Stacey Harris:
Welcome, welcome to another episode of Uncommonly More with Stacey Harris. Today though, not just with Stacey Harris, also with her good friend, my good friend. Let’s stop talking about me in a third person, Lane Clark. Lane is joining me today to talk about your CEO role and the choices some of us make around our team. Specifically we’re going to have a conversation about why just hiring someone and following the exact same protocol will net you only the exact same results. And that one is really, really important and it’s something that I have learned in the last couple of years of running the agency and the kind of team we’re running now. I had to have Lane on to talk about this, because Lane is somebody who sits as the right hand to some really incredible female leaders. And she’s seen these things that we all do, and maybe we think that only we’re guilty of over and over again.
And as somebody who works on a team, Lane is actually the right hand for one of our agency clients. It’s really cool from a team side to really see the value and the gift of our CEO having that kind of support. Our client having the kind of support that Lane offers is a game changer, even in our ability to deliver what we’re delivering. I’m going to shut up now and I’m going to let the episode roll through. If you have questions or thoughts as always, I’d love to hear from you. And with that, let’s jump into the show.
All right. I’m super stoked that Lane is here now because first of all Lane is one of my favorite people in the world. I love you very much. Soon she’ll tell you how much she loves me too because she knows I need words of affirmation on a regular basis. And we’re going to talk today a little bit about team and hiring and maybe some different ways to think about this than maybe you hear from the people in Facebook groups and on Instagram Stories, just yelling at you that you need to outsource, because there’s other steps. Hi Lane.
Lane Clark:
Hi.
Stacey Harris:
I am super excited, but I want to start with very simply introducing you. So can you tell people who you are and what you do?
Lane Clark:
Sure. I am Lane Clark. I am your biggest fan because you’re the best, we’ll start with the words of affirmation.
Stacey Harris:
Thank you.
Lane Clark:
I work as a right hand to high-performing female CEOs who need a second brain and a little more white space around their plans and ideas and visions and I help them identify where we can create that space and how we can make changes that aren’t as dramatic as they might think they need to be, but are subtle and effective.
Stacey Harris:
I like how you to talk about making the changes that are smaller than maybe they think they need to be because I think often … coincidentally, I was on a podcast interview yesterday and she asked me about advice I would give new entrepreneurs specifically women. And I said, “Find your people, get support because they will keep you from burning that mother down on a weekly basis.” And I think a lot of times it’s that. I gave an example of early this year, early in 2020 where I closed my membership group, and I was so tired and frustrated with the whole of my overwhelm that I can’t do any of this. I was ready to burn it down and we were maybe if we just closed this one thing, we wouldn’t have to destroy the whole forest.
Lane Clark:
And that’s exactly it actually. There’s two perfect examples. The last two projects I took on, both had this intention in their mind when they were hiring me. One was that they wanted to hire me on a retainer basis to do all the things and take everything off their plate. And once we had our discovery call and chatted, I was like, so you don’t need me. And we’re working together on a project basis to do some of these small and often not that glamorous changes that are going to make it so that the team they have is more effective and they don’t need another hire, bad news for me good news for them. The other project that comes to mind is someone who hired me basically to help them replace someone on their team that they felt was underperforming.
After we had our first couple of calls together, realized actually that person is doing fine. They need more support they need more infrastructure, they need more clarity. And the urge to burn it down or to bring in something new or to get something really, that feeling of just clearing off the table and then bringing out something more fancy is appealing in those moments where we’re really struggling. But often isn’t the answer. I won’t say never. You know I love a good table clear once in a while, but really more often than not it’s these smaller shifts or a new perspective which is what I try to bring to the table for them, can make it unnecessary to burn it to the ground. And that can be really good news.
Stacey Harris:
Well, and I think even sometimes you do come in and it is we got to start over, we can’t start over the same way we did last time or we’re getting the same result.
Lane Clark:
We sure can’t.
Stacey Harris:
So even if we do end up in a situation where unfortunately you do need to furlough and replace people. And oftentimes I’m going to say, not because anyone is right or wrong, but because it was not the right fit.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
Either skill-wise or task wise or communication style or whatever it is.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
Even in those cases, A, you have helped hire the right people, but also you set up that foundation with them of like cool, but when we hired this person, it’s going to be with some SLPs and some different kind of communication pieces and some team check-ins or whatever the things are that we’re missing before we cleared the table last time. And I think that is often the instinct is I’m going to clear the table or I’m going to burn it down. And then I’m going to do everything exactly the same way.
