Unlocking Organizational Potential: Chester Elton’s Guide to Motivating Teams

Neil Morrison: Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Aspire to Inspire Podcast. I’m Neil Morrison, Chief People Officer at Staffbase, and today I’m joined by Chester Elton, a renowned expert in corporate culture and transformation. With over 20 years of experience, Chester has guided hundreds of leaders, helping them to create people-centric workplaces that drive sustainable success. As a best-selling author and Thinker’s 50 executive coach, Chester brings invaluable insights into leadership, engagement, and emotional safety. And in this episode, we’ll dive into actionable insights for fostering positive culture and inspiring teams to thrive. Chester, welcome. Let’s get started.

Chester Elton: Yes, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Delighted to be on your show.

Neil Morrison: Thank you so much. Chester, I’m going to start with a really small question, about a defining moment in your life, that sort of small question. Really your life’s work has been in the space of corporate culture and positive cultures. And I’m curious to know when was it that you thought, “This is my space, this is what I want to do?”

Chester Elton: Sure. I use the word “We” a lot. I have a co-author, Adrian Gostick, and we’ve been on this journey together for a good bit of time now. And it is interesting that when we started to write, we’ve written 15 books together now, Adrian and I. And when we started to write, we really focused on gratitude. We focused on recognition. We adopted the symbol of the carrot. I think I even have one here. There you go, Neil, our mascot, Garrett the Carrot.

This idea of that people at work felt really underappreciated. Rare is it the case where you talk to somebody and they say, “You know what? I’m getting too much praise and recognition at work. I can’t get anything done. It’s another plaque, it’s a party, it’s a trip to Hawaii.” And so we really focused on that personal affirmation that my voice is heard, my opinion matters. And when I do something really great, it’s noticed and it’s recognized. As our work started to develop, it became pretty clear pretty quickly that if you didn’t have the right culture, you were never going to get to that foundational piece of gratitude.

It was the culture that made it safe and made it possible for that element of gratitude. And so as we started to wrap up our writing around recognition, we wrote a book called “All In: How the Best Leaders Create a Culture of Belief that Drive Big Results.” And we really focused on how do you engage, enable, and energize your people? That a great culture was a place where people believed what they did mattered, that they made a difference. And when they made a difference, it was noticed and it was celebrated.

So ours was a bit of a progression. A bit of a journey from recognition and gratitude, although that’s still very foundational to what we do to say, if you don’t get the leaders to buy in, if you don’t create that good culture, that all-in culture or a carrot culture, however you want to talk about it, none of the other stuff really matters.

Neil Morrison: Yes.

Chester Elton: Is that helpful?

Neil Morrison: Yes, so helpful. I’d love to start with maybe the concept of gratitude and of contribution, you know our work matters and being seen. I think both of those are really intrinsic human experiences when they’re delivered well, when you feel seen and acknowledged and respected. What is it in your belief system that says that’s so much more important than maybe the external validation or the extrinsic motivation?

Chester Elton: Yes, I think they’re both important. I think people appreciate that celebration with their team or being called out for getting the patent or hitting your sales goals and so on. I do think, though, that those are events. And while you look forward to those and they’re important and they’re memorable, it’s the day-to-day that really makes a difference. That little affirmation every day, that one kind act a day kind of thing. I’m a big fan of random acts of kindness, you know just checking in with people. “Hey, let me take you to lunch. How’s the family doing?” You know, that people know that you care.

I think one of the big pieces of creating a great culture and creating a great relationship on your teams and as a leader is a wonderful concept that we explored in our book, “Leading With Gratitude.” It talks about assuming positive intent. I know that’s one of your principles as well. And I think that is just such a lovely way to put people’s mind at ease. I always say, look, I don’t think there are too many people in the world that wake up in the morning and say, “I’m going to really screw up three times today. My goal is to really make people around me miserable.”

People come to work and they want to do a good job. And in trying to do a good job, they’re going to make mistakes. So you assume the positive intent that they’re trying hard. And when you make mistakes, that’s okay. We can fix mistakes, and we can use them as learning moments. One of my favorite leaders on the planet is a guy named Garry Ridge. He just recently retired as the CEO of WD-40. I’m sure you’ve got a can of WD-40 somewhere in your house. And he says, “You know, we don’t make mistakes at WD-40. We have learning moments.”

