Your team isn't the problem. Your leadership gap might be. Noelle Labrie shows SMB owners and team leaders how to stop blaming and start building.
GROWTH PILLAR: Leadership & Ops
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Corporate escapees / Leaders building systems
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: Practical tools to assess your own leadership blind spots, reduce team turnover, build accountability culture, and scale without losing what makes your business work.
If your team keeps underperforming, the answer might not be on the floor. It might be at the top.
Noelle Labrie, founder of Tri-Skill Consulting, joins Bernie Franzgrote and Wayne Pratt on Knack 4 Business to talk about the leadership gap most business owners never see. With over 20 years of global experience in learning and development — from Kuwait to Costa Rica, from theme parks to call centers — Noelle has one core message: everything that happens on your team starts with you.
This episode covers the real cost of high turnover, why promoting your best performer can backfire without proper support, and how servant leadership builds stronger teams from the inside out. Noelle also breaks down the Peter Principle, energy management vs. time management, and why SOPs and passion are not opposites — they are partners.
Key topics covered:
Connect with Noelle Labrie: Tri-Skill Consulting Connect with Noelle on LinkedIn
Free offers from Noelle:
Reach out to Noelle through her website or LinkedIn to access both tools.
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Acknowledgements: Carl Richards — Podcast Solutions Made Simple Fred Crouch — Property Wizard podcast Jovan Strika — @Hive Melanie Webber — Business Partner
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Bernie (00:05)
Why do your people keep underperforming? Are you missing something in how you lead?
In this episode, our guest tackles the hard truth most leaders avoid. Your team's performance is reflection of your leadership, not their limitations. She'll show you how everyday life lessons and servant leadership and self-awareness can transform your culture, boost your accountability, and unlock hidden potential in the people you already have. Our guest today is Noelle Labrie from TrySkills Consulting.
She's a global learning and development expert with over 20 years experience helping people grow into the stronger, more confident leaders. From the Middle East to Central America, she has trained teams and industries ranging from food and beverage to theme parks to call centers, always with one core focus, service. Grounded in the principles of servant leadership, Noelle empowers both emerging managers and seasoned executives to unlock their potential rather than trying to fit a mold.
She believes leadership isn't something you're given, it's something you uncover. And if you're wondering about her personal discipline, she runs at least one mile every single day for the last 10 years. absolutely pleasure to have you here. Welcome. Do you have a favorite quote or saying, ma'am?
Noelle (01:21)
I do, and thank you, Bernie and Wayne. It's wonderful to be here. I really appreciate it. My personal mantra that I live by is Carpe Diem. It's something that I have taken very personally that I feel as though it is my responsibility on this earth to do more than just exist. So that's kind of my personal mantra. One of my favorite quotes is by Rear Admiral Grace Hopper.
She was the first female rear admiral in the Navy in the United States. And she says that, or she said that the most dangerous phrase in the language is, we've always done it this way. I think of that often because I think that in our lives as we seize the day, seize the moment, we have to look at doing things differently because that's how we learn.
Bernie (02:09)
tidbit for our NASA friends in the audience. Ms. Hopper also was credited with the word bug. There was a moth in the computer. Little piece of trivia. Got a question for you. You got TRI in the name of your company. What's the TRI, TRI? What's the TRI?
Noelle (02:28)
Well, my logo is the Tri-Skill, which is a Celtic symbol. And so of course, Tri-Skill is a play on the Tri-Skill, but it represents three different tenants of what I do, which is focusing on talent, team and training. It also kind of gives me the chance to play around with a little bit about trying new skills, trying new things, as you know, going back to Grace Hopper again, you know, it's, we can't stay stuck in the same rut.
We've got to be sure that we're trying new things and seeking something different. So that's where the try skill comes from.
Bernie (03:03)
Your background going from the Middle East to Central America, that's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of different cultures to be exposed to, right? What spun the wheel? It sounds like an adventure, first off, and second off, it also sounds like it left you with lot of really strong good impressions too.
