Empowering Your Team to Dream with Patty Croom, HR Manager of Lehan Drugs

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they're able to, just kind of see life as an opportunity. I think it creates mind shift.

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She has been with the company for almost nine years and has been in human resources in some capacity for nearly two decades. So she absolutely loves helping other people grow both personally and professionally. In addition to sharing her HR expertise, she also shares her experience implementing the Dream Manager Program with her team and all of the incredible benefits they've received so far.

It was such a fun conversation. I hope you enjoy.

This is gonna be so good because you have so much experience in hr, which is dealing with people, And so I'm excited to, hear about your journey and what.

you've seen over the past, two decades in the workforce, especially over the past, five, 10 years, what's been going on. So what are some things that you have noticed in people over this timeframe that you've been working in hr.

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but also the pay and the feeling appreciated have just always been so important for people. And, I think that, With Covid, we also realized, how we could make those things happen for people, how we could be more flexible, how people could work from home successfully. and so covid kind of changed, the conversation, and it created, Just due to the circumstances, we were forced to figure out new ways to make things work, that maybe we hadn't considered before.

But, it's created a whole new piece for us, that we can work with. And that flexibility is super important to people as,

they move forward.

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Like we all wanna feel appreciated. We want to feel valued. so this is not new. When you look at the leaders out in the world, how do you feel? Like we were forced to have this conversation. But what was their approach? what do you feel like they were thinking through when all of this stuff was happening?

What were the conversations that were being had? And, how have you seen some good leaders approach it and then maybe some not so great leaders approach the same scenario.

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Be thankful that you have a job, work hard, do your job, collect your paycheck, and go home and don't be greedy and, thinking that you deserve too much. I think that conversation has shifted a little bit where you should be thankful for all of those things, of course, but, You should also feel appreciated.

And so, that conversation has changed and we've seen leadership, really try to embrace that. there are so many, employee recognition programs out there, and some companies do that really well, some don't. and I think that that is just the mindset. Of leaders, if they have a servant leadership mentality, or if they are moving forward, staying in that old train of thought maybe.

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how do you describe culture in an organization? What does that mean for you?

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And I think that our staff is too. not to say that we don't have our bad days or any of those things, but we know that we are cared for, that we are appreciated, and that our company really is always looking for ways to make things better. And so I think that's, really important and I think that, probably describes good culture to me.

Like employees are heard, they have the ability to voice concerns, they know who to go to, that door is open. Their leaders are always learning and growing and want the

same for their staff.

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So that's what I find so fun when you meet people that are, that engaged in their work that they enjoy talking about it outside of, and you know, not everybody is. Going to do that. But those people that I feel like they're using their superpowers in their role that's when I feel like everything connects.

I get to do all of this stuff. I'm really good at this, and I get to use those skills in the role that I'm in. And I feel like such a function of the HR department is really helping to discover those pieces, this person Maybe in the right company in the wrong seat.

And that is something that we can help coach people up. and also is to discover what are the programs and opportunities that you're giving your people to help them grow, not only in their role, but individually as a person. So

how do you discern, oh, these are the things that we're gonna apply in the organization to really help drive the culture and improve and develop my people.

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So regardless of what their job is within the organization, even if they don't have a management position, we believe that they're leaders somewhere in their lives. Whether that's at home, in a different area. Where they're volunteering, whatever the case may be, everybody is taking on a leadership role in some way or another.

And so we want people to grow and feel empowered. we have a growth and learning library we have Kindles. People can check out, they can pull up the audio books. They can take physical books cuz everybody likes something a little bit different. So we have that. We, incorporated Smart Dollar into our, offerings to staff.

that's something free for the staff to use and utilize. So I think that here we're just always looking for that growth people are free to say like, Hey, I, saw this webinar I'd like to take, or There's a conference coming up and I think it would really apply to what I'm doing here.

anything like that. Like, we're always looking, forward. And trying to help our, company grow, but also our staff grow. we want everybody to be able to be the best version of themselves, not just here in the workplace, but for everyone else that they're interacting with

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So can you talk a little bit about, how you discovered the Dream Manager program?

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And we all call him Grandpa

Jim. he had read it and he had passed it on to his grandsons and was just like, this is such a cool idea.

Like it would be so, great if we could implement that at the company. And, they had read it, they passed it on to several of the rest of us, and. how to implement or how that would work or what it would look like, was maybe a little bit of a struggle.

So it kind of sat shelved for a little bit. and then, about a year ago, the executive team had asked me to kind of research it, just get some more information. outside of the book, we're lucky that in our community we haves company who had already implemented Dream Manager.

So Chris and Ben were huge. assets to us that we were able to call them and talk to them. And then of course, I got in touch with Michelle, at Floyd Consulting, we had several phone calls and lots of emails back and forth. and she kind of walked me through all of that.

