Transcript: Best Practices to Make Your Business Profitable and Purposeful // Dr. Hannah Stolze, Wheaton College ,Troy Meachum, ACR Supply Company

The Flourishing Culture Podcast Series

“Best Practices to Make Your Business Profitable and Purposeful“

November 28, 2022

Troy Meachum and Hannah Stolze

Intro: As a leader, do you feel a tension between investing in a flourishing culture and operational excellence? Well, today our guests discuss key values that build both a flourishing culture and operational excellence in Christian-led workplaces.

Al Lopus: Hi, I'm Al Lopus, and you're listening to the Flourishing Culture Podcast, where we help you create and lead a flourishing workplace. We find the problem many employers are facing today is readjusting to our post-COVID, hybrid world. The great resignation is still evident, where employees are quitting at record levels, filling millions of open jobs, even as we face a cooling economy and record-setting wage inflation. We know that having a flourishing workplace with fully engaged employees is the solution. So this week, we're talking about moving forward on the road to flourishing, no matter where you're starting from.

What are some of the best practices that empower businesses to be both profitable and purposeful for God's kingdom? And how does a Christian business owner balance the demands of business while valuing employees and customers? And on today's Flourishing Culture Podcast, we'll learn about an academic center that develops the next generation of leaders and creates innovative solutions for businesses. And we'll consider a case study of a Christian-owned HVAC business. And this conversation will highlight some specific ways to develop a flourishing workplace culture in a marketplace business.

And I'm delighted to welcome two guests to our Flourishing Culture Podcast today: Dr. Hannah Stolze, who's the executive director of the Wheaton Center for Faith and Innovation; and returning guest Troy Meachum, the CEO of ACR Supply. Hannah and Troy, it's great to have you on the Flourishing Culture Podcast.

Hannah Stolze: It's great to be here. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Troy Meachum: So glad to be here, Al. Thank you so much for having us.

Al: Hey, I'm really looking forward to our conversation.

And Hannah, let's start with you. I'd love to learn more about the Wheaton Center for Faith and Innovation. We've had Troy on our podcast before, and his company has been using the Best Workplaces Institute to measure employee engagement. But our listeners may not be familiar with the work that you're doing at Wheaton. So what is the Center for Faith and Innovation? What sort of resources do you provide for Christian-owned companies like ACR Supply?

Hannah: Yeah, thanks, Al.

The Center for Faith and Innovation is an academic center at Wheaton College. We support student and faculty research at the intersection of faith and business. So we conduct research both at the project level, with student-led corporate projects, and at the enterprise level or the corporate level, like the work we've done with ACR, this case that we're going to talk about.

So the enterprise-level, the company-level projects explore the impact of faith-driven strategies and the diffusion of those values on the culture of the company. So more or less, we explore kind of employee engagement in faith and wisdom and the values-based practices of a company.

Al: Oh, that’s great.

And Troy, what did you learn at ACR Supply and hope to learn from participating in this Faith and Innovation project?

Troy: Al, we're always looking for ways that we can more effectively integrate our faith into the marketplace. And after being introduced to Hannah and her team members a couple of years ago, I really became fascinated with the whole Faith and Innovation project and their team, and what they were trying to accomplish just seemed really, it just, it was something I really connected with. So in turn, what we did was we worked with them to do a case study on our organization, which provides really helpful feedback that we're able to now use to reinforce some of the things we're already doing, but also to help us focus on certain areas that were underperforming. And so I'll be glad to share later on as we chat today.

Al: Yeah. And I'm really looking forward to that aspect, Troy, for sure. And again, thanks for coming back on.

You know, as I've been looking at this, the vision of the Center for Faith and Innovation is to help Christians pursue their work in the marketplace as an act of discipleship. I love that idea because here at the Best Christian Workplaces Institute, we believe that Christian-led organizations should set the standard as the best and most-effective places to work in the world.