Noelle (03:20)
Yeah, it was, it came about, was working for P.F. Chang's many years ago and had the opportunity to open our first franchise location, which was actually in Hawaii. And because of the work that I had done there, I had the opportunity to train the managers and chefs for our first international location, which was in Mexico City. And I came back from that opening of that restaurant and
told the gentleman who was overseeing our international expansion at that time, I said, this is fantastic. I'll do anything. I'll go anywhere. I want more of this. Please give me the chance to work with more people. And he called me up and said, I've got a job for you. And I said, great, where is it? And he said, Kuwait. And I was like, what?
It really caught me off guard. That was probably the last place on the entire planet that I expected for him to say was outside of Mexico, the first place that we were going to expand to. And, you know, of course I talked with my family about it. It was a big decision, a big commitment. And the reason truly that I said yes was I didn't want to look back on that decision five years later and regret.
to think what if, to not say yes, and then to look back at that experience and say, well, what if I had said yes? So I did, I did say yes. And I lived in Kuwait for four years. I had the opportunity to work with literally people from all over the world. It was such an incredible experience. my staff, I bet we had 40 different languages spoken on our staff.
Most of the team that worked with us were not, they were not Kuwaitis. They were from Indonesia and the Philippines and India and Syria and Sri Lanka. I mean, they were from all over the place. So having the opportunity to work with that such a diverse group of cultures and backgrounds gave me a completely different insight.
into human potential, human desire, the encouragement and motivation for different people that it takes to find that potential within and to grow. And it was just tremendous. I truthfully, the only reason I left from there is because it was really, really, really far from home. It was a long way from where my family was. So my next adventure,
was saying yes to Central America. I spent about a year in Panama and about a year in Costa Rica. And again, going in and opening the restaurants there, again, what I discovered, even though everybody spoke Spanish, everybody had a different version of the same language they were teaching, they were talking. And I mean, just a funny little story. We could not come to an agreement
on what to call a lemon and a lime. Because all of my team, they were from Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua. I mean, they were, again, they were from all of these Spanish speaking countries, but nobody could agree on what to call them. So we ended up calling them the green one and the yellow one, because it was the only thing that we could agree upon. So at any rate, again, just incredible insight about, you know, even though
We have so many similarities and we are speaking the language, how people receive information and share information is so vastly different. The principles are all the same, but each person's experience lends to who they are and how they learn and how they grow.
Bernie (07:05)
I first heard about servant leadership from John Maxwell. You have a take on servant leadership. Tell me about it.
Noelle (07:12)
Well, thank you. I, know, truthfully, Wayne, I didn't realize that's what I was doing. When I, you know, was kind of coming up through my own managerial experiences and learning how to lead others, I didn't know there was a name for it. I just knew that by my nature, it was, again, kind of my responsibility and my obligation to provide for others. So in
my life and in my training and development with, you know, the teams and the people that I've worked with, that's where I start. It's for me and the basis of, you know, everything I do and I teach is it starts with how much you give. What can you provide for someone else? What can you do to serve them and help them to, again, unlock that potential and find
those skills and talents that are inherently there. And the way that you do that, in my belief as a leader, is that you pour into them. You pour into that other person and provide them with the time and the tools and the resources that they need to be successful. I didn't even, I didn't know that that's what it was until, you know, many years later. And now it's, truthfully, the basis for everything I do.
Bernie (08:28)
So dealing with restaurants, theme parks and call centers. Theme parks, can see the kind of the crossover. Call centers, I can see that being, you're helping somebody, but usually it's over phone or online. Are the things that you do applicable in all industries or are they just unique to where you have extremely diverse folk?
congregating. Again, it's awesome. I get it. You'd have other people coming in and you'd have a mosaic, for lack of better words, relationships, culture, language. Everybody's there for work, but at the same time, just eat lime and lemon, right?
and you've already sourced out how to resolve an issue where there's a communication gap, yellow and green one, I like that. Is it true for all businesses? Is it true for if it's just culturally uniform, if it's a vanilla organization? Enlighten us.
