Win at Talent Win Your Industry with Steve Van Remortel

Steve Doyle (: 00:01

Welcome back to BlueCallerBS, Brad. How you doing today, my friend?

Brad Herda (: 00:04

I am fantastic Mr. Stephen Doyle and the Motor City treating you well.

Steve Doyle (: 00:09

It is great. We are in the middle of smoking 200 pounds of pig right now. So we've already smoked 100. We have another 100 pounds on the the smoker going right now. We'll probably pull that off. I'll pick. Yep, pick. Yep. Get after it. yes. Well, whatever slang you're using, I'm not familiar with. So we just we just know how to do a little pork shoulder action. So.

Brad Herda (: 00:20

We were talking about actual pig, like the animal. Okay, making sure. It's legal in it's not legal here. So just want to make sure we got the right slang language going on.

Steve Van Remortel (: 00:33

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 00:37

Perfect. Awesome.

Steve Doyle (: 00:38

So yeah, we got a couple events this weekend and today is trying to smoke one out. That is right. That is right. So that's right. So Brad, who do we have on the show today?

Brad Herda (: 00:44

today is Pull Your Pig Bay over in Clarks, Michigan. Perfect.

Brad Herda (: 00:55

So today we have Steve Van Remortel. He's the founder and CEO of the My Talent Planner. And he got here through running a manufacturing organization and understanding that people are the key to the long -term success. He's gotten, dived into this whole process to bring this SaaS product to the world so that we can understand and manage our generational differences and diversity even better and stronger. And I am super excited to

hear what he has to say as we move into generational talent conversations because that's ultimately what we do here on this show is talk about generational talent and the differences and pre -show he brought up some great topics and some great perspectives. So Steve, welcome to the show.

Steve Van Remortel (: 01:43

Great, glad to be here. Any show that has BS in the category, I'm a fit for.

Brad Herda (: 01:49

It's called the business solutions.

Steve Doyle (: 01:49

That's awesome. I mean, it's whatever you want it to be today. We bring the BS to the business solution.

Steve Van Remortel (: 01:51

is that what it is? okay. Yeah.

Steve Van Remortel (: 01:58

behavioral science? A lot of different things. that's what it is. okay. I thought it was the first thing that came up with. I've listened to several of them and they're good but there's a lot of fun going on. So that's good stuff.

Brad Herda (: 01:58

Or it's Brad and Steve, if you so desire.

Steve Doyle (: 02:03

Yeah. Yup.

Steve Doyle (: 02:13

Yeah, it's all good.

Brad Herda (: 02:15

Well, the original name of the show was two guys talking shit, but we thought that was a bad idea.

Steve Van Remortel (: 02:22

I think you're onto something there.

Steve Doyle (: 02:24

Yep. So Steve, before we get too much further, and I forget, because I'm prone to do that, which generation do you fit in with? Perfect. That's awesome. So three Gen Xers. I mean, wait, we got two Gen Xers and one boomer on the show. know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, you got to know your role. That's right. You got to own it. So Steve, tell us a little bit about the journey that you've been on.

Steve Van Remortel (: 02:31

I'm a Gen Xer.

Steve Van Remortel (: 02:40

Hmm.

Brad Herda (: 02:40

I didn't know you were that old, Mr. Doyle.

Steve Van Remortel (: 02:46

You got to own it. You got to own it.

Steve Doyle (: 02:53

from the manufacturing realm into transitioning into the SaaS company that you have, the My Talent Planner.

Steve Van Remortel (: 03:02

So yeah, really quick 30 year summary here. So yeah, random manufacturing company took it from five to 30 million just by having a solid strategic plan and making sure we had the right people in the right positions. But one of the most common things is we'd be in a leadership team meeting on a Monday morning and our growth was being limited because of people related challenges that we were having. And so our leadership team is like, well, if we were having any other problem,

in our business, we'd put a plan around it. And so that's how talent planning was born. It's like, why don't we just put a plan around our talent? Like, how genius is that? So that's how that's where talent planning was born for me. then and then we sold the business and I was asked to leave and I got my box. No, I was I was a minute shareholder. There was a majority shareholder, but he took very good care of us.

