. John Fisher University.
-
Julie and Jill discuss...
Jill's journey in recruiting / Founding JK Executive Strategies (00:01:20)Jill's experience in scaling her recruiting business and the significant changes in the recruiting industry over the years.
Creating a relationship-based business (00:04:33)
Transitioning from transactional to relationship-based interactions with clients, as well as building a team and adding processes.
Empowering the team and letting go (00:10:04)Challenges and strategies around empowering the team and letting go of day-to-day details.
Consultative approach to clients and scaling beyond local (00:17:18)
Transitioning to a consultative approach with clients and building relationships outside the local community, including how to replicate processes and increase the funnel for business growth.
Team Engagement and Feedback Process (00:23:05)
Hiring for attitude, gathering feedback from team members, and creating a flexible work culture that supports employee well-being.
-
Julie 00:00:04 Welcome to Figure Eight, where we feature inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who have grown their businesses to seven and eight figures revenue. If you're in the mix of growing a bigger business, these stories are for you. Join us as we explore where the tough spots are, how to overcome them, and how to prepare yourself for the next portion of the climb. I'm your host, Julie Ellis. I'm an author, entrepreneur, and a growth in leadership coach who co-founded, grew, and exited an eight figure business. This led me to exploring why some women achieve great things. And that led to my book, Big Gorgeous Goals. Let's explore the systems, processes, and people that help us grow our businesses to new heights. If you're interested in growing your business, this podcast will help. Now let's get going. Hello and welcome to this episode of figure eight. Today I am speaking with Jill Knittel and Jill is the founder of JK Executive Strategies. And they do recruiting all across the United States with best in class methodologies, processes.
Julie 00:01:20 And she has really been able to scale this business up. And so what we think of as something that's, you know, filling roles, she's really created a relationship based business. And I'm super interested to talk with her today about the things that they are doing and why her firm is different. So welcome Jill. Thank you.
Jill 00:01:41 Thank you so much for having me, Julie.
Julie 00:01:43 Thanks. I'm so excited to talk to you about this because you have been in this industry for a long time.
Jill 00:01:50 I sure have, yeah, I think since I was two.
Julie 00:01:55 Yes. You started when you were very young.
Jill 00:01:57 Yes, exactly, exactly. But yes, I've been gosh, almost 30 years. 25 years. Yeah. So it's been quite a long time with lots of changes and, you know, lots of lots of growing and and just really, really the industry has shifted so significantly in my time that I've been here.
Julie 00:02:16 And it must be interesting to look at that from a so you know how much change there's been.
Julie 00:02:23 So you can see that into the future. There's probably a lot more change coming and how you created a business to sort of try now to ride that wave of change. Really?
Jill 00:02:33 Yes. And it's been it's been interesting because when I first started in the recruiting world, I started off as an accountant, out of school. and then when I my first recruiting job, we literally faxed resumes. And my old boss who hired me first back in 1998, actually a couple of weeks ago, just sent me a picture of my business card and it didn't even have an email address on it. Right? Which in today's business.
Julie 00:03:06 World is unfathomable.
Jill 00:03:08 Yes, yes, it really, really is.
Julie 00:03:11 Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. And and so now you founded this business in 2017 and started putting a team together. And what was the sort of impetus for you? What made you want to go and do it at that time?
Jill 00:03:26 So good question. I had actually been with a firm and a minority partner, at another company.
Jill 00:03:33 And I always say that when you're a minority partner at other firms, you learn how to run a company and also how not to. So you you learn everything. And at that time, I got to the point that I wanted to be able to create, in my mind, what I felt was a different, a different way to go about recruiting and a different way. I think partner is an overused word in sales and things like that, but I think really kind of dig in with our clients so that together where we were on, we're on the same side and being able to fill their positions. So the process that I created is very, very different than we've ever I've ever seen before. And it's really worked and created a lot of trust with our clients.