Noelle (09:26)
The short answer is yes, it's the same across the board. The principles of leadership are essentially the same, regardless of industry. And when you think about as a leader, what are some of the skills that you need in order to be successful? And I do this exercise in workshops sometimes where I will ask the group, think of somebody who's been
a mentor or a leader for you. It could be a parent, family member, a coach, a teacher, a former boss. In one session, I had a gentleman say that his dog was a leader for him. And I'll tell you why in just a second. But I ask everybody, you know, think of who that person is and then write down five or six traits or characteristics that they have that make them a good leader.
And the answers are always the same. It's, know, across the board, it's things like communication, approachability, empathy, integrity, work ethic, decision-making ability. And all of those things are the same and necessary, regardless of the industry that you're working in. The gentleman who mentioned that his dog had been an inspiration and a leader for his own.
but a leader for him, but an inspiration to his own leadership style, said that one of the things that he learned from his dog was enthusiasm and unconditional love. That as a leader, you have to be enthusiastic for your team and you have to show them that you care. And that's what his dog had taught him about leadership, which I thought was so brilliant. But it just goes to show that regardless of whether you are working in manufacturing,
Are you working in retail? Are you working in an insurance company? As a leader for your team, again, your job is to provide for them and across the board, the skills that you need to do so are pretty much the same regardless of the industry that you're working in. Certainly behaviors will be different based on industry, but the inherent leadership skills are there and are the same.
Bernie (11:31)
Well, one thing I'm interested in from being around the restaurant business 100 years ago is there was a real emphasis on titles like chef or maître d' or a friend of their way and even some sexism. And I would think that that would make leadership harder to spot, harder to bring out. And you'd have to do almost some loving spanking on the way up.
Noelle (12:00)
You know, it's true, Wayne. And certainly, I mean, you can watch shows like Hell's Kitchen and see the response at every single time. It's, chef, and very enthusiastically. And certainly there is a designation within a restaurant as there is within any organization that different titles are going to exist for people. And what I used to share with my team, especially in the Middle East, because they were very
hierarchical in how they viewed our leadership teams and were very, very aware and respectful of somebody's position and of their title. And what I used to share with them is, yes, people's titles might be different, but all that really means is that your roles and responsibilities are different from each other. Having a particular title like a server or a bartender or a sous chef.
or a maitre d' a manager. Really all that means is that that person's responsibilities differ from somebody with a different title. But in order for the unit, the restaurant, the organization to function, every single one of those people is equally important to making sure that the department, the organization, the restaurant is successful. So it takes everybody working together in synergy
regardless of who is it in theory, the top end, and who's in a more junior position, every single person is important and necessary to the success of that business or of that restaurant.
speaker-1 (13:23)
broke
Bernie (13:36)
So the Peter Principle, does it always hold true? Everybody gets promoted up to the point where, yeah, you shouldn't be there now. We've just plugged in. And to be true to the person that's getting plugged in there, that's not their doing. Is Peter Principle a standard, de facto thing, or is that something that, I want to promote this person, but I should be doing something else? What's your take on that?
speaker-1 (14:03)
It is.
Noelle (14:03)
is,
truthfully, Bernie, it's heartbreaking when I see that somebody gets promoted into a position because they were great at their previous job and they get promoted into a new position and they flounder simply because they don't have the guidance or the training or the resources that they need in order to be successful. And I have seen this over and over and over again, again, across industries.
where let's use restaurants, you your best server or your best bartender gets promoted into a supervisor position or your best line guy in the kitchen gets promoted into a sous chef position. six weeks in, after they finish in theory, whatever their training program is, they start to suffer because nobody's teaching them how to manage the team that
used to be their peers. You know, they're looking at these guys on the line or, you know, the people in the dining room and thinking, I was just out drinking with those guys four weeks ago. How in the world am I supposed to tell somebody they can't show up to work hungover anymore? Nobody teaches them how to have that conversation. And it's heartbreaking to watch it because the thing of it is, is if that person really does want to be in a supervisory role or a managerial role,
Probably if the desire is there, there are hidden skills and there is untapped potential there. They just don't know how to get to it by themselves. So it's important when somebody moves from one position to the next as, you know, going up the chain within whatever the organization is, that they have a leader to guide them to untapped that potential and to
teach them the skills that they need to be successful in whatever that new role is.