Brad Herda (: 03:49

That's what happens when you get all money.

Steve Van Remortel (: 04:00

But the new owners came in and asked us to move on. And so I started networking with 100 business owners trying to find the next company to run. And the most common answer I got was, I'm not ready to give you that job yet, because that's mine. But while you're looking, help us. And that was 25 years ago. So Founded stopped the vanilla in 1999. And we help small and medium sized businesses put the right plan, right strategy, and the right people in place.

And then in January of: 2020

Steve Doyle (: 04:38

Mm -hmm.

Steve Van Remortel (: 04:54

And what we found was there wasn't a software that helped SMBs win at talent. There's other software out there, but they're very strategy and execution focused, not talent focused. And so I wish the tech disruption happened 10 years ago instead of right now, because I'm not your typical SaaS founder guy, if you will. But yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 05:18

you

Brad Herda (: 05:19

You don't have a man bun.

Steve Van Remortel (: 05:21

and I'm not wearing a t -shirt and sneakers. besides that,

Steve Doyle (: 05:24

Right?

Brad Herda (: 05:25

Hey, come on, it's Friday afternoon, I can wear a t -shirt, can't I?

Steve Van Remortel (: 05:28

Yeah, I got sandals on so.

Brad Herda (: 05:33

I'm

Steve Doyle (: 05:34

you

Steve Van Remortel (: 05:35

So anyway, it was it was one of those things where, you know, I got to the point where giving a leader a flash drive or a binder felt like I was in the 1970s. And we needed a technology that we could do all this in a technology that they were logged into. We were logged into and the whole company was on and there was that wasn't available. And so.

Talent Planner in January of: 2023

Brad Herda (: 06:09

Well, congratulations on launching it and bringing the solution to that small business arena where there is a lot of people trying to go out and do things, but they don't do it very well. So pre -show, we kind of talked about the generational differences as to the motivators and things like that.

How is the My Talent planner supporting some of that activity so leaders can be better leaders and employees can be better employees as well and keep that engagement and keep, and I use the word engagement instead of morale because I'd much rather have an engaged employee than an employee that's got really high morale but sucks at their job or doesn't want to be there. So how does that support, talk more about what you're doing and how you're doing it.

Steve Doyle (: 06:53

Yep.

Steve Van Remortel (: 07:01

So we built behavioral science right into the software. So it eliminates a lot of guessing and a lot of secrets and all that kind of stuff. So your behavioral style, your motivators is all right in there. Your one -on -one meetings is all in there. Your development plan, your performance plan, the talent plan for each department, the talent plan for the leadership team. So how do we address that? I mean, in the software, you put a retention plan together. And a retention plan, from my perspective, obviously, it's really what

the employee needs to engage them, right? But if you're understanding the buttons to push, if you're understanding what drives them, you know, in the old days, we used to give everyone a bonus check and think like we were motivating them and all. But in today's world, if you give everybody a bonus check, you're about 50 % right, right? And and so yeah, and so what you know, behavioral science tells us what your motivators in your, you know, behaviors are and all that kind of stuff. But the one thing it does that I value more than anything

Steve Doyle (: 07:46

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 07:47

If you're lucky, you're lucky.

Steve Van Remortel (: 07:58

It allows us to have conversations with people about things we normally want them to talk about, especially their engagement. And is your harmonious motivator, the work -like balance motor, being fed? Is your motivator to win being fed? It's all right in the software, and it's all right there. So every time you're having a one -on -one, everything's there that you need to have just a very connected and deep conversation. And that's engagement.

When employees know, and you guys, know this, but when employees know that a company cares about them and it meets with them to have constant communication, then that's a company that's going to have some stickiness to it. It's when there's not that one -on -one and you don't have the opportunity to resolve an employee's issue two, three weeks out, then all of a sudden you get the two week notice and it's too late. So it's all built right into the software so everybody can use it, everybody can see it, and it's very transparent and vulnerable, to be honest.

