SPEAKER_01 0:00

And and genuinely get to know that person, what their business is and what they're about, what what they're passionate about and they're what they value.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

All right, welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where today we have a featured guest that was previously mentioned on a podcast episode. We mentioned Colorado's best networkers and the connections that they've made that have made them successful. And if you watch Kelly Vaughn's episode, she was highlighting Robin Baker from the People Factor. And now I got it right on the on the podcast. So uh Robin, if you would share a little bit about who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Well, I am Robin Baker with the People Factor. I provide uh HR consulting for nonprofits, uh, ministries and small businesses.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Awesome. And you recently did one of our uh business labs where you came in and was talking about the working genius. So share a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yeah. So the working genius is a framework from Patrick Lincioni and his company, the table group. And um, it's got an assessment that is sort of 20% personality, 80% uh productivity and model. And you find out what types of work, like as in the tasks that you do that are energizing and bring you fulfillment and joy. And so then I work with teams to help them see how they maybe need to reallocate some of the um some of the tasks, or maybe they're lacking something and things keep falling through the cracks and they can't quite figure out why. And so how we can, I can work with them on how we can get them to better just better um be more efficient and and fill in those gaps where they need to, whether it's hiring someone or finding another way to work around that.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

How often do you see the right people are in the right seats of the bus? Like they're in the right working genius.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

You know, sometimes it a lot of times it they seem to be in the um in the right spot, or at least mostly in the right spot. And um, what I find more is teams that are have a gap of some sort. Um, I have uh a group that I worked with that had four people on the team, and they were missing one, one of the geniuses completely, which is called galvanizing, which is that person that rallies the troops, gets them on board, and also ensures that everything is being taken care of, finding the people, hey, you're good at this. I need you to get this done. We need to get this done, kind of thing. And they were missing that piece. And three of them had it in their working frustration, meaning that it drains their energy and makes them pretty miserable to do. And one had it in their competency, meaning you don't love it, you don't hate it, but you don't want to spend a lot of time doing that. And luckily, that was the leader. And so, of course, the leader of an organization is going to have to do that at times. However, it it is going to drain them. And so we had to work through how they can uh manage that, whether it's the next time they hire finding someone with the right genius or uh trying to um find uh other ways to get around that.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah. I'm just uh, you know, the entrepreneurial struggle where a lot of people grind, grind, grind, and um, and then all of a sudden they have a moment where they make it or they have a big break. But um, I would imagine there's a lot of people in the grind and they might be like one person away from the team that would do it. So um how how would how would an entrepreneur recognize that it's um that it's a people problem or a people uh opportunity, maybe is a way to put that, uh, where they might be right close to their breakthrough with the right person?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

That's a great question. A lot of times leaders don't always realize that it is maybe a people problem, whether it's the you have maybe the right people just doing the wrong things or um or maybe you're you have that gap. And so it is hard for them to necessarily recognize that. Some people are really good at recognizing it, but others think that it has to do with all kinds of other things that they probably have more expertise in and they're trying to trying to figure that out. And so generally I would suggest that they come and talk to me or someone that does this kind of assessment and work with them. A lot of times that outside uh that person outside looking in can see the things that you can't when you're in the weeds every day. And um it typically they'll notice it if, for example, the the last genius is tenacity, that person that needs to mark everything off the list and get it done and make sure it crosses a finish line. And you might find a team that it's a they're like we we start off strong with all of our processes and our um our programs that we're trying to do. And then we get down to that implementation phase and things start kind of waning, and we're trying that we can't figure out why it takes us so much longer to get things done or to the finish line, and maybe, maybe not hitting those deadlines the way they think they should. And um a lot of times it's because they're missing someone that has that genius uh that uh is important because you obviously we're in business to get things done. Yeah. And so um I've seen that with teams where they they're kind of missing that that piece, or it may be as a larger team and there's only one person with that. And if you have a larger team, you may need a couple of people that can get in there and say, hey, we got to get this done and make sure that it gets finished. And so um, I would say if if things are falling through the cracks are not working out quite the way um that they plan when it comes to a uh an implementation of something or uh some sort of project, then there's it's possible that something is missing, or maybe some of the people are in the wrong, in the wrong areas of tasks.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Well, I imagine when they're reaching out to you, it's it's pretty vulnerable, or you're like, hey, I it's not right. And I have tried some different things, but I'm gonna need an outside consultant to come in and look about. Are you seeing a lot of uh entrepreneurs that are referring themselves and they're finding your website, or are you getting a lot of referrals?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Um more referrals, really. Yeah. Referrals, I think they're they're just about everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