And Hannah, let's talk about excellence in work. This is a topic that comes up regularly when it comes to Christian workplaces. You know, our spiritual foundation is essential, but excellence in business practice is part of our faith witness in the marketplace. Troy and I know a great leader named Mike Sharrow. Mike has a saying, “Sloppy agape,” which is too oftentimes what Christian businesses are known for, not for excellence. So how does your work at Wheaton help foster excellence in the marketplace? You know, are there some specific practical examples that you can point to, where you see the value of excellence making a difference in a Christian-led company?

Hannah: Absolutely. This is so important and such a great question, Al. Also, I guess we're going to quote C12 on our answers and our thoughts on excellence. But my friend Kevin Miller, who is also a part of C12, said, “The grace of God is not an excuse for mediocrity.” And I think that's a really important thing to consider. I really think this is true. It's not only true for us as individuals, but it's really important for the testimony of Christians in the market. If we're going out, and we're professing the gospel, but we are practicing sloppy agape, that says something, not just about who we are, but who we are as representatives of God.

So at the Center for Faith and Innovation at Wheaton, we foster excellence in the marketplace, really in two different ways. First, we don't just teach our students, like, information. We don't just want them to have business knowledge. We actually strive to train and disciple them as they work with different companies during their time at Innovation Scholars with the CFI iLab. We really want them to learn to walk both in humility, which is a challenge when you're young and idealistic, and with excellence as they work with companies to deliver solutions for the projects that they're working on.

The second thing that we focus on is a lot of our work through the Center is grounded. Our research and the ideas that we're really exploring are very much grounded in the wisdom books of the Bible. And the wisdom books call us to excellence and culture excellence and public excellence in the public square. And specifically in Proverbs—I’m a big Proverbs fan—and Proverbs, of course, highlights a lot of the practical, everyday principles of excellence, like individual work ethic, thinking strategically, how do we treat customers? suppliers? all the way down to, like, pricing strategies and forecasting and property rights. And so I think we need to incorporate these ideas, biblical principles, into questions we ask, and we incorporate them into the guidance that we provide to the companies that we work with.

Al: Yeah, exactly. Well, I appreciate that. And Troy's probably heard me quote a Proverbs verse over time: know the conditions of your flock, as one of the verses in Proverbs that that we really pick up on. Yeah, fantastic.

So, Troy, let's turn it back over to you, and this whole excellence question in your work at ACR Supply. So how does a company exhibit this attribute in the marketplace? You've engaged employees, you know, and we know that you've got 80% of your employees are engaged, even the way we define it. And you've got committed customers, and you want to deliver excellent results. So are there some practical ways that you can build excellence into your processes?

Troy: Sure, Al. We believe the best way to achieve excellence in these areas is by asking the individuals you serve, right? So we put two processes in place to receive this kind of candid and honest feedback from our customers as well as our ACR team members. And for our customers, we use an organization called Farmington Consultants, and we do a survey in depth every two years with them. And that way we're able to see, how are we performing, how are we doing with them, what areas are we excelling in, what areas can we be better at? And that becomes part of our playbook for the coming year.

And obviously, you know that we use BCWI to get feedback from our team members every year. And so we just did our readout with Cary. It was fantastic. It was so good to have him on site. And what that does for us, in both Farmington and also working with you guys, for our customers and our people, it really gives us specific areas that we can work on to continue to drive excellence throughout our organization. And, really, with our planning process, these tools, these things are the feedback that we use to set specific initiatives to drive our behavior and our plans in the coming year. So that's how we do it.

Al: Yeah, that's fantastic. So not only are you surveying your employees and getting that feedback, but you're working with a consultant to survey your customers and getting that feedback. That's fantastic. And I appreciate the shout out to Cary Humphries, working with you now for several years. A great leader and consultant with us.

In your recent Employee Engagement Survey results, one of the FLOURISH factors that Cary pointed out, I'm sure, is that you're really good—and I was looking at the results myself a little earlier—you're really good at healthy communication. And I'm quick to point out, well, communication is two way. That's healthy communication, involving staff and decisions and seeking suggestions. And listening is a key part of that.

