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The Build a Vibrant Culture Podcast explores the real-world strategies behind building strong work culture, improving organizational culture, and leading with clarity in today’s fast-changing business environment.
Hosted by leadership expert Nicole Greer, this podcast features conversations with business leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs who are shaping modern business culture through effective communication, leadership development, and intentional management practices.
Each episode delivers practical insights into leadership and business, including topics like team communication, project management, career growth, and creating workplaces where people perform at their best.
You’ll gain actionable tools, frameworks, and leadership skills you can apply immediately through coaching concepts, real-world examples, and professional development strategies, whether you’re a manager, executive, business owner, or emerging leader.
If you're looking for guidance on building a thriving organizational culture, improving communication, or advancing your leadership career, this podcast is designed for you.
Learn more about training, coaching, and courses at https://vibrantculture.com
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[00:00:00] Nicole Greer: Welcome everybody to the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. My name is Nicole Greer. They call me The Vibrant Coach, and I am here with another amazing guest. His name is Jonathan Ribskis. I am so excited to have him on here today. He is the Development of Talent Optimization for Builtech. At
[00:00:17] Nicole Greer: Builtech Services, he's the Director of Talent Optimization.
[00:00:20] Nicole Greer: Jonathan oversees all aspects of talent, vision, and strategy, management of people operations, including hiring, assembling teams, facilitating training, mentorship, promoting effective leadership engagement, fostering career development, and spearheading the safety program. It's a miracle he's sitting
[00:00:37] Nicole Greer: upright.
[00:00:37] Nicole Greer: Jonathan
[00:00:38] Nicole Greer: has an int- has
[00:00:39] Nicole Greer: been
[00:00:40] Nicole Greer: an
[00:00:40] Nicole Greer: integral part
[00:00:40] Nicole Greer: of
[00:00:41] Nicole Greer: Builtech's team since 2007, and I love hearing this. He was on a career path. Somebody saw talent and developed this guy, got him where he is. Throughout his career in the construction industry, Jonathan has developed into a seasoned manager and leader.
[00:00:54] Nicole Greer: His journey within the company has seen him excel in various roles, including superintendent, estimator, project manager, and talent optimization. Jonathan's knowledge and expertise as a construction professional make him the most recent role in talent optimization a perfect fit. Jonathan's exceptional leadership abilities and strategic vision continue to drive the success of
[00:01:17] Nicole Greer: Builtech, ensuring the cultivation of top talent and the execution of outstanding pro- projects.
[00:01:24] Nicole Greer: So I am so excited to have Jonathan on the show. Dude, how are you?
[00:01:29] Jonathan Ribskis: Good to see you, Nicole. Thanks for the invitation.
[00:01:32] Nicole Greer: Oh, yeah. So you got to know that Jonathan and I were in class together at UNC Charlotte, and he was going through one of the programs. What certificate was it? Was it the HR or was it their learning and development certificate?
[00:01:46] Jonathan Ribskis: HR.
[00:01:46] Nicole Greer: HR. Okay. Yeah. So, Jonathan is one of my favorite things. He's a lifelong learner, and you heard from his bio that he lives, eats, and breathes development, so I'm so glad he's here. So your title of Director of Talent Optimization, first of all, love this title. Write that down, everybody. Director of Talent Optimization instead of Human Resources.
[00:02:07] Nicole Greer: That's a very intentional choice. What does talent optimization mean to you, and why does that language matter?
[00:02:16] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, so for me, talent optimization, it's really aligning people strategy with business strategy, and you're leaning on the people's strengths and knowing what they're good at and what they excel at.
[00:02:26] Jonathan Ribskis: So you lean into those areas, you align them with what the business is trying to do, and you just see awesome results.
[00:02:31] Nicole Greer: Yeah, and I, I have this little diagram, Jonathan. It's, like, got this box and it says you know, like, human, and it says, like, talent, strengths, values, core values, all the things inside of a human, and then it says, has an arrow and it says, "Getting stuff done," right?