Lane Clark:
Flash forward one year, and we’ll burn it again.
Stacey Harris:
It’s like, so we have the annual business burning and growth does not come from that.
Lane Clark:
It doesn’t. No, not generally. Yeah.
Stacey Harris:
And I love that you mentioned that. I always think of you as the Leo McGarry to Bartlet. I’m obsessed with this idea possibly because it was the West Wing.
Lane Clark:
You know I love West Wing, so I’m on board for this analogy.
Stacey Harris:
And the reason I love the idea of you being a Leo to somebody’s Bartlet is precisely this, that I don’t think I’ve ever shared with you, as much as you are the person that holds space for your CEOs, as much as you are the person that makes sure that the trains run on time and that everyone is doing their job, and everybody has what they need to do their job at their best, you are also the person who will lovingly sit them down and be what the actual fuck are you doing right now? I’m going to need you to settle down.
Lane Clark:
Yeah. I believe I have said those words
Stacey Harris:
Not in a, hey, you’re wrong, you’re screwing everything up way, but sometimes we all need to be shaken. We also need that like, you are spinning. Nothing good is going to come from this. How do we course correct. And you you’re going to slow down the chaos that is coming out. Can you talk a little bit about why you find that to be valuable?
Lane Clark:
Absolutely. I think it’s interesting because I think as a CEO, we find that once we hire on some team and often it’s contractors first, and the team is excited to be working with us even if we found a great fit, they also tend to be really on board for whatever we say. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, but they’re just there for your vision. They’re here to execute it, your VA, your graphic designer, whoever it may be. And it can become a yes echo chamber. And we need someone to say no to CEO sometimes, not in a punitive way, not in a, these aren’t good ideas way, but in a, not right now way or let’s wait on this and talk about it in a week, way, because it can be particularly in the size of companies that you and I are working with a lot, the CEO can be a lonely place where you feel a lot of pressure on the decision-making, on the pivot, on what’s next.
And that pressure can cause a knee-jerk reactions and panic decisions, again that urge to burn and no to hold your hand away from the matches for a minute. And why I use the phrase CEO’s best friend is like, you know how your best friend can look at you and say to you in a way that other people can’t. “Stacy, this isn’t good. You need to chill. We need you to calm down. We’re going to need to look each other in the eyes and do five deep breaths”. Your best friend has leeway that other people in your life don’t have including a partner or a husband where if your husband tells you to calm down you’re like, “Sir no.”
Stacey Harris:
You’ve just hit the panic button in a way.
Lane Clark:
“No sir.” That isn’t what we’re doing. Your best friend can be like, “Stacey, you’re acting crazy.” And you can be like, “All right. She seems to know things I’m going to pause.” So I’m kind of-
Stacey Harris:
She’s not led me astray before.
Lane Clark:
So I’m coming in with that voice, not to contradict, not to be devil’s advocate or anything annoying like that. But just to generally be a reflection of, hey, I’m inside your business too. We have this trust. And what I’m seeing is that some overreaction might be happening or some under reaction might be happening, or maybe we need to pause on something. I just think it comes from that isolation we can get as a decision-maker in these medium-sized businesses that we’re running and that we’re working with, where there isn’t a whole C-suite team for you to be bumping up against and giving feedback all the time. And you need just that sort of partnership where someone’s willing to call you out in a really loving, but so firm.
Stacey Harris:
Yeah. And I think one of the things I always think of when I think of you doing this for … because I don’t think I actually mentioned this. We met because we are on a team together, you support the CEO of a team I’m on.
Lane Clark:
The dream Team I like to say.
Stacey Harris:
I think we just make everything better. And I think Sarah would agree. We’ll say she does because she’s not here. In fairness, I think if you go listen to the episode that I had Tara on, she did say that we were the dream team.
Lane Clark:
We have verification.
Stacey Harris:
If not, I’m going to edit that in and we’ll quote her. But the thing I love about it is, it very rarely is what the actual thought. It is Most often almost more a backup plan for your boundaries. Like, “Hey, you remember this time when we decided we weren’t going to do this anymore because it wasn’t good for you and you hated how you felt afterwards. Let’s stick with that,” because it’s easy for me to forget how terrible something made me feel.
Lane Clark:
Correct. You’ll go glaze right over that when you’re in a moment where over-delivering or pushing your boundary feels like a good idea.
