Lisa Ryan - Inspiration for future company culture - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Lisa Ryan, the Summer 2023 RCMA speaker. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the video.

Intro: Welcome to Coatings Cast, the ultimate podcast dedicated to the science, art and innovation of roof coatings. It's time to roll up our sleeves, put on our lab coats and dive headfirst into the world of liquid protection that keeps your roofs in prime condition. The future of roofing is here in its liquids, so don't miss out. This is Coatings Cast, where every drop counts in the world of roof protection.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to Coatings Coffee Shop, Coatings Cast. This is a podcast talking about coatings, but also other great things. And in fact, I was recently at a roof coating manufacturer association meeting and was so lucky to be able to listen to Lisa Ryan, who was a keynote speaker talking about gratitude, culture and how important that is right now for what we're dealing with in the labor shortage. So, I thought, let's invite Lisa onto one of our Coating Casts. So Lisa, welcome to the show.

Lisa Ryan: It is great to be here, Heidi. Thanks for having me.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Oh, you know what? I just thought you were spectacular. I enjoyed your talk at the RCMA meeting so much.

Lisa Ryan: Thanks. Yeah, you know what? It was such a good group. It's funny, when you walk around and you hand the microphone to people, with some group, it's crickets, and those people did not want to give the microphone back. They were so excited to share their ideas and what they were doing in their company. Yeah, I had a blast.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That is really roofing. That is what it is all about. We all like each other and we talk a lot. But one of the things too, that I'm always so curious about, is that you are a professional speaker. And you and I talked a little bit last week about, really, you do continuing education as a speaker, you are involved with organizations about speaking. I just think that's so cool. But I'm curious, how does that happen? How did you become a professional speaker and really pick the topics that you talk about?

Lisa Ryan: Well, you know what, it really goes back a long way. It started when I was a, I believe I was a 19-year-old data entry clerk working for an executive search firm, and my boss invited me to take a Dale Carnegie class. And I was like, "Dale, who?" Because I had no idea. And if anybody watching this recording is like Dale who? Dale Carnegie wrote one of the finest business and professional development books ever written called How to Win Friends and Influence People. But I was invited to the Dale Carnegie course, and not only did I take it, then I was a graduate assistant, so I had 27 weeks at Dale Carnegie.

And at that point, I knew that I love to speak, but I didn't think, I didn't know you could make a profession out of it. So, hence, I went into my sales career. When I was in the welding industry, I was their corporate computer trainer. I also did safety seminars on oxyacetylene safety. And then, when I was in medical sales, I did more than 500 continuing education programs on exciting topics like hand hygiene, double gloving, latex allergies, all of that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it.

Lisa Ryan: Trying to take really, really boring topics and make them interesting. And then, when my medical sales position was eliminated on October 12th, 2010 via group conference call with 12 of us getting canned at the same time.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Nice.

Lisa Ryan: I basically said, no company will ever do that to me again, and I started my speaking business on that day. And I found out that yes, you can make a living speaking. It's just really, really hard to do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: But you've done such a great job, and you also have some comedy background, right?

Lisa Ryan: Yeah. Well, I think that in my courses and just my regular sense of humor, that I am funny. But I took an improv class, and I took it twice, and graduation was actually five minutes on stage at the improv.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Oh, awesome.

Lisa Ryan: And I will tell you what, that is doing five minutes of standup is the hardest gig I have ever had. Because I know that I'm funny in the course of my programs, but to intentionally be funny for five minutes straight, yeah, that was tough. I mean, it was a lot of fun because I talked about, it was basically all about sibling rivalry and how my siblings and I fought for our mother's love. And you could find it on YouTube.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. Okay, well, everybody, you can look that up. And also, and actually, you have a lot on YouTube. You have a great website too.

Lisa Ryan: Thank you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Where people can really find out more, because I know a lot of people listening to this are going to be like, "Oh, we are always looking for speakers." And one of the things that I really loved about what you spoke about is that, yeah, you put it towards the trades and I could see that it was oriented towards construction, but it was really just common sense. I mean, great stuff that... Ask some questions. So, talk a little bit about what you talked about at that RCMA meeting, and kind of what you're helping people to kind of do in their own companies.

