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May 23, 2024

Ep173 Jonathan Strack - The Surprising Secret to Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

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Get Unstuck & On Target

In this thought-provoking episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host and leadership coach Mike O'Neill has a powerful conversation with Jonathan Strack, CEO of Strack, Inc., a heavy civil construction company making waves in the southeastern United States.

 

As a coach who specializes in helping high-achieving leaders unlock their full potential, Mike brings his unique perspective to the table. He digs deep, asking insightful questions that get to the heart of what makes a company culture thrive.

 

Jonathan, who started as a laborer at age 12 and worked his way up to CEO, shares his own journey and the invaluable lessons he learned from his father and mentor along the way. 

 

But it's the company's core values that take center stage: humble hearts, open hands; better every day; mindful in everything; everyone matters. Mike and Jonathan explore how these guiding principles have shaped every aspect of the business, from hiring to training to daily operations.

 

Through their dynamic back-and-forth, Mike and Jonathan tackle some of the biggest challenges facing leaders today, including:

 

- Navigating rapid growth without losing sight of your values

- Setting a clear standard for communication and behavior

- Bridging the generational gap in the workplace

- Motivating and inspiring younger workers

 

Mike shares his own experiences coaching leaders through these challenges, offering practical insights and strategies that listeners can put into action right away.

 

Whether you're a seasoned executive or just starting out on your leadership journey, this episode is a must-listen. Mike and Jonathan's passion for building strong, values-driven companies is contagious, and their insights will leave you feeling inspired and equipped to take your own company culture to the next level.

 

So grab a coffee, sit back, and join Mike and Jonathan for a conversation that will challenge the way you think about leadership, culture, and success.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:01
Speaker 2
if you're given a given task, tone it all the way. Not only do the task, but follow,

 

00:00:06:01 - 00:00:09:14
Speaker 2
was your client happy? Did it deliver what they needed?

 

00:00:09:16 - 00:00:14:04
Speaker 2
follow up and follow through and why? That's usually,

 

00:00:14:04 - 00:00:17:05
Speaker 2
what? When just some praise and wins you some business.

 

00:00:19:19 - 00:00:29:15
Speaker 1
welcome to Get Unstuck and On Target, the weekly podcast that offers senior leaders insights and strategies to not only lead with competence and vision,

 

00:00:29:19 - 00:00:32:15
Speaker 1
but also to achieve groundbreaking results.

 

00:00:33:01 - 00:00:43:01
Speaker 1
I'm your host, Mick O'Neill. I coach top level executives on the power of ethical leadership to forge teams to be as united as they are effective

 

00:00:44:00 - 00:00:45:02
Speaker 1
in each episode.

 

00:00:45:07 - 00:00:55:09
Speaker 1
Join me for insightful conversations with leaders just like you, providing practical advice to help you get unstuck and propel you and your company forward.

 

00:00:56:07 - 00:00:57:08
Speaker 1
Let's get started.

 

00:01:01:07 - 00:01:28:03
Speaker 1
Joining me is Jonathan Strack. Jonathan is the CEO of Strack Eke, a full service contractor for heavy civil construction that's operating in eight southeastern states. Jonathan started his career at Strack at 12 years of age as a laborer. And I love this quote. He writes, I learned what it means to be a good leader from the greatest man and mentor that anyone could ever have.

 

00:01:28:05 - 00:01:33:20
Speaker 1
My father, Joe Strack. Welcome, Jonathan.

 

00:01:33:22 - 00:01:36:23
Speaker 2
Thank you. Glad to be here.

 

00:01:37:00 - 00:01:44:24
Speaker 1
I understand Strack is a family owned slash run business. When did Strack start as a company?

 

00:01:45:01 - 00:02:15:08
Speaker 2
We were founded in, 1948 by my grandfather. he came to Allina to take over payments on a D6 bulldozer that he cosigned on with his brother, and his, brother stopped paying the payment, so he moved to Atlanta. post-World War 2 in 1948 and started grading. he was a trucker by trade. And, as we've moved along, we've kind of grown with the city.

 

00:02:15:10 - 00:02:37:16
Speaker 2
we started out, you know, you took a one man band, worked a, whopping ten mile radius around College Park, Georgia, which is near the airport for folks that aren't familiar with metro Atlanta and, have really steadily grown with the city. we've been blessed in that regard to be in a good auto area of the country.

