Intro
Broadcasting live from the Business Radio X studios in Dayton, Ohio. It's time for Dayton Business Radio. Now, here's your host.
The Mag
Welcome to Dayton Business Radio. This is Lee Canter, and I am joined here today with Dr. Karen Townsend. And she's with KTownsend Consulting. Welcome, Karen.
Karen Townsend
Well, good. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me.
The Mag
Well, before we get too far into things, tell us about your consulting. How are you serving folks?
Karen Townsend
Well, I work with leaders who are committed to investing in their people. I believe it's very important for organizations to understand that when we say our people are our greatest resource, it's not just a catchphrase, but it is a reality. And what I find is many organizations will, without hesitation, invest in a new product or a new procedure or new process, but they forget to invest in the people. And without those individuals, no product, no procedure, you're no process will be successful. And so working with leaders who understand the importance of investing in their people, we like to believe that we help organizations maximize talent and align their goals and values so that they can create an inclusive environment and build strong teams. And once you do that, you are fully equipped to meet the needs of your clients and customers.
The Mag
Now, what do you think it is that a lot, like you said, a lot of leaders give lip service to people are our most important asset, things like that. But when it's there's a disconnect when it comes time to actually investing in their people?
Karen Townsend
Probably because sometimes it's difficult to quantify a return on investment in developing an individual. For instance, if you buy a new computer system, you know what the cost is going to be, you know how it's going to impact the bottom line and help you to be more profitable and productive. And when we think about investing in people, it's not always such a quick measure of success. But when we look at those organizations that are most successful, we look at those that have understood the importance of making their people a priority. And in some of those organizations, we look at companies like Google and Amazon, and Facebook, and a lot of those Silicon Valley companies that invite their employees to bring their pets to work, and they provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And all those things are nice because they say to an employee, I value who you are. And I want to meet your needs beyond just the paycheck on the 15th and the 30th.
So I think every organization has to look at itself to question what are we doing? How are we doing it? And what role do our people play in us doing what we do? And what are some of the things that our employees are saying they need? Part of it is listening and observing and being attentive, and then responding to those things that you see and hear.
The Mag
Now, do you find that most people have leadership qualities within themselves, but they're just kind of dormant? Or they don't know how to really bring them out? And they do need this outside perspective? Maybe a coach or consultant to helping them get that out? Or do you think some people just don't have these leadership skills, to begin with?
Karen Townsend
I think everyone has the potential to be a leader. Some people maybe have it as more and a quality. But I believe anyone can be developed into a leader. And it's important to look at people and identify what they do well. And if you don't see that they're doing something particularly well, it's important to have a conversation, because sometimes we have the right people in the wrong position. And we don't think they are excelling or performing to our expectations. But if we were to have a conversation and you use the word, do some coaching and some mentoring, I believe every person has the potential to be a great contributor and a great leader. Someone once asked me about the best boss I ever had. And one of the best bosses I ever had was a woman who said to me, what is it that you like to do and how. How could you do it for our organization? And it was the first time I'd ever been asked that question. And when I'm working with leaders who, who might articulate that John or Jane is not performing at the level that they should, I do push back, and I say, Well, have you had a conversation with him or her about what she's doing currently, and what he or she would like to do so that they can be a better contributor to the organization?
The Mag
Well, let's learn more about you and your business. How did you get into this line of work?
Karen Townsend
Actually, I started my business because I was at a place in my career where I didn't see my next move. I wanted, as most people do, to advance my career, and I didn't see the next logical place to go. So I decided that I would start my own business. And I have to tell you, it's kind of funny and embarrassing. But I believe in full transparency, I started my business with no business plan, no strategic plan, no marketing plan, and no clients. And I quickly learned that wasn't the best way to run a business. And I had to take a step back and do some personal introspection, and figure out what is it that you do well? What is it that you need to learn to do better? And what can you offer the world, and because of my own experience, being in a situation where I didn't see my next move when I'm talking to leaders, I often tell them, you don't want to you, lose your best and your brightest, because they don't understand what their career path is? With that said, I don't think it is the sole responsibility of a leader to develop my career plan, I believe it's a shared responsibility. So the leader and the member of the team need to talk often openly and honestly, about what the career path is for, for every employee. Because a lot of times a person who has a lot of potentials hasn't been coached hasn't been mentored. And if it's not happening within the walls of their organizations, they may make a decision to move on to another organization.
The Mag
Well, there's a saying that, you know, a lot of business owners are maybe afraid of investing in their people because they're afraid they're going to train them and they, and then they'll leave. And then the flip side of that is you don't train them, and they stay. So you're not getting the best out of them. So it's important, I think, as an organization that everybody is doing, you know, what they're good at and where their superpower is. And if you can help facilitate that, I think you're gonna have a more engaged workforce.
Karen Townsend
I totally agree, I think that leaders should be grooming their team members for their next promotion. And if we've created an environment where they feel valued and affirmed, they're going to look for that next promotion within the organization. And why wouldn't you invest in someone's development, so they can be their best? And as you said, I could make a choice that I'm not going to invest in their development, and they are a mediocre or subpar employee. And that is not going to lead to organizational excellence, or that person's professional development so they can be a great contributor.
