Brad Schneider believes most business owners already know what they need to do next. The difficult part is confronting what has stopped them from doing it.
That was the situation facing Leah Cottrill of SERVPRO of Northwest Columbus when she first met Schneider at a workshop hosted by a local bank. Cottrill believed she and one of her managers had built a strong business, but their different communication styles regularly created tension.
“I was like, this guy [Brad Schneider] might be the answer to helping my manager and I learn to communicate better,” Cottrill said.
Schneider, The Growth Coach, began working with both of them, using DISC personality assessments, communication exercises and regular conversations to help them understand how the other approached problems.
“The manager and I really learned to get along, and we found out that if our two personalities could work together, we could be a powerhouse,” Cottrill said.
As the company hired more employees, Schneider’s role expanded to work with more of SERVPRO. Cottrill kept him on retainer so managers or employees could contact him when they encountered conflict, struggled to approach a colleague or needed help handling a difficult situation.
The process helped employees recognize that behavior that appears aggressive or uncooperative may be rooted in fear, communication differences or a sincere belief that a particular approach is best.
“If you’re having a problem with them, read about where they’re coming from, and let’s see if we can bridge the gap,” Cottrill said.
Understanding a personality type does not excuse poor performance or behavior, however. Cottrill said Schneider helped the team distinguish between communication differences that could be managed and conduct that required a more direct conversation.
That distinction is central to Schneider’s belief that leaders can maintain a positive workplace culture while still expecting strong performance.
When challenges extend beyond communication
Following a death in her family, Cottrill spent an extended period grieving and felt as though she was languishing in the business. Its financial condition eventually forced her to consider whether she could continue operating it.
So, she called Schneider. He helped refocus her on why she has built this business.
“He basically sat me down, and he said, ‘How bad do you want this thing?’”
“He just really walked me through that step by step, kept with me, and asked me hard questions,” Cottrill said.
The experience reflects Schneider’s belief that coaching requires business owners to consider their own role in an organization’s struggles.
Just because you’re wired this way doesn’t mean you can act this way
Some business owners worry that raising standards will damage morale, overwhelm employees or cause people to leave.
Others fear they will not be able to meet a higher standard themselves. Schneider said those concerns often keep individuals and organizations operating below their potential.
“When people make those leaps, more often than not, those fears that they’ve had in their head about why this won’t work are usually unfounded,” Schneider said.
“When you start to raise the standards, you start to get more of that success. For the people that are motivated and want to be in that sort of environment where they’re winning more — however you want to define winning — that gets contagious,” Schneider said.
Raising standards does not necessarily mean demanding longer hours or constantly increasing workloads.
Communicating more clearly, improving quality, arriving on time, becoming more efficient or addressing behaviors that other employees have been forced to work around are all examples of raised standards, for yourself or your colleagues.
Not every employee embraces the process, and they’re not forced into it.
The Growth Coach uses what it calls the Strategic Mindset Process to help clients identify goals, improve results and develop their teams. Rather than handing business owners a prescribed formula, Schneider said coaches help them uncover solutions they can believe in and sustain.
“Most of the time, about 90% to 95% of the time, as a coach, my clients know what they need to do,” Schneider said.
“They don’t need somebody to tell them what to do. They don’t need somebody to give them some magical nugget that nobody’s ever heard of.”
When leaders communicate what they need and hold themselves to the same standard, Schneider often sees their confidence increase as employees respond. Team members who want to succeed can become more motivated once they begin seeing better results.
“At the end of the day, it is behavior changes,” Schneider said.
Growing as the Growth Coach
Through The Growth Coach, Schneider has spent more than two decades helping individuals grow in ways that strengthen their organizations. He joined as a Central Ohio franchise owner in 2015 and steadily expanded his role within the company.
In March, Schneider acquired the global Growth Coach franchise system, becoming its president and owner. The move placed him at the head of a company he had spent more than a decade learning from the inside.
This represented the kind of step he routinely encourages his clients to take– raising their standards for themselves and others while accepting the uncertainty and moving forward.
“I’m excited to be able to carry on the legacy of the brand that’s been around for over 20 years,” Schneider said.
A Columbus native who moved to Sunbury in 2008, Schneider has served on the Big Walnut Local Schools Board of Education, coached youth baseball and softball and served multiple stints on the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Although he now leads a global franchise system, much of Schneider’s work remains rooted in conversations with local business owners and managers.
The Growth Coach follows a principle of “no parking,” he said. An owner who remains parked in the same place should not expect the business to change, even as customers, employees and competitors continue moving around it.
For business owners who feel overwhelmed or stuck, Schneider recommends beginning with a conversation.
“If there’s that project that they’re always stuck on, or there’s that thing they’ve been trying to get done for years and it’s not happening, or their numbers are flat — all those things that feel kind of stagnant — just have the conversation,” Schneider said.
Learn more about The Growth Coach and Brad Schneider at https://www.thegrowthcoach.com/