Brad Herda (: 08:58

Yeah, I just had a networking partner that I called him looking for some stuff and he goes, yeah, I don't work there anymore today. I'm like, what the hell happened? It was like on the spot type thing with no warning, no anything. It's like, this is not good. This is not good at all. It's like, how, how, how? And after nine years there and it looked very much like it was a dollar thing more than anything else. But it's like, wow.

Steve Van Remortel (: 09:14

No,

Brad Herda (: 09:26

That doesn't send a very clear, good message to another organization or to the rest of the people there by any stretch of imagination.

Steve Doyle (: 09:31

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 09:36

So Steve, one of the things that we really like to talk about is the different generations on this show. And obviously with your vast experience with My Talent Planner, what are you seeing as trends, and we kind of want to talk in the blue collar space, you know, and in the trades and stuff. What are you seeing as trends that business owners are missing with the different generations that My Talent Planner would help them with?

Steve Van Remortel (: 10:04

Yeah. So I'll just give you a real life example. There was a manufacturing company that was having turnover issues on the shop floor. Very common, very common problem. Right. So we instituted one on ones and now they're meeting consistently. It went from a 40 percent turnover down to single digits. Right. So I mean that it's easy to have a one on one with a guy a person that's sitting in an office. Right. Where the white collar jobs. But how come we're not talking to the toughest jobs for us to hire and retain.

Steve Doyle (: 10:12

Yep.

Steve Van Remortel (: 10:34

And in a manufacturing environment, it's on the shop floor in a, in a distribution company. It's our technicians that go out every day. And so it's really, it's really important that you implement that consistency across the whole organization. And most importantly, in the jobs that are toughest to hire and keep, which are the ones that aren't in the business every day, they're on the shop floor, they're servicing our clients and like that. so

Steve Doyle (: 10:42

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 10:57

Mm

Steve Van Remortel (: 10:59

You know, in the old days, we used to think we only need to invest in the people in the office. But you could argue it's more important now to invest in the people that aren't in the office. The other people are more important because those are harder job. Those are the harder jobs to keep and hire for. And so that to me, that's the biggest thing they're missing. Like one of our one of our companies has 75 technicians they send out every day and they were having a huge turnover there. And it was crazy how now nobody leaves.

And I'll give you a real life story. They were having a one -on -one with one of their team members and the guy said, you know, in about five years, I want to retire. And the employee said that I want to start a fishing bait shop when I retire. Well, they're investing in him to take a mini course on how to run a business so that when he retires, he's ready to open up his bait shop. Do you think that guy's going anywhere? He's going nowhere. It's going nowhere. He is loyal and he's going to stay there and

And now they created this culture where it's almost it's it's like I want to be part of this family. I'm not leaving like this company cared for me and stuff. So that's what's that's what's most important. And the people that are most distant from the office are the ones that feel that the most.

Brad Herda (: 12:10

So, a thing maybe shed some color. So the one -on -ones on the shop floor or with the technicians, those in leadership positions that are conducting those one -on -ones, are they mostly X? Are they mostly boomer? Are they mostly millennial? Because how are those conversations? Because having that conversation one -on -one, if it's a millennial to a boomer,

that's five years away from retirement, that person's got to learn how to have that conversation and not just let's go play ping pong and have a great time because that board is not going to give you a moment of your time or respect at that point. are you seeing, what are you seeing in that for those conversations?

Steve Van Remortel (: 12:59

Yeah, so when I started, you know, a long time ago, it was all about how we develop the work person. But today, the two younger generations, the millennials and Gen Zs, what they want to know is that this company cares about me personally. So the difference is total person development. It's not just work. It's so in the development plan in my town planner, not only are your professional goals there, but your personal goals there.

And those are weighted equally. So when we invest in an employee, we're not investing just in them getting better at their job, but we're investing in them becoming a better dad or a better mom or a better brother, whatever that is. So what the younger generations really demand is total person development. And if you're not doing it in your organization, they're going to go somewhere that does. And that, me, is the biggest difference between the generations as far as development goes.