 

00:02:37:18 - 00:03:01:04
Speaker 1
Well, we're practically neighbors. I'm about an hour north of you as we record. Jordan, you may not know we have listeners literally all over the world, so I'm glad you pointed out that you're, kind of at least corporately based in the metro Atlanta, and that's Atlanta, Georgia. For those who don't know where Atlanta might be. When I describe your business as heavy civil construction.

 

00:03:01:06 - 00:03:11:14
Speaker 1
I have a pretty good sense of what that means. I also have your website readily available. What does that mean for those who don't know what habits civil construction is? What does that mean?

 

00:03:11:16 - 00:03:55:06
Speaker 2
All right, so heavy civil construction really encompasses everything. typically before you build a structure or any kind of dwelling, it may. It encompasses clearing, grading, underground utility installation, concrete. We're building of a roadway. can be anything all the way through bridges, lighting. you know, dam and reservoir work, anything like that? we, you know, for us, we, we self perform drilling and blasting, boring and tunneling, grading and water, sewer and storm drain pipe and installation.

 

00:03:55:06 - 00:03:58:19
Speaker 2
Overall. Really make yourself trade.

 

00:03:58:21 - 00:04:23:08
Speaker 1
You know, Jonathan, in our conversation before we scheduled this podcast, you shared with me a little bit this family history. This business was started by your grandfather. You are a third generation. What are the kinds of things that you, as a third generation leader within a company that bears your own name? What are those things that have stuck with you in your tenure?

 

00:04:23:08 - 00:04:31:15
Speaker 1
You started at age 12, and I know we have no Department of Labor folks listening to this, but you start off as a laborer. Is that right?

 

00:04:31:17 - 00:04:55:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. That's right. so, you know, dad started working for his dad at two, and I started working for my dad at. Well, we both really grew up essentially the same way we were laborers. And then later in life, operators and superintendents and, you know, ran various parts of the business before we ever started running the business itself.

 

00:04:55:23 - 00:05:28:11
Speaker 2
and, you know, one of my real takeaways from thinking about my childhood is, you know, I had a great group of men and women to learn from that all really ended up being representatives of our what became our core values. And, you know, when we thought about who we were, there were definite individuals that represented, you know, diligence, hard work, grit, honesty, being a good servant leader.

 

00:05:28:11 - 00:05:52:10
Speaker 2
There were all these different folks I learned all these skills from, along with, from my dad. and we when we sat down and formulated our core values years later, when we realized we needed to do such things, I really got to thinking a whole lot about the folks that that taught us when I was growing up.

 

00:05:52:12 - 00:06:23:03
Speaker 1
John, it's those core values I would like for us to spend most of our time on today, because it it really not only caught my attention, but it really kind of resonated with me. And I think it will resonate with our listeners. Our listeners are leaders. They may be business owners, they may be business leaders. And I think what we're about to discuss is a perfect illustration on how you went back and captured those core values, recognizing this business has been around for a long time, since 1948.

 

00:06:23:05 - 00:06:34:13
Speaker 1
Why don't we start with that very first one? I don't know if these are in prioritize order, but this is the ones that I started off with and that is humble hearts, open hands.

 

00:06:34:15 - 00:07:07:03
Speaker 2
Yeah. So all right. So it's a really there's a little preface, I guess, to before I discuss all the core values. They all flow from what really one, one segment. You know, some folks are religious, some are. But, are truly represent the fruit of the spirit, which comes from Galatians 522 and 523 and it it is our four values really encapsulate all those things that are the fruit of the spirit, but humble heart.

 

00:07:07:03 - 00:07:42:01
Speaker 2
So bananas was referred as a team to try and describe to the rest of the world who we are and what we represent, and we lead from a servant leadership standpoint. and our belief is if you put others before yourself, usually anybody will follow you and any discussion about profitability usually fixes itself because you've got really motivated people that want to do a good job and care about what they're doing.

 

00:07:42:01 - 00:08:08:18
Speaker 2
If they see their leadership, hear about it so that that's part of the humble hearts, open hands, the open hand. The other piece of it is, you know, we're generous with our time, our resources, our dollars in really our care as well. you know, corporately, we are a glass half, half full as a culture. So we're much more willing to give a hand up.