You know, your emphasis on healthy communication, as I've looked at your data, is reflected on a couple of your values that your employees mentioned, values such as honesty and truthfulness—and here's one that I'm really looking forward to digging into—no gossip. So let's dive into this “no gossip” value that you've got, maybe a little deeper. This is one thing that we've heard a lot about over the 20 years at the Best Christian Workplaces. And in the secular workplace, we hardly hear the word “gossip” as an issue. But it really provides a great value that can create a positive work environment, as we've experienced it. And sometimes this kind of policy can be unconsciously interpreted by employees as meaning, “Well, we really don't have any room for disagreement. We have to agree.” Sometimes that's the way it can be interpreted. So how do you create an environment, Troy, of healthy conflict resolution, working together while maintaining these values of honesty, truthfulness, and no gossip?

Troy: Well, there's a number of ways. But first off, we got to define what gossip is. And I believe it’s defined as when a negative or a problem is discussed with anyone who can’t solve the problem or source a solution to the problem. I personally, Al, over the years, I've seen how gossip can destroy organizations. It can destroy relationships, families, and even churches. And so we believe that to create a flourishing culture, you have to be really intentional in these areas. And I found that most everyone agrees that gossip and negativity are really bad things, even the people who do it because they think they're the exception. They're really kind of blind to the damage that they're doing. It's a blind spot that many of us have.

So what I do is I teach a 16-hour course called Crucial Conversations, and in this course, we kind of help equip people with the right tools to work through disagreements and have healthy conflict because we're going to have conflict. And I really believe that what I used to be like was I believed that harmony was everything. But what I found out later on is that false harmony can be deadly to your organization. So we really want to equip our team members so when the conflict does come, personally or professionally, they'll know how to handle it in the right way.

And one side note that I thought’s fascinating. Usually, the feedback I get about Crucial Conversations training is how it usually helps people more personally than it does professionally, which is really great. I've heard great feedback about marriages improving. And so it's really been satisfying to me so that we can live out our purpose statement of building relationships, impacting lives, and glorifying God. So, yep.

Al: I really love that definition, where you kind of define it as when a negative or a problem is discussed with anyone who can't solve the problem. Maybe we should think about that in our political discourse at times as well. But anyway, off topic.

Hannah, let's go back to you. And as you think about ACR Supply and other faith-based companies that your team has worked with, and you've worked with now a half a dozen over the past couple of years, what are some of the best practices that you see in terms of healthy communication? How do leaders allow space for honest feedback without retribution? We all face these inevitable conflicts that come. When human beings work together in proximity, you know, there's always some sparks that fly. So what's your experience?

Hannah: Honest feedback is so important to create a culture of transparency and healthy communication. Like, you're not actually communicating unless you have that feedback loop, right? So that communication is only a one-way delivery of a message. And you don't actually know that you did the communication well until you have feedback. And so I think leaders need to practice listening well and even invite feedback and opportunities to joint problem solve. And this creates some vulnerability, right? because you could find that your communication wasn't effective or that there are things that you may need to change as a leader.

And I really appreciate what Troy said about gossip. I think that gossip flourishes when employees feel like they can't talk directly to the person they are in conflict with. So when employees think a manager won't listen and they won't be heard, the temptation is to go to a listening ear, even if they're not going to help you solve the problem. So they're going to go where they can be heard. And typically, it's behind that person's back in that kind of broken relationship.

One of the things that we test, that we're always measuring, in our work with different companies is servant leadership. And one of the core tenets of a servant leader is listening. And so in our work with Christian-led companies, we always measure it both from the manager and the employer perspective or the employee perspective. And this helps us to understand whether managers think they're listening, and they typically do think they're listening, but we also need to know if the employees feel heard. And so this is equally important. Is there a big disparity between managers’ posture, the way they think they're posturing, and how employees perceive that. And that, again, is another feedback loop to, hopefully, improve honest feedback and communication.

Al: I trust you’re enjoying our podcast today. We’ll be right back after an important word for leaders.