Julie 00:04:23 Right. And that's changed sort of then the relationship from being transactional, kind of a commodities to being a real relationship.
Jill 00:04:33 Yes. And I think, you know, when I started this firm. So the way that staffing firms and recruiting firms have always, you know, they say that the riches are in the niches.
Jill 00:04:46 Right? So if you start a recruiting firm, you have to specialize in, say, finance and accounting or you have to specialize in legal or H.R. And my approach was, I want to specialize in our clients and their culture and learn enough about them so that we can fill any position within their company so that instead of going to 3 or 4 different firms with different specialties, we know them so well that they're like, oh yeah, just call JK. They know us. They know what kind of person we look for, they know our history and that type of thing. So we really dig deep with our clients. When we initially bring on our first search to be able to understand all there is to know, and we say the good, the bad, the ugly, because we really want to make sure that when we're talking to positions, talking to candidates about positions, we can say, hey, these are the things that after 3 or 6 months, you're going to call and say, hey, I didn't know this, you know? and it's really, really worked because our clients, I want to say I should know the stat off the top of my head, but it is over 50% of our clients are repeat clients.
Julie 00:05:57 Right, right. So instead of that client being like, I need, you know, five recruiters for the five major areas or however many, they're they're all coming to you and you're getting to know them and what kind of people are going to thrive in their environment.
Jill 00:06:10 Yes.
Julie 00:06:11 Yeah. Because it's true. I mean, even the best employer doesn't always mean that that individual is going to fit in in that culture. Right? And be successful.
Jill 00:06:21 Right. And that's why we spend time, you know, it's it's funny because some firms, you know, will bring in, you know, a client will email a job description and all of a sudden the recruiters will start working on it. And to me, I don't know enough information at all from a job description. So a lot of it is, you know, ask the questions, ask more, ask the whys. And especially with diversity recruiting and really a lot of focus with a 30% of our positions come through not for profit world. And the EIB is so, so important and us understanding the whys behind the qualifications helps us to be open and recruiting as well.
Jill 00:06:59 So there's a lot that goes along with that. When we have those those next level conversations with our clients to understand where they're coming from.
Julie 00:07:07 Yeah. And how then so you started out with this idea that you were going to do something kind of different when you founded the firm, and now you've grown to have a team of more than 13 people, I think. Is that right? And so how and and relatively quickly, given, you know, the way the world has been, that is really great and amazing. What is it like now? Because now you're not I mean, you may still be doing some recruiting or having relationships with clients, I get that, but you're not in those day to day kind of details.
Jill 00:07:41 Yeah. So that's probably been the biggest challenge because if I look back at when I started the company, I literally thought, I'm going to work out of my basement, I'm going to do a few searches of a year and it's just going to be me. And then within six months, I was just so busy that I needed to bring on an employee.
Jill 00:07:59 And then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, I have to figure out how to do payroll, and I have to do this, and I have to do that. So, so we have grown and I've been. The lucky thing is because I grew up as a as an accountant, I was able to do my books. I was able to do the HR, I was able to really not have to have, overhead money go towards those disciplines until, until I really needed to hire a controller. Now, granted, I did all my books on Sundays. but it it works. And that's what you do as a startup entrepreneur. Now it's different because I have to think where is the highest and best use of my time? And we really have had to grow in order to grow. We've had to add so much process and so much structure in so that every search we deliver, our clients will know that no matter who's who's there, who's their point person here, they will get the same service, the same reporting, the same quality from JK no matter who it is.
Jill 00:09:04 And so that's been that's been great. And quite frankly, I have a couple great process brains on my team that have really helped me. and said, I'll take this, I'll tackle this part of our search. We hired, a programmer to help us to pull reports directly out of our CRM. And so that has really helped. So technology has helped. AI has certainly helped. And really just streamlining and understanding the process functions so that no matter what search it is, it's run the exact same way.