 

00:08:08:20 - 00:08:28:16
Speaker 2
And we gracefully and give folks lots of opportunity, even though they may not deserve it. But, you know, that's life, and that's the standard we're gonna choose to set. and it's not real common in, in the world of business anymore either. So it usually gets you some attention in a good way.

 

00:08:28:18 - 00:08:33:14
Speaker 1
You know, when one thinks humble hearts, open hands, one might think that you're just kind of.

 

00:08:33:14 - 00:08:59:18
Speaker 1
Going through the motions, not necessarily concerned about growth. And a growing, thriving company is good for all involved. Your company has grown significantly since the late 40s. You've got into a number of areas that expanded kind of that or offerings better. Every day is the second core value can you can incorporate that.

 

00:08:59:18 - 00:09:05:24
Speaker 1
And how does that fit into maintaining a growing organization?

 

00:09:06:01 - 00:09:40:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, our industry is one that's really different than what society teaches now. Right? We're what in life do our young men and women not get a chance to do over if they need to? We're in a business that really demands you do something right at a real high quality standard. The first time. Yes. And that requires a lot of diligence, a lot of effort, a lot of care and a lack.

 

00:09:40:07 - 00:10:09:21
Speaker 2
You cannot have complacency in your business. the minute you do is the minute you start failing and getting worse at what you're doing. and the better every day piece, you know, the other part of the, the core value or the descriptor for it is, you know, quality doesn't happen by mistake either. it's diligent effort. And, you know, the other meaning behind it is really born out of the great financial crisis.

 

00:10:09:23 - 00:10:52:07
Speaker 2
you know, we went through an exceptionally hard time, like our industry or our country did, from really our industry from 2008 to about 2012. In our area, at least, it was a really, really tough time. and as we ran around all over the southeast doing work, trying to stay alive and survive, me in particular, I made some promises to myself and I said, boy, I never want to go through this ever again, and I'm going to work really hard at whatever I've got to do every day to make us better and stronger and, you know, whatever, no matter what that is, you know, whether it's a craft, a craft trade skill

 

00:10:52:07 - 00:11:15:16
Speaker 2
or, you know, some form of knowledge we need or just, you know, focus in on a specific sector of business or part of our business internally. You know, just my orthotic day after day, giving good effort, towards making this place better and really enriching the lives of everybody around us. You know, that's Jonathan.

 

00:11:15:18 - 00:11:50:12
Speaker 1
I've had a good opportunity in my career to go work for small companies that kept growing and growing and growing. I love to work with growing companies because I know growing companies presents a whole set of challenges. It's good on one hand, but it also can result in growing pains. You have expanded into at least eight states, and when you begin expanding what your footprint geographically is, expanding, and the things you're doing continues to get more and more complicated.

 

00:11:50:14 - 00:12:02:19
Speaker 1
What are some of the biggest challenges as CEO that you have found to maintain that ability to get better every day, while also growing at the pace that you all are?

 

00:12:02:21 - 00:12:41:17
Speaker 2
Yeah. So rapid growth brings about a whole lot of change in a whole lot of different standards. Coming into your award ization. what we found, you know, for instance, you know, we grew pretty heavily right up until the great financial crisis contracted. And then started over again, you know, exiting the financial crisis. And at one point, we decided to start, grading and we grew from 175 folks to about 425 folks in size in 15 months.

 

00:12:41:19 - 00:13:07:17
Speaker 2
Had a whole bunch of really good people come to work with us, but their standards and how they treated people and communicated were far different than ours. And, you know, we sat down as a team and all the while we have this, you know, really large workforce development issue, particularly in our industry. And we sat down as a group and said, all right, we need to start talking about ourselves being our best advocate.

 

00:13:07:17 - 00:13:31:10
Speaker 2
We've got to go set the standard and direct the narrative. And as a team, we sat down and decided what's aggravating us. And we literally made a list over, really did a Brandon workshop over about two days and filled up six whiteboards full of ideas and turned those into a training program. We call up Front Line Leadership Training.

 

00:13:31:11 - 00:13:54:09
Speaker 2
It's, six days of content, over six months, taught and led by us that lead the business along with the help of the facilitator, named while we Adam Cheek. he helped us do some of the soft skills, side of what we do, but, you know, really, it's about you got to start getting comfortable about talking about yourself.

