Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Create wealth through Franchising. I'm your host, Kim Daly.
Whether you're a CEO, a military vet, a real estate investor, or simply in career transition and ready to take ownership of your future, with each episode you're gonna learn valuable insights and hear inspiring stories from within the franchise industry.
On that note, my guest stories are their own. And as a franchise consultant, I do not make personal brand endorsements or earnings claims, but I do educate, motivate and inspire dreams.
Now onto the show.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daly tv. I have a special guest in studio today. His name is Tom. Tom Chak from Chicago, Illinois. He is a focal point coach and franchisee. Tom, welcome to the studio of Kim Daly tv.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: Thank you so much, Kim. Happy to be here.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: I am happy to have you here. So those who follow me know that I have two types of episodes on Create wealth and Kim Daily tv. One episode is geared toward inspiring the dream for people who are sitting on the edge who want to be franchise owners, but they're nervous. And so I interview franchisees who get to share their story of transformation from a W2 into business ownership or whatever that previous life was. And then the other episodes I love to share are those with business coaches where we can talk about strategies, mindset, as well as strategic principles that drive top performance out of the business, out of you into your business. And so Tom is here to speak about that. He's going to talk today about the Trust Edge Leadership Institute, which is a part of Focal Point Coaching and his eight pillars of trust. But before we get into that topic, Tom, I would like you to take my audience into your story of what were you doing when you answered the call to business ownership and why did you decide to become a focal point franchisee?
[00:02:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Thanks, Kim. So the last three roles I had prior to focal point, I was CEO and executive vice president for three private equity owned companies, two of which we sold to strategic buyers. So that whole process went great. I got to the point in me where I felt very comfortable and confident. My 30 years of background and experience in the business world and so I wanted to control my schedule more. I mean, you can imagine how much traveling I was having overseas and within the US for multiple reasons, wanted to control my schedule and really control my destiny a little more. So I purchased a focal point business and executive coaching franchise and then started to help small and medium sized business owners on business coaching and then larger organizations on leadership transformation and executive coaching. So that was really very tough decision to Move away from a steady W2 paycheck into the uneven world of prospecting. But it's been so rewarding and so magnificent. I'd encourage anyone who's ready and has the appetite for a little bit of uncertainty, especially in the first six, nine months. It will work out. If you have the persistence and the wherewithal to stick with it.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: You gotta hold the vision. Deny reality a lot in the beginning. So how long have you been a focal point franchisee?
[00:03:40] Speaker C: It's actually just one year and it really hit my stride. You know, I have 10 clients, I'm doing one on one coaching as well as group coaching and workshops and presentations. So really feel like I have set the stage for a number of years of success.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Tell us one thing that you are now enjoying after a year of business ownership that a year ago you only wished you were enjoying.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean being able to establish the schedule that I want, it's fantastic. I can pick the times. I mean it's got to be convenient for my clients, but I can pick the times that I'm going to be coaching and then I can pick the times that I'm going to be prospecting. But then I can also pick the times I'm going to be hitting the driving range.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: I love it. Now. Have you flown overseas in this entire year? Are you happy to retire all your frequent flyer miles?
[00:04:34] Speaker C: Yeah. No overseas travel. I'm very happy to not be executive platinum status.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: It's amazing. Right? Let's talk a little bit about the topic. You really love to talk about this Trust Edge Leadership Institute. So what is that? And then let's get into your pillars.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Absolutely. So the Trustedge Leadership Institute was started by David Horsager. He has written four bestselling books. He started this 20 years ago as part of a PhD thesis. And so the whole concept is lack of trust is your biggest expense. And he has found through annual reports, trusted annual trust outlooks that this is consistent year after year. You don't have a sales problem, you don't have a marketing problem, you don't have a strategy problem. What you truly have is a trust problem. Only 13% of employees trust their senior leadership across the surveys that he's conducted. And 50% of people would work harder and work longer hours and be better team players if they trusted their senior leadership. So that's disconnect is totally clear. So that's really the background. And what we do with our trusted training is we start with a benchmark by conducting a team assessment of 24 trust questions that then feed into the eight pillars of trust. And that's how it's not just kind of a nice touchy feely topic. It's very specific on ways that you can improve yourself across those eight pillars of trust.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Amazing. I'm sitting here thinking, franchisors don't have some of those problems you mentioned. They have a trust problem. Translate that to my world, right? We're talking about franchisees and franchisors. What's the biggest gap? You could make millions taking your trust Edge Institute inside franchising. Tom, just an idea for you right there.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: Yeah. And I love it. Anybody that says you could make millions, I'm listening.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, so let's talk about what some of those pillars are.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: Absolutely. So again, after you take the team assessment and your team tells you where.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: You have gaps, is it always eye opening? Is it sometimes humbling to these, you know, CEOs?