Steve Doyle (: 13:54

Yeah, one of the things that I like about my talent planner is, in addition to all of the talent strategies that we have, is also the action plans that you can develop out of any meeting that comes about. So any meeting that you have, whether it's, you know, HR type meeting or it's an operational meeting, you actually now have a one stop system that actually comes in, you plug in, you know where everything is, all the action plans.

What are the tasks? Who's this assigned to? They get pings back in their email that says, Hey, yeah, this is going to be due, you know, and you're, you know, you're coming up on a day due, you're coming up now it's past due and you can see it all in one system. And I'm like, this is phenomenal from that standpoint. And the other thing that it ties into is I can actually see the different communication styles that people have and their motivators that they have. now I can tailor all my conversations.

specifically to them in one quick snapshot. I just think that's brilliant. That's missing in the SMB space.

Steve Van Remortel (: 14:58

Yeah, yeah. And one of the things we're working on is obviously using a lot more AI in my talent planner. And so we got a couple different ideas we're designing out right now. So let's say you and that I have a meeting with Brad tomorrow and the system gives me a couple pointers to have a more effective meeting with Brad. Right. And so that's one thing we're doing. And then also in the software, you have job benchmark data, you have behavioral science data and you have employee data. Really having the software provide you recommendations on

Steve Doyle (: 15:03

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 15:15

Mm

Steve Doyle (: 15:22

Mm

Steve Van Remortel (: 15:27

ideas you can consider within the in the talent in your organization. You have a position open. Hey, Steve, here's three people you might want to consider for that role because it has AI is looking at all the data for the company. I that's where AI brings values when you have a private database of all this information. And then AI uses that to provide you proactive measures in your business work. The vision we have on this product is incredible. It's just I mean, I have a very fast pace in my style and nothing goes fast enough. So

Brad Herda (: 15:57

Really? D, maybe Steve?

Steve Doyle (: 15:58

Just a little.

Steve Van Remortel (: 15:58

Yeah. I D LOS baby. I D LOS. Yeah. Attention span.

Steve Doyle (: 16:02

That's right.

Brad Herda (: 16:05

And that C stuff, fuck that too. Get that out of way. We don't give a shit.

Steve Doyle (: 16:08

That's right. Hey, it's a Steve thing. So just shut the fuck up, Brad. It's a Steve thing.

Steve Van Remortel (: 16:11

Yeah, building building software is like going to the dentist every day. So it's been taxing because I do have a lower C. I think in detail, but I don't behave in detail. so every day it's 800 questions. And but now we're on the backside of that. So it's getting better.

Steve Doyle (: 16:16

You

Brad Herda (: 16:29

I don't care where the one in the zero goes, just make it work.

Steve Van Remortel (: 16:32

Yeah, I'm a non -technical founder. Let's be very clear about that.

Steve Doyle (: 16:33

you

Steve Doyle (: 16:38

That's awesome.

Brad Herda (: 16:39

I'm the idea guy go do it. the way, I changed my mind go do this instead

Steve Van Remortel (: 16:42

Yeah, on the content.

Steve Doyle (: 16:48

So the people that are using the system and they're doing it well, what have you seen are traits with their employees that are using the system and using it well?

Steve Van Remortel (: 17:01

The first thing that we see is obviously with any system, it's really having an internal champion that really drives the implementation of it. One of the things that we've done too is that we have trained and we're just in the early stages of building our network of consultants around the country, but we have 25 consultants that are trained on talent planning and my talent planner all over the United States. so companies have the choice of having a guided

implementation or doing it themselves. We built the software to be very self -serve and leaders can pick on that continuum where they want to be. And it's really just take one step at a time. know, people say, hey, how do I get engaged? Well, our recommendation is get the accountability bus going first. And so put in action plan, put your goals in for the next week, call them sprints. You know, you have a three month or four month sprint. Get that going.

making sure that you're getting more done on a daily and weekly basis than your competition. And the next thing we recommend is implementing the one -on -ones and get that going because that's retention -based, that's building future leaders, that's really understanding the differences between the generations and having very candid and vulnerable conversations. And so those are the two areas that we'd have to start. And then the third thing is tracking all the meetings because, you know,