In fact, the name WD-40 stands for water displacement 40th formula. There were 39 formulas that didn’t work. They said, “Were those mistakes? They were learning moments.” And so when you’ve got that built right into the name of your company, anxiety comes down, relationships go up. And you’re not afraid when you’re trying hard, if something goes wrong, that your job’s going to be in jeopardy or you’re not going to get a raise or a bonus or a promotion.

So that concept, I think, in building a great culture, if you’ve got a culture of celebration and gratitude and layered on top of that is this idea that we’re going to assume positive intent about people. When somebody shows up late, we’re going to assume that they were trying hard to get to work on time. Something happened, and so on and so on and so on. Creates really great relationships, and leading with gratitude and all in culture, those were elements that we explored that we really found were very effective.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. You started with that book 15 books ago. And the way you explain it, I mean it resonates, but it also, it actually does sound quite simple. So I’m curious, 15 books later, we still hear about toxic workplaces and psychological safety or the lack of it. What’s your gauge on leaders’ progression, organizations’ progression over that time? And why are we still facing challenges with corporate culture today?

Chester Elton: Yes, it’s a little discouraging, isn’t it, Neil? We’ve got all this research. We’ve got all these great stories. We’ve got all these wonderful companies that over-deliver in their categories and so on, and yet there are still all these toxic managers and so on. I’m a little conflicted because the fact that there still are lots of toxic managers out there provides great work for me. My services are in need. You mentioned something that it’s a simple concept, and it is. Be kind. There’s nothing more simple than that, right?

A good friend of mine who’s become a great mentor, Marshall Goldsmith, taught me the great Buddha’s philosophy on the three doors. I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but every word that goes through your mouth should go through three doors. The first one, is it true? Truth is always a good place to start. Second, is it necessary? I find this really a good thing for leaders. It might be true, it might not be necessary. The third is, is it kind? And I love that, you know, if leaders can just learn the power of the pause. Something happens, just take a pause and think to yourself, “Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”

It’s a simple concept. It’s hard to implement. For all the reasons that you already know. We’ve got crushing deadlines. We’ve got to get stuff done. I would love to spend time with you and hear all about your daughter’s football match or soccer match, whatever. We’ve got to get it done. And the fact that you showed up half an hour late isn’t helping. So we have those pressures that take us away from the leaders that we’d really like to be. So I’m a big fan of tokens and rituals. How you start your day, how you end your day, how you engage with your team.

And if you can build those rituals into your culture, and they don’t take a long time. It is a discipline though. I always love to say, it’s common sense, uncommonly practiced. As much as you can build in these simple symbols and rituals, I think is really helpful in getting leaders there. Because, again, I don’t think those toxic managers out there set a goal when they got promoted that said, “You know what? When it comes to toxic, when you look it up in the dictionary, I want my picture there.” They want to be better. So how can we help them be the leaders they want to be? Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Neil Morrison: Yeah, makes a lot of sense. The idea of the all-in culture, can you say there’s a foundational aspect around kindness and acknowledgment and recognition. What else is part of the defined all-in culture?

Chester Elton: Great question. This idea of: I believe what I do matters and I make a difference. Really good cultures, great leaders make sure that they connect the dots. What are we really doing here? There’s a wonderful story. It’s a bit apocryphal. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. The story is about President Kennedy who’s visiting NASA, and they’re doing interviews and various things and he excuses himself to go to the men’s room and comes across a janitor, and he says, “Wow, hey, how are you doing?” He goes, “Good.” He says, “So what do you do here at NASA?”

It was pretty obvious he was a janitor. He was cleaning, and he goes, “Oh, me, Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” And he goes, “Really?”” He said, “Yes.” He goes, “Look, I’m not one of those really smart guys. They’re not going to send me up in the rocket. The thing is, though, these people need a clean place to work. And if I can keep the trash away, if I can make it easy for them to start their jobs, I feel like I’m making my contribution to putting a man on the moon.”