[00:06:50] Speaker C: Like, I didn't know that. It is always humbling because I have them take a self assessment as well. So we can compare the self assessment to their team's assessment. And they have not been the same, not once. No, the team assessments have been lower in every case.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Are these anonymous?
[00:07:10] Speaker C: Yeah, they're anonymous. Yes, absolutely.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Okay, so you deliver the good news, bad news, and then what happens? Says, I can be a man or a woman about this. All right. Because we. We have the same goal, actually. Right? I mean, all CEOs want their businesses to be better, their companies to grow. So what happens next?
[00:07:28] Speaker C: I think of the trust score very similar to an employee engagement score, and I actually think it's more powerful. I have a lot of experience with employee engagement surveys in the past. When you can improve your trust scores across the eight pillars, you really have the opportunity to increase your employee engagement dramatically. And so the answers to the team assessment feed into the eight pillars and eight pillars. I'll rattle them off and we can talk a little bit about them, but their clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment, connection, contribution, and finally, consistency. So each of these pillars has the trustedge Leadership Institute and David Horsager has identified actionable tools that can be used to improve yourself across each of those eight pillars.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: So I was going to ask you before you gave us all those C's, why would an employee lose trust? But I think it becomes implied when you hear what the pillars are. Let's just go briefly through them. Let's start with the first one, clarity. People lose trust because it's chaos. They just don't know what the vision of the company is.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: People Trust the clear and they distrust the ambiguous. So to your point, if I'm not crystal clear on what's expected of you and what a clear mission, vision and values are for our organization, yes, there's going to be a lack of trust. So I can increase trust by using again, tools like one that's called odc. The O stands for outcome, the D stands for deadline, and then the C is clarification and clarifying questions. So I walk through with leaders on, hey, let's pick a priority for the next 90 days and let's see how clear you've been. Let's pick the people and the team and let's talk about the O, the D and the C that you're using. And then let's also then get real specific on actions that people are taking and drilling down, how are you going to get this done until we're just totally clear on who owns what they're doing and when they're doing it? And so it sounds simplistic, but the clarity pillar is one of the lowest scores across the board, is experienced by teams and senior leaders.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: As you describe this, I'm going to translate it to the person who's sitting on the sideline and thinking, should I work with Kim Daly to invest in a franchise? So the very first thing I have my candidates do, Tom, is complete what I would call a goals and dreams worksheet. Basically, I want to know, what do you want and why? So, so many times people will give me the platitudinal answers, I want more time. I want more money. I'm like, how much time to do what? How much money do you want to make? Because what I find is, to your point, why is it so hard for us to really say to ourselves, what does Kim want? And then to answer that question right, no one ever teaches us, like we think about it, but do we ever take the time to get crystal clear and write it down? Because when even just that step alone triggers the mind to start taking action. So I love that Clarity's first. I remember number two is compassion, right?