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And now, back to today’s special guest.

Absolutely, yeah. Those are a couple of great points. I appreciate that. You know, broken relationships encourage gossip. I mean, yeah, if you can't get an issue resolved directly because of a broken relationship, that does create a barrier.

You know, at the Center for Faith and Innovation, researchers included a gap analysis in their report at ACR Supply. And again, I'd encourage our listeners to go to the ACR Supply website and look at this report. It's really an extensive report. And in this gap analysis, it describes the potential tension between operational efficiency and relationship building. And again, as leaders of organizations, we can all kind of understand that tension. Do we go for operational efficiency, and that might really cause some damage on the relationship side?

So, Hannah, you and your team have worked with a number of faith-based businesses. What are some ways that you see the efficiency issue bumping up against the relational values? How can a business leader reframe this tension and manage it? because I think it's a tension. It's not an either/or. So how can their businesses operate profitably but also engage in relationship building with employees and customers?

Hannah: This is a really great supply-chain question. I love this. So I would say employees, customers, and suppliers. And something the ACR actually—Troy, your team, your people do a great job in relationship building and management. And that was one of the things we definitely found at ACR. The challenge is always that efficiency in the short run looks at the lowest-cost way of reaching a goal. So if you're just looking at short-term efficiency, relationships take time, so it's not a short-term thing, and they're expensive to invest in. So in the short term, relationships may seem like an inefficient investment.

So the challenge for companies is to create metrics to track the impact of relationships over time. So long-term relationships can actually create efficiencies that you don't see in the short term. But relationships are not created equal, and that's where the challenge comes in. So you don't want to invest the same amount in every single relationship. For instance, not all your customers are going to be A customers. Probably a small percentage of your customers will drive a large percentage of your revenue. And not all your employees need a seat at the boardroom table, right? And so you need to prioritize relationships and how you invest in them. And this helps companies to capitalize on both the efficiencies that are necessary for profitability, but also to create the deep relationships, where they are not just necessary but essential for effectiveness and long-term sustainability of business growth.

Al: And Troy, I have to say, you're one of our A customers.

Troy: Appreciate that.

Al: Yeah.

But, yeah. No. Thanks, Hannah. That’s exactly right. We don't differentiate enough, do we? And we need to differentiate. And relationships do—it is an investment over the long term, and not everybody really—we can't invest equally in all relationships.

Troy: Right.

Al: Yeah. So let's pick the ones that share our values and are going to provide a return for those investments. Yeah.

So, Troy, when you see this vision working out, specifically at ACR Supply, how have you found some effective ways to operate an efficient business but also help employees and customers feel like they're valued? And I know you do a great job at this.

Troy: So one of the things that we got out of case study that Hannah and her team did was we realized that we needed to really work on the operations and profitability side of our business. We feel like we have the culture side in a good place. We always have room to work there. But Hannah's team really helped us realize what we need to do is find ways to be more efficient, to this very topic, in the running of the day-to-day business, including some goal setting, sales, overall profitability, etc. So without better systems, we could have a great culture but not be able to keep the lights on, which is not good. So they helped us see that we invest a lot of time, money, effort, and energy into our people, and culture was a really good thing, but we needed to bring that same amount of enthusiasm and focus on the systems operations side of our business.

So as a result, we did something. It was really kind of life changing for the organization. We became—we’re researching at the time and decided we’d make the decision as a result of our time with Hannah's team to becoming an EOS traction organization.

So I'd say the results have been nothing short of spectacular. We now have what I believe to be is an amazing culture with great people. It’s flourishing. And now that's combined with operational excellence. So I feel like we're sitting in a really great place, and I believe the best is yet to come for our organization because now we have great systems that are helping us in the area that Hannah spoke about communicate and make sure there's no communication gaps. Maybe our people are talking on a much more regular basis now. That's been fantastic. There's so much more I could go into about our new system that we're working under, but it's really helped us kind of close those gaps, if you will.