As the story goes, Kennedy leaned back and went, “Wow, when the janitor gets it, everybody gets it.” So that idea of making sure that what I do matters, I believe that what I do matters, it’s important for me to show up because what I do is important, whether it’s emptying the trash or calculating the trajectory of the rocket. Everybody matters. It takes a team. This belief that what I do matters, and that I’ve got a leader that says you’re making a difference. And this is where that gratitude piece comes in. This is  where simple random acts of kindness, little notes of encouragement go such a long way to say, “Hey, I am seen. I am heard. It is important that I show up.”

We get to meet a really interesting guy named Chris Hadfield. Now, you have probably never heard of Chris Hadfield. Adrian and I both grew up in Canada. And if you’re Canadian, you know exactly who Chris Hadfield is. Chris Hadfield was the commander of the International Space Station some years ago. And it was one of the most successful missions to the space station ever. They got more done and it was really an interesting team. There was cosmonauts, there was American astronauts, and the generational differences were 31 years, and yet they came together as a team.

So we got to meet him at a conference we were doing up in Alberta. We got to talk to him and said, “Chris, what was it about your team? What was different about your team that made you so much more productive?” It was really funny. He says, “Well, you know, we’re NASA, we’re super smart.” I always love that if you don’t think he’s smart, just ask him. “We’re super smart. And so we know what to do and how to do it. We study everything that can possibly go wrong. Because if it goes wrong and we can’t fix it, space is pretty unforgiving.”

He said over and above that, though, over and above obeying all the rules and making sure we were safe, we had one unwritten rule. I think you’ll really like this. He said, “The unwritten rule was this, that every astronaut had to perform a random act of kindness for every other astronaut every day.”

Neil Morrison: Wow.

Chester Elton: I mean how simple, right? Now, I said, “Hey, did you have a chart you put little stars, because you’re in space?” He goes, “No, we didn’t do that.” I said, “Yes, but you should have.” Anyway, he said there were simple little things. I’ll make dinner. Let me help you with the calculations. I’ll clean the equipment, whatever it was. And the result of that, which I loved, was he said, “We never had a heated argument.” Think about that. No one ever lost their temper.

It was all about getting the work done. And because of those little random acts of kindness, the message was, “You’re on my team. I’m cheering for you. You matter. What you do is important. I care about you.” Think of that simple little ritual, a random act of kindness every day made all the difference.

Neil Morrison: Yes, it’s great. The idea of rituals and connected to culture is actually really powerful. It’s powerful from a sense of the consistency that’s needed to make a ritual a ritual. Otherwise, it’s just a one-time thing. Have you got other examples of rituals that you’ve observed leaders or heard about that are just interesting or inspiring that would bring that concept of the leader’s ritual to life some more?

Chester Elton: Yes, I thought you’d never ask. It is a wonderful company that we did some work with up in Canada called FYidoctors. They talk about what they call a coaching culture. The corporate people that come out. What they did is they bought a lot of stand-alone autometrist businesses, and they brought them all together into a big network. They didn’t send out representatives or associates. They sent out coaches, which I love a coaching culture. Hopefully, we’ll get into that a little bit. What they did is they said, “Look, we’ve got a ritual called 10 and 10.” So the 10 minutes how you start your day and the 10 minutes how you end your day as a leader is really important.

When you think about that, particularly in retail outlets, you say, “Okay, here are the things we’ve got to do today.” In their case, it was here are all the appointments. Here’s all the eye checks. Here’s all the pickups. Here’s all the glasses that are ready, and on and on and on and on. Then though, what they said is in that 10 minutes, make sure that you’re calling somebody out and recognizing them. Make sure that you’re collecting great stories. Has anybody got a great story from yesterday or from the day before? Is there anybody that anybody wants to give a shout out to?

So often we say, look, it’s the leader that has to do everything. That’s not a culture. A culture is when the janitor gets it, everybody gets it. So you get people to participate. And to your point, over time, rituals take time. You look at some of the great rituals that you see, the military. Because they’ve been doing it for 150 years. Or religions, whether you’re Buddhist or you’re Catholic or whatever, over a thousand years. And that makes sense. You get that ritual. You get that expectation that we’re going to start the day making sure we know what we’re going to do, and we’re going to celebrate.