When it comes to to something like that, because it is their business, it is their lifeline. They're very protective of that. And you don't want to just bring anybody in.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah. And I would imagine too, if uh somebody who already has a level of rapport and trust, they can actually have a conversation like, hey, I know this girl, Robin, we might be able to bring her in. Is there any of those referral partners or people that you get referrals from, people that you work with really closely that you want to highlight? And and I'm curious how you got those relationships set up.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah. Um, well, as you mentioned, Kelly Vaughn earlier. Kelly is fantastic. We met through another networking group that we both um are pretty involved in, uh, NoCo Connect. And we met there and had a one-on-one and really hit it off. And then, of course, I found out that she was um a part of NIA as well. And so she has um been a really great referral partner. We have a lot of um, a lot of the same kind of target um audience, as well as um the HR and IT go pretty hand in hand. You need all of that security, and um really you can't do a lot of anything without IT. And I don't recommend doing HR without some sort of technology these days that on the paper, all manual is not fun for anyone.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Sure. Well, so you so you meet Kelly at a networking event. Um obviously, like you said, their businesses are there's an opportunity there to collaborate, but how did you how did you hit it off to where you're now working together, shouting each other out on the podcast and those taking that relationship to the to the next level?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yeah. Um then my the very first time we met, uh, when we were just going around introducing ourselves, I I kind of told what I did and mentioned Working Genius. She had read the book and she was like, Oh, we need to hit together. I want to have a one-on-one. And so we we scheduled that and um went for coffee and just really had a lot in common it personally and just hit it off really well. And so, um, and like I said, but our our businesses really go well together. And so uh we just had a lot that we could share and realize that we could collaborate really well.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Really cool. And it makes business more fun.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

It does. Yeah, Kelly's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

So well, let's talk about networking because there's a lot of people that are involved in networking and and um as someone who studies how people work together as teams. I mean, I think there's like a one-off networking event and you're working the room, but uh, for those who are like getting plugged into a group, uh like a networking group where they're seeing the same um entrepreneurs there. Any tips that you have for how to get along or how to build rapport, how to build relationships, or how to um how to be collaborative in a networking environment?

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Sure. I think um one way to build rapport is is to uh set up those one-on-ones. There's just you can only chat so much and learn so much about each other in a networking group that's you know, an hour and a half long and there's 50 people roaming around, right? And and and genuinely get to know that person, what their business is and what they're about, what what they're passionate about and they're what they value. Because the networking isn't necessarily about um making sales to those people. It's about getting to know each other so that you are a trusted referral for the other person. And so I think that's the best way to build that rapport is to get in and learn about genuinely want to learn about them and understand them. And uh then it will just kind of come together.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah. Well, I think it's cool to be in a room with like owners and decision makers. You know, if you're around a plumbing business, it's not a plumbing business. There's a human being that is representing, dreaming about it. Uh, and your business is the people factor, right? So peep who people are in their businesses. Um, what have you seen as like a way to better advocate for your business or to better uh create that human um people influence of uh within their business, in their communities?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Hmm, that's a good question. I um I I find, especially with most of the entrepreneurs that I work with, especially when they hear the words HR, they say they realize that they don't know what they don't know. Yeah. And uh most of the time they're like, oh, I need to ask you some questions. And so once they've had a chance to chat with me and and get to know uh that I really do have the people, um, that's my heart is around the people because you don't have a business if you don't have people, and if you don't know how to treat them well and work well with them, then you won't have the people, which is super important. And so, and then of course there's all of that fun compliance stuff that us HR people just love.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

When when's the right time to hire an HR person? Um, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs, they're they're a solopreneur. They're doing, they're the bookkeeper, they're the janitor, they're the IT department. But as they grow and expand, when is a good time to bring someone like you in and make sure they're doing it the right way?