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Yeah. People, you lose trust when they think someone is not being authentic and has a true interest in that person and interest beyond themselves. So one of the tools that we talk about within the compassion pillar is spa method of appreciation. Be specific, personal and authentic in your appreciation for people. And on top of that, appreciating people in front of others is extremely powerful. So that's really the compassion pillar.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Hey, Daily Coach fans, if you're ready to begin your own journey to Find the perfect franchise. Please email me right now at Inquire imdaily tv. My services are totally free for you. That's inquireimdaily tv. Now back to the show.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Okay, so like, you're my employee, so, Tom, I really like it when you take the time to greet every customer who walks through the door. You're doing such a great job. So I'm clear and specific about what I like about what you're doing.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: And you might even add, especially when you were talking to St. Joseph's Hospital representatives that came in our customer. And so even more personal and specific and then you're authentic. You're not just making a generic comment, you're talking specifically about an action that the person took with St. Joseph's in this example.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not rocket science, but on the flip side, it's like how many of us business owners or managers of people or CEOs really take the time to be conscientious about the leaders that we are to our people? So how many of us really take the time to be that conscientious to the people that we're managing and leading?
[00:12:30] Speaker C: Number three is character. What the trustedge Leadership Institute has found is that integrity is the number one quality that people expect from from leaders. So within the character pillar we talk about, do you have decision making values? Are people aware of the values that you're using to make decisions? And so that's really what can increase your character score and increase trust?
[00:12:55] Speaker B: I love that one. That's a real big one. For candidates who are exploring franchises. When I'm having them compare and contrast different franchisors and cultures, that's really what I'm asking you to lean into, is to find the company that you most believe has the character, the value that you want. Because you're only going to be open to learning from people that you value their value. You know that you value the same things. And so like, for example, if I'm working with a Christian whose church values is centered in their life, there's a lot of companies that have a more liberal approach to their marketing and that may just not be a comfortable place. And in franchising with my knowledge, I can literally match people on those kind of values and characteristics. So it's one of the things that if you're out there on your own exploring franchises, you would never know that until you were deep into the process. But because I have 22 years of relationships and experience and knowledge, I know the players and so I can cut through all of that for you and deliver to you that curated list that aligns to your own values. So you can find that synergy number four is competency.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: So people trust those who stay fresh, relevant and capable. So we talk about what tools you're utilizing to stay fresh, relevant and capable and increase the competency pillar. Like are you using podcasts, are you using mentors, are you using coaches? Obviously that's self serving for me. But those are examples of how you can stay fresh, relevant and capable in your industry.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Because the world is ever changing, right? Business always has to be changing. We're either growing or we're dying. There is nothing that's staying the same same. So if you're not embracing number four, this is a problem.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: Five is commitment. Do you keep your promises? We all maybe think we are, but a lot of people don't. So I mean, I start by asking what's the last time you remember not keeping a promise that you made? And so then we talk about an accountability framework that we use within the commitment pillar. Number six is connection. And it's one of my favorites actually, because there are a number of ways that we're not as connected to our employees as we should be. One way is we don't ask enough open ended questions. Another thing is we're not as transparent about our mistakes as we could be. The trustedge Leadership Institute found the more transparent a leader is about admitting their mistakes. That increases trust. And in this pillar there is an exercise called the trust shield that is really powerful and emotional where each person shares. Depending on the size of the group you want to share, they put together a shield. And the shield includes your background and what life moments really influenced who you are. Then what's your mission? What are your goals in life? What are your strengths and weaknesses? And what do you believe your legacy is? And this has proven with all of my clients to be the most powerful exercise that we do. Because that vulnerability and sharing of vulnerability increases trust across the teams. If the franchisees and franchisors could each do a trust shield, I think it might help him franchise.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Or is one franchisees to trust them? It has to be this mutually beneficial.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Relationship or we're not building the next.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: Big American brands, right? But because money and investment is at the core of this thing, right? Franchisees always want to believe they're on the opposite sides of the table. And that franchise agreement doesn't help, right? When it gets all the power to the franchise or franchisees sometimes feel like, well, wait a minute, right? So who really has the power here, but it really is, we're on the same side of the table. We're not across from each other. So we do need tools to help bridge that gap. And not just in a W2.9 to 5, like corporate America environment, but even in franchising. We need that. And then translate that down to the franchisee that you want to be, to the team that you want to build. If you're building a big staff of people in a caregiving environment or a cleaning environment, right, where people are your greatest asset, you need to have a trust shield.