We’re going to cheer for somebody. Then same thing at the end of the day. “Hey, who’s got a great story? I just want to point out really quick, Sarah, Mrs. McKenzie came in. And she is just hard, and the way that you dealt with her and got her glasses and she left smiling. Who would have ever guessed that.” Those little stories. What are you doing at that same time? You’re saying this is what great customer service looks like. This is what a great relationship looks like. And then this, “Hey, thanks, everybody, for showing up today. There’s great power in showing up. We had a great day. See you tomorrow.” Think about it. 10 and 10. Because what do leaders always tell you? I would do more of this if I had more time.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, time for sure.

Chester Elton: Say, look, 10 and 10. You can do it. Now, I love that you brought this up. I love using the 10 and 10 as an example, because in your personal life, it’s important to have little rituals as well. Neil, have you ever kept a gratitude journal by the way?

Neil Morrison: I’ve tried to, but it didn’t become a ritual.

Chester Elton: You’re not alone in that. So I’m a big journaler. I don’t think anybody’s ever going to read my journals. I was a big fan of Winston Churchill growing up. People pour over his journal. Nobody’s pouring over Chester Elton’s journals. And yet I find it very therapeutic to write. So I started to do gratitude journals. Gratitude is a big thing of what we do. A little while ago, I said to Adrian, I said, “Adrian, it’s insane that we don’t have a gratitude journal. We’re the apostles of appreciation, the gurus of gratitude. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

So we put together one that I think you could do, Neil. What it is, it’s a fill in the blank. We call it the gratitude habit. Rituals, habits, tokens. It’s just fill in the blank. How do you start your day? How do you end your day? And it’s really interesting, lots of studies have been done that when you start your day with a little bit of gratitude and you end your day in a little bit of gratitude, that you tend to sleep a little better. You’re remembering the people that are important.

At the end of our journal, we say, “Who are the people that you were grateful for today?” Of course, it’s going to ripple into your work. Had a great podcast with Neil. Just love the Aspire to Inspire, right? And you start writing down people’s names. Now, my wife and I have a lovely little ritual. I don’t know if you’re married or madly in love or anywhere in between. But at the end of the day, we say to each other, “What are your three? What are three things you’re grateful for today?” And often it’s many more than three. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get to three. Think about that though, that, “Hey, I was really grateful that it didn’t snow as much as they said. We were able to get the driveway clear. Love that we all had dinner together tonight. Got a call from an old friend, boy, it was great to connect.” So whether it’s in the workplace, 10 and 10, or it’s your gratitude journal, which by the way is 5 minutes in the morning tops.

Neil Morrison: I was just thinking the same, neither of these examples take any time at all, really.

Chester Elton: And here’s the thing on the journal, and I want to encourage you to do it, and I will check back with you, I’ve got your email, is you don’t have to do it every day. I’m a little maniacal about it, I tend to do it pretty much every three times a week, four times a week, that’s all you need. It’s just that reflection. We don’t take time as leaders or as people to just sit back and say, 99% of the world would trade places with you in a heartbeat. You should be the most grateful person on the planet and never forget it. Just that little time to reflect makes all the difference.

Neil Morrison: Yes, and what I love about that, and then linking it back to the first example of gratitude and expressing gratitude for others, is it’s often actually how it makes you feel. Which is the unintended consequence, I guess, reflecting on the things I’ve journaled about, I’m sleeping a little better, or it feels so much better to acknowledge something great in someone else than it does to actually, I find, to be acknowledged yourself. It’s this self-fulfilling cycle, I guess.

Chester Elton: That’s a perfect addition to the conversation. Thank you for bringing that up. Because what did your mom and dad teach you when you were five years old? It’s better to give than to receive. Because when you give, you always receive. I love the idea of the ripple effect. And I’ll give you a specific example. This is one of my favorite stories. I’m a huge fan of random acts of kindness. I set a goal every day. Did you do your best to lift up a stranger today? It’s really funny. My father was one of the happiest guys you’d have ever met. He had a philosophy, there are no strangers, just people, just friends I haven’t met yet. Anyway, I’ve got this little ritual where I carry these little stones in my pocket. Now, have you heard of the good luck gratitude stone?

Neil Morrison: No.