Stacey Harris:
Just excitement.
Lane Clark:
I like to say it’s like … Oh totally. You get enthusiastic. And then you regret it later. I like to say that I’m like the intuitions wing man. You already know. You already know that you did that last time and it didn’t work out. You already know that you created these boundaries for a reason but you get excited, you want to just like, “This one time it’s going to be okay.” And I’m there like, “Are we sure?”
Stacey Harris:
But will it?
Lane Clark:
Are we? Let’s double check it. It’s just a backup.
Stacey Harris:
My favorite is when I get excited about something inside the team and you’re like, “That’s great. Love the enthusiasm, later.” You have the same enthusiasm next week.
Lane Clark:
And you can.
Stacey Harris:
I believe in you.
Lane Clark:
I do. And you will. And it’s actually not a question. Like that.
Stacey Harris:
I want to talk a little bit about, because we do have this unique dynamic of A, we’re clearly best friends. And we do have this unique dynamic of, I work on a team that you support the CEO. And I think from the perspective, if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking, do I need Lane to come help me? First of all, yes. Second of all, it is the greatest gift you can give your team.
Lane Clark:
Oh, Stacey.
Stacey Harris:
It feels like it just for you, but I want to talk a little bit about the impact that you’ve seen in some of the clients that you’ve worked with, in some of the projects you’ve worked on, where maybe the CEO did come in going, “I’m not sure this team is the right fit.” Again, not because there’s anything wrong with them or anything wrong with me, but maybe I’m missing a person. Maybe I need somebody with a slightly different skill set. I feel as a CEO, I have given them everything they need. Maybe I’m just not getting the end result that I had hoped for or sometimes not even with the end result. It’s that middle part of the actual process is requiring too much of me or whatever. Can you talk a little bit about some instances where you’ve seen, A, the existing team was actually great. It just needs a change of communication style or whatever, but is that what you see most frequently is this idea of like, hey, we actually just need to change the middle process?
Lane Clark:
Yeah. I see that quite a lot. And there’s variables on different teams of what ends up being the decision we come to. But often it is something you and I have talked about before off the podcast, but this disconnect between someone has hired well, and hired someone with skill and they’ve spent time and resources onboarding them and making them part of the team. And then like you said, just doesn’t feel the connection they need to the process or the result. And feels like you mentioned, like they gave them all the resources they needed. And when I come in again with that different line of sight, standing next to the CEO, but looking at things from my height, because they’re usually taller than me. And say-
Stacey Harris:
Everyone is.
Lane Clark:
Yeah. It’s a real advantage for me now because I’m at a different elevation. And I’m seeing it like, “Oh, so you did provide these resources and you skipped over all the parts of what’s intuitive to you,” because that like, “Oh, I gave them this explanation of how to do this task or how to support me on this project.” And what you see is complete. Like, “Oh, Stacey made this SOP for her support team member and her support team member doesn’t get it.” And I look at it and say, “Yeah, so Stacey did this. From Stacey’s angle, these are all the things I do.” Skipping over all these steps that are intuitive to you that feel natural to you. And therefore don’t feel necessary to explain.
When we’re teaching someone, we’re often, because we’re not trained teachers, just teaching what we know. We’re not teaching from all the vantage points of the way people are taking things in and what they may or may not already have existing in their resource bank. Half the things that I accomplish are simply by bridging the disconnect between the CEO and the team of where communication doesn’t feel clear, where an SOP feels it’s missing steps, where processes even around team communication are clarified because the team felt like, okay, I don’t want to give her too many notifications. I don’t want to ask her too many questions because I know how busy she is, but really there was this void then in understanding, and we create a system for certain standard check-ins that doesn’t feel overwhelming to CEO and feels comfortable and supported for the team.
And these things feel obvious and feel like we’re all nodding along as I’m saying it. But when you are in the seat, building the business, you’re just picturing how much you have to do each month to keep everyone paid, to keep the product, the process, the service moving forward, and some of these things fall by the wayside. It’s not a criticism of the CEO. It’s just too much for one person to do all alone. And that’s why often when people think they need to hire me for an ongoing basis, I say, “No, you actually don’t. We can just do a project, get all these pieces set, put together in place so that you don’t need someone in my seat every day. You just needed a better way.” And it’s an easy fix in a way, but wasn’t obvious when you’re in the role and in the doing every day. And all those things can be accomplished with my help because I’m there holding you accountable. Like, our project is five weeks. We are meeting every week. You have to help me get this information and then it will be done. Then it’s set.