Lisa Ryan: Sure. Well, I really work with companies to help them keep their top talent from becoming someone else's. And there's no better time than right now in this post-pandemic economy because things really have changed. There's much more personalization and there's different expectations in the workplace. So, when we're talking about gratitude strategies, or gradegies, it's really connecting with your employees to let them know that, "Hey, I value you. I appreciate you. I acknowledge the good work that you do. And it's not that as your manager, my job is to point out all the things you're doing wrong and to point out how you're screwing things up, but rather to acknowledge when you're doing things well."

And in most cases, when that happens, your employees do even better. Because, I'll never forget, I had a person come up to me at the end of a program and they said, "Lisa, when I do something wrong, I get recognized 100% of the time. And when I do something well, it rarely gets acknowledged." And we need to flip those numbers.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: So, I think that the beauty of it is it's almost giving people permission to have relationships with their employees, to acknowledge them, to find out what they like personally. How many kids and dogs and about their spouses and about their likes, because they're looking for personalized attention. There's no one size fits all approach anymore.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, one of the questions I asked during your keynote was, can you say thank you too much? Because I've had people in the past who say, "You're always saying thank you. You don't need to say thank you that much." But I am kind of the mind, I don't think you can say thank you enough, and you kind of reinforced that for me. But do you hear that from other folks that there's too much or that people don't believe you?

Lisa Ryan: Yeah, because what happens is that, and especially when you have in more male dominated industries, sad to say, but they say that, "Oh, if I thank my guys for doing a job, they're just going to get all cocky and want a dollar an hour raise." And it's like, as long as you're being specific, because if you look at this and oh, this is just, okay, something I have to check off a list. Okay, I got to thank five people today. All right. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Checklist said five, then no. But if you're being specific, "Hey, I really appreciate the fact that you stayed, put in that two hours of overtime so we can get this roof put on. That helped out a lot, the customer was happy." And some people would be like, "Well, why would I thank them for putting in overtime? I'm paying those people time and a half, for goodness' sake."

It's like, well, what happens next time when you need them to pony up and stay a little bit late? Either they're going to be like, "You know what? They acknowledged me last time that I did that. Sure, I'm happy to help." Or they'll be like, "I got a hot date. I'm out of here." Because it's not always the money, and money is a big thing but it's not the only thing. So, it's just really focusing. So the answer and research actually proves this too, that as long as you are being specific and authentic, because when you're not authentic, your employees will see right through that, you cannot thank people too much.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. I love that because I want to be thanked. I want to be thanked for hard work. And so, I think if you just look at what you want and try to apply that to other folks, do good onto others, it makes sense. I think one of the things too, that I'm finding, so I'm on a lot of boards, I kind of talked about that. I do go through a lot of different meetings and stuff, but I love the trend that I'm seeing of associations starting to do more training, starting to do more training around this, around the culture, retention of employees. And I know you speak at a lot of different association groups. Can you kind of talk about the importance of associations providing this kind of continuing education and coaching like you provide, on culture, but on really overall?

Lisa Ryan: Yeah. In a lot of cases, when you're looking at industrial trade associations, the technical part of the job is very important. What are the new technologies that are coming in? What should people know about new products and new ways to do their business? But if you don't have the people skills to connect with your people and to build a workplace culture that not only keeps the people that you have but attracts people to come to you, there's a really good chance your business is not going to survive. So, being a part of an association, it's nice when you can go number one and get all the information that you need versus having to bring in individual trainers for every single thing that you could learn, but the other magical thing about being in an association is that you have your peers there.

I mean, I know at RCMA, it's just so funny, you kind of mentioned that it's a great group. They compete against each other, but they know each other, they respect each other, they share things with each other because they're part of the same group and you're much more likely to share information or maybe there's a job that you can't take, but you'll refer it to somebody else because you know, like and trust that person based on the fact that you've been in the association with them. So, I always, when I'm working with associations, there's some of them that they stick strictly to technical topics, and I think that that's great. I also think that they're missing a large percentage of how they can help their members even further by giving them the people skills, because they might've been called soft skills in the past, but there ain't nothing soft about it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No. You are so true. It's hard.