Bernie (15:57)
I was told I'm allowed one off the wall question and here it is. I am in a university town. And the neat thing about a university town is a disproportionate amount of servers are looking for work in that university town and they're not in their field. And that's fine. Two things fascinate me. One, you just get them trained and then they graduate. So you got to start the whole process over again.
Noelle (16:01)
You
Bernie (16:25)
And second, why does our society seem to appreciate bad philosophers more than great servers?
Noelle (16:34)
gosh, I'm not even sure that I can answer the second part of that question. But I think that, know, Wayne, it is interesting because the restaurant industry, the hospitality industry is very often a gateway into something else entirely. And certainly in a university town, you're going to see that because, you know, these kids got to have a job. They need to be able to have, you know, a little bit of extra pocket money. The hours often work.
you know, based on whatever their school schedule is. And because it is for so many people, such a transitional position, I think that's why as a society, you know, to a certain extent, we don't see restaurant workers having real jobs. In fact, and I'll use this as a personal example, as much as I love my dad, when I was bartending and I was approaching a fairly significant birthday,
My dad asked me when I was gonna get a real job. And I thought, dad, I'm making really good money. I have a ton of flexibility. I enjoy what I'm doing. I get to be with people all the time and share my knowledge and serve others again, as I am want to do. But that was what he asked me is, when are you gonna get a real job? So it's interesting because...
Truthfully, the restaurant industry, and I realize I'm a little bit biased on this, but the restaurant industry teaches
speaker-1 (17:55)
All of those.
Noelle (17:56)
skills that we were just talking about. It teaches you how to handle difficult situations. It teaches you how to communicate clearly. It teaches you how to prioritize your tasks and your time. And all of those things are transferable into whatever other job or role or position, you know, or industry that you're moving into. I'm not sure if that answered your off the wall question, but we'll start.
Bernie (18:20)
So you have a group of people that are working with you. How do you know if you're the root cause of the problem as opposed to, know, someone shows up hungover because birthday, whatever the case might be, you someone just came into town and they blew into town and it's like everything's upside down and things aren't rolling through. How do you know then you are the source of it? And this, I guess this is...
Yeah, what you're going to give for the answer is kind of like the trigger for someone to go, I got to a hold of Noelle because this is what's going on. But, you what would be the cue or cues?
Noelle (18:55)
Bernie, it's really difficult to look at somebody who is in a leadership position and tell them you're bad at leadership. Nobody wants to hear that. So really what we do is in a leader role, manager, chef, leader in whatever capacity that might be, coach of a team, a teacher, whatever that role is, essentially anything that happens on your team is your responsibility.
And that can be a really, really tough pill for people to swallow because they'll look at that hungover server or they'll look at somebody who's late in filing a report or they'll look at somebody who's underperforming in some way, or form and say, I can't force that person to do something different. And you're right. You can't change somebody's behavior, but you can influence it by changing their environment.
And their environment, what I mean by that is any conversation thing exterior to what is happening to your physical body is your environment. There's a psychological equation that says essentially that behavior is the function of personality times environment. You can't change somebody's personality. You can't change who they are. You can't force them to change their behavior, but you can influence their behavior by changing the environment.
speaker-3 (19:56)
any
Noelle (20:20)
So what I mean by that is if somebody is underperforming on your team, for example, we'll use that as an example. And you think to yourself, I can't make them do something different. Well, no, you can't, but you can have the conversation. You can deliver honest feedback. can work with them on taking accountability for their actions. And if it still doesn't continue,
Ultimately, it's on you to make the decision of, this person really right for my team? Nothing will kill morale on a team faster than a manager tolerating bad behavior or bad performance. Nothing. So as the leader, it is your responsibility and everything that happens within your team ultimately rests on you.
speaker-3 (20:52)
Mm.