[00:02:46] Nicole Greer: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:46] Nicole Greer: It's because you can only do it through the people, am I right?
[00:02:49] Jonathan Ribskis: Correct.
[00:02:49] Nicole Greer: That's right.
[00:02:50] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah,
[00:02:50] Jonathan Ribskis: absolutely.
[00:02:50] Nicole Greer: Yeah, so when you think about that, how does that shift change the way leaders think about people at
[00:02:56] Nicole Greer: Builtech?
[00:02:57] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, so for us, then, I, I I have a similar mindset as you, Nicole. It's like, it's easy to just say we have people or we have humans or we have resources, but it's like, let's look at the person, the individual.
[00:03:09] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, w- we're a mid-sized company, so we're able to do that, which is awesome.
[00:03:12] Nicole Greer: Yeah.
[00:03:12] Jonathan Ribskis: And we can really, you know, to the best of our abilities, tailor career paths to people at
[00:03:17] Jonathan Ribskis: Builtech to, to get them to do what they want and, and give them that journey.
[00:03:21] Nicole Greer: Yeah. That's so good. And, you know, here's the thing, I, I talk to leaders all the time, Jonathan, and it's like the, every human that we sit in front of, like even Jonathan's sitting in front of Nicole, I'm front, sitting in front of Jonathan, we are packed with potential that is unrealized, and we need somebody to help us get it out of us.
[00:03:37] Nicole Greer: You know? I, I bet at your company, people say, "Oh, I, I don't think I can do that." Do they ever do that to you?
[00:03:44] Jonathan Ribskis: Oh, for sure. And then all of a sudden after they do it, they're like, "I'd like to do it again."
[00:03:47] Nicole Greer: That's right. I mean, you know, so it's like, you know, people get in their own way and so we have to help them, and you need a director of talent optimization inside your company.
[00:03:57] Nicole Greer: Okay, so you have spent nearly two decades, but if you are watching on YouTube, you're like, "No, he's in high school." I mean, like, I don't know- ... I, I don't know.
[00:04:05] Nicole Greer: You look young.
[00:04:05] Jonathan Ribskis: You're so
[00:04:05] Jonathan Ribskis: kind.
[00:04:07] Nicole Greer: So you've spent nearly two decades at
[00:04:09] Nicole Greer: Builtech and have held roles from superintendent to project manager to talent optimization, so don't miss that trajectory.
[00:04:17] Nicole Greer: There's somebody in your company can, that can do that too. How has working in the business made you a b- better people leader?
[00:04:25] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, so it is really interesting Nicole, and when I took this role about six years ago, I didn't even realize that, like, my experience having worked in the field and in, in the operations side of our business would help me so much.
[00:04:35] Jonathan Ribskis: But the ability to talk to a new employee or talk to a new hire and, and understand what they're dealing with on our project sites in the field just makes it a lot more relatable. It's not like we have some, you know, person that we brought in to sit in this seat that doesn't know the business. Like, I, I lived in that part of the business for so many years.
[00:04:51] Jonathan Ribskis: So that's been a really cool perspective and hopefully helpful for my teammates, where it's like I understand their day-to-day, not the level they're at, but I, I have an idea of what they're dealing with.
[00:04:59] Nicole Greer: That's right. That's right. And construction is no joke. I mean, talk about, I mean, so many things affect it.
[00:05:04] Nicole Greer: You've got your talent pool. Are they gonna show up? Are your, are your vendors gonna show up today? Is it gonna rain today? Is the neighbor next door gonna complain about the, the, the noise today? Yeah. I mean, like, all the things that go on in construction, right? And so, it helps you as they say, put yourself in somebody else's shoes, right, as you pointed out.
[00:05:21] Jonathan Ribskis: Definitely. Or Nortiv
[00:05:22] Jonathan Ribskis: boots, Nicole.
[00:05:23] Jonathan Ribskis: Boots.
[00:05:24] Nicole Greer: That's right. Steel -toed, everybody. Okay,
[00:05:26] Nicole Greer: yes.