Lisa Ryan: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay. Along that lines too then, and I don't know if you've been seeing this with other associations, but I actually am on another board, and I know they're going to be doing some leadership training with their executive team, actually bringing coaches in just to meet with their executive board and start doing training. What are you seeing around that as kind of a new trend? Maybe it's not new, but a trend within associations?

Lisa Ryan: Well, again, there's that whole thought that leaders are born, and no, they're not. Leaders are not born. They are groomed, they are trained. There's some people that will have more of a natural knack to lead people because of the way they're wired and their interpersonal skills. But as far as getting your leadership team on the same page, because if you have more than one manager, you have more than one personality, you have more than one way of doing business. And a lot of times, if you've promoted one of your best hourly workers to a supervisor position, you have just created your worst supervisor without training.

And a lot of times, that person may be nervous to come to you because they're going to be like, "Well, if I ask him that question, he is going to think he's an idiot for promoting me." So, they're afraid to ask, versus being in a room with other new supervisors where they have something in common, they're starting to build some connections and they're learning in a safe environment. So, again, they can lead the people and create that type of culture that attracts and retains people, because when you get the culture right, it makes up for a lot of things where you do not have to be the highest paying employer in your area.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. Culture and offering things that matter, I think, is so important. The benefits that matter. And that may be remote working, being able to take time with your family, all of those things. We're seeing the same thing as they're coming through. And that kind of leads me right to my next question, which is cultural trends that you're seeing in 2024. What are some of the things that employees are looking for from employers?

Lisa Ryan: Well, you mentioned it already. One of the things is that remote work is no longer a nice to have, it's an expectation.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: Now, I should say remote work or flexibility, because if you're sitting there going, "Well, it's not like we can put on roofs from home." It's not like we can manufacture products from our employee's home. But, what can you do? That was one of the things that we ask ourself questions that we wouldn't have thought of asking ourselves before the pandemic, where you never would think of putting remote and manufacturing, or flexibility and manufacturing, in the same sentence. But now, your new workers coming into the workplace, it's an expectation. So, can you go to split shifts? Can you go to a four-day workweek? I had one, when I spoke at the IRE couple of years ago, which we're going to talk about that, but I'll be back.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Ryan: But I remember there was one contractor that said that they put on roofs from Monday through Friday, and that's it. They do not work on the weekends. They give their people every weekend off. So, think about what a competitive advantage that is-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Lisa Ryan: ...when somebody has the skills and they're like, "Well, I can either work during the week and have my weekends off, or I can work eight days a week and never see my family and never have that work-life balance," that is such an important thing to have now, because the pandemic really rewired our priorities.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes, 100%, and definitely for the better, I think-

Lisa Ryan: Absolutely.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: ...in how we look at things. It is so true. Okay. So, let's talk about a little bit some of those other cultural trends, and what you do. I'm really curious about what you do to stay current. When you're speaking... I have the same thing, Lisa, where I'm doing this every day and I'm talking to people and everything, so I tend to catch a lot of what's happening out there, but I'm interested in how you kind of do your research and stay current.

Lisa Ryan: Oh, sure. Well, and it's not only from meeting with my clients beforehand, finding out about their audience, interviewing members of their leadership team or people on their boards to just kind of find out what is specific to that group. But frankly, I have a Google alert on employee retention, employee engagement. So, every time an article comes online, Mother Google lets me know every day what the latest is out there. So, I do my best to keep up with the articles that are out there. But it's just so interesting to see what the focus is on that. So, the trends would be, again, that the flexibility, the personalization, but one that I cover in my programs quite a bit is the mission of the organization.