Julie 00:09:41 Right? Yeah. And I think that's one of the hardest things about moving from, you know, it being you to moving to, you know, you have recruiters that are working is like getting everything out of your head. Yes. Right. And that's where I think we can all get into that trap of, well, no one's going to do it the way I do.
Julie 00:10:02 Right? So I can't let go of this.
Jill 00:10:04 Yes. And and honestly, I have to. And so I, you know, just from a, from a leadership perspective, some of it is because I love it, you know.
Jill 00:10:16 So some of it is like, oh my gosh, I love when a company finds a phenomenal candidate through us and it goes together like a marriage. And because it's so exciting, but I also have to let my team feel that. And I, you know, it's not mine to feel anymore. It's theirs to feel. Because I always say to them, you're running a business on your desk. It's under the umbrella of here, but you are running a business. And so they have to feel empowered to be able to make those decisions, you know, still can run things by me. But again, I'm always asking, you know, myself, you know, do I really need to be involved in this search? How can I step away? I have very, very talented people, that, you know, team members that are that are fantastic. And I need to make sure that my company and my clients know. And sometimes I actually have to practice saying, you know what? I'm really busy running this company and you'll be in much better hands with Ali, right? Because Ali's Actually going to wake up every day and think about the recruiting files she has on her desk. And so that's really what I had to get used to, is, you know, I would love to be able to introduce you to a member of my team. I'll sit with the intake, do the introduction and things, and I'll be here if they need me. But they're 100% of their time is spent servicing you. And that's how it should be.
Julie 00:11:39 Right. Yeah. Yeah. Which is which is a great way of framing it in terms of the, you know, and that you're always there, you're not going away, but you're not you can't be that day to day connection.
Jill 00:11:51 Yeah. Because I have to I have to now think about strategy. You know what gets us to eight figures, what gets us to the next level. And if I don't think about that, we won't get there.
Julie 00:12:03 No. And I think also if you keep messing in people's worlds that work for you, they're not going to want to stay either, right? Right.
Julie 00:12:12 So to get that high quality person and to train them well and let them do their job, you also need to back off and let them do their job.
Jill 00:12:20 Yeah. Well, and that's also the moment that I had, not too long ago because, you know, with with so much focus in the business world around growth, there's awards for fast growing companies. There's awards for, you know, fast growing WMS and I, I particularly don't want to grow for the sake of growing because I don't, you know, from a I just feel like it's it sounds like, well, why would I want to grow is it is is it ego? And I finally got to the sense that I was like, you know what? I need to grow because my team members need to be able to grow in their careers, and they need to be able to be in leadership positions, and they need to be able to take the job that I had five years ago to continue to elevate and to level up.
Jill 00:13:12 And if I don't let that happen, you're right, they will leave. And so that's really been kind of an moment for me of oh, I want to grow because I want to give them opportunity. I have phenomenal people under this roof and that want to go and want to grow, and I need to allow that to happen and really create that for them.
Julie 00:13:32 Right. And so as you as you start to pull up in terms of, you know, where your view of the business is, how do you let go? And you know, how how do you think about building those kind of barriers or decision points or, you know, because that the day has gone when, you know, every little thing that's happening in the business?
Jill 00:13:54 Yeah. I think first and foremost, you have to have a really, really great, trusting relationship with your leadership team. So from that perspective, understanding that there's going to see there's going to be things that land on the leadership team's desks that we might not have.
Jill 00:14:14 I might not have purview to, but I also have a trust that if they're not comfortable with where it's going, that they're going to be like, hey, I need about five minutes for you because I got to update you on a situation going on. And so having the trust to know that they will manage upward when they need to and when they need their attention, your attention, they'll they'll manage it. And I do have that trust. and I'm so lucky to have it because there's really nothing. I don't wake up in the middle of the night wondering how a search is going, because if if something's going wrong in a search, they'll let me know. Or if something's going wrong from a client perspective, they'll let me know. So it's not necessarily necessary. I don't necessarily feel that there's anything that any employees like. We don't have a culture of fear or a culture of, oh my gosh, I made this mistake. Mistakes are how you learn in my mind. So for me, as I just want to know what the mistake was, how you fixed it, if you need my help and then we move on.
