IAM1722 – CEO Develops Strategic Human Capital Management

Dr. Tonya Robertson Teaser 00:00

Position our training so that we capture the team member right out of the gate. So as soon as you hire them, we customize that onboarding program. They go into Job specific skills training programs. So we have a very strategic thought-out pipeline of long-term training programs for the CEO.

Intro 00:21

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is to I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:48

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year and we're doing something a little bit different. We're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories or topics or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, and what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month we are focused on our greatest asset, talent management and hiring. Think from great resignation to great renovation. And if you disagree with me, maybe these episodes might be especially for you. Life and especially business has changed. It has forced those that are within organizations to look differently at talent, and how it's being managed. When we talk about change, think about it, we have to realize that business as usual is no longer here. That's evident in attracting and retaining clients, but also in setting up people within organizations to succeed. Think onboarding, think D E I, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. How it is working from home and even going back into the office.

Things are different. In this month, we are going to explore these topics by featuring CEO hacks and CEO nuggets but also interviews that focus is on these changes and how organizations can make sure they care for and attract the most valuable asset, their people. Sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today I have Dr. Tonya Roberson of Focus Training Solutions.

Dr. Tonya super excited to have you on the show.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 02:22

Thank you so much, Gresham, for the opportunity. I am happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless :02:27

Yes, I'm even happier to have you on as well. And before we jumped into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Dr. Tonya so I can hear about all these awesome things that she's working on.

A poorly trained or untrained team is costing your business money and time every single day. That's why Dr. Tonya Robertson, founder of focused training solutions, and team are proactive about ensuring that service-based business owners understand the importance of developing their teams to be more of an asset in order to increase profitability.

Focus training solutions is not the average employee training agency. Dr. Tonya Robertson and team take a holistic, strategic, and relational approach to ensure the ongoing success of businesses. Dr. Tonya, again, super excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Dr. Tonya Robertson 03:13

I am. I am.

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Gresham Harkless 03:16

Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 03:24

All right, Gresham. Woo. All right. I'm a little dated, but we'll rewind that clock. So my CEO story is a bit twofold. So, first and foremost I just simply wanted to break any preconceived notions about what could be. So I grew up as a country girl in Southern Virginia, raised by my grandparents. And so I did all the things that they told me, I went to school, got the degree, got a good job and just didn't feel good. I felt that my creativity was capped. My earning power was capped. In addition, I was a teen mom and I want my children just to be able to do what's possible. So, that's one side of the coin.

On the other side of the coin, it's really to be able to have a life without regrets. As a business owner, I watched both of my grandparents that raised me pass away on their deathbeds. Some of the things that they shared with me were a lot of regrets about what they should have done in the past as it relates to traveling more and spending more time with family.

Now I know business ownership can definitely be super time-consuming. But, I feel like, well this venture for me it allows me to teach others and also myself how to just really structure your team so that they can be more of an asset so that you can do those things that many people regret as they get older. It relates to spending time with family or traveling or all of those things associated with time free.

Gresham Harkless 05:07

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I appreciate you so much for sharing that.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 05:10

Yeah. And to add to that real quick, Gresham, I'm going back to the first side of the coin. Being a teen mom one of the drivers behind that was just being told at that point, you know what I would not be able to accomplish as a teen mom.

So you know, on one side you've got the regrets that you've been hearing from those loved ones that have raised you. That's really a driving force. Then on the other side, you've got the voices that you hear that you recall as that early age teen mom telling you what is not possible.

Gresham Harkless 05:47

Absolutely. Absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know you touched a little bit upon how you work with your clients, so I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you're serving them and how you're making an impact for them as organizations.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 05:58

Awesome stuff. So we develop, deliver and maintain team training programs. We do that for high-earning six-figure and seven-figure CEOs that want productive teams. They want time freedom and they want to increase their profitability. So, our signature service is actually just a complete done-for-you service offering for those individuals.

We take the stress out of their plate as far as knowing how to effectively create that training plan and how to effectively train those teams. And so, we create those programs and we deliver them so that the CEO can just go off on his or her own and focus on the money.

Gresham Harkless 06:43

Yeah. And that's so huge. I think what you're doing is so phenomenal because you're helping to allow the person to, first of all have the people around him or her that are trained to be able to succeed, but also allowing that person to be where they need to be to hopefully move the needle forward for their organization and the business as a whole.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 07:01

Yes, yes, absolutely. And we uniquely position our training so that we capture the team member right out of the gate. So as soon as you hire them, we customize that onboarding program. They go into job-specific skills training programs. So we have a very strategic thought-out pipeline of long-term training programs for the CEO.

Gresham Harkless 07:26

Awesome. Awesome. So would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce? This could be for yourself individually, the business, or a combination of both, but is it your ability to understand and bridge that gap part of your secret sauce, would you feel it makes you unique?