 

00:13:54:11 - 00:14:02:19
Speaker 2
Sadness standard and continually reinforcing that just because you say it once doesn't mean it's going to happen.

 

00:14:02:21 - 00:14:09:22
Speaker 1
So this is kind of illustrating the core concept of mindful and everything.

 

00:14:09:24 - 00:14:38:23
Speaker 2
yep. Mindful what? Everything that was. Well, that was the hardest one to come up with as a team. you know, for us, you could either call it, depending on how you're trained, it could be second order thinking. It is always having some sort of a questioning attitude in a respectful way. meaning a little further that no matter what we do, we're good stewards of what we're given.

 

00:14:39:00 - 00:15:02:20
Speaker 2
We care about it. And we really take time to be intentional. When purposeful about what we're doing and run it to ground per se. Meaning, you know, if you're given a given task, tone it all the way. Not only do the task, but follow, figure out, you know, was your client happy? Did it deliver what they needed?

 

00:15:02:20 - 00:15:27:03
Speaker 2
Did it pass inspection, whatever it may be that follow up and follow through and why? That's usually, what? When just some praise and wins you some business. And that's, that's really where the mindful and everything is. And the other soft skill of it, is start caring about, what's going on around you, who you work with.

 

00:15:27:05 - 00:15:59:01
Speaker 2
You know, the idea for for some of our crews, like our grading crews, they show up, they may get on 20 different pieces of equipment all day. And they're kind of siloed off to themselves. You know, they've got radios to communicate, but there's not a whole lot of idle chatter going on most of the time. Sure, Friday afternoon they'll be talking about what they're doing, but, you know, the mindful piece is a if you got a coworker, you know, that's going through a divorce, the death in the family, something like that.

 

00:15:59:03 - 00:16:24:16
Speaker 2
Sit down, eat lunch with them, maybe get them exposed to our corporate chaplains, that we we've got one on staff and we've got a third party service that helps from a from a council standpoint. And that's, that's really all our values have a professional piece and then kind of a soft skills I'd call it a humanity focused each really.

 

00:16:24:18 - 00:16:27:23
Speaker 2
so that's mindful in everything for us.

 

00:16:28:00 - 00:16:53:20
Speaker 1
Well you also back that up and that is you have actually built, a training facility for that to be housed in part where you bring people in. what I also liked is the fact that you have, you know, Stem don't miss it. Right. Simulators, be it ten star and cat simulators. when you made the comment about you have to train people for your company because it's just the challenge.

 

00:16:53:20 - 00:17:14:16
Speaker 1
You haven't qualified people. you all basically took that to heart and basically says, we're going to bring people in and make sure they have the skills they need to be successful. Can you elaborate a little bit about why training has been such an important part of strategy in your growth?

 

00:17:14:18 - 00:17:51:02
Speaker 2
Yeah, for the training piece. I mean, you know, that one, it's about setting your standard for what you expect up front from day one to, you know, we say it all the time. What people want, has it changed, you know, from 18 to 80 years old, you know, they want to be appreciated for what they do, treated like a normal, regular person and be able to kind of live life on their own means, which requires some, some financial stability.

 

00:17:51:02 - 00:18:14:10
Speaker 2
So all this chatter about, you know, young people don't want to work. Well, they we raised this generation, you know, we've got to go reset the standard and go teach what that standard is. And that's really that's where the training conversation for us started. It was kind of like what's ticking us all was a ticking us off. And let's go figure it out.

 

00:18:14:12 - 00:18:40:03
Speaker 2
And you know, it's it's a lot of it's a communication standard. Some of it is, you know, that's part of why we started social media marketed. If you want to have any kind of hiring and retention going on, that's really your first interaction. You know, I had a we have a training platform. this provided by a company called Bill Witt and their founder, Aaron Witt.

 

00:18:40:05 - 00:19:00:14
Speaker 2
When I asked him, I said, you know, would this idea come? You know, you built this really intuitive training platform that's on a phone or tablet on a computer, and it's got stuff about life skills, budgeting, how to talk to people, counseling. And it'll teach you how to measure a block of wood, how to read a tape measure.