Bernie (21:09)
whether you've just been promoted or in your case, you've just been called in as a consultant, what is a quick hit that you can give somebody in two or three senses that can make a dramatic shift because the eyes open up?
Noelle (21:25)
Truthfully, I'll go back to actually what I just said, Wayne. It's really taking an honest look at yourself and are you taking accountability for your own actions? And are you taking accountability for your own responsibility? Before you can lead anybody else, you have to know how to lead yourself. And again, those can be some really, really tough, honest conversations to have. But in order to...
do the best and provide the best for your team or for your organization, you have to know and do a really, really honest self-assessment about what your skills are and what your own blind spots are. That's hard to do on your own. Hopefully, even as a leader, unless you're the big, big, big boss in the huge corner office, even in that...
speaker-3 (22:04)
Sometimes it's...
Noelle (22:15)
case, that person still needs a coach, that person still needs somebody to share, you know, honest information and feedback with them. I used to do what I call the start, stop, continue exercise with my team. And when I first started doing this, they did not like it because it meant that they were giving me feedback as their leader. What I asked them was tell me what I can stop doing. Tell me what I can start doing and tell me what I can continue doing as your leader.
It's a great quick little exercise, certainly requires some trust that your team feels comfortable to be that honest with you. Also requires some trust from you that you're not gonna react in a particular way when you hear certain things that you might be a little bit surprised by. But it can be a fantastic way to come to an understanding about yourself as a leader, knowing how to manage yourself and then thereby know how to manage and lead your team.
Bernie (23:12)
So is everybody a leader or is it something?
I think the answer is yes. It just is sometimes some people, know, if you're say age 70 and you're in retirement mode and you're looking for, you know, extra work, I don't want to lead it because, know, been there, done that, got the t-shirt and ow, it doesn't fit anymore versus a 20 something or 30 something person. But that said, how do you bring out
The internal leadership, how do you develop it, regardless where the circumstance lays, whether the person's in boomer mode or Gen X mode?
Noelle (23:53)
I do believe that everybody has inherent leadership skills and how you put them in to play in your life is gonna look different for each person, each position and each phase in their life. As a 70 something retiree, you have still the opportunity to lead in other areas that you may not even realize that you're doing. Again, simply by leading by example, being a good human, participating in your community, participating in your church.
whatever it is, even in your hobbies or your friend, your peer groups, utilizing those skills that may have served you in a different capacity at other phases or times in your life, each of us has those natural talents and those natural gifts that are gonna serve us in one way, or form. What I find the most fun is with those,
I'll call them young leaders, not necessarily young in years, but young in experience is tapping into those natural talents that are there that they don't even realize can serve them in leadership of others. I find that for most of us, well, how am I gonna try to say this? What I really see is that each of us
in whatever capacity on a day-to-day basis, we're simply trying to do our best. Our best might look different from day to day. My best might be different today than it is tomorrow. If I've had a great night's sleep and I've eaten healthily today and I've had a lot of water and I got a little exercise and I got a little sunshine, my best is gonna be better than on a day when I had a fight with my partner or I got a flat tire as I was driving to the store.
But I think that each of us inherently we are just trying to do our best. So to go back to your question of is each of us a leader or do we each have that leadership potential? I think the answer is yes. It's simply how do we implement it based on where we are in our life? Sometimes even where we are in our day.
Bernie (26:02)
I love overview questions that overly simplify, but I'll try this. In different countries and in different cities, what excuse have you heard the most that you said, you know, we don't have to do management, we just need to change the locks, you're done. What do you think? What do you call that? Burning the salty earth or what?
Noelle (26:21)
I think, mean, it's, is, it's so easy to make excuses and, and, you know, what I, what I hear a lot is, I don't have time, you know, I don't, I don't have time to do the thing. I don't have time to train the person. I don't have time to take care of, of that, you know, issue, whatever the thing is. And, and again, that, goes back to, you know, how you, how you prioritize.