Chester Elton: Here’s the story. So all these stones are a little different, like people, and flawed, like people. But a stone in the pond makes the water ripple, like simple acts of kindness and simple acts of gratitude. And you keep these stones in your pocket to remind yourself that no matter how bad it gets, there’s always something to be grateful for. And over time, it brings you good luck. Now, I always add, to be really effective, though, it has to be gifted to you. And then I pull out this gratitude stone. I don’t know if you can see. There it says gratitude on it. And I gift it to people.

I’m telling you, 9 times out of 10, you’d be shocked. People go, “For me? I get to keep it? “Then one guy says, “Do I have to throw it in a pond?” I go, “No, you can put it in your pocket.” I’m on this long flight. It’s a five-hour flight. I’m on the aisle, and there’s this wonderful flight attendant going up and down, and you could tell she’d been doing it for a long time, with a great attitude and a great smile. Her name was Barbara. And I said, “Barbara, you’ve got a million-dollar smile.” And she said, “Well, thanks. I’ll tell my dentist.” That was our first interaction.

We’re coming to the end of the flight, and you know, it’s always that hairy thing, getting all the stuff up and getting ready to land. And I said, “Hey, Barbara, I’ve got a little — ” I said, “Have you heard the story of the good luck gratitude stone?” And she said, no. And so I started to give her my little story. And she knelt down next to my chair, and she was really intent. I said, “But it has to be gifted to you. And here’s yours.” She got teary-eyed, and she said, “You have no idea what this means to me. No one ever says thank you to us.” And then in the sweetest moment, she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. And I went — You know, it took me, what, a minute and a half to tell that story. Then as we were getting off the plane, she gave me a wink, and she held it up. She goes.

Neil Morrison: That’s awesome, yes. One of the things that’s striking me is true about all of these rituals, these moments, these behaviors, is actually communication. They in some way rely on the written communication or the communication in front of the team or with the individual. And I’m curious, communication in a leadership context seems to be something we learn. It’s not often the thing we’re taught. But what have you learned about, through the leaders you coach and the cultures you’ve observed, what’s powerful about communication when it comes to culture and to teams and engagement? 

Chester Elton: Yeah, that’s really an insightful question because we often take how we communicate for granted. I put it in an email. I put it in a text. There’s something really powerful about a voice. You know, and you’ve seen all the studies. 80% of an email can be easily misinterpreted because there’s no tone of voice. Text, same thing, although texts tend to be a little shorter, so hopefully, the odds are that you’re getting — And there’s a little emoji, a little thumbs up or a heart or whatever. I think the discipline around communication is, “What am I trying to communicate and did I do it clearly?”

And again, the reflection. I often will have an interaction, whether it’s a coaching session, we do a lot of executive coaching or a presentation or a workshop, and I’ll often reflect and say, “Would there have been a better way to communicate that?” And by the way, as leaders, if you felt like maybe it wasn’t as clear or it wasn’t as concise, don’t hesitate to go back and clean it up. Nothing says that once you’ve said it, it’s over and done, right? You can go back and say, “By the way, I just want to reconnect with you on this, Neil. Was it clear?”

And I’ll tell you, the two words, or you can even make it three, “I’m sorry,” go a long way. “You know, I’m really sorry, that was not my intent. You know when you put that out there, that was embarrassing.” You go, “Oh my gosh, that was never my intent. We were hurried, I should have taken some time.” A wonderful executive that I’m working with, they have a factory, and he was on the factory floor and he said, “I was talking to one of the guys and said, look, the stuff is shipping late and we can’t have that. I don’t know what you’re doing, but do it better.”

Anyway, it got back to him that the guy in shipping was really hurt. So he went down and he said, “Hey, listen, it wasn’t my intent to make you feel bad or call you out or embarrass you.” He said, “Really, I wanted to let that we need — ” and he says, “and so, please, accept my apology. I am so sorry.” And then the guy said, “Well let me explain to you why.” He says, “It doesn’t matter why. I know you’re working really hard. Assume positive intent right now. I just wanted to let you know that it was never my intent to make you feel diminished or undervalued.”

And it was really interesting, to your point, I said, “So what was his reaction?” He said, “He lit up and he was so eager to work harder.” Then, to your point, I said, “And how did it make you feel?” He said, “I felt great. Because we cleared it up and now we’ve got a relationship.” So your insight on, it’s not just who you’re recognizing. It’s not just who you’re communicating to. It’s the ripple effect back to you that then what, makes you want to do it again and create that ritual and create that relationship. 