You know, you come in a meeting and you turn on AI and it makes all the notes for you and stuff. And so the next meeting, all the notes are there. if I couldn't make the meeting, everything's there. And to your point, when you said earlier, Steve, if I agree to an action plan and a meeting and we don't document it, it's not even brought up at the next meeting. And in the software, you document everything that comes up out of the meetings. And then the next meeting, you review the action plan. So what happens with my talent planners, our productivity goes up, our accountability goes up, our communication goes up.

because we understand each other. it's one of the things, what we're calling it now, and we're really just getting to this because we're struggling with what they really call the MyTail Planner, but we're calling it the growth accelerator system. Stepping on the gas a little bit, throwing gas on your growth, GAS, growth accelerator system, because that's what it does. It minimizes your people issues, so those don't limit your growth. You have better retention, better succession, better hiring, and all that leads to growing faster.

Steve Van Remortel (: 19:24

and you're more productive because you're executing on things. So the growth accelerator system is what we finally have come up with for it because we were struggling on what's the right acronym for it. stepping on the gas, the growth accelerator system, we thought was kind of cool.

Steve Doyle (: 19:35

Mm

Steve Doyle (: 19:39

That's sweet. I like it. I like it. That's right. That's right.

Steve Van Remortel (: 19:41

Now we're cooking with gas. Let's throw some gas in your girl.

Brad Herda (: 19:47

The marketing team will take care of that. It's fine. They'll do something with that. So I have a question in regarding to all these things, right? Get the accountability bus going on, the sprints, all that activity. How, for your clients that have done the implementation and as you advise new people coming on board,

Steve Van Remortel (: 19:50

Yeah, they somewhere with the gas comment you're right about

Brad Herda (: 20:13

What are you advising them as for their opportunity for self -selection?

Right from a leader perspective because there's gonna be some supervisors There's gonna be some people that are gonna not want to go out and do this that they're gonna be say I can't do this. Are you seeing a a small or large or People saying I'm out. I just can't live like this anymore. Are you seeing some? Worth its addition by subtraction and ultimately at end of the day Are your clients prepared for that or are you advising money that information? How's that working?

Steve Van Remortel (: 20:48

So fundamentally what we have to show is that My Talent Planner saves you time, right? We have to prove that out. The retention company we're talking about where we took it from 40 down to single digits, we estimated about a $300 ,000 bottom line improvement. But to your specific question, the leadership team really has to buy in. And how we get them to buy in is that for every one hour you spend in My Talent Planner and minimize your people issues,

Brad Herda (: 21:05

Easy.

Steve Van Remortel (: 21:17

you're going to take away 10 hours of dealing with people issues. And so when you think, when you position it like that with a leader, it's like one hour of planning. Cause really the definition of talent planning for us is talent planning is working upstream to resolve any people related issues before they impact the business. Right? So when you talk about being proactive and minimizing people issues, it's not having people quit on you. It's not having people disengaged. It's, it's all the things that you deal with on a daily basis.

think about what life would look like that way. And then all of sudden they're like, yeah, okay, I see where you're going with that. So that's how you get buy -in. It's increased productivity and it's minimizing the people issues that are limiting the growth of our business. mean, when I was at that manufacturing company, we went from five to eight in the first year and we could have been 10, we could have been 12, because we had such a great strategy. I mean, Stop the Vanilla is the name of our consulting firm. And what is that about? It's about being different.

Steve Doyle (: 21:52

Mm

Steve Van Remortel (: 22:15

about being unique, right? Differentiated. So that's a key part of our software as well. And people often say, you know, why do you have strategy in MyTownPlanter and Town Planning? Because in order for you to know what people you need, you got to know where you're going. And so that's why strategy and talent and execution have come together to make a very powerful system.

Brad Herda (: 22:31

All right.

And the generational math tells you you need to put a strategy around it because the numbers don't add up. They don't work.

Steve Van Remortel (: 22:41

There's 8 .2 million jobs open today in the US and the birth rates way down, immigration, who knows what's going on with that, with the future administration. But anyway, that number could be 12, 15 million in five years. It's just gonna keep going up. But the irony is, and this is really important and one I communicate a lot to leaders is it's not the problem, it's the opportunity.