Again, we talk about time management a lot and I'm going to argue that it's not necessarily, this is something I talk about with my groups is it's not necessarily time management, it's energy management. Do you know how to utilize your energy in the best way at the best time of day in order to function at your best? there's, like I said before, no leader likes to be told that they're bad at leadership.
point there does have to be a tough conversation where either I'm going to use this phrase, either you manage them up or you manage them out. one, one, you've to go one direction or the other, but inherently I think that, that if somebody has the desire to prove and the openness and willingness to listen and to learn to constructive feedback without getting, without getting defensive about it.
Hopefully it doesn't come to the point where you're just like, okay, we're done. me your keys.
Bernie (27:41)
Wow. Do you find then that like for different industries, like if you're a startup, right, the personality might even make a solopreneur and then the solopreneur starts hiring somebody. And it could be in the restaurant industry, right? Someone's owning a coffee shop, now they've got to hire some students and so forth. And all of a sudden it's really successful. And they end up getting a coffee shop that becomes national or international.
How do you make sure you have that company culture that, know, the ethos that you started off with, does it morph? Is it replicated? how do you... Because sometimes the company culture in the small fry mode, you know, it's good. It gets bigger, not so good. It won't come across well. How do you adjust it so that it's going well as you grow?
Noelle (28:31)
gosh, systems and consistency to be very, very blunt about it. And I'll use myself as an example for this. When I started Triscale, I had always worked for somebody else before. I had always worked in a corporate position previous to this. And I didn't know what I didn't know. But what I did do was to seek help and understanding from others.
that either had been in the same position I was, had been through the experiences I had been through in starting my own business. I could ask questions and gain understanding from other people's experiences. And I think that's true within, from a startup position as well. I think it's important to identify what's important to you. I think it's really important to go through the exercise of your own.
first your personal mission, vision and values, but then as a company, truly, what do you want to represent? What do you want those values to be? And then put the systems into place to ensure that as you do scale and grow, that you have a good foundation for yourself and for your organization to help you get to that next level. I am a huge fan of coaching.
I am a huge fan of community. I think it's really important to find your people as a business owner, as a leader, in whatever capacity that might be in your life, to know that there is a safe space for you and to have the humility to be able to say to that safe space, I'm struggling with this. I need some help. I think
that humility and being able to be humble is essential to leadership. And certainly as a business owner or as you're growing to be willing to admit that you don't know everything and it's sometimes you're going to run into that. I didn't even know that I didn't know that. ⁓ what do I do now? And you got to have your people that are going to be there to support you and guide you.
speaker-1 (30:38)
So.
Noelle (30:44)
in those moments, but having that in those initial systems and that consistency. And again, self leadership too is gonna help you as you continue to grow your business.
Bernie (30:54)
In my 10 years of life's coaching and some consulting and podcasting, we always SOP, SOP, SOP, standard operational procedures. And we understand how powerful that is. And then I look at the hospitality industry that's all about, or seems to be all about enthusiasm and passion and energy.
And I was wondering, how do you make those two dichotomies work?
Noelle (31:19)
That's a great question because both are true. You have to have those SOPs even in the restaurant industry because without them, there's chaos. know, that enthusiasm, approachability, energy, passion, all of those things are so important, but there has to be a structure in which those are executed and exhibited. So for example, in the restaurant industry,
No matter if you are running a coffee shop, you're running a casual dining restaurant, or you're running a Michelin star restaurant, there are steps of service. In a coffee shop, it might just be, here's how you greet the guest. Here's our expectation for the timing of when their croissant and their coffee is gonna be ready for them. But there's expectation of what those steps of service are. Certainly in a Michelin star,
fine dining restaurant, those steps of service are gonna be more elaborate. But it's building those, instead of SOPs, think of them more like daily rituals and daily habits. What is it that I am going to do on a daily basis in a particular order that is going to come to a positive guest experience? certainly that's the end result that you're always trying to get to. But you can do that, you can follow those steps.
with every ounce of passion and enthusiasm.
Bernie (32:44)
This almost begs the next question. You run a mile a day. So that's a habit. And by the way, congratulations. That's a good habit to have. Is that something that you, when you're talking to your client or clients, you tell them, you know, it be a mile a day or it can be something else, but it's a pattern of behavior. And is that meant to them?
create that level of discipline and provide that kind of a guiding edge.