We, put together what, would be a job description for a dream manager? Really tried to get to understanding what we would be looking for in that person that we were gonna bring in as dream manager and the cost of it. The cost to the company, the cost to have staff doing this, whatever.

so that was what we did. And, um, Once we did that, it was a very quick green light to start to hunt for somebody. we decided we wanted to bring in somebody external. so we conducted interviews. We had so many great candidates, with such great stories. it was to sit through every interview and just, imagine that person doing this job.

we did find Janelle. And, I think immediately upon interviewing her, we were like, she's the one for us. luckily she said yes to us and, we were able to bring her in. And then in January she and I traveled to Florida to go through the Dream Manager program together, to

both be certified as dream managers.

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super important.

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One of our core values is simplicity. So making sure that we're giving people an opportunity to create and implement a program with ease because, there's a lot of complexity out there in the world, especially complexity in, different programs that you can develop.

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important to us as well.

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I think that's one of those things where, I remember somebody that I went to school with telling me that their father had said like, now you're a grownup. It's time to put away those dreams and get to work on real things. And I think that so many of us do that,

we have all of these big dreams and anything seems possible, and then we grow up and have to get jobs, and we have rent, and we have bills, and we have children and all of those things. And so our dreams just become that. our children grow up and do these great things or whatever the case may be, and we sideline so many of the things that we had hoped and dreamed for.

and through this program, I think that you realize very quickly like, oh wow, I do still have things that I would like to do, and I still have things that are important and. Gosh, I forgot that I wanted to even do that. sometimes the conversations that I've heard are like, oh, hey, we had this dream session

And, somebody shares something that they've dreamed and somebody else is like, Hey, wait, I wanna do that. That was important to me at one time. Or, that's a really good one. I think I would like

to do that.

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And then going through and being like, what's more important? This or this, what's your number one? And, keep doing that and you score them and just the way that you go through it in the program and you get to those important things and that's what you're working on for this year.

They start making these other dreams and these other plans, they're writing more dreams down. they're talking about it with friends and family and with their children, and I think it's so important because your kids are learning from you anyway. So talking about your dreams is super important.

but they're making these small wins, whether it's making the budget or paying off debt or putting money away, or saving for that vacation. They're taking steps towards that. And I think sometimes we get so caught up or overwhelmed even in the things that we would like to do that we don't quite know how to start, taking those things on and getting to where we'd like to be getting to that dream.

And so this program, allows them to focus in on that. and so then they're just, proud of themselves. We're super proud of them. It creates excitement. They're talking to each other. some people who have been like, this isn't the program for me, are now having conversations like, Hey, Janelle, could I talk to you just a little bit?

it's just creating momentum And these feelings of I can do this. And I think that's the super important thing. Like this is tangible, and I'm gonna get there. that's what we've

seen on our side.

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they're able to, just kind of see life as an opportunity. I think it creates mind shift. and it's very easy with things happening in the world with news with. the every day of, your family life and outside world to kinda get bogged down and then work you're going into, and sometimes, your job isn't the most interesting.

we have data entry. I'm a people person, so that doesn't seem, fun to me in any way. but you're coming in and it's not just about that. you're having conversations, you're having culture And people are showing up happier, better, more fulfilled in life. and we know that when your life is more fulfilling, when you feel fulfilled, you show up better everywhere.

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they're taking a new chance. They're, reaching out for opportunities and we want them to look back at us and be happy for their time here and feel like, we were a

good step for them.

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Work should help us grow in all different areas. But it's also so exciting to think that your name is associated with those kinds of feelings. And then they're out there when they meet potential people that are looking for a position. Hey. Are there any openings at Lehan because they're a great organization to work with and those things start being talked about and shared among other people, so it's really important to think that way.

So I love that you just shared that piece of it. So one question we get all the time is, how do you measure this, right? Like, what's the ROI of dreaming? And it's always funny to me when that question gets asked, because it's like what you just shared. if you're helping your team members become the best version of themselves, obviously it's gonna be better for the organization.

You're gonna see it all the different line items, but people still want that tangible. What's the roi? When you implement a program like this, what does that look like for you as far as how you're measuring the success of it?

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some people are, hitting their second and some are just now starting, this month. So for us, it is. Are we having people sign up? Is there interest in the program? ultimately we'll be looking at it from a, retention standpoint. personally, if I'm in the middle of working on a dream, I'm not going to be quick to be looking for something else.

I'm gonna stick around and, and try to finish this dream with this, amazing program. so of course, we're gonna be looking at employee retention and I think, How our employees, give us feedback during the engagement survey. That is something that we've always done as an engagement survey with our employees.

and so hearing that feedback and seeing how they're feeling about things, does it change? any of those, bits of feedback that we get, are they happier with their jobs? and so that's, where we're at. I think for us, it is that growth piece though. we want to see people living their dreams, fulfilling their dreams, growing, and then being happier at work and showing

up.