Last thing is, I honestly believe that gratitude is really underutilized. Simple thank yous really go a long way. And if you’re really communicating and doing well, and they say, by the way, thank you so much for what you’re already doing. It’s not lost on me you show up every day and work hard. And I know this is above and beyond. So if you need any clarification, call me. Never let it be known that I don’t appreciate you. I do this with my grandkids. I go, “What’s one thing you know for sure?” They go, “That Pop Pop loves me.” I go, “Don’t forget it.” And we say it on and on and on. Why? Because I never want them to ever think for one second that they’re not loved.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, wow. Beautiful. And the notion of repetition, repetition of the important, powerful messages is of course really important in the corporate world, in the connected world, in the digital world, in this busy busy world that we’re in. And you also talked earlier about, whether it’s the janitor at NASA or anyone just feeling part of something bigger, feeling part of the mission. And our role as leaders or communicators to create meaning and to help people connect with purpose. And so I’m curious, in your work with leaders and with cultures, what about visions. What about team visions, company visions, the North Star, the thing to grab hold of and be a part of, what have you learned or what do you advise about how leaders bring vision to life for their teams and the cultures?

Chester Elton: Yes, I love this question because we can get so carried away in these missions, and they get so wordy. And we’re trying to be so inclusive of everything we think is important from the environment to education to whatever. And it gets wordy and it gets complicated. I really encourage people to just make it really simple and make it memorable. I remember we were working with a company out in California, a tech company. And I said, “Look, as we’re coaching you up and putting together these rituals and so on, what are your core values?” He said, “Oh, I’m so glad you asked. We just had this retreat and we worked really hard on it over three days.”

I said, “Great, what are they?” He said, “Let me go get them.” And he came back, and I’m telling you, they had 12 core values. I said, “Nobody can remember 12 core values.” I said, “Moses only had 10. And most people can’t recite those either, right? And they’ve been around for thousands of years.” So one of the best examples of a vision that is so simple and so memorable, there’s a wonderful restaurant chain here in the States called Texas Roadhouse. They are in a few other countries as well, but they’ve got 400 plus, almost 500 locations. Their mission and vision and values is expressed in four words. You’re going to love this. It’s legendary food and legendary service. That’s it.

Now the founder, wonderful guy, Kent Taylor. He’s been living this for years and built this extraordinary restaurant group. He says, and so we get all these high priced consultants come in and they’re talking to us. He says, “You should really rework that and include like the environment and all this stuff.” He says, “Great. Look, have at it.” He says,”I only have two rules. Whatever you come up with has to be only four words. And two of those words have to be legendary.” The thing is though, you think about it like the servers come back to the kitchen and they’ve got their wonderful steaks or whatever it is. It’s okay for the server to say, “You know what? This isn’t legendary. Can you do it again?”

The cook is like, “Not a problem. If you don’t think it’s legendary, I don’t think it’s legendary.” And then they talk about, “So what’s more important? The food or the service?” And Kent would always say, “You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have legendary food without legendary service.” So my advice is take a lesson from Texas Roadhouse. Keep it simple and make it memorable. And then you live it every day. You talk about rituals, at Texas Roadhouse, before they start every shift, they have the alley rally. So they’ve got this alley. All their restaurants are configured the same.

And they bring everybody in. They give out all the assignments. They call out their names. They have cheers, and all this fun stuff. It’s the rally alley. Everybody’s psyched and then they turn up the music and everybody heads out and it’s a great day. Again, rituals. And what’s the chant? Legendary what? Food. Legendary what? Service. Let’s go.

Neil Morrison: Yes. Keep it simple. Keep it memorable. I love it. And you know, for that to play out over time and for this cultural embedding or transformation, depending where organizations are starting from, it takes discipline and it takes concerted effort. In your experience, how do organizations know they’re on the right path? What’s the measurement here? What’s the indication of success we’re on the right track?