Jill 00:15:15 Yeah.
Julie 00:15:17 Yeah. Which is which is a great way to give people, sort of the power to, you know, they build the trust, you know, they have the training and then you kind of take off the training wheels and let them go.
Jill 00:15:29 Yeah, absolutely. And you have to do it. And it can be hard because again, like I said, it's fun. But now when I think about, okay, strategically, where are we going now. Where where are our processes broken? Where do we need to level up for the next phase of growth? You know, that type of thing and that needs that's where I need to spend my time.
Julie 00:15:52 Right? Yes. And so that's a real shift too, in terms of I don't know why we start businesses and what our jobs end up being as we grow and change and, and the business has different sort of needs from us.
Jill 00:16:08 Yeah. And I mean, the, the needs back when I started were, clients, you know, and they still, I mean, I would say I'm still very, very involved in, in bringing in searches and clients and, and sales, if you would call it that.
Jill 00:16:25 but a lot of, a lot of what we end up doing is consulting to our clients. So a client called me, a potential client called me about a week ago, and he said, you know, 3 or 4 people have told me I need to sit down with you, and I just need help looking at my org chart. And so it's not necessarily a conversation that that is a, hey, I have a job opening. It's hey, can you look at my org chart? Help me understand best practices and benchmarking for companies my size? What are other companies doing and what talent do I need to hire to get to where I need to go? So that's the that's those are the conversations I'm involved with now, more so than not. So that, you know, it may end up in a search or not, but it also it also is more of a of a consultative sale for sure. because you might end up at the, at the end of the day saying, oh, we, we need to add two people.
Jill 00:17:18 And which one should we prioritize in your opinion? You know, that type of thing.
Julie 00:17:22 Yes. Yeah. And it is interesting, right. Because I think you do go through these phases where you're just throwing boxes on the org chart and then suddenly you're like, it's like out of, you know, we need a layer in here in the middle somewhere that's not there, or we need to sort of like pull it in a little bit or, you know, and then you have to sit back and really think about how to do that. Right?
Jill 00:17:42 Well, and whether the leader, whether the CEO is ready to give up some of that control. Now, you know, back to.
Julie 00:17:48 The what do you have to give up and not see anymore?
Jill 00:17:51 Peace, right? Yes, exactly. So a lot of my conversation in those type of, in those type of, of conversations is what do you like to do? And what don't you like to do? Because they're not going to go to do what they don't want to like to do.
Jill 00:18:07 They're going to want to continue to do what they like to do. So you almost have to create a job off of what the CEO actually likes to do and wants to do versus what they don't want to do anymore.
Julie 00:18:18 And, and it's, it is that piece of. Yeah, like, oh, I didn't know my job was going to be like this when I got to this point.
Jill 00:18:26 Yes, yes. And it's funny, I was talking to another client the other day who is a founder, and she hired a CEO and internally promoted somebody internally. And the CEO does not like her job. Because it is a lot of it is a lot of thankless stuff. You know, it's so it's it's yeah, it's a it's important to realize that as a, as an entrepreneur and an owner, when you get to a certain size, you know, there's a there's a time in there that it's not that fun.
Julie 00:19:03 Yes, yes it's true. Right. You pass through these and you think, oh my gosh, this is ever going to end.
Julie 00:19:09 And then, you know, suddenly it does. And the, you know, light opens up again and it feels a little bit easier for a while. But there are those, you know, where you're sort of trying things and things aren't exactly working and you're, you know, sort of you got to cast your fishing rod and put the hook in the water a whole lot of times before you feel like you've done it the right way.
Jill 00:19:28 Yeah. Agreed. Absolutely.