Stacey Harris:
I love that. I have a great example of this. When Charles left his full-time job five years ago and joined me, I was like, “Cool. This is how you do it.” And I just ran through, out loud even. I didn’t even write it down. And I was like, “Yeah, just do this, this, this and this.” He comes to me about eight minutes later, I’m already annoyed. I’ll be honest. He’s like, “What is this?” There was a button that needed to be pushed. And I was like, “You press the button.” He goes, “Well, you didn’t tell me to press the button.” From that moment, what I shifted to doing was something that I believe you have all of your CEOs do.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
It just loom record, screen record.
Lane Clark:
Everything.
Stacey Harris:
Everything you do. And then the SOP can … and this is actually how we’ve built our SOPs at the agency now. It’s I screen record or whoever does the task screen records it. And then someone else documents that screen recording. So we have now two people who have watched through and walked through this process. And it has been such a game changer and clarity because there are things that are just muscle memory. And when you are hiring in the kind of businesses we run and the kind of businesses we work with, the person who sits in that CEO role has probably been doing all the things-
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
… all by themselves for, A, probably longer than necessary, at least if they’re anything like me.
Lane Clark:
For sure.
Stacey Harris:
And for long enough now, where some stuff is just habitual at this point, we don’t think about it because there’s not enough room in our brain to think about every single step.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely. And I’ll say, it’s a really common thing when I have a first meeting with the CEO that they’re like, we’ll go through their list. So we’ll often go through the list of what they’re currently doing versus what their ideal is. And the current doing list is huge. And I’ll maybe grab out a couple when we’re starting, “Does this seem something you need to be doing?” And they’re like, “Maybe not, but I’m the only one that can do it.” And it’s, it’s not even an ego. It’s nothing that they think they’re super special. It’s that they really genuinely built everything with their own two hands and can’t pull it out of their brain to feel like it’s trainable on someone else. And so they just keep doing it because like you said, the time it would take to even figure that out isn’t time they have in their day. So what happens is then I say, “Well, let’s just see.” You got to ease them into it sometimes.
Lane Clark:
And I’ll say, “You screen record it and then I’m going to watch it and my team is going to transcribe it and then we’re going to talk about holes.” That process is one, maybe minorly annoying, but they’re doing the task anyway, just record it. I’m going to transcribe it. Then the next time we meet, we go through and say, “If we added this clarity and this clarity, couldn’t team member Susie do this for you?” And they’re often like, “Holy Shit, why was I doing that?” And I’m like, “Yeah, congratulations.”
Stacey Harris:
And again, slipping back to this me being on a team where you sit in that role, for me as the team member, I go, “Oh, hey, yeah, I just need to do that. That’s easy. I can take care of that.” Because now I have a whole picture of what’s necessary, whereas oftentimes, and again, I know this from the leader perspective because I’m guilty of it from time to time, I just go, “Would it be possible for you to blah, blah, blah.” And my team is like, “Sure.” Ant then I’m-
Lane Clark:
Yeah, totally.
Stacey Harris:
And then I’m like, “Well then do it. Why do I have to give you more information?”
Lane Clark:
Why are we still talking?
Stacey Harris:
Then why haven’t you already done it? And it’s true. I think that it’s so easy to forget that we have to, A, give our team all the tools they need, but also permission to say, “Hey, I’m going to go do this thing, stop.”
Lane Clark:
Yes. And so that’s the second part of it, is that there’s a huge step for all of us in outsourcing because it’s something personal to us and dear to us and we’re taking it really seriously, but if you’ve hired properly and given everyone a bit of time to get settled in, it’s also inhibiting people from stepping up further to help you when you aren’t communicating well what you need. I was on a project recently where the team member was like, “I know how overwhelmed she is. I know how much she needs to get off her plate and I don’t know how to help because I don’t want to touch this and I don’t want to touch that,” because they don’t have the communication in place that doesn’t feel like an overwhelming barrage of Slack messages and doesn’t feel like another huge to-do list for the CEO.
