How To Build Trust In A Team – Brian Rott
SUMMARY
It is because the team is what makes the business and creates the success.
On this episode, we are with Brian Rott, the President, and CEO of Cart Mart. He’s been working there since 1988. He’s excited to celebrate 30 years at Cart Mart and the company itself is 60 years in business.
Brian talks about different ways on how you can build trust in your team which can make your business move forward, grow, and become more successful.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
It’s a strong foundation for any team when both the player and the coach want to win.Collaborating with the team plays a big factor in creating a team environment.
Involve everyone on the team in the decision-making. Encourage people to bring ideas to the room.
Empower your team by listening to them and making them feel included.
Walk on the floor, talk to your employees, and see what’s working and not working, what’s selling and not selling.
Go where the opportunities and the problems are. That means a lot of in the moment huddle ups, and morning meetings.
Align yourself with good and hardworking people and don’t let your personal feelings get in the way.
Go with your business gut but you have to be humble and realize that you’re not always right.
TRANSCRIPTION: HOW TO BUILD TRUST IN A TEAM – BRIAN ROTT
Kamala Chambers
On this episode, we’re going to be talking about how to build trust in a team.
Luis Congdon
Today’s guest is Brian Rott. He’s the President and CEO of Cart Mart. He’s been working there since 1988. He’s excited to celebrate 30 years at Cart Mart and the company itself is 60 years in business and we’re now going to talk about how to create success in your business by learning how to build trust in a team.
Thriving Launchers, we want to talk about how to build trust in a team and having a team that supports and works with you no matter the size of your business.
Without further ado, let’s jump on the call.
Are you ready to launch, Brian?
Brian Rott
I’m ready to go. Let’s go!
Importance Of Knowing How To Build Trust In A Team
Luis Congdon
One of the first things I want to ask you is before the interview, you’re talking about being in this niche industry of selling carts and how important it is for you to trust in your team, and create a team that is cohesive, trusting, and works together.
Tell me a little bit about that because that interests me.
I have a friend who actually does all these classes on the entrepreneurial mindset and to me, it seems like there’s this kind of synergy between that and what we are talking about today.
What is the importance of building a team that you trust?
Russ Ruffino
Well, the importance of building a team is definitely the difference between surviving in business and failing.
Survive In Business By Learning How To Build Trust In A Team
Brian Rott
In truth, any entrepreneur comes up with an idea that starts a business, starts to run a company, and begins to grow hopefully.
What ultimately happens is their idea may it be amazing, the greatest thing ever for that solution to that particular problem but if you don’t have a strong team to support the rollout of that and/or the execution of your plan, quite frankly, you will fail.
Brian Rott
Most businesses struggle to grow and certainly will fail if they don’t have the right people on the team.
In our culture here, we really believe in the team environment that drives performance by picking up slack where others have potentially dropped the ball and supporting one another through the whole process so they become better at what they do.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Team Grows Personally and Professionally
Brian Rott
In return, we succeed and obviously, they grow both personally and professionally.
It’s always a big thing for me that term of personal and professional growth because I feel like when you’re aligned in a team and you care about them growing both personally and professionally, then it’s a win-win and that’s a really strong foundation for any team is when both people want to win; the player and the coach.
Kamala Chambers
I couldn’t do half of what I do or a fraction of what we do without our team. The team is what makes the business and creates the success and keeps everything rolling forward.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Create A Strong Team Environment
Kamala Chambers
You said something about creating a strong team environment and this is something I’d loved to hear more about how you helped to create a strong team environment.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Collaboration
Brian Rott
I think the most important thing that helps for my business to be successful in creating a team environment is to collaborate with the team; to collaborate with everyone in the organization as much as possible whenever we have a big deal that affects them.
So we’re talking about enhancing their benefits. We don’t just sit in the room and decide what benefits we’re going to work on today and then make those sweeping decisions. We involve the entire group.
We get input from all levels from the new employee who just got hired on, who’s making minimum wage to the executive who’s a part of the high level thought for the company and the execution.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Involve Everybody In Making Decisions
Brian Rott
So we’re finding that we’re bringing everybody in all the decisions at least the ones that really matter to the stakeholders, to the teammates. That has to start with that. We try not to make too many big decisions without involving everyone.
Certainly, we try to collaborate in a way whether it would be through weekly, daily, or quarterly all staff meetings whereby we’re encouraging people to bring ideas to the room. We’re encouraging people to bring problems with solutions. We really just enhance the time together by getting everyone’s input.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Get Everyone’s Input
Brian Rott
One of my favorite things to do is to ask the group whenever we have our bright idea where we’re going to go. Are we going to buy a new business or are we going to expand into a new market or take out a new line to support?