Brad Herda (: 23:08

Correct.

Steve Van Remortel (: 23:09

Because when you win at talent, you don't even notice that 8 .1 jobs. But SMBs have a majority of those open jobs. It's not the big companies that have those open jobs. It's the small to medium sized ones that do. And that's why they didn't have a tool to help them win at that. And that's why we created it. So hopefully that answers your question, Brad.

Brad Herda (: 23:25

I love that. How do people get ahold of you, Steve? Where do they find you? Where do you hang out? How do they get their demos? All the fun things.

Steve Van Remortel (: 23:34

Steve at mytalentplanner .com and mytalentplanner .com is the website for the software. I mean, my biggest passion here is to show people that there is a resource for SMBs to win at talent. And when you do, else gets in your way. And so we're one of the early companies coming out with a product like this, but it's very focused on SMBs and accelerating their growth.

Right now there is not another software built like ours and so we're really excited about the uniqueness we have but most importantly we're excited about the value that we bring so fun of my nail at the end of the day I just educate leaders on how to win at talent and if technology is the way that they want to do it then my talent planner is an option for them. So that it's really about educating them on when you win at talent everything else takes care of itself.

Brad Herda (: 24:26

That's why this show has the tag, you know, debunked myth that we can't find good people because there's there's good people everywhere. that use is just an excuse. There's literally tens of thousands of good people out there. If you just look at things slightly different and you're willing to adapt.

Steve Doyle (: 24:30

camp.

Steve Van Remortel (: 24:36

We're out.

Steve Van Remortel (: 24:44

Yeah, and you guys all know the companies that are known as a great place to work and where you live, right? And those are the ones that have figured it out. They have figured it out. When you create a great place to work, what you can achieve is unlimited. What you can achieve is unlimited.

Steve Doyle (: 24:49

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 24:59

Your passion is amazing Steve so It's great. It's fantastic right because because Your passion about what's there which is gonna show up in your product and it's gonna show up every day and what you do with the rest of your team Etc. So Thank you for doing what you're doing because it is a gap that is out there and the ADPs of the world the large HR, you know, or is it they're not gonna do this stuff

Steve Van Remortel (: 25:03

Yeah, sorry if I got some of that on you.

Steve Doyle (: 25:05

That's all good, Right.

Steve Doyle (: 25:20

Mm

Steve Van Remortel (: 25:28

Not for SMBs, no.

Brad Herda (: 25:30

No, no, and that's our gonna and if they try it they're gonna do it half -ass and it's gonna cost you a fortune so Thank you, thank you for putting the product out there taking the risk

Steve Doyle (: 25:30

Nope.

Steve Van Remortel (: 25:42

Thank you. Yeah, the last four years of they haven't been the best four years of my life. But I got it all in the rearview mirror now. And, we're having a great time. We're having a lot of fun. I just my behavioral style. Building a software is it's not really fit for that. So it's been it's been a lot of work. Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 25:48

You

Right?

Brad Herda (: 26:05

And there lies the irony.

Steve Doyle (: 26:08

Hey, he found a problem, got a solution. You know, let the programmers be programmers. Let him do what he does best. That's about knowing your talent.

Brad Herda (: 26:16

Right.

Steve Van Remortel (: 26:16

Yeah, you got that right. Yeah, that is my strength strategy and talent. It's not building the software that does all that. But it turned out good. Stay in your lane. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 26:19

know where your keep

Brad Herda (: 26:25

Stay in your lane.

Steve Doyle (: 26:27

Yep. That's awesome. So, well, it was great having a conversation with you, Steve. We definitely appreciate you on the show today. So thank you.

Steve Van Remortel (: 26:38

Yeah, thanks for having me. love the content, love the humor. I mean, if you can't laugh at work, then why do it, right? Yeah, so I love the humor. I appreciate you guys too. Thank you.

Steve Doyle (: 26:44

That's right. That's right.

Brad Herda (: 26:45

Completely agree.

Thank you.

Steve Doyle (: 26:48

Yep. All right. Take