The Mag
Now, let's talk about your business, when you're working with a new client, can you talk about maybe that first meeting and how you get to know each other? And how to how you can kind of share with them what your superpower is, and how you can help them and they can share? Maybe their vulnerability and what kind of needs they have?
Karen Townsend
That's a great question. I believe it's very important to be a good listener. It's not a skill that most of us have, we'd like to believe we're good listeners. But I have to tell you, I have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and a Ph.D. And I never took a class on listening. But I know that is such an important skill. I would never go into a potential client and assume to know what they need. I believe it's important for me to engage them in a conversation about what is their current situation? What is working well, what are some of their pain points, and then based on that, we work together to create a path forward? I believe that when people help to create the remedy or the program, they're more likely to support it. There's a saying People will support what they help to create. So I always want to co-create any recommendation, any program with the client that I'm serving, I think it's important for me to be open and honest, and transparent about what I can do and what I cannot do.
As a consultant, I recognize that a lot of people in my role, go into an organization and say, You know what, this is what you need to do. Without having done that free work. We operate using what we call the triple-A model, which is assessment, action, and accountability, I'm going to have a conversation with you to do that due diligence, and work together to figure out what you need. That's the assessment part, we'll work together to plan what steps we're going to take, it might be training, it might be consulting, it might be coaching, or mentoring it, that's the action. And once we've done that, we believe in accountability. Because if I were to come into your organization, and do a single-day program of training, and never circle back to see if there's been a transfer learning, then it's probably not the best investment of your time or resources.
So anytime we have an engagement with the client, we make a commitment to come back 30 to 45 days later, just to ask you, how are things going? Have you been able to apply what you've learned? And is there some way that we can serve you further? Obviously, many people believe that professional development is a one-and-done proposition. And we have a completely different approach to what we do. We believe it's important to service our clients before, during, and after any engagement.
The Mag
Now, is there a certain niche that you serve, or is your kind of methodology industry-agnostic?
Karen Townsend
We serve all clients, my background is higher education. So when I first started my business, I've worked with a lot of educators K through 12, and colleges and universities. At this point, we serve clients across all industries. I worked with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, social service agencies, fortune 500, companies, any organization that has people is an organization that we would serve. If we niche in any way it would be around my subject areas, we do a lot of work around leadership development, we do 21st-century diversity, and personal excellence, which is a category of anything that's the non-technical type of personal development. And again, that goes back to what I said about just investing in people. It's an easy sell to say, hey, we want to sell you this computer system. And we want to sell you a series of classes on how to operate the computer system. But we believe not just technical expertise, but interpersonal relationships are an area of development that companies need to focus on.
The Mag
Has there been maybe a success story, you can share maybe something rewarding or interesting that you've worked on, you don't have to name names, but maybe use it as a way to explain how you're able to make an impact in an organization?
Karen Townsend
Sure, we had a client that invited us to come in because there had been a conflict among some of the people in the workforce. So initially, we thought it would be just a single conversation and maybe a mediation or conflict resolution, opportunity. But it evolved into looking at the organization as a whole, and examining how people were or were not getting along. And we talked with people in every segment of the organization. From the top to the bottom, we did a series of focus groups, so that everyone was able to express what their experience was. And regardless of what the topic is, I think if you were to talk to a CEO of an organization, and ask that person, what is their experience working at XYZ Corporation, they wouldn't give you one response.
But if you talk to an entry-level person and ask them what their experience was, it would be a different response. And what we were able to do was talk to people from the top to the bottom to the middle, and bring representatives from each segment of the organization together to talk about what we need to do so our organization can excel. As a result of that, they put together an internal task force that made a commitment to ongoing work to make sure once they created that culture of inclusiveness, and collegiality, that it would be ongoing. And it was a project that required an investment of time and resources. But when we completed it, the client was completely satisfied, as was all segments of the organization. So it was a holistic approach to professional development, not just, for one person or one department, but for the entire organization.
The Mag
So now, as your business is evolving, and it's not kind of this impulsive thing that you did, when you started, how do you feel about it? Are you enjoying life as a business owner?
Karen Townsend
I love it, I feel blessed that I get to do work that I love, and that positively impacts the clients that I serve. And one of my goals is to have more, get two days versus half, two days, a lot of people wake up every day, and they say, Oh, my gosh, I have to go to work. And I'm in a position that I wake up and I say, oh my gosh, I get to do this work. So I'm enjoying what I do. I enjoy serving my clients. And my greatest joy is when I'm working with an organizational leader, or a group of team members and I see the light bulb go off in their mind that that's a good day for me.
The Mag
Now, if somebody wants to learn more and have a more substantive conversation with you, what's the best way to get ahold to you?
Karen Townsend 16:53
They can reach me via my website, which is drkarentownsend.com. And it's Dr. Ka r e n T o w n s e n d, drkarentownsend.com. And they want to shoot an email to info@drkarentownsend.com. One of my team members will be responsive and always looking to interact and serve those around us. We can also be reached by phone at area code 937-602-4641.
The Mag
Well, Dr. Karen, thank you so much for sharing your story today.
Karen Townsend
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to share.
The Mag
All right, this is Lee Canter. We will see you all next time on Dayton Business Radio.
Image source: https://www.drkarentownsend.com/