Al: Well, Troy, that's fascinating because here at BCWI, we also have implemented in the last couple of years EOS and traction. And when I looked at your top-ten most-favorable items on the Employee Engagement Survey, over the past year you've met your goals. So something's working there, that's for sure. And what a great outcome to also focus on profitability. And I would say and my experience is that employees, if the sustainable strategy isn't working effectively, that does really diminish workplace culture. And so you've got now both sides working.

And Troy, the values and spiritual formation of the workplace culture at ACR Supply is certainly very clear, and yet I wonder if you have some long-term employees who don't necessarily share the Christian faith. Now, again, you're a for-profit company. You know, the EEOC says, no, you can't discriminate based on religion, on faith. And so give us some wisdom in navigating this, and share with our listeners and with other Christian business owners, do employees who don't share your faith perspective feel welcome and stay fully participating in the ACR Supply culture?

Troy: Yes, they most certainly do, Al. As long as they're contributing to the culture and the profitability of the company every day, they never have to worry about their role at ACR Supply. But what I have found over my years is that even lost people, who do not have a relationship with the Lord, they’re actively living out their faith every day, even those people are attracted to the light—I think you understand I'm saying—especially if that light is warm, inviting, non-judgmental. I'm just not the kind of guy to thump people over the head with a Bible every day. But what I do want to do is live my life in such a way that people say, “There's something different about him, and I want what he's got.”

And so, yes, these people, I think they do. And, obviously, not a requirement to be a believer to come to work at ACR Supply Co. Matter of fact, this is my mission, mission and ministry field. I want people to come into our organization. And again, as long as they're aligned with our purpose statement and our values, we want them here because I want them to hear about this man named Jesus, and I want it to change their life forever. And so that's kind of my heart's desire.

So yeah, I do feel like that they do feel welcome here, especially if they're contributing to the culture and profitability. We've had some great instances where people like that, of Mark Bray, our current president, accepted Christ as his is Lord and Savior a number of years ago through our chaplaincy program. So yeah, they definitely do feel welcome, I think.

Al: Oh, you're warming my heart, Troy. I mean, that's one of the reasons that I love working with Christian-owned businesses like yours is that when employees experience a flourishing workplace—and yours has been thoroughly flourishing for years—when they experience that, they're actually drawn to Christ. And when they experience toxicity in the workplace, and there's a Christian attachment to it, they're repelled. And so God bless you is all I can say. I really appreciate that. Thanks, Troy.

And Hannah, what's your view on this? You're seeing this again. You're working for Christian higher education and teaching business leaders, future business leaders. So how do business leaders successfully navigate faith or maybe the lack of faith in the workplace? Does this create tensions from your perspective, or are there some practices to help leaders create a healthy workplace environment for everyone?

Hannah: Yeah, this definitely has been a challenge in some of the organizations that we've worked with and that we've studied. There can be a tendency to create kind of an in-crowd, the insider group of Christians, that can end up putting people who are not Christian or not religious on the periphery of an organization. And you don't want people in an organization feeling like they can't bring their whole selves to work because it doesn't match, you know, the culture.

And I like what Troy said about being inviting. I think it's a different challenge as companies get larger, and we've seen the language shift to faith friendly. And so in some of the bigger companies we've worked with, to them this means, like, loving people in a way that recognizes their need to bring their whole selves to work, including faith and spirituality, while creating values and practices within that company that are based on faith-driven principles that everyone can embrace in some way. And you know, what Troy said about people are attracted to the light. And there are a lot of principles that are biblical, that are godly, that are really exciting to engage in, whether we're Christians or not. And I think that a lot of companies, there's a lot of opportunity to kind of lean into those spaces initially, for sure.

Al: Well, Hannah and Troy, this has been a great conversation. I've personally thoroughly enjoyed it. Starting off with values, the values that are important at ACR Supply Co., and then including the no-gossip policy and the whole conversation around that. The importance of two-way communication and how you've really articulated that very well. How even broken relationships encourage gossip and how important it is, and Troy, how you really focus on crucial conversations to improve relationships at work. And of course, the benefit of that is it improves relationships outside of work, too.

