As a leader, sometimes you’re faced with building a team from scratch, while other times you inherit an existing team. Today’s guest has experience with both. Michelle Voss has spent nearly three decades in the logistics industry and is currently the Director of Special Products for L&M Transportation Services in Jacksonville, Florida.
In this episode of The Clarity Advisors Show, Michelle and host Ken Trupke discuss hiring and training practices, along with the importance of focusing on what you’re good at while still knowing the basics of everyone’s job. They also talk about bridging the gap in generational work attitudes and how you can’t be a leader without being a servant.
(02:58): Making her first hire
(04:28): Training through shadowing
(06:54): Challenges with hiring
(12:51): Logistics and the nursery business
(16:22): Inheriting a team vs. building one
(17:56): Learning from mistakes
(21:28): Focusing on what you’re good at
(23:39): The value of cross training
(24:46): Generational differences
(26:47): Advice for aspiring leaders
- “One of the challenges I’ve had over the years is trying to discern the difference between the person you interview and the person who shows up to work.” (Michelle)
- “There’s such a difference between buy-in and being aligned.” (Michelle)
- “My end goal in building any team is if the phone rings in our office, anybody can pick it up. Anybody can help with that problem.” (Michelle)
- “I think the younger generations – the newer people in the workforce – are bringing some healthier boundaries and drawing into the light some things that didn’t really work that well, but nobody was going to say it out loud.” (Ken)
- “I don’t ask anybody who works for me to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself. And no job is too insignificant for a leader to do it.” (Michelle)
- “You can’t be a leader and not be a servant.” (Ken)
Michelle Voss’ Recommended Reading
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath
- Beyond Belief: Awaken Potential, Focus Leadership, by John Grinnell
Follow/Connect with Michelle Voss