[00:05:27] Jonathan Ribskis: Very good.
[00:05:28] Nicole Greer: Okay, so I'm curious, what lessons from the field did you learn that still influence your leadership today? What, give us a war story or a success or something that you've done.
[00:05:39] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, I wouldn't point to a specific story, but rather just, like, over a period of time being on job sites, and that was just the recognition of different people are gonna need to be communicated with differently.
[00:05:49] Jonathan Ribskis: So recognizing, like, you might have someone who's more sociable and wants to engage and, and connect about your weekend and what you're doing outside of work, but then you might walk down the hallway and deal with another contractor who's just like, "I'm, I'm here, I'm doing the job. Where do you need me next?"
[00:06:02] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, kind of all business. So realizing, like, when you're on a job site with 20 or 50 or 100 different subcontractors, you really need to try to, you know, get to know those leaders and understand, like, all right, if I communicate with them this way, that's gonna build a good relationship.
[00:06:16] Nicole Greer: That's right.
[00:06:16] Nicole Greer: That's right. And so just a little side note on that Jonathan uses different instruments inside of his talent optimization and, and you all know that I have all sorts of different assessments that I use, but if, if you've never thought about bringing in a personality profile or a tool to use to help you understand people better, what Jonathan is talking about is for real real. right?
[00:06:39] Nicole Greer: So, meeting people where they are, and you know there's that golden rule, you know, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but there's a b- there's a platinum rule, do unto others as they would like to be done unto. And so that's what Jonathan's talking about. So if you've got a all facts, you know, get stuff done guy, no small talk.
[00:06:56] Nicole Greer: You got the small talk guy, slow down, have a little small talk, right? Makes everybody happy. All right, so I love that lesson. Communication is key. So
[00:07:04] Nicole Greer: Builtech talks about building relationships based on trust, and hey everybody, I'd love for you to go over to their website. So is it builtech.com? I was cruising all over it.
[00:07:13] Nicole Greer: Is that, do I have it right?
[00:07:15] Jonathan Ribskis: builtechllc.com.
[00:07:15] Nicole Greer: Okay,
[00:07:15] Nicole Greer: builtechllc.com.
[00:07:19] Nicole Greer: Everybody
[00:07:20] Nicole Greer: there. Look at the career page. It is very, very, very, very good. It's one that you need to, like, look at how it's formatted and laid out and things that Jonathan's got cooking over there. It's really good, and Jonathan, there's a lot of bad career pages out there, I just want to say.
[00:07:36] Nicole Greer: Okay, so please go follow Jonathan's example. Okay, so, so Builtech talks about building relationships based on trust. How do you all inside your organization intentionally build trust inside the organization before you ever expect high performance?
[00:07:53] Jonathan Ribskis: So the two words that come to mind for me here are transparency and communication.
[00:07:57] Jonathan Ribskis: So we, we, when I say we, as leaders of the organization, do our best to be as transparent as possible with our team members. So sharing as much as information as we can, giving updates on the business. You know, it's important that we're giving regular readouts in terms of what's sales, what's revenue, what are we chasing?
[00:08:13] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, what's the health of the business? And I think that buys in a lot of just trust from our, our team members when they know, like, "All right, I can, I can get access to the CFO, I can get access to the CRO, and they're able to share these, you know, data points with me so I can feel good knowing that, like, I'm not just gonna finish my job, I'm gonna be unemployed, but here's what's in six months, here's what's in 12 months, here's the company's goal for five years from now."
[00:08:34] Jonathan Ribskis: And I think just, you know, broadcasting those and making them public has been very helpful for us.
[00:08:39] Nicole Greer: Yeah. And, and what, what you're talking about there, I don't know if you guys call it this, but there's this concept in business called open book management, which basically is like, is like you can look at the profit and loss statement if you'd like, right?
[00:08:52] Nicole Greer: Here's our, here's our revenue numbers, here's how we're doing on expenses. And really what that does for employees, I think it gives them a sense of ownership. What do, what do you think about that?