 

00:19:00:14 - 00:19:20:20
Speaker 2
It gets as basic as that. It explains why pie being has different colors, all these kind of things, real basic things that everybody's kind of scared to ask a question. 40 other places you got to go to where you workforces. And he says he olds, we're on a call like this. And he says that's this. It holds his phone up.

 

00:19:20:20 - 00:19:53:20
Speaker 2
And he's right. I mean, what do you do when you first get up and more? We'll get your phone. I mean, it's what you walk. You do very little in life without that device anymore. So that that's got of where that started. And then it progressed into, you know, we keep turning workers over and, you know, how are we ever going to get culture to stick if we can't train them to be how we want them to be and keep in a we're still in the middle of this right now.

 

00:19:53:21 - 00:19:59:07
Speaker 2
I'm not saying we've got this entirely figured out, but we're at least trying. So right now.

 

00:19:59:09 - 00:20:26:07
Speaker 1
As you know, Jonathan, my business is kind of a blend of consulting and coaching. Consulting, more often than not results in organizations owning up that they usually do a pretty decent job on the technical training. But those soft skills training oftentimes just doesn't get addressed. And it sounds like y'all almost started with those, because it was it just wasn't working.

 

00:20:26:09 - 00:20:49:08
Speaker 1
and, that's just kind of baked into the, the to what y'all are doing. I want to get to this fourth, principle, and that is every one matters. You've kind of hinted at that in some of the comments you've already made this far, but can you kind of fill in what you all mean when you say everyone matters?

 

00:20:49:10 - 00:21:16:04
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, I mean, it's it's where flatly what it says. I mean, anybody buddy you encounter in life, you're no better than they are. And it really goes back to the servant leadership principle. that doesn't mean that you are a doormat either. it's about setting the standard and setting that bar high for folks to reach towards as well, too.

 

00:21:16:06 - 00:21:41:20
Speaker 2
I think that that's one of the things that gets lost right now in hiring and workforce development, especially with some some gaps in how, our workforce views things from generation to generation. You know, I go back to again, you know, a lot of these year, a lot of narrative around young people don't want to work selling these stocks like these folks are smart.

 

00:21:41:21 - 00:22:07:11
Speaker 2
They're one of the smartest generations that's ever been raised. These these folks that are, you know, 15 to 25 years old right now is trying to figure out how to motivate them. And then, you know. In years past, you know, the the, how would I put it, the hero later, what was was what folks look to, you know, they wanted somebody they looked up to.

 

00:22:07:11 - 00:22:31:06
Speaker 2
They wanted that general, you know, now they want to serve it. They want somebody down on their level that'll tall explain and mentor to them what's going on. And that's really the attitude we try and have throughout the business is what we're here to help. We're here to be kind and give you a hand, give you lots of chances, allow you to fail.

 

00:22:31:08 - 00:22:52:02
Speaker 2
But there's also a standard to, you know, you need to be given best effort all the time. If you're not, if you're apathetic, you don't care about your fellow man and woman or their safety, then, yeah, we're not the place for you. And we make that apparent pretty quick. But outside of that, as long as you're caring, you know everybody does matter it.

 

00:22:52:04 - 00:23:18:20
Speaker 2
But, you know, when folks value, violate those core values, you know, you got to be willing to move them off the to those those, We call them, we call mercenary. So the the the high skill, low culture votes that narrowed me from from within you while that like once you set this standard of these values, you got to live up to them.

 

00:23:18:20 - 00:23:52:12
Speaker 2
And that everyone matters piece is the one that's always the one that gets the most attention when you've got to make hard decisions, you know, based around performance, ethics and attitude. And, you know, those are the qualifiers and you always have to go back to who you are, always be a good representative of them. And then once you are and you set that standard and you folks figure out and you really do care about them as a company and his leadership, they you get one of the best environments you could ever dream of to a workplace.

 

00:23:52:14 - 00:24:15:19
Speaker 1
I really appreciate, Jonathan, when you made reference to the generation that's entering the workplace, people tend to forget we have up to five generations and a work place now. we tend only think about the younger generations, but each those generations kind of had its own set of experiences. You know, I might know your business started, right after World War two.

 

00:24:15:21 - 00:24:47:08
Speaker 1
And that generation is oftentimes referred to as the greatest generation. But in terms of how that probably resulted in things getting done, it probably was more reflective, a more kind of a military get it done, follow orders, don't question authority. And now here we are recording this podcast in 2024. Whereas what you're saying is that those younger generations, what really appeals to them is not the authority figure per se, but it's the servant leader.