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Well, to bring someone in like me, I would say uh maybe with your first hire. Okay. I have had a client that they, it was uh a general contractor. He just did things on his own and was planning to do things on his own. And all of a sudden he was like, I need a, I need an employee. And so um his wife handled all of the books and all of that in the background. And she called and she said, I don't, what do I do? What do I need? What do I need to get from him? What do I need to have set up? And so I was able to work with her, sit down, go through a checklist of things that they need to have set up and making sure and then that they had everything in place before they got their new employee on board and just gave her some tips and things about, you know, these are the things to watch out for and and make sure you keep that and that maybe just a quick one-off time that we work together to get them started, but um, and making sure that they have everything in place. Generally I find that they start calling me for other things after that. Yeah. Like what, okay, now I've had some kind of uh performance issue and I need to know what to do from that. Or oh, we've found that this isn't a good fit and we don't know what to do to uh separate from this employee in in a good way. And so uh a lot of times if they'll if they call at the beginning, then they have other questions that come up and then we'll call back. But um I would say now is always a good time. If you already have employees and you're not sure if you have everything together, I can come in and do an audit, just a compliance audit, and make sure that everything is in place that should be. So I usually find that uh there's one or two things missing that they didn't even know.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

What uh what would be some of the things you see most often? People that they overlook or maybe they just set it up and you're like, hey, we need to come in and fix this.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah. Um, well, I had someone recently that I was working with that had they had a handbook that um they kind of did a copy and paste for someone else's and it wasn't in bad shape, but it was definitely missing some key pieces. Um a lot of times with even some of the filing, things need to be separated depending on what those items are, and have uh a completely separate file. And so uh they don't always know that. Um more recently there is um a Colorado law that requires when you separate from an employee, whether it's uh their decision or yours, uh even retirement, they you have a form that you have to fill out and provide them with some general information about your business and about their recent pay stubs and things like that for on how they can file for unemployment. And so essentially you could be possibly eligible for unemployment, and here's how you file for it. And so a lot of people missed that between 2020 and probably 2023. There were about eight, I think. Don't quote me on the number, but like it was like 75 law changes or things, something like that in employment law. It was a huge amount. And so the uh that's a lot for an HR person to keep up with who's doing that all the time. And of course, most of the time I'm dealing with uh the business owner or an executive director and a nonprofit or a lead pastor at a church, and uh, they have their own full-time job and um mission to take care of. And then to try to add that on top is can be a struggle.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Well, about what you talk about, Robin, it's it's a lot of like optimization. Um, I think a lot of people think of HR as like performance improvement plans, hiring and firing, and um, you never want to see your HR person just randomly get added to a Zoom call or something like that. Uh, but like when you're talking about making a team perfor to their highest potential, um, you've got to be a champion of business owners, right? And watching them grow and thrive and hit their optimization. But what what do you see when they get it right, their team right, everybody's in their working genius? That what is kind of the level of jump or growth that they experience when they get it right?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Well, I think they first off, you see a really great culture with their team. People want to be there. And when people want to be there, then they don't leave.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Even when they have, you know, temptation of maybe higher pay that you can't afford, they will a lot of times stick around. And with that, then they give their best for the employer. And uh, if they're happy and they're thriving and they're working in their genius and get that opportunity every day and they're treated well, then they're going to in turn do that for your customers. And then when they do that for your customers, you just see things grow.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Awesome. Well, if somebody is maybe, maybe they're about ready to hire their first employee. Maybe there's an issue. They're like, oh, I should have brought in Robin earlier. It's like I'm thinking of that parable of like, when was the best time to plant an oak tree? Uh, 20 years ago, the second best time is today. When was the best time to bring you in? Probably when they hired their first employee, but the second best time is today. But how can people get a hold of you or check you out if they want to learn more?

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, I um I'm on social media and I have a website. Um, it's kind of strange. It's it's the people factor. There's just a hyphen between the and people and another hyphen between people and factor. Um so uh I also then can contact me via text or phone, 970-541-9265.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Awesome. Well, Robin, thanks so much for coming on the show, sharing some wisdom, um, you know, sharing how you're collaborating, but this was really, really good. And um I'll somebody come meet us at uh a next networking event.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Awesome. Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.