[00:17:02] Speaker C: The seventh trust pillar is contribution. So regardless of how compassionate you are and how much character you have, you still need results. And this kind of came out a little bit in competency. You've got to stay fresh, relevant and capable. You also need to produce results. If you go to a doctor that has the highest compassion and character, you're still not going to believe in her or him if they haven't performed a procedure, a colonoscopy in the last five years, and you're there to have a colonoscopy performed today. So we talk about how to maximize your own results and how to motivate others. Results in the contribution pillar.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yep, that's a good one.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: The eighth is, wraps everything up and it's consistency. So do you have personal consistency and you have organizational consistency? Is personal consistency leads to your reputation, organizational consistency build your brand. So the consistency is the final of the eight pillars and kind of again wraps up all the other seven.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Well, consistency is like the thing, isn't it? Right. Like, so I used to be a personal trainer before I was a franchise consultant. It's like, people would be like, well, what's the best way to get in shape? And I'd be like, well, there is no one way. But if you're asking me, like, how to get in shape, it's being consistent in getting your butt in the gym, right? Same thing with being successful in your business, right. Once you have your clear plan, right, your navigation system, as I call it, right to lead from and lead your employees to, then it's consistent execution of that plan every single day. It's a daily focus on those KPIs that drive the greatest outcome, that give you control. And I like how you said it summarizes all of them because it's the catch, all for everything. When we look at, like, successful people across the board, there are certain characteristics of all successful people. I think these eight pillars pretty much summarize, like, all the principles of success. Maybe in different words or categorizing them in different ways. But there's nothing here that anybody out there listening to this is like, oh, well, that's a new idea.
[00:19:12] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Okay, so you take this idea, you take these eight pillars into a company. First you humble the CEO, and then you're like, all right, now we got to get in here and get gritty and get some tools. And so you work with clients through a certain period of time, and then in trust that they're just going to go out and carry that. That's their work to do in the business.
[00:19:34] Speaker C: So I work on having accountability checkpoints in addition to working through the first 90 days of getting through all the pillars and working through the results of the team assess. So we set up those accountability checkpoints, and that's because people will move away from training. We all know that. Just the point you just made, Kim, about going through an exercise program, I might be able to stick with it for 30 days, but then it really starts getting tough. So those accountability checkpoints are very important to really get the trust material kind of ingrained in the culture.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: I love it. Thank you so much. So for those of you out there who may be in a corporate job, who love this guy, and you're like, hey, this guy needs to come into my company. Well, we're going to put his URL, his website address in the show notes so you can reach out to Tom directly. But also if you are out there sitting on the sideline and you're like, wow, I got to get myself into the game because these two smart people are talking about things that I also know things about. Because you know how to be successful innately. We know. But the reason we need coaches like Tom and Kim is because we forget. Because we don't really want to hold ourselves accountable to what we say we want and what we want, because life gets in the way, we get reactionary, all kinds of excuses come into play. But that's why there are resources to help you, especially if you want to be a franchisepreneur instead of an entrepreneur, in an entrepreneur, you can still have a business coach, but in a franchisepreneur, there's so many support tools all around you. So if you are on the sideline and you are ready to begin your journey to find the perfect franchise so you can get in this game and build your own trust shield. Well, you know that Kim Daly wants to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach. Please follow the link in the description below and I will reach right out to you to begin that conversation. Thank you so much for joining us to the end, Tom. Thank you for being my special guest here today.
[00:21:31] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: I look forward to seeing you in the next one. And until then, don't forget that my name is Kim Daly, and I want to be your daily coach.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: You can find more content just like this on my YouTube channel at KimDaily TV. And if you're inspired to take the next step to explore franchises matched to you, please email me right now at InquireimDaily TV. That's InquireimDaily TV.