 

00:24:47:10 - 00:25:21:21
Speaker 2
Yeah, definitely. And you know, you got to understand their perspective too, as, as we onboard these, these younger folks, you know, we we do a five day orientation and get all of our orientation involves a goal session. We ask the folks at the beginning of the day, they get a sheet of paper and it says, hey, write your one, five and ten year goals down for yourself and we'll make it clear, you know, it could be professional, this could be personal.

 

00:25:21:21 - 00:25:48:21
Speaker 2
It could be both. And a lot of people have never been asked that question. And then to their surprise, we ask these people to stand up, state these goals in front of the room of new hires and trainers. And our belief is, you know, if you believe enough to chase your goals, you're brave enough to say them in front of some strangers you probably barely know.

 

00:25:48:23 - 00:26:23:03
Speaker 2
If you're not willing to do that, you don't believe in them enough to go get them. and, you know, we we get a lot of really moving stories when this happens. you know, you build some relational capital. But the other thing I've continued to see is, you know, from a societal standard, you know, some of these younger folks, they don't have a whole lot of hope that they're ever going to get a slice of what some of us have been get, been given in life, the American dream, per se.

 

00:26:23:03 - 00:26:45:02
Speaker 2
And, you know, trying to, you know, there's there's a there's a really good diamond in there surrounded by all this crust. I feel like you've got a chip at all. And, you know, you're trying to really sell them and convince them that, hey, you're limited by your attitude and your work ethic and our environment. And if you do want a piece of that, it's perfectly attainable.

 

00:26:45:02 - 00:27:09:23
Speaker 2
Without college debt, you know, and you know, some some of the folks, they don't they don't realize that or, you know, they're here in this day, one from some, you know, perspective that they expect to hear it from. And it's not really until they get out amongst peers that they figure out, all right, we really are trying with which were set up right in.

 

00:27:10:00 - 00:27:41:11
Speaker 2
sure. you know, it does at 100% and happen. And so you'll, I'll be the first one to tell you that we're not all perfect every day. Unfortunately, you do get somebody out there that's not maintaining your standard from time to time, but it's, you know, people remember you in business and in life for how you act, when bad stuff's happening, when when are flying at you in a good leader steps in front of their team, not behind them when that happens.

 

00:27:41:11 - 00:28:06:14
Speaker 2
So that's you know, that's us in a nutshell. And if you stay with us long enough, you get to witness it firsthand. And, you know, we're here our say it is in power to bill. That's our slogan. So our our whole tagline is based around the fact that we're going to give our team the best tools they can to succeed on the job and in life.

 

00:28:06:18 - 00:28:11:22
Speaker 2
So in summary, we empower our people. You know, that's that's where it comes from.

 

00:28:11:24 - 00:28:39:05
Speaker 1
I love that tagline because it means it has a level of depth to it, to the place in true business sense, in personal sense and beyond genre. You've already kind of hinted at a number of these incidences in your career, and maybe in the life of your company, but could you share maybe an example where either you or the organization found itself stuck?

 

00:28:39:10 - 00:28:44:19
Speaker 1
And when did that did happen? What did it take to get unstuck.

 

00:28:44:21 - 00:29:10:22
Speaker 2
Woo. All right so I'd say for us it really revolves around what's happened recently as far as hiring and retention. How do we find people, you know, for for our business in particular? You know, we're asking people to drive to work, work a long day, drive home. It's that time away from home that really hurts our industry in particular.

 

00:29:10:22 - 00:29:36:04
Speaker 2
Or, and is just really not appetizing for, you know, especially younger folks coming in the workforce and folks that are older, maybe single moms or anything like that. You know, there's just there's a time constraint. So, you know, as a team were frustrated. We need help. We got more work and more opportunity than we ever had in our industry.

 

00:29:36:04 - 00:30:02:07
Speaker 2
I think we will continue to have it rest of our career because, you know, as a society, we have neglected frayed skills and basic service positions for 40 years. So the way we look at it is the ones of us that could do the work competently and well and have the workforce. It's not going to be about price, it's going to be about capability for a while, and we should get paid really well for it.