Chester Elton: Well, you know, business is really simple. Are you making money? We’ve got this amazing culture and we’re about to declare bankruptcy. I think you’ve misconstrued what a great culture is supposed to be all about, right? Turnover is a great indicator. Do you have really high turnover? Texas Roadhouse, in the restaurant industry, you have turnover. Most of your employees are part-time. They’re students or they’re the second income or whatever. They’ve got other jobs as well. Turnover is a great indicator. Profit is a great indicator. Growth is a great indicator.

And I think one of the big tests of any great culture is crisis. And I’m going to come back to Texas Roadhouse. When the pandemic hit, Texas Roadhouse’s takeaway business was 5%. In fact, they didn’t believe in it because in the Texas Roadhouse restaurants, it’s all about the experience. It’s about the ice cold beer. It’s about the line dancing. It’s about the sports and the music and so on. All of a sudden it had to be 100% takeaway. Because they had such high engagement and because people were so proud to work there, they started to ideate like crazy. Service with a smile. Service with a heart six feet apart. Remember, everybody had to distance and all that.

And they were doing stuff in the parking lot and they were having farmers markets and all kinds of stuff. They never took a dollar from the government. They never laid off a single employee. They said, look, it’s a roadhouse. So their employees aren’t associates, they’re roadies. If you’re rock and roll, you love a good roadie, right? And he said, “If you’re not comfortable coming in, don’t worry about it. Your job is safe. We’re going to pay you.” Think about that for a minute. Part-time, full-time, didn’t matter. Say, “Wait a minute, my company cares enough about me that even if I can’t come to work, they’re going to pay me?”

And then when people, when it was safe and they started to show up and they had their rally alleys, people were in tears. They were so grateful to be able to come back to work. Profit growth, turnover was really great. How did you handle a crisis? And they were recognized as the best restaurant group in the nation, probably the world, if they had one like that. Their stock went from $85 to $12. In six weeks in the pandemic, they were profitable. And their stock went over a hundred dollars.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, that’s a great example.

Chester Elton: Turnover, growth, all that stuff. How do you handle a crisis?

Neil Morrison: Yeah. It’s great. It makes me think, culture is so much easier in the good times, but you really need your culture in the tough times. And that really resonated, that example. Thanks for sharing that. I’m interested now, let’s shift tact a little bit. You’ve probably spoken with, I don’t know, close to a thousand leaders at this point and coached many hundreds of them. Those more recent experiences with coaching, leaders right now, what are you finding leaders are thinking about, challenged with, trying to think through or overcome? Are there any macro themes for leaders in today’s world at the minute that you’re observing?

Chester Elton: Sure. You know, uncertainty is really high. AI is a big disruptor and people are really trying to figure that out. How does that impact our industry? How does that trickle down to our business? I think one of the biggest transitions in leadership has been from the old school command and control. I say you do, don’t question me. It evolved to more collaborative. There is more like this team, even though somebody has got to make a decision at some point. This idea, though, that we’d be more collaborative.

I’ll tell you right now, the best leaders we’re seeing out there are coaches. You think about a coaching culture. You think about over and above your family, who are the people that had the biggest impact on you? And it’s almost always a teacher that believed in you, a coach, a mentor in the business or in your personal life. A dear friend who spoke truth to you. Now, what I love about the idea of a coaching culture and a teaching culture is when you reflect back on those coaches, teachers, and mentors, they were hard on you.

It wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. They pushed you because they believed in you. And you allowed them to push you because you knew that they what? They cared about you. And when you’ve got a culture where people actually care about each other, and I’m learning and growing and developing, it’s really interesting. You look at particularly the generations coming into the workplace. They don’t want their leaders just to make them better worker bees. They want them to help me become a better person. And so as we’re coaching these executives, we say, “Listen, make sure you’re taking time to teach. Make sure you’re taking time to coach. And understand that the ripple effect is when you’ve got people that are highly engaged and happy at work, they take that happiness home.” And when you’ve got that dynamic going, yes, people want to work for you.

I’ve got a dear friend, he’s a brilliant leader named Scott O’Neill. And Scott O’Neill is a wonderful teacher. And he’s in sports management. And it’s well known, like if you want to excel in sports management, go work for Scott. Because he’ll give you opportunity. He’ll coach you up. He’ll cheer for you. He’ll make it happen. Now, he’s going to be very, very demanding. 