Noelle (33:14)
That's exactly what it is. And for me, it happens to be that I run and I have run a mile every single day for over 3,800 days, so about 10 and a half years. And it didn't start out, I didn't start out on purpose with this idea of I'm gonna run every single day for 10 years. What I realized when I set the initial goal for myself is,
that it provided me, running provides me with a clarity of mind and an intentionality for my day. So translating that into leadership or work with my clients, it's exactly that. It's what can you establish for yourself to be intentional and purposeful that is meaningful for you that you can commit to that's gonna develop that discipline.
It doesn't have to be running. It doesn't have to be anything in particular. It's really, what is it for you as an individual that's gonna give you both that peace of mind and that inspiration of I am doing this positive thing for myself, which then is gonna translate into positivity for others. It's been...
10 years is a long time to run every day. It gives me a lot of time to think about things. And it's really amazing what that discipline and dedication has done for me, and hopefully how I show up in the world with everybody else.
Bernie (34:42)
You live in Florida, so if you run every day, that means also during hurricane season?
Noelle (34:47)
It does. Yeah, it's been pretty interesting because, know, certainly I am safe. I will say this and, you know, my mom, if she's listening, will say, no, well, don't run outside, you know, when it's thundering or lightning. And so, no, mom, I don't run outside when it's thundering or lightning. I do have access to a treadmill.
Bernie (34:49)
there's the termination.
Noelle (35:08)
However, I prefer to run outside. And even if it's just raining out, that doesn't bother me. But I will make every effort. And I have run in some crazy places. I have run in empty airport terminals. I have run in the Grand Canyon. I have run up and down stairs and hallways and hotels just to be able to get my mile in.
So yes, I am careful. But again, it's something that I've done for myself. And now it's just such an inherent part of how I start my day that without it, even if the weather is kind of goofy and I need to wait a little while longer than normal to get out the door, like I can feel it inside my skin. was like, it's time. I gotta get out there. So I make every effort.
that I can regardless of the situation to be sure to get that mile in.
Bernie (36:00)
something that I do, and I've heard, I don't know if you do it. When I'm been asked to access a business or situation, I find I make my sessions in the first half an hour, and then I spend the next four months writing the ancient documentation to explain how I got to those half an hour. But I'm interested in what you think the indicators are. What do you look for when you're accessing a business?
Noelle (36:24)
Well, when I'm looking at, specifically when I'm talking with my restaurant clients, let's look at the pain points. Let's talk about your attrition. How high is your turnover? Bernie used the word culture. We talked about that a little bit a couple of minutes ago. Talk to me about the culture. What's the environment within your four walls? Then let's look at things like, how much money are you throwing in your trash can? Meaning, how much waste is there?
or how many mistakes are your team making? Those are some of the things that I look at those pain points because right now, unfortunately, what's happening in our industry is that labor cost and food cost is through the roof. So let's identify what those things are that are happening. They're really symptoms of a bigger problem. But let's talk about that first and then go back and look at
Again, what kind of systems do you have in place? What kind of training materials do you have? Do you have recipe cards for your culinary team or for your specialty cocktails in the bar? Are you teaching your team how to talk about the food correctly? And all of those different things go back to, again, how the team is led and how they're managed. I love to write training materials and I love to write training plans.
It's, I have a certification in technical writing. So those things plus Canva make me really, really happy. But I really enjoy working then with the leaders, with the managers and chefs within a restaurant, again, to strengthen their skills and to strengthen their systems so that they can best serve their staff. So their staff can then best serve their guests. It all comes back to starting with those pain points.
Bernie (38:10)
He tell us about technical writing. He wasn't in the air by hang on. Hang on. That's awesome, though.
Noelle (38:16)
A lot of times I don't mention it, Bernie, because then somebody will say, well, hey, can you look at this email for me? Or hey, can you do a quick review of this document?