[00:09:01] Jonathan Ribskis: Oh, definitely. Yeah, and, you know, and we hold our project teams accountable for their specific projects, you know, specifically our project managers who are the financial stewards of their jobs.
[00:09:10] Jonathan Ribskis: And we teach them the concept of, you know, really managing every dollar spent on your project recognizing that if you perform well on your job, this is how it feeds into the overall company, and then company does well, well, guess what? You're, you're gonna enjoy the benefits of that as well.
[00:09:22] Nicole Greer: Yeah. So you all have bonus on these kind of things or make sure that people share in the profits.
[00:09:28] Jonathan Ribskis: Definitely. Yep.
[00:09:28] Nicole Greer: Yeah. That's so good. That's so good. And, you know, companies that I've worked with, I'll go in sometimes, Jonathan, and I'll do you know, strategic planning with people, and I'll find out that they don't do open book management. And a lot of people are like, "We just can't tell people how much money we make."
[00:09:43] Nicole Greer: Like, they're, it's almost like they're embarrassed by it or something. But the thing- Sure ... but the thing is, is your, if your people understand how the business works, they make better decisions in the field. Yep ... they have this thing called fiduciary ownership and fiduciary- responsibility. Do you find that that's the case with your folks, that they're making, they make better decisions 'cause they understand what the heck's going on on the business?
[00:10:04] Jonathan Ribskis: So we use this concept called power of the penny which is really- ... what, like I mentioned earlier, like just understanding all your decisions at the project level and the impact that they have.
[00:10:13] Jonathan Ribskis: ... a- a- a- and you gotta continue to broadcast, all right? You hire new people, they might have come from a culture where they got to just spend freely or they didn't have checks and balances. But the reality is we've always just been very, you know, cautious but I think also responsible with our financials.
[00:10:26] Jonathan Ribskis: So yeah, that's a big message that we convey to folks is like, "Hey, we're only 125 employees. We're not this behemoth, you know, gazillion dollar organization. Like, we gotta be smart here."
[00:10:35] Nicole Greer: That's right. That's right. And, and I think that, you know, people you said this a little bit earlier, is like people like know they're gonna get a paycheck on Friday.
[00:10:42] Nicole Greer: We're doing okay. Right. And so they're not out looking for another job, right? Yep. They think, "Oh, I'm s- I'm safe, I'm secure, and I'm in a good place." Yep. Yeah, so that's so good. Okay. All right. Let's see here. So, what's one thing that you think leaders do unintentionally that erodes trust? Because really, you know, if, again, if you go to their website, the trust is a big, big core value for them.
[00:11:05] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah. So it goes back to communication, right? The transparency piece. I think also changing direction or changing their minds often can be very disruptive. So we've embraced, ... we've em- we've embraced the flywheel concept from Jim Collins' work back in the, I think it was the '80s and '90s when he did his, his study for Good to Great.
[00:11:23] Jonathan Ribskis: And that's really resonated with us, 'cause we're like, "We know what we're good at, we just wanna do more of that." We're not gonna, like, adventure off and, you know, the s- the CFO has a crazy idea over the weekend and comes back and says, "We're gonna go do something totally different." We're gonna keep doing what we do.
[00:11:37] Jonathan Ribskis: So I think that, again, builds that trust, knowing, like, if you ask anyone here what Builtech's gonna build for the next six months or two years, they can tell you exactly what we're gonna build. We're not gonna go try to be adventurous and, and try new stuff. We- we're really good at what we do, keep doing more of it.
[00:11:52] Nicole Greer: Right. We're not going into the cotton candy business or something crazy, right? Okay, so many organizations focus on recruiting. You seem to focus equally on developing people after they're hired. So don't miss that, everybody, the employee life cycle, it's a thing. So what's your philosophy for helping employees see a career, not just a job?
[00:12:13] Nicole Greer: This is one of the greatest things I saw in your business when I was looking at it.