 

00:30:02:09 - 00:30:28:21
Speaker 2
And we should be able to treat our folks well and pay them well in turn. And that's what we started trying to do. So this is when we started sitting down and we hired dedicated recruiting folks. we have folks. All they do now, they go out to elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, trade shows. we just finished, SkillsUSA competition inside the World Congress Center.

 

00:30:28:23 - 00:30:52:20
Speaker 2
And what we're doing and we're trying to expose everybody to our industry, show them that, hey, there is a home for you, even if you don't want to be on a piece of equipment. We have marketing folks, we have accounting folks, we have legal folks just like any other company. You know, we're no different. I've got a photographer on staff that used to be our, Luke technician.

 

00:30:53:01 - 00:31:16:01
Speaker 2
You know, so there's opportunities for advancement. You know, this guy was great at shooting, hunting, photography and landscape photography. And then, you know, folks move it. I'm like, well, this is everything we do, you know? So you want to come do it for us. So that's how that started. And, you know, this is where our simulators come in.

 

00:31:16:03 - 00:31:43:15
Speaker 2
The simulators are there. They are a good way to vet somebody up front and give them a good first pass, and do some basic skills qualification, frankly, they're also, you know, catchy. And then you'll get some attention from them. it's a good way to expose somebody who's really technologically proficient anyway, but maybe has not given our, industry, work.

 

00:31:43:17 - 00:32:16:21
Speaker 2
And, the last thing we, we've started doing, we have an engagement manager. Meaning. So we set this standard week one and have this really cool one week orientation. Then we dump these folks out to see, you know, if then this standard isn't being met because this is a really slow burn cultural initiative. Right? So just kind of like I phrased it, kind of like workman's comp case management, the success or failure of the case is how you manage it in the first 30 days.

 

00:32:16:23 - 00:32:42:06
Speaker 2
Well, it's the same thing with the people, these people that we're trying to get in the industry. You know, they just they may not understand what's required of them real well on the job. Or, you know, they may have an extra gruff supervisor or maybe one that's not explaining to them. And their trusted advocate now is this engagement manager and or one of the training folks that's that's brought them all in.

 

00:32:42:06 - 00:33:01:09
Speaker 2
They're kind of the third party advocate within the company. That's that is the mediator burp side that says, all right, you know, we get a call from the supervisor that says, all right, we got a dozer guy out here that he he can't run this finish times where he, you know, we can put even more compactor. He knocked her down, but he can't finish.

 

00:33:01:09 - 00:33:25:02
Speaker 2
And we get to go back, have a conversation, say, all right, but, you know, you you're not up to snuff for us. We're not saying you can't get there, but this is a whole different standards discussion. And we will offer you a reduction in pay or, you know, we can no longer employ you at this position and or it's, hey, give this guy a chance.

 

00:33:25:04 - 00:33:44:12
Speaker 2
I've seen this guy or gal what they can do. And they've proved to me on our we've got an eight acre proving ground with brand new pieces of equipment. What they can do, you know, let me come out there. I'll see you tomorrow at 7:00 and let's go really figure it out. Is this person know what what you're saying they do or don't know?

 

00:33:44:14 - 00:33:57:03
Speaker 2
so just trying to advocate, have a good advocate for the new hires and then prove to them that we do care about them. And we do want to figure out how to make sure this place is for them.

 

00:33:57:05 - 00:34:36:09
Speaker 1
Rather, I think it's noteworthy you have a five day orientation. Many companies are proud that they have a five hour orientation, and you don't stop there. You realize how critical, particularly early on in the tenure a new employee. They have to really be able to kind of see, what really is this company all about and get plugged in and begin to kind of see first and some of these core values that you have shared with us today as you kind of reflect on this conversation, what do you want the takeaways to be?

 

00:34:36:11 - 00:34:41:14
Speaker 2
You know, it really goes back to.

 

00:34:41:16 - 00:35:09:18
Speaker 2
How you treat people and how you interact with them in life and in the workplace defines who you are, where you're headed, what you want to be. and, you know, for us, it goes back to being humble, setting some standards and, you know, trying to do that on and off the clock and really try and grow people to be as good as they can be in life.

 

00:35:09:18 - 00:35:33:21
Speaker 2
And if you're watching this and you're like, all right, how do I do this? I can't afford to do this. Anytime I'm in a group forum, my my response is, start somewhere, figure out, you know, figure out what you want to represent, what you already are, and start talking about it and then start tackling the problems. You know what my my saying is?