Hannah, your point on servant leaders and how they listen. And that's a common theme that we hear. And that whole discussion of efficiency versus relationship. And Troy, how Hannah brought that to you, and her team brought that to you, and how you responded with an operating system like the Entrepreneurial Operating System. This has just been a great conversation.

And is there something that we haven't talked about yet that you'd like to conclude with? Hannah, how about you?

Hannah: Yeah. Thanks, Al. I always love to come back to the Gospel, and I think our greatest—I know—our greatest advantage as Christians is that the Gospel did the work for us. And what I mean is that Jesus was perfect for us, that He empowered us with His sacrifice and with the Holy Spirit to live a life that's worthy of His calling. And so we can kind of rest in that in our excellence. So we're still going to be excellent, but we can rest in that, knowing we'll definitely mess up. We will do things imperfectly, but if we rely on the Holy Spirit and not just on our own strength and knowledge—I do love knowledge. I'm an academic—as Christians, we don't have to walk this journey alone. I'm always inspired, and even throughout our research and the things that we find, that repentance is powerful, and humility and transparency create deeper relationships between individuals, even when there's opportunity—actually, especially when there's opportunity—to forgive and recover from hurt and mistakes when they happen. So I think even in broken spaces, the opportunity to repair relationship, to build out healthy feedback loops, and maybe take one of Troy's classes to really know how to embrace conversation well, there's just so much hope in all of us.

Al: Yeah. The Gospel gives us all the tools, doesn't it, for repairing relationships and bringing relationships back together. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, Troy, how about you? Anything you'd like to add?

Troy: Yeah. Just want to encourage your listeners. I think you and I have talked about this in the past, but to really get to a flourishing culture and a profitable organization, just like I've shared, we've just gotten to a place where in the last several years that's actually happened on the profitability side. I thought we've always done well on the culture side, at least for many years, but it's not, my point is it's not going to happen overnight. It takes a while. You have to be very intentional in working through this. Some people will go, “Look, there's no way we could get there.” Well, you can, but you just have to do it systematically over a long period of time. Implement one thing, and then go to the next thing. But it's doable. You can do it.

And at ACR, our workplace is far from perfect, but I do feel like I'm living a dream. I feel like I got the greatest job in the world because I get to work with the greatest group of people in the world. But it did—none of that happened by accident. And this is not a Troy thing. Our leadership team’s amazing, and they have got us from where we were to where we are now.

And by the way, a side note: communication, you said, was one of our strongest points in our Survey this year, which it was. It was about six or seven years ago, it was one of the worst. And so we've really worked hard on that, which, obviously, now you kind of see the results.

And lastly, I would say this. I love what Hannah said about humility. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but through humility, consider others greater than yourself.” And that's one of the things that we try to work on. It’s actually one of the values that we look for when we hire people is a real sense of authentic humility.

Al: Amen and amen.

Hannah, Troy, we appreciate so much your contribution today. And most of all, I appreciate your wisdom and commitment to combining excellent business principles with wholehearted discipleship. Thank you for taking your time out today and speaking to the lives of so many listeners.

Hannah: Thank you, Al. This was such a great conversation. I'm so glad that we got to be a part of it. Thank you for inviting us in.

Troy: Ditto. I really appreciate the time, Al. Every time I spend time with you, it's always a blessing. Especially now, I get to spend some time with Hannah as well. I'm just grateful for how both of you are impacting the kingdom for the Lord. So thank you.

Al: Thank you.

Outro: Thank you for joining us on the Flourishing Culture Podcast and for investing this time in your workplace culture. If there's a specific insight, story, or action step you've enjoyed, please share it with others so they can benefit, too. Please share this podcast with friends on social media, and show your support by rating, reviewing, and subscribing wherever you listen.

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Remember, a healthy workplace culture drives greater impact and growth for your organization. We'll see you again soon on the Flourishing Culture Podcast.