Dr. Tonya Robertson 07:38

I definitely would say so. I think we're unique in that, like I mentioned, we capture the team member right out the gate and just really learn what it is that they need and create training that's going to cater to their learning time so that we eliminate training time for the CEOs. Because oftentimes a lot of time is wasted just creating that one size fits all training and assuming everyone is going to get it, and the state of the workforce has changed. A lot is changing and so all of that needs to be taken into consideration.

As the CEO, with the background and education technology and all that great stuff, I feel like I am uniquely positioned to lead my team and to be able to just really, aside from that, be relational with the CEOs and the business owners, that's super important to me. I'm a customer service maniac and so it's important for me that we are just delivering excellence, walking in excellence in all that we do and being accountable.

With that in mind, one of the ingredients I'd say to the secret sauce is being super relational, getting to know the people outside of the title of CEO. What do they like, tell me about your family, what are you doing this weekend? So, understanding the human side of the CEOs that we work with and also their teams has helped us and we build forever relationships from that. So that is definitely my secret sauce and I feel is what has contributed to the success of the company.

Gresham Harkless 09:27

Awesome. Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Dr. Tonya Robertson 09:40

That's a great question because I recently implemented what's called a 12-week year. Not sure if you've heard of Brian Moran and I think I have his name correct. So with one of the mastermind groups I'm part of, he recently came and did a training for us and it was so awesome and I feel  like, why didn't someone tell me about this, a long time ago?

So I've begun to implement the 12-week year and it has since just really streamlined my focus, Gresham. I've been able to accomplish a lot in just a short period of time. So for me, I'd say if you haven't checked out the book, I know just in general as CEOs, we always have a gazillion thoughts and ideas running through our heads of services or products or just various ways in which we can make money and sometimes it's hard to just focus on a few things.  So with the 12-week year, it helped, me personally to be able to do that. So, yeah, I'd say that's definitely a CEO hack.

Gresham Harkless 10:53

Yeah. And it is. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call CEO Nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 11:07

My advice to CEOs is there is some accountability on your part. Don't skip the CEO work. You can't just hire the team and expect them to know what to do immediately out the gate with minimal supervision and poor training. They are human. Get to know their human side, they are people first.

Then the second part of that Gresham is you also mentioned like what would I have told my younger self? So for that, I would say bet on me, right? And I didn't do that. I bet too much on other people opening doors and creating opportunities for me. I feel like I almost put my destiny in everyone else's hands. I would have just bet on myself more because I know that I'm capable. I now know my work, all of these things I know, hence the step out into entrepreneurship.

Now, there are times that are challenging of course, but I know that I can create opportunities that are gonna be solutions for other business owners. I know that with that, there's no cap on my earning power. So yes that's my CEO nugget and that's what I will tell my younger self.

Gresham Harkless 12:35]

Absolutely. I love that. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition, of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So, Dr. Tonya, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Dr. Tonya Robertson 12:47

One freedom. Now, I will always preface this with, there's still work to be done. You still have to do the work. Oftentimes because I get lost in the enjoyment of what I do, I may end up putting in more than 40 hours a week that I used to put in for the corporate, the other organizations that I used to work for and did not enjoy. But now I can do this for something that I'm building. So I have that freedom. I'm super grateful for that, freedom.

As I mentioned before, there are no limits to my earning power in that. Yes. So freedom, no profit limits. And then creativity because if we create solutions as CEOs, we can wake up tomorrow and it's hey, I think I can add on a solution for this problem. So, the creativity part is definitely meaningful as well. And then, aside from that, the fact that I get to homeschool my daughter, there are just so many opportunities to just bond with family and again, create that life by design.

Gresham Harkless 14:03

Yeah, absolutely. Well, definitely have to have you back on to hear a little bit more on your perspective on that questions and all the awesome things that you've been working on.

So of course I appreciate that. I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best people can get ahold of you, find about all the awesome things you and team are working on.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 14:24

So, take a look at wetrainyourteam if you'd like, and interview us to see if we'd be a great fit for your business. And I just wanna reiterate about CEOs stop hiring the team without a path forward. We're able to help you. We have some great resources on the site. And I just wanna thank you, Gresham, for having me.

For the opportunity avails for me to come back again, I'd love to. So thank you so much again.

Gresham Harkless 14:50

Yes, I absolutely appreciate you and of course we're gonna have the links and information in the show notes, so I definitely, look forward to having you back on the show, talking about all the awesome things you know that you're working on, and I hope you have a phenomenal of today.

Dr. Tonya Robertson 15:02

All right. Awesome.

Outro 15:03

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase. It's a community. Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at ceohacks.co.

This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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