Whatever we want to do, if it’s significant, I ask the team to really think about it and try and talk me out of it.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Encourage The Team To Talk You Out Of Things
Brian Rott
It’s big for the people to talk you into things when you want to do something big. Whatever you want to do, talk you into it but I really want people to try and talk me out of it.
When they can talk me out of it, in doing so, they might open up new ideas that they themselves hadn’t thought of and certainly bring things to myself that help me see the opportunity differently and I can really appreciate that. Again, that ties it back to involving people in the ultimate goal of the company which is to do X and Y.
How To Build Trust In Your Team – Involve The Team Regardless of Where They Are In The Hierarchy Of Making Decisions
Luis Congdon
As I’d listen to you talk about how you involved your team members regardless of where they are in the chain of hierarchy in decision-making, at least in the traditional sense of hierarchy in making decisions, it reminded me of our work with Grocery Outlet which is a company with over 300 stores.
Thriving Launchers, did you guys know that this is one of the companies that we help?
One of the things we absolutely love and this is something I’m connecting with you here on this interview is that no matter somebody’s position, they have an understanding of customers, buyers, and the whole strata of business that maybe we don’t in the higher up, or depending on what we do, that we don’t understand because we’re not on the ground floor.
So if we’re not there selling the items or we’re not at that grocery store way over somewhere else or in your case, carts, we might not understand that “Hey, this is the cart that people are really loving but they’re not buying it because we haven’t propositioned it in this angle. But this particular one store is having this luck or this one particular seller has noticed this trend.”
How To Build Trust In A Team – Make Your Team Feel They’re Included
Luis Congdon
But if we don’t listen to them because they’re “not high up” or something, then we’re missing a big opportunity. I think that empowers your team to not only feel like they have a say but they’re also a part of the bigger machine and cog and they feel included.
It’s like when I worked with the traditional brick and mortar businesses, I always loved when the boss came out on the floor and greeted me and I felt like they understood my job.
That sounds like something that’s important to you and that’s one of the ways you’re empowering your employees and people that work with you. Yes?
Brian Rott
Yes, I couldn’t agree more.
I started on the floor at a young age. I started at a minimum wage level working and doing the difficult challenging tasks that people here today do same stuff; the process and the tasks, so to speak, having involved in 30 years. A toilet still needs to get cleaned the same way as it did 30 years ago.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Listen To People At All Levels
Brian Rott
I know what it’s like having been a voice at the very low level when I got started in this organization. It was hard for me to be heard. Many of my ideas were often discarded or frankly not listened to. It might take a long time growing with the company that obviously evolved with the business but also evolved as a person and as a businessman or contributor to the team.
I’ve also played at a high level on sport teams and it’s very seldom that the new guy on the block, on the team, gets enough time and respect to listen to his ideas and often, it’s those new people that are coming to the team or in this case, a business, that has a lot of great ideas.
It’s important to give them the time not to make rush decisions. So check in with them, 60 days, 90 days, 100 days down the line and see what we’re doing right and certainly, what we’re doing wrong, and asking them how to fix it but you have to ask at all levels.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Be Engaged With The Staff
Brian Rott
Being engaged with the staff is certainly something I wish did more of. Nowadays, with my travel schedule, it’s hard for me to put my arms around everybody at every level but there’s nothing more I like doing than walk on the floor and talking to the folks, seeing what’s working and not working, what’s selling and not selling. That’s certainly a key for making that work and I relish that. It’s one of my favorite things to do.
Kamala Chambers
We have a different structure in our company. Obviously, our company is internet-based and so, our team is all virtual and we never have meetings. I know it sounds crazy but for us, meetings would kind of be a waste of time and we have a different way of getting input and involving the team but I would love to hear how you guys do it.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Get Direct Input From Your Team
Kamala Chambers
How do you get that direct input and feedback from your team? Is it weekly meetings or is it getting one-on-one interactions with people? What works for you?
Brian Rott
Well, we have scheduled time together with the managers. We have daily, weekly, monthly meetings and I’m not going to say that a lot of these meetings are not oftentimes hard to sit in.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Don’t Rely On Technology
Brian Rott
I know that I’ve learned how draining another meeting to be. Meetings can really be counterproductive but in my business and in the space I’m in, we can’t rely on the technology and the opportunities to be efficient through the internet, phone, and Skype. We really need to be touching things. Like physically, we have to group around and huddle up around the vehicle being built. There are certain things you can’t get from a photograph or that you can’t get over the telephone.
We have to go where the opportunities and the problems are. That means a lot of in the moment huddle ups, morning meetings.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Have A Lot Of Huddle Up And Morning Meetings
Brian Rott
As it comes out of my lips, it sounds kinds of painful the amount of time people spend in meetings here but I do believe that. At the end of the day, these folks are getting a lot of direction from those meetings.
Being a brick and mortar dealership type of environment, we have customers that walk in through our facilities dozens of times a day and they need to be serviced properly.
Learning How To Build Trust In A Team Requires A Lot Of Face To Face
Brian Rott
In order to get that soft skills training and the hard training or the actual production of service of what we’re talking about, that requires a lot of face to face.
Believe it or not, it’s not something that we can get away from as much as probably a lot of companies can operate virtually without that requirement.
Kamala Chambers
I really love hearing there are so many different ways to get to the same place and what you have to work and adapt for what’s going to be successful for your company.
Luis Congdon
I personally don’t think that in most business there’s a replacement for time spent together.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Always Check In With People
Luis Congdon
As somebody who has worked in sales and also been a Director of a company with over a hundred employees, we had to have time together because when you’re talking about people that are on the ground floor and doing a lot of people-based work, there’s a lot of time that you need to check in with people. Find out the processes. Find out what’s going on, check-ins.
We have several different companies in that market that we worked with. One of the companies we worked with, Kamala, we have regular meetings with them.
Kamala Chambers
Yes.
Luis Congdon
They absolutely couldn’t do without it and it is a senior care company. We help a senior care business and we do weekly check-ins with them and that’s something that they absolutely couldn’t do without and we couldn’t do without them.
I’m curious.
We’re kind of touching on a few different touch points here; check-in with your staff, ask them what’s going on, let them feel like they’re part of the decision-making, empower them to have a voice and have a say and feel as equal as the CEO or as equal as the guy who’s mopping the floors.
Those are all really great things.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Go Back To The Basic Things
Luis Congdon
For some reason, kind of reminiscent of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People because on the things he talks about is no matter how great we get advanced in technology and training, there’s just some real basic things that no matter how “advanced” we get, we always have to go back to.
I’m curious. What are some of the things or mistakes that you’ve noticed that either you made or you’ve seen other teams make when they’re trying to learn how to build trust in a team? That you look at and you go “There are some of the mistakes and I wish I hadn’t done it,” or “I would advise other people stay away from making these mistakes and correct the course as soon you can.”
Mistakes To Avoid When Learning How To Build Trust In A Team
Brian Rott
Wow! That’s a tough question to answer because the answer could imply that we failed or we’re human, right? So we want to pretend like we’re always perfect but that’s really not the case.
So the answer to the question is really in regard to humility.
When I failed, it’s been because of my pride or my beliefs get in the way of a potential successful integration of a staff member. We’re all human and sometimes, you just don’t get along with people and that’s life in business.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Don’t Let Ego Get In The Way
Brian Rott
But when you let that get in the way and you can’t take a step back for a minute and recognize your own faults or misgivings, then you will have a higher chance of burning through more people.
The thing that I am so proud of my company today is the fact that we are very respectful of one another and I’m not an expert in many things. I do what I do and have done it for a long time but I’ve aligned myself with people who are good at things that I am not. That’s cliché and that certainly not a business discovery.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Align Yourself With Like-Minded People
Brian Rott
Everybody knows that you align yourself with good, smart, and hardworking people but when you let your personal feelings or your ego potentially get in the way, then that’s where you realize you get going “I’m confident in the past that I’ve let that happen.”
I try to monitor how I’m feeling. I ask a lot more people how they feel about that individual before I just made the decision to do something that is going to hurt the company and that took me a long time to realize that
How To Build Trust In A Team – Be Humble
Brian Rott
With maturity and age, I came to realize that you might be in power but that doesn’t mean that you have to be powerful. You have to go with your business gut but you have to be humble and you’re not always right. I certainly take that to heart often.
Luis Congdon
I hear a lot of wisdom behind your words and a lot of experience. A lot of thought has gone into developing this answer that you had.
It’s like this question of “What does honey taste like?” We really can’t describe until we’ve had it and it’s very clear that you have something that you’ve experienced and really have gone into and found an answer.
How To Build Trust In A Team – Know What Being A Leader Means
Luis Congdon
It’s very powerful. It reminds me of my time when I was a wrestler. I met one of the world’s greatest wrestlers. I was training with him and one of the things that he said to me was that “You cannot always tell a leader because a leader is not always the person who’s in charge. It might be just one of the team members who one day picks up the slack or has great input. As a leader, you’ll become stronger if you can find those people and identify those moments.”
It sounds like you really have and you’ve created a wonderful business that serves a niche product and continues to grow because you’re applying these great fundamentals.
How To Build A Trust In A Team And Make Your Business Successful
Luis Congdon
Thriving Launchers, I want you to consider some of the lessons from today because they’re really powerful and if you’re going to run a company and you want to run a business, most of us need other people around us. If we apply some of today’s lessons and wisdom, we can move forward and grow a business, become more successful, and be happy in the process.
Until next time Thriving Launchers, we’ll see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