So having someone step in even for a temporary time, having me there for a month to be that interim person, helping you with the part of the training that you don’t feel like you have time to do, helping you get clarity on where there are pieces missing, everyone ends up happier. And like you said, of course, there’s times where the team member just maybe isn’t a fit. And then that’s a good thing to know and then that’s the information you work from. But oftentimes, it’s more that the work, of creating the communication, the connection, even the trust, feels in itself so overwhelming that it just feels easier to scrap and start again. And then, like you said, starting again the same way.
Stacey Harris:
And it does. It often feels like, well, I don’t have time to do what I’m doing now. That’s why I hired them. I certainly don’t have time to do six more things with them so that they feel like I’m already overwhelmed. I love that. I do want to shift gears a little bit, because I do want to talk a little bit about, what if there is a hole on the team? Not even necessarily where we’re placing somebody on the team, but maybe there is a skill gap or an actual … like, we identify these tasks and we’re like, cool. You just don’t have anybody on your team who wants to, and or can do these tasks. What is your process for supporting them in that hiring process? Because I know you have really helped some leaders place good people on their teams-
Lane Clark:
Totally.
Stacey Harris:
… that were a good longterm fit.
Lane Clark:
I think the main thing is starting … I think people tend to start in a way like, okay, here’s a template of a job description that I found on the internet and now I’m going to replace some of these bullets with things that come to my mind right now, and then I’m going to post it and then I’m going to hire someone. And they’re really in a place of need and panic and even maybe not panic, but for some frantic energy. So the first thing we do is just have a free form dialogue on the need they have filled including their personality type, the CEO’s communication style, their expectations, their previous experiences with hiring team. All of this, like you said, comes into play, but people skip over it because they are in this get it done moment. And a lot of the mismatches and fit can be avoided if we sit with a little bit of reflection and past experiences before we move forward.
Lane Clark:
And then I would also say that a more tangible, so that sounds like we’re reading a crystal ball together, which I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I don’t care. But that part is a little bit intangible but necessary. And once we have a really clear description and we’re actually putting it out there and we’re hiring someone, the next thing I will support them in that feels really helpful to them is actually doing actual interviews before they have their final candidates. So part of what’s so overwhelming about hiring, is you put something out there and then you get like a hundred leads the next day and you’re like, “Shit.” And then you’re at some point just picking at random. At least this is what I’ve seen in a case.
Stacey Harris:
At least this is what I’ve done. Okay. Carry on.
Lane Clark:
What I’m doing is going through the initial onslaught for you. You don’t even need to look at it. We’ve already narrowed down your top needs. I have that information. You don’t need to look at it. I’m going to do the first initial interviews. And you’re only then getting the top three, four, five candidates, that you’re going to put your eyes and ears on and take time out of your schedule to deal with. You do not need to put in all that other time. And I think one, this gives them the genuine relief of not having that task on their plate, but two-
Stacey Harris:
It is huge.
Lane Clark:
It’s huge. But two, back to a more intangible thing, it gives me that more neutral eye on the candidates first. I don’t have the same emotional connection to your business, which is an asset for your business that you have it, and can hinder you from seeing clearly at certain moments. So I’m looking at the first round of candidates with a bit of detachment, connection to the need and the understanding of what your business is, but detachment from that emotional piece of who’s coming in and what does that mean? And do I trust them? Just looking at the facts, and then you get to use your more personal eye on just that final round of team potential candidates.
Stacey Harris:
Well, and I think also you’re looking at those candidates with a lot less panic than I’m looking at them.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
I think often, especially when we’re in a situation where we’re hiring to replace someone, we’re panic hiring, we’ll take the first body that rolls up at the bar. It’s just like, you’ll work. And that’s not necessarily a great way to start a long-term relationship
Lane Clark:
Generally no. I would not advise it.
Stacey Harris:
And so I think, yeah, not just a clean emotional detachment, but a clean energy of like, is this actually objectively the person needed to fill this role in this team so that when I go and sit down or whoever you’re working with goes and sits down and reviews those three to five candidates, they’re all potentially great fit. I’m not looking at … because I’ll tell you, I have looked at these applications that next day, when I’m in a panic and I’m overwhelmed. I wasn’t replacing somebody, but I was like, there is not enough hours in the day. I need to be at two humans to make this work. And I’m looking at all of these really terrible applications and submissions. And I’m like, it’s impossible. There’s no one on the planet.
Lane Clark:
There’s no one. I got to keep doing everything. That’s it, they’re done.
Stacey Harris:
This is why I don’t hire anybody. It fuels the panic sometimes. And so I think it feels intangible, but that feeling in your body certainly feels tangible when you’re experiencing the weight of it.