He says, “Look, I’ll help you get wherever you want to go. You got to go give me world-class every day. Not just show up every day, give me world class every day.” And people love him for it. So that’s a big shift. They have the uncertainty and everything. How do you deal with that? Well, be curious as a leader, be a student of leadership, what’s working, what isn’t, and really lean into a coaching culture, a coaching, teaching, learning culture. That’s the formula right now that I’m seeing, and I’m sure it’ll evolve. You’re asking me right now? That’s the great leader in the workplace right now.

Neil Morrison: That’s really insightful. If you were talking to a leader who is stuck in the more management phase, and is wanting to make that shift into the coaching, teaching mode, that’s not a hard switch overnight. What are maybe the one or two things they might start with to start to bring that into their leadership, into their practice?

 Chester Elton: Yes, back to assume positive intent. Make sure that you’re giving people some grace. The power of the pause and the three doors for Buddha is a great place to start. I will tell you that I would recommend reading our book, “Leading With Gratitude.” My publisher makes me say that. It’s a great book. Oh, you’ll love it. The second is I want to recommend a book from a dear friend of mine that is beyond brilliant. His name is Michael Bungay Stanier, and he wrote the number one coaching leadership book on the planet called “The Coaching Habit.”

And it teaches you to ask questions. He’s got seven core questions. Ask better questions, listen more, lead better. And so, yeah it’s not an overnight shift. What I love about “Leading With Gratitude” and “The Coaching Habit,” they come together very nicely, is it gives you a roadmap. It gives you a roadmap. And then more than anything, find an accountability partner, get a coach, find a mentor, and have a regular reporting schedule that says, “How are you doing on the gratitude piece? How are you doing on assuming positive intent? How are you doing with your questions?”

That accountability, and you know this works. I’ve got a personal trainer. I just had a session this morning. There’s no way I would have done half of what I did this morning if he hadn’t been there. I would have gone, “Yes, good enough. I broke a sweat, I’m good.” And again, back to coaches, they’ll push you. And you let them push you because you know that they have your best interest at heart. Is that helpful?

Neil Morrison: Yeah, love that. Chester, maybe we wrap up with being each other’s accountability partners here. I’m going to get onto that gratitude journaling thing. So please do feel free to hold me accountable. It’s a little earlier in your day than it is for me at the moment. But what are you grateful for today, Chester?

Chester Elton: Thank you for asking that question. I really am one of the luckiest guys I know. And there are a few reasons for that. First and foremost is, I’m married way above my station. My wife, Heidi, is remarkable. She’s remarkable in so many ways. This’ll be our 42nd year of marriage.

Neil Morrison: Wow, congrats.

Chester Elton: That’s not bad. They said it wouldn’t last. So you know, I married well.  And I come from a wonderful family. I have four older brothers and I grew up in a ridiculously happy household. So I’m always grateful for that. Secondly, I’m really grateful for my faith. I think there’s parts of our lives that sometimes can be discounted. We talk about our physical health and we talk about our intellectual health, and so on. Our spiritual health is really important. And whether you’re part of an organized religion or you lean into meditation or whatever, I’m really grateful for the fact that I believe that there is something bigger than me, and that I’ve been called to do something great and being kind and being of service.

I read a great book not too long ago, Jay Shetty’s “Think Like a Monk.” And he said, come up with your own mantra. And my mantra is: Be kind, be grateful, and be of service. And my faith encourages me to serve people, to be kind, to be grateful. More than anything, be of service. And again, back to leadership. The best leaders are the best servants. They teach, they encourage, and who doesn’t want to work for that kind of leader? Thanks for the question. Those are things. What are you grateful for today?

Neil Morrison: Oh, well, I’m grateful for this conversation, but I actually just had 10 minutes right before we started this where my kids came back from school, and I had a gap in meetings right before this. So I’m grateful for the 10 minutes that I got before this conversation as well. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. Chester, this was a great conversation. Thanks for sharing the insights for some of those more personal thoughts as we wrapped up there. Everyone, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. Do tune in for another one of the Aspire to Inspire Podcast. I’ve been Neil Morrison. Chester, thank you so much.

Chester Elton: Take care, my friend. Call again. This was great fun.

Neil Morrison: Great, thank you.