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that is just the nature. All right. Well, Patty, you are doing awesome work. I'm so, grateful for everything you're doing with Dream Manager. What's so cool is not only are you caring about your people, but you also are considering offering the program to spouses and high school children.

Of your team members. So talk a little bit about that, cuz that's a, beautiful idea.

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You're fighting against the whole thing, right? Like there's just obstacles in your way. And so, being able to offer potentially combined sessions where it's, husband and wife or, partners,

and Why not open that up to our employees partners? that seems very logical to us and even to their, children. if you're looking at the children of our employees who are in high school who are trying to figure out what they're gonna do in this world, what a great program to put them through so that they can.

Assess their hopes and dreams. They can start working and creating small wins for them so that when they go out into the world on their own, they already have a good understanding of how to dream, how to budget, how to look at certain things and move forward and really, tackle and just move forward towards their goals and dreams.

I think that that's a great. piece to be able to offer to our

staff's family,

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So it different. But that's the thing about dreams that's so great is Your people that are going through the program, they're most likely having dream conversations outside of because it sparked their dreaming again. And we all need to dream a little bit more. And one of the things I love about what you're doing with the kids or the young adults we should say, is the fact that, going back to what you said in the beginning, when as we get older we're told you can't dream anymore.

Well what a great lesson to teach these young adults that you can be 50, 60 and beyond and we should all be dreaming. We never lose sight of our dreams. And so to encourage them, Hey, this is a lifelong practice and you get to learn about this stuff right now. I mean, Could you imagine? I wish I had a dream manager when

I was in my twenties.

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Like you are investing in yourself. And so, I love the fact that. You as an organization are noticing that hey, people's families are obviously important to them. And to have them by their side and be able to do that together is a true gift. talk about the trust you're building, just loyalty from the team members that are gonna be there that wow, they're not only investing in me, they're investing in my family.

That's

huge.

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husband.

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it creates a lot more stuff coming up, And so I remember that night I went back to my hotel room and I called my husband and he was like, how was it today? And we went through the normal stuff with the updates. But then I said, we were talking about dreams and they broke this down in such a cool way.

so if I asked you what are your financial dreams, what would you tell me? And he names off a few things. And I said, well, what about your material dreams? And he did some more. And I'm like, what about your intellectual dreams? And he's coming up with more. And by the end of it, he's like, I guess I do have a lot of dreams.

And so, you create that excitement for somebody because I think so often we, don't think of dreams from all of those different categories. and when you start thinking about each category, you really expand and realize how many dreams you actually have. So being able to provide that for, our partners and our employees partners, and even to their children who are becoming young adults and going out into the world.

What a great, thing to be able to provide. We're excited about that.

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So those are all the different categories, right?

And it's so exciting to think, most people aren't really thinking about their character dreams or their creative dreams. And so it's easy for us when we think about. Maybe material dreams or financial dreams. Those are just easy and professional dreams.

We talk about those things all the time, but what about the other ones? You get to really decide spiritual dreams, how do you wanna feel spiritually every day and, what are you connected to? And, that's what I love about the program too, is it walks you through all of those different areas of your life.

You're talking through all of that stuff. And how to build deeper relationships with people. what kind of character do you wanna have? What legacy are you leaving? and so I love that you had that conversation with your husband and you, converted him into a

believer of the dream manager.

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Sometimes people are a little skeptical. They're like, what's this dream thing that just sounds like, one more thing that I have to do that. I don't wanna do and then you start seeing the impact that it has on other people and you're like, wait a second, maybe I do wanna explore that opportunity a little bit.

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you're doing this and it's a work thing, so

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in your organization. That's right.

Well, Patty, thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I'm so excited to continue to be part of your journey as you continue to grow the program and as you continue to do all this incredible work. So I'm excited for you to have multiple dream managers and working with your team and their spouses and their children.

And who knows what's next for Lehan, who knows? But I'm excited and, we're just so grateful for all the work that you're doing. So thank you for everything you do as a leader and helping your, team members grow.

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holds.

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And if you're just wondering, Hey, should I start this journey of implementing any type of personal development programs in my organization to really help my team grow and maybe you're thinking, what can I do to grow personally as a leader? We also do one-on-one coaching and training, and we would love to jump on a call to chat with you about where you are and where you're looking to go so that we can support you in that growth.

Just go to floyd coaching.com. Thanks again for listening. We love doing the show. Please, if there's any person that you're thinking would be a great guest for the show or if you have a topic that you would really love for us to dive into, please let us know.

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So thank you so much. We appreciate you. And until next time, lead with culture.