Lane Clark:
It does.
Stacey Harris:
And so I think massive relief. That’s awesome.
Lane Clark:
And I think it’s important to say, you are allowed to pick and choose and not everyone is going to feel a good bit, but starting from a place where you know everyone is at a baseline is a lot easier than waiting through tens or however many applicants.
Stacey Harris:
Because clearly everybody wants to work with me. I mean, I am the coolest.
Lane Clark:
I mean, lining up.
Stacey Harris:
So I want to return to this idea of you being Leo to Bartlet or the business best friend, CEO’s best friend. What are some road signs that it’s time for you to bring somebody like you in? Because I think we’ve talked about some of them. If you’re sitting there going, I’ve hired this great team. They’re wonderful humans, but it’s just not working. I think that’s a good road sign. I need to hire, and I don’t have the capacity to even think about putting together a job description. What are some of the other road signs where it’s like, it’s time for me to talk to Lane or I’m going to go nuts.
Lane Clark:
You’re right. I remember I actually recently got an inquiry in my inbox and the subject line was, white flag raised. I was, aw, she’s right.
Stacey Harris:
At your client.
Lane Clark:
Uh-huh (affirmative), yeah. A couple of the road signs might be that you are trucking along. Things are happening. Your business is fine. You have a team that is, we’re using this term fine in the way like, it’s fine, everything’s fine. But the vision you have for your growth and the vision you have for your next level feels something that is clear to you, but not executable with the amount of hours and the kind of team you have today.
The people that come in and have the most success with the way that I’m working with them are people who are running their business, who are where they “need to be” but feel that there’s this block from them doing the thing they have on their vision board journal back of their mind, whatever, because of the hours in the day. And you may have one of those burn it down moments and that might be a road sign. One of the road signs is fire and watching it. But that generally, you don’t feel you’re not at a place like, where do I even start? You’re at a place like, how do I keep this going? You’ve hit that success initially and you just feel blocked because too much is still on your own plate, that you’re not in the execution level for the vision stuff.
Stacey Harris:
I love that. And I think you make a really important distinction. And I see this a lot in people who hire us or who reach out to hire us, who are trying to solve a different problem with us, like marketing podcast production, launching a podcast is not going to solve an offer problem. It’s not going to solve a sales problem. Hiring a VA, hiring some support staff is not going to solve a foundational business issue. And so I think it is really important to give that clarity of, things are working. Nothing here is broken, but it might a little bit feel it’s smushing you.
Lane Clark:
Correct.
Stacey Harris:
And the glass ceiling of possibility feels a whole lot closer than your vision is.
Lane Clark:
Yeah. Like your nose is up against it.
Stacey Harris:
You’re like, we’re pressed right up against the glass. It makes me think of, remember in the 90s that Mervyn’s commercial that like open, open, open.
Lane Clark:
What?
Stacey Harris:
Do you not have Mervyn’s in Michigan? Or then nobody has Mervyn’s anymore in fairness. There was this commercial in the 90s and the-
Lane Clark:
You got to remember, in the 90s-
Stacey Harris:
It was a holiday commercial.
Lane Clark:
… pre-internet ordering of anything, we didn’t even have a Target. It was a real rural situation, but yes-
Stacey Harris:
It was in the wilderness.
Lane Clark:
… face against the glass.
Stacey Harris:
And so I think that feeling of … and I describe it as and feel it as, everything is working, why am I not happy about it?
Lane Clark:
Yes. Absolutely. And I tell people, I’m not a coach, this is not a strategy session. It is basically an outsider perspective from inside your business to hold you accountable for the things you already know you basically need to do. When we have calls and the CEO’s and I are talking, there are moments where they’re like, “Whoa, I didn’t think of that before,” but they knew it. You know what I mean? So there’s a difference between that knowing that they had and letting the thought get into their brain. And I’m there to say like, “What if there are simple ways that we can improve things as they currently stand that lets that knowledge you have actually reach your brain?” And so none of the revelations are me coming in with some kind of magical fix, and I’m not coaching you out of your strategic or mindset issue. I’m just walking in, looking around and saying, “Hey, here’s all the pieces I see. As someone who hasn’t been sitting in this room for the last 10 years, what if we use them differently?”
Stacey Harris:
Well, and I think even if you have somebody in place who feels your right hand, who is a good fit, they’ve also been in it with you for a couple of years.