How is it that you make a difference? How do you make a difference in your community, in your city, in your state, in your country, in the world? Because employees are looking for that. They don't really care. "These are your job responsibilities and here's your money and benefits." It's like, no, I want to know how what I do is going to make a difference. And when employees are coming to interview with you, you are not just interviewing them, my friends, they are interviewing you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Lisa Ryan: And so, it's a whole different, almost a sales pitch that you have to figure out what differentiates my company? How do we make a difference? Why would somebody want to work for us? And going, again, beyond the money. So, mission is very, very important.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. I found the exact same thing. In fact, earlier, so I'm going to circle back a little bit because earlier when you were talking about this new supervisor who really needs to be in a room with other supervisors so they can learn as they go, I'm seeing the same thing, and this has always been this way, but we just talk about it more now. But with the new generation, that they need to be attending association meetings. They need to be attending trade shows, they need to be attending trainings with their peers so that they can learn. What are you seeing with this, our Gen Zs, our millennials, and kind of how they're changing expectations overall in the workforce?

Lisa Ryan: Well, number one, a lot of times, you go to association meetings and there's just like, there's the graying of the workforce population, there's the graying of the associations. If we want to attract younger people to come in, one of the best ways to do that is to invite them to trade shows. I mean, you think about IRE coming up in Las Vegas. It's a phenomenal event. You get to see so many new technologies and meet people in the industry and see what products are being marketed and see the new technologies. But think about it from a recruiting standpoint, because you get back from the show and the following Friday, your worker's going to be, worker's going to be at the bar talking to their friends and they're going, "Just got back from Vegas." "What do you mean you got back from Vegas?" "Oh, I got to go to a trade show." "You got to go to a trade show? You got to go to Vegas for free? How do I work for a company like that?"

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Exactly.

Lisa Ryan: So, it's such a great way, and it builds commitment because the thing that I love about working with manufacturing and the trades and all of that is I get to be around people who are passionate about things that nobody else on the planet thinks about.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: And so, when that person, that employee goes home to their loved ones or to their buddies, they're like, "What do you do? And why do you like doing that?" But when they go to a show and they're around, or they go to an association meeting and they're around people that are as passionate as they are, it's contagious.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: And that's what builds the loyalty and the commitment.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It was so great, at a trade show back in the fall for roofing in Western States, we took a number of young folks from our team and they went, they had young professionals networking, meeting, talking. And now, our team are friends with all of those other companies and all the folks who came to the trade show, and they even had one of the speakers come and speak during, we have our own next gen little group, I shouldn't say little, next gen group, right, at the coffee shop. And they had one of the speakers come and speak to them. And all of a sudden now, they have this whole empowerment of their own careers and meeting other people and getting connected. And I think, I do think a lot of times, the graying nation forgets about that that was us. That was us 30 years ago.

Lisa Ryan: Right. Yep. Yeah, I know. I think about the fact, I just had this conversation the other day with a guy that I work out with, and he was talking about the young kids that work for him. Now, mind you, he's 28. Okay? So I told them, I said, "Austin, there's going to be a point in your career where you are younger than everybody, and there's going to be a point in your career where you are older than everybody." And we just have to remember all the stages in our career and realize that how did we feel at the beginning of our career when somebody saw more in us than maybe we even saw in ourself, and invested in us.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. Yeah. I love that. I can look back and think of those people too.

Lisa Ryan: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Which is so great. And then, you just want to be that going forward. So, okay. Speaking of investing, we're going to encourage everybody, as many people, we are doing that all the time now, to go to IRE, to really be a part of it, to see what's going on. So, talk to us about what you're going to be speaking about at IRE, and when?

Lisa Ryan: That is, I know it's Wednesday morning, I think from 7:45 to 9:15?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Sounds right. You got the lovely early spot.

Lisa Ryan: You know what? And I used to be afraid of that spot, especially if it was the morning after the big party. I would look at that as the speaker hazing slot. But actually, I have found that it's such a good spot because it kicks off the day on a positive note. Again, we're going to be having conversations, I'll be bringing a lot of the same things, the same gratitude strategies that I brought to RCMA. But it's a conversation in the room because we'll be sharing best practices so that it's not some speaker telling you stuff that's not going to work in your industry.