 

00:35:33:21 - 00:35:53:15
Speaker 2
Little devil's not big bites. You know, you never get anywhere trying to do a whole lot at once. it gets you some momentum. It's follow up, follow through and diligence that really wins you the day that when you look back on whatever you've achieved.

 

00:35:53:17 - 00:36:20:19
Speaker 1
You know, before we wrap up, I want to leave a question for our viewers and listeners and that is, are people following you because they have to or because they want to, how they obligated or inspired? As a leadership coach, I specialize in helping high achieving leaders unlock their highest levels of purpose and performance to achieve their biggest goals, both personally and professionally.

 

00:36:20:21 - 00:36:52:19
Speaker 1
But I also understand the frustration of feeling stuck despite past success or with each new level achieved, expectations rise in the old strategies. They may not work any longer. So if you or someone you know, if you resonate with this struggle, let's connect. Visit bench-builders.com to schedule a call and start your journey towards renewed growth and fulfillment. Jonathan, thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

 

00:36:52:21 - 00:36:56:06
Speaker 2
All right. Thanks for having me today. I really enjoyed it.

 

00:36:56:08 - 00:37:05:09
Speaker 1
Now, if folks are watching or listening and I said I'd like to connect somehow with Jonathan, what's the best way for them to do so?

 

00:37:05:11 - 00:37:17:17
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, if you're looking to come come to work with us, you can go to our website tracking.com. you can also send an email to recruiting. It's tracking.com. That's probably the best way to get Ahold of us.

 

00:37:17:19 - 00:37:27:24
Speaker 1
Got you. Now, just for those who are listening, Strack is stre c k Strack ecom. Yeah. Again thank you.

 

00:37:28:01 - 00:37:31:06
Speaker 2
All right. Thank you. Thanks for having me today.

 

00:37:31:08 - 00:37:41:18
Speaker 1
Also want to thank our subscribers again for joining us. And I hope you have picked up on some quick wins from Jonathan that will help you get unstuck and on target.

 

00:37:43:03 - 00:37:47:03
Speaker 1
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Get Unstuck and on Target.

 

00:37:47:05 - 00:38:07:18
Speaker 1
I hope you gain insights to help you lead with competence and drive your organization forward. Remember it, Bench builders. We're committed to your success, your leadership excellence, and your strategic growth. If you've enjoyed our conversation today, please leave a review rate and subscribe to keep up with our latest episode.

 

00:38:08:02 - 00:38:12:02
Speaker 1
This show really grows when listeners like you share it with others.

 

00:38:12:01 - 00:38:15:14
Speaker 1
Who do you know? Who needs to hear what we talked about today?

 

00:38:15:23 - 00:38:23:03
Speaker 1
Until next time, I encourage you to stay. Focus on the target and continue to break new ground on your leadership path.

Jonathan Strack Profile Photo

Jonathan Strack

CEO

JONATHAN STRACK | BIO

Jonathan Strack started his career at Strack, Inc. at 12 years old as a laborer and worked his way up through the business as an operator, superintendent, project manager, vice president, president, and finally CEO, learning what it means to be a good leader from the greatest man and mentor that anyone could ever have: his father, Joe Strack.

HUMBLE HEARTS, OPEN HANDS.
Being raised in the business and serving the company in all aspects of the work, Jonathan is known by his employees for his humble, “follow me” attitude. He truly leads the team from the front line and uses his generosity and kindness towards all people as a direct example. Jonathan believes that you should lead by being a servant first in all things that you do, and that there is little that can’t be accomplished by putting others before yourself.

BETTER EVERY DAY.

Jonathan has led the way for growth and provided vision for the future of Strack Inc., unlike anyone else. Under his leadership, Strack, Inc. has grown exponentially while expanding into new market segments and construction disciplines. Now operating in 8 Southeastern states with two office locations in Georgia, Strack, Inc. serves both the private and public construction sectors, all while staying true to its roots from the late 1940’s as a grading contractor.

MINDFUL IN EVERYTHING

Jonathan is marking a career highlight this year by being a part of growing and developing Strack, Inc. from its 50th anniversary to its 75th anniversary. A huge part of this milestone has… Read More