Julie 00:19:30 Yeah. And that can be hard.
Jill 00:19:33 Because you don't know where. Because you feel like why. It's like banging your head against the wall. It's like oh my gosh why isn't this working. This is what I thought we needed to do and things like that. So it is. And sometimes you have to bring in experts that are not necessarily under your roof. And that's that's really where my next phase is going.
Julie 00:19:53 Right. So it's about now looking out for like advisors or mentors that are going to help you to sort of tackle the big questions for what's next.
Jill 00:20:04 Yes. And really how to scale a search firm that is largely regional. You know, so the the the firm was created on relationships. So how do you forge relationships. Not in your own community.
Julie 00:20:20 Yeah. Yeah. So when you're sitting in New York State, how are you making relationships in California and Texas and Florida and Washington state and, you know, all of those places that aren't, you know, in the backyard you've worked in for a really long time.
Jill 00:20:33 Right? Exactly. And we have we have quite a few national clients that take us with them that may have headquarters in Western New York, and then they have locations in Las Vegas and Dallas. And so that's where we've had a lot of success. And part of it is because we know the company and so we can find the right people wherever they are because of the technology that we have now. but it's those new relationships and I think a lot of consulting or smaller, service businesses kind of run into this. and that's really kind of where our next phase is.
Jill 00:21:07 And what I'm really excited about now.
Julie 00:21:09 That is exciting. Yeah. Because you, you seem like, you've conquered the other part of scaling, which is like the process part, right? Like that's hard for some entrepreneurs. The we have to do it the same way over and over and over again. Is is one challenging point for a lot of people. And then the other is, okay, great, we've got that. But we need more, more feeding into the funnel at the top so we can do it the same way over and over. And yes.
Jill 00:21:37 And that's the thing. Like we can replicate I can probably add another, another ten people to to gin up the engine, so to speak. That will all be very, very personalized. So just because we do it the same way doesn't mean it's it's not personalized. But how do we get there? Because we know that it all works. We know our process works. We know we're very successful. We just yeah. So that's that's the.
Julie 00:22:02 What's the next layer of like business development and relationship making that needs to happen to really then scale up? Yes. You know, that that volume of clients as opposed to the postings that you're handling. Okay. Right, right. And then probably at some point, the process you have ends up getting tweaked a little bit based on more volume as well. Right? Because those are all sort of normal. Like you fix the process, you bring more volume, you fix the like. It's a typically like a bit of a staircase, right?
Jill 00:22:32 Yes. Absolutely.
Julie 00:22:35 Yeah. It's interesting. Now, we were talking earlier about the process you have with your team, and I'm curious to talk about how that works with the start stop, continue conversations that you have with people. Oh, sure. because I think, you know, one of the things that happens to us also is entrepreneurs. As we start scaling up businesses, suddenly we have big teams that we might not have thought about when we had the idea, like when you thought you were going to be recruiting in your basement.
Julie 00:23:05 You know, did you think you would have such a big team and plans to make it even bigger?
Jill 00:23:10 No. And and you're right. And I think that one of the things that I've realized early on is I hire for attitude and fire in the belly. Way more than I do for former recruiting experience. And I can teach recruiting. I can teach our process. We're very, very different than other firms. So from that perspective, I can teach that. So I bring in really, really bright people. And the most important part of it is that I need to listen to them, and I need to provide, the space to be able to listen to them. So I created a process that we do every year, and I've done it since the first year. and I do it in February and it's the start stop, continue meeting. So the questions that I, that I ask are, what should we start doing? What should we stop doing and what should we continue doing? And then I ask, if you left here today, why would you leave? Because that'll give me the real feeling about how they're feeling about their their job.