[00:12:18] Jonathan Ribskis: and there is a difference, for sure.
[00:12:19] Nicole Greer: 100%.
[00:12:20] Jonathan Ribskis: And again, at our size, 125 people, we have the ability to still make this a thing, right? to really make this practical. So for us career advancement is a huge deal.
[00:12:30] Jonathan Ribskis: We have an emerging leaders group, we have a next gen group, we have an internship program. We pour a lot of energy into the next generation, to our younger professionals. We want them to, to be around and succeed us one day. Your, your comment about me being in high school is, is hilarious, but the reality is, is-
[00:12:45] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, I,
[00:12:46] Nicole Greer: I- How old are you, Jonathan?
[00:12:48] Jonathan Ribskis: It start, we'll just say it starts with a four. How's that?
[00:12:50] Nicole Greer: Okay, all right. We'll go with that, which is still very young if you're my age. Go ahead.
[00:12:55] Jonathan Ribskis: But you start to look ahead in your 40s of like, "All right, how much longer am I gonna do this, and, and what's behind me," right?
[00:12:59] Jonathan Ribskis: Can, can, can Builtech move on without me and the other leaders that are, that are getting in the second half of their careers? So, we've been very great in the sense that we don't have a timeline associated with folks here who want to advance. They come in, they kill it, they can move on to the next level.
[00:13:14] Jonathan Ribskis: We're talking about, you know, a matter of six months, eight months, a year. You don't have to wait for three, four years to get the next little bump. People are doing it here regularly, and we've developed a really-
[00:13:22] Nicole Greer: Oh, how exciting
[00:13:23] Jonathan Ribskis: ... deep talent pool of leaders in their 20s and 30s here
[00:13:26] Nicole Greer: Oh, that's so fantastic.
[00:13:28] Nicole Greer: And, and don't miss how Jonathan is talking so nicely about the next generation. I got to tell you, Jonathan, everywhere I go they're like, "These young people, they're a problem." And I'm like, "Well, when you were 20, you were a problem too- Yeah ... because you didn't know anything, and you had to be taught everything.
[00:13:43] Nicole Greer: So you can't be mad at people because they don't know. You have to, as Jonathan is doing, putting them into a program where they're developed, right?
[00:13:51] Jonathan Ribskis: Yep.
[00:13:51] Nicole Greer: Yeah, so 100%. Okay, all right, so, the construction... Oh, let me ask you this follow-up question. What conversation should every manager be having with their people?
[00:14:01] Nicole Greer: I'm a, I'm a big believer in traction the entrepreneurial operating system and, and its philosophy of having a five-five-five. And I love employee performance management where you are developing. So, what should managers be talking to their people about? 'Cause I'll tell them, John, I'm like, "You need to talk to your people."
[00:14:18] Nicole Greer: They're like, "What should I talk to them about?" Yeah. I'm like, "There's a thousand things."
[00:14:22] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's as simple as where, where do you want to take this thing? You know, you, you've been with us a year, you're an entry-level position. What do you want to do next year? What's your aspirations?
[00:14:31] Nicole Greer: Yeah.
[00:14:32] Jonathan Ribskis: And there's, and there's really two outcomes you get from that. You get someone who says like, "I want to take your seat one day. I want to be on the executive team." Great.
[00:14:39] Nicole Greer: Yes.
[00:14:39] Jonathan Ribskis: Let's figure that out. Can we work with that? We've also had a lot of valuable team members say, "I'm good where I'm at. I don't want to be the VP of this or the director of that.
[00:14:48] Jonathan Ribskis: I'm really good at this, and I want to keep doing this." We need those people too, but again, we don't know that unless we as managers are asking them, "What are your career aspirations?" Does it need to keep going up and to the right, or are you just like, "Hey, I'm good where I'm at. I'm locked in.
[00:15:01] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, keep, keep me right here."
[00:15:03] Nicole Greer: Yeah. And the thing about the folks that, that want to stay where they're at, you know, I