Bernie (38:24)
Yeah, just say the font's half character half percent off just in shrink it or fatten it I'm being silly and I appreciate it. So What would be the key for a company to go? Listen, I gotta get a hold in the well What would be their trigger event that they would be seeing either the owner? You know, in other words the self-conscious owner or you know the The board, know, when would they go?
We need to do something in here to get things back on track.
Noelle (38:53)
So there's a couple of different things. again, looking at if one of the things that I talk with my teams about is their turnover, is their attrition. If they are recognizing that it is quite literally costing them thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars a year because they can't keep good staff, that's a problem. And there's a reason why people are
are leaving, especially if you hire them and think, this is great server and great bartender, great line cook, they're gonna work out really, really well. And then three to six months down the road, they're gone and you don't really know why. High turnover is very telling within a restaurant. Of course it is a transient industry like we talked about before, but if the team's not sticking around, there's a reason why. So that would be a good indicator
to reach out to me just to say, hey, can we dive into this a little deeper and figure out where this pain is coming from? The other, and I have a group that I'm working with right now that more on a growth scale is if an individual unit or a small group of restaurants is looking at wanting to grow, they wanna add another location, they wanna open another restaurant in a different state.
and they really just don't know how to build their bench of managers, chefs, and potentially even in-house trainers to do that. Maybe they've only got a couple of units right now, but they don't have a full-time training person or people development person on their team. Those are great opportunities for me to work with that organization to, again, get some things into place that's gonna help them be able to build their bench and open up that next location when they're ready.
Bernie (40:35)
Well, you mentioned working not only different cities but different continents and we're on Zoom which basically means the world. Where's your sweet spot to work demographically and geographically and how do get a hold of you?
Noelle (40:49)
Well, thank you for asking that. am right now, I am fairly focused in the US, but I certainly am open to anything nationwide. I have a good support system at home, so if I have to travel, I have somebody who can watch after my little fur babes that I have in my house. But I'm absolutely open to any opportunities that present themselves here in the US.
Because a lot can be done virtually, know, there's a lot of things with regard to communication of information, even quick, you know, seminars, workshops, check-ins, anything materials related, all of that can, you know, can be done virtually. So.
Bernie (41:24)
And it has restaurants.
Noelle (41:26)
Yeah, well, yes. And I would be very happy to travel to Canada as well. I simply haven't had the opportunity to do so yet, but I would love to. And, you know, truthfully, the best way to get ahold of me is I am very, very active on LinkedIn. I'm the only Noelle Labrie on LinkedIn. So I'm pretty easy to find there. But certainly two people can reach out to me through my website, which is trywithani-skillconsulting.com.
And in through either one of those places, I'll be able to get back to somebody pretty quick.
Bernie (41:56)
And you have an offer that you're opening up to folks to that are listening to the podcast. And what is the offer all about?
Noelle (42:05)
I have a couple of different assessments that I've put together. One of them is really, well, like we talked about a few minutes ago, doing a self-assessment at your own leadership skills and taking a look at, know, who am I as a leader? What's important to me? What am I good at? Where do I maybe need a little bit of help? So one of them is just a quick self-assessment of your own leadership capabilities. The other is more
It is very specific to restaurants and it's a system snapshot, which has a section for let's identify some things that are happening on your team. Let's identify some things that are happening with your managers and your chefs. And then let's look at your training systems. And it gives us kind of a place to start to know within your restaurant, what do you currently have in place? And maybe what are some areas that you could strengthen a little
Bernie (42:54)
Well, I want to say thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your information and sharing your knowledge and sharing your your experiences and that you're also a technical writer. We'll to keep that in mind. Yes. No, all kidding aside to my co-host, Wayne Pratt and you the Knack for Business listeners. Appreciate your time. So Noelle helps leaders and you know, it's not about blaming the team. It's understanding how it all comes together.
and you being the leader, you're part of that team. So if you're blaming the team, you're blaming yourself, right? So You got to tweak that component. helps, Noelle helps you take the underperformance and bring it around and out. And if you're in the restaurant business, all the better fit.