No, you're going to be hearing from industry peers and sharing your best practices, because like I said, a lot of times in my audiences, I will say, "You're doing a lot of great things," and you're kind of like, "Yeah, duh, everybody knows how to do that." But what you say may be exactly what someone else in that room needs to hear because they heard it from an industry peer. And really, nothing brings me more joy than at the end of the program when I see audience members going up to have a conversation with that person to find out a little bit more about, how are you doing that? What are you doing? Tell me about your company. So, there's some built-in networking there that just works, it just works beautifully.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. So, you've spoken at IRE in the past.

Lisa Ryan: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: You're going to be speaking there again this year. So, what do you think of the roofing industry?

Lisa Ryan: I think it's a great industry, because like I said, they're so open to sharing and just being together, and passionate about it. And it's so funny, because during the pandemic, we actually had new roofing and siding on our house, and it was a great experience all the way around. But the funny thing about it is, my husband was kind of like, well, he was on furlough because it was the pandemic, and so he was kind of the old guy that was taking care of these guys. I mean, he would have coffee and donuts for them in the morning. He would cook them lunch on the grill.

I mean, it was just, he took such good care of them. And because of that, they did amazing work. So, it was such an affirmation of the fact that how you treat people is the way that they're going to turn around and treat you. So, we had beautiful work. I mean, they didn't leave a nail in our grass.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's awesome.

Lisa Ryan: Everything was cleaned up perfectly. So, it was a great experience. And just changing... I think the other part that's important to me is really changing the conversation, to encourage people to go into the trades, to know that that is a great way to make a living.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: It's an honorable profession, and we really need to change the conversation around it. It's not an either or, it's an and, when it comes to career paths.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Agreed, agreed. The programs that are out there right now, SkillsUSA and all the CTE, continuing technical education, so important for our industry. And we want, I mean, I think, I've been doing it 30 years. I think roofing's pretty cool.

Lisa Ryan: Yes, it is. It is.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, Lisa, thank you so much. So, I would love for you to, how can people get ahold of you and how can they engage with you? I mean, obviously through public speaking, but you also do corporate coaching. Kind of tell us a little bit about that and how people can get started if they want to.

Lisa Ryan: Sure, absolutely. Yeah, my website is lisaryanspeaks.com, and there's a lot of information there. I also post regularly on LinkedIn, I'm pretty prolific there. I like to say I'm the number one Lisa Ryan on LinkedIn. So, hopefully you will find that when you do a search. But if I'm number two, just put Lisa Ryan and grategy. And like I said, I do a lot of posting there. As far as the things that I offer, the thing that I found is with my keynote, everybody is, they're inspired, they're excited, they're ready to take on the world. And then they go back to the shop on Monday, life slaps them upside the head and all that stuff goes out the window.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Lisa Ryan: So, I really look for ways to continue the relationship with reminders. I have a lot of videos, and I work with my clients in different ways. With some of them. We'll have my weekly videos that will come directly to them. Some of them, it's a monthly video and a program that goes along with them. Sometimes we'll do Zoom follow-ups. So, it really just depends, because I know a lot of times, it's difficult to get people from the field altogether for a training.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Lisa Ryan: Which is why there's also the online opportunities to do that because everything's recorded, so it's easy enough to go back to it. But I really like to put together customized packages that work with my clients. And again, keep that conversation, keep that energy flowing so that we really can change the culture one thank you at a time.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. Lisa, thank you so much for being on this Coatings Cast.

Lisa Ryan: You are very welcome, my friend.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It is awesome. And we will be seeing each other again, definitely at IRE, but hopefully for some more of these too down the road. So, thank you so much, and thank you everyone for listening. How great was this? I just tell you, it's great information. Please check out Lisa's website and get that information. Also, more than anything, register for IRE and go to her class. That is going to be phenomenal. So, thank you again, Lisa.

Lisa Ryan: You're welcome.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. And everyone else, thank you so much for listening. Please check out all of our Coatings Cast podcasts underneath the RLW navigation on Coatings Coffee Shop, or on your favorite podcast channel or YouTube station. Be sure to set your notifications and don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Coatings Cast.

Outro: Thanks for joining us on this coating adventure. Stay tuned for more episodes, and in the meantime, be sure to follow us on all social media to stay up to date with all things roof coatings. Until next time, stay coated. For more information, go to coatingscoffeeshop.com.