Jill 00:24:21 And then the second question is if you ran this company, what would you do differently? And it has really provided some great ideas. It's provided some brainstorming around things that I heard consistently across all team members, and it's allowed for dialogue to let some of the some of the youngers or less experienced know that I actually care what they have to say, and what they have to say is is really valuable. Now I will also say some of it's really hard to hear, you know? So of course when you have your own company, you want it to all be perfect. Well, it's not all going to be perfect all the time, every day. So what I hear what they need. I hear what they want. I mean, things like, I'd really like to have a treadmill in the kitchen. You know, some of those things don't necessarily fly.
Julie 00:25:29 But but I did see a dog wandering around in the background.
Jill 00:25:34 So we do bring our dogs to work. it's created, a different schedule than we've, we've had.
Jill 00:25:44 So we, we have core hours from 9 to 3, Monday through Thursday. and those core hours are when people need to be in the office, but they can come in at seven, leave at three, come in at nine, whatever that they need to do for their lives. and then Fridays we work from home in the mornings, and if our work is done, we sign off at noon. And the thing is about a firm like this, and I understand that not all companies can do it because we're not a manufacturing facility. We're not, you know, home health care, but people, you know, we're always working all the time because we're tied to our phones. So it's not like if an offer was going to be made through one of our clients on a Friday, that we wouldn't be answering the phone. It just allows people to maybe potentially travel on Thursday evenings, work for work in the morning for half day, and then have a whole long weekend with their with their families or something like that.
Jill 00:26:43 So it allows for more flexibility. And I think, you know, just more, more freedom to live their lives the way that they want to. But that's one of the things that came through the start. Stop and continue. One of the the ideas. you know, we also do we also do a lot of work around our personality profiles. So we use the desk, we use the Enneagram. So some of the, some of the, suggestions have come like we should we should do them more or we want to hear from you about X, Y and Z. because that there because there's so much information out in the world right now about AI and things like that, we decided to do a Wednesday afternoon meeting. We call it, what did we call it? Bruise and learn. so feel free to have a beer or not, but we each presented once a week to say, hey, this is what I've learned recently and I want to share it with you team members. because it might be interesting to you.
Jill 00:27:43 And some of it came through in leadership, some of it came through in AI. Some of it came through in tech. We had a, we had a, a clothing exchange about sustainability. you know, so it was really interesting. And everybody got to, to do what they wanted to do. And those all come out of those start stop, continue meetings.
Julie 00:28:03 Right. Right. That's so interesting. And I mean, obviously, you've built a culture and a rapport with those team members that they are pretty open and honest with you.
Jill 00:28:15 Yeah. And they have to because if you don't have that you're not going to get what you need. So why have the meetings if you know. But again sometimes it's hard. It's like, it's like the first 360 I ever did I cried.
Julie 00:28:29 Yeah I think I think everybody did. And sometimes you cry about some of the things people see in you that you like. Didn't even kind of realize, like for the good stuff too. But there's always those couple of things where you're like, I know.
Jill 00:28:47 Right. Exactly. I know my blind spots. Thanks for reminding me, you know.
Julie 00:28:54 Yeah. I think that's a really great way though to like let's face it, we people want to work in different ways today. Right. So listening to the input you can get and seeing what you can do because you're right you can't do it all. but there are a lot of things you can do.
Julie 00:29:10 Yes.
Jill 00:29:11 Yeah. And you're exactly right. You know, you know, some things you can say. Oh, absolutely. That's a great idea. And other times I'm like, where did that come from?
Julie 00:29:20 Like it's completely left field.
Jill 00:29:23 you know, but I think as you grow too, from a company perspective, yes, it's important to have policies and procedures, but it's also important to listen. So this year we had our first maternity leave. And so our new mama came to me and she's like, what's our maternity leave policy? I'm like, what do you want it to be like? Let's figure it out.
Jill 00:29:48 You know, my goal is I don't want it to be hard to have babies here. And we're we're busy, but we need to be able to allow the space so that people feel like they can have families here and they can, live the life that they want to live. You know, for those that don't have babies, one of my one of my team members said, you know, I want to travel the nation one summer in a van. I said, then when you want to do that, then you come to me and we figure that out, you know? So it's that type of thing from an open minded perspective that we have to, especially generationally, we have to put ourselves where they are without really, truly understanding where they are. Yeah. And making.
Julie 00:30:30 Sure. Yeah.
Julie 00:30:31 Because there's so many ways that you could do that. You could say, can I work remote for 8 or 10 weeks and I'm going to do it while I'm working. You could also say I'm can I take leave of absence? Right.
Julie 00:30:41 Like there's so many different ways to do something like that.
Jill 00:30:45 Yes, absolutely. And I need to be able to be open enough, to retain that so valuable employee to make sure that she can live the life that she wants to. You know, so all of those things are things that I've had to learn, and had to just be open to and and figure it out.
Julie 00:31:05 Yeah. I think it is interesting doing some of those things too, because like in our business at Mabel's Labels, we had unlimited vacation. And, you know, everybody goes, oh. But in reality, most people took between 3 and 4 weeks of vacation. And, you know, it was like nobody was ridiculous about it. And everybody did their jobs. And, you know, it allowed people the flexibility, though, to feel like they had a lot of ownership and, you know, about planning their life and doing what they wanted to do. And so it wasn't a very big trade off in the end, but it felt, you know, people get very like unlimited vacation and it's like, but you still have a job to do.
Jill 00:31:47 Right.
Julie 00:31:48 So people are reasonable then about they know what that responsibility looks like. So it's just kind of one of those interesting things where, you know, you think it could be scary, but it's not it's not.
Jill 00:32:01 Yeah. And I think that it also goes hand in hand with accountability. You know, I mean if you have an accountable culture and you have metrics in place to understand what's going on, when I get a dashboard every Monday, I know, I know exactly what's going on. And so you have to be able to allow that freedom, but still have the accountability so that people are doing their jobs. And you actually know how they're you know that.
Julie 00:32:30 Yes. And ultimately, I think a little bit more responsibility ends up falling back on you as if you hire somebody who can't fit that culture of accountability and do what they're supposed to do. They're probably not going to resign. So you're probably going to have to move them along. Right. And that so that's like a shift in how how you kind of work with things because people want to knock off Fridays at noon.
Julie 00:32:55 Right. right? And, you know, 99% of them are going to finish what they need to do before they do. But if they're not, then it ends up falling back to you to be the person who has to manage that and write all the things that go with it.
Jill 00:33:07 Right, right. And it's almost interesting because we have such a team concept. So every single search that comes in, either a two person team or a three person team works on it. So if somebody is on vacation, people pick up. There's different, you know, responsibilities that everybody has for a search. So it's almost like not only is it accountability to our client, it's accountability to each other and our team.
Julie 00:33:29 Yeah, it's also a great, practically speaking, as a like thinking about your business and how it operates. If if somebody suddenly can't come to work tomorrow because you know, something's happened to them or someone in their family or whatever the case may be. You you have continuity on all those files, right? You're not like it's it mitigates your risk to some degree as a business.
Jill 00:33:52 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And it's it's been really, really great. And it's not normal, in our industry either.
Julie 00:33:59 No it's not. Yeah. Interesting. So interesting. Well, I'm excited to see what plans you lay and how you scale up next for the next level of fun and growth. And yeah, I look forward to staying in touch and hearing all about it. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please remember to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you won't miss any episodes. Figure Eight isn't just a podcast, it's a way of seeing the big, gorgeous goals of women entrepreneurs coming to life. If you're interested in learning more, you can find my book, Big Gorgeous Goals on Amazon anywhere you might live. For more about my growth and leadership training programs, visit www.Julieellis.ca to see how we might work together. Read my blog or sign up to get your free diagnostic. Are you ready for growth? Once again, that's. www.Julieellis.ca. When we work together, we all win.
Julie 00:35:11 See you again soon for another episode of Figure Eight.