Lane Clark:
Right. Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
And so sometimes just a different perspective, a fresh look, some fresh eyes to go, “Hey, yeah, you’ve got great SOPs, but could we put this, this and this?” And you go, “Yeah, we’ve been thinking about that, but we didn’t have the bandwidth to do it.”
Lane Clark:
And actually on a recent project I’m on, the CEO has an amazing right hand. She doesn’t need me long term, but they have been hitting against this glass. And once we came in, her right hand and I ended up talking and parsing apart her role and finding things she actually needs to be focusing more time on. And both of them were like, “Wow, what? This is way better and easier.” And we’ve released things completely that they were just dragging along with them because of habit. And it’s not an indictment on anybody. We all get in these ruts of how things are going and the way we’re thinking. And when you’re just trying to keep going, sometimes it’s hard to get a whole view 360, but there is a tool, that you can have to have an outside perspective to get that view a little bit.
Stacey Harris:
That’s such a great reminder because I think when we are in it, it’s about just my eyes are on the next thing I need to do.
Lane Clark:
Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
And it’s hard to come up and look at it big picture, get that, what is the cliche that 10,000 foot view of everything. Because I’m so in what is now and what is right in front of me next because there’s no other thing.
Lane Clark:
Right. Like, what do I have to do in two days? Absolutely.
Stacey Harris:
You’re full. I love that.
Lane Clark:
Capacity reached.
Stacey Harris:
If someone is listening to this episode and thinking, “Oh my God Lane, please come save me,” raising the white flag, as I’m sure many are.
Lane Clark:
White flag raised, yeah.
Stacey Harris:
How would they go about getting contact with you?
Lane Clark:
Sure. They can just go to my website, which is just laneclarkconsulting.com. And there is a simple contact form. And the way that we connect is once they fill it out, we get on a Zoom call and we just, we hold hands and we look at each other’s eyes and we go, “What’s really happening here?” And it becomes pretty obvious pretty quick.
Stacey Harris:
Yay. I’m really excited. I think you should all talk to Lane. Again, it’s the greatest gift you can give your team because it really does provide … I know I’m doing our doing our outro here, but I want to mention, you mentioned about not wanting to send incessant messages and asking questions. And often I’m grateful that I can be, “Hey Lane, do you know if such and such is happening now because-
Lane Clark:
Side bar.
Stacey Harris:
… that’s why I’m not getting what it is that looks like …” “Oh yeah, she’s got such and such with the kids today. And so let me get you this thing.”
Lane Clark:
Right. Yes.
Lane Clark:
It’s like a side channel so that you don’t feel you always have to go straight to the top and “bother” the CEO. There’s like a vent.
Stacey Harris:
It’s like, “Hey, do you know if this is …” You’re like, “Oh yeah, it’s on the calendar. You’re good.” And I’m like, “Cool. I don’t need to worry about it then.”
Lane Clark:
Confirmed.
Stacey Harris:
Because I’m thinking ahead. And so it’s not actually an issue I need to bring to somebody yet. It’s like, I just want to give me some peace of mind. This is-
Lane Clark:
Right. Nice to have some confirmation. Yeah. I love being your peace of mind.
Stacey Harris:
Well, and I think it is … again, I can’t say it enough. It is such a gift, not just for the CEO, but for the team. I think often we think about bringing in someone like you as relief for the CEO. And it is, it’s a massive relief for the CEO, but it’s certainly not a selfish gift. It is a gift for the whole family.
Lane Clark:
Yes. It’s a gift that keeps on giving
Stacey Harris:
That’s right, as is Lane. All right. Go check out Lane, links to her site will be in my show notes. And I will also link to her Instagram because I just highly recommend you watch the finer happenings of Marquette, Michigan. By the way, we’re recording this during election week, which is a total chaos.
Lane Clark:
Yes.
Stacey Harris:
But they keep filling Michigan and they have Marquette on the map. I don’t know why it shocked me, but it did. And I was like-
Lane Clark:
I know.
Stacey Harris:
“There is Lane, there is Lane.”
Lane Clark:
I’m there. Yeah. I am happily ambassadoring for our area in my Instagram.
Stacey Harris:
I’m like, 47 people live there, but I know one of them.
Lane Clark:
You know one of them. VIP
Stacey Harris:
That’s right. All right. Thanks for joining me Lane.
Lane Clark:
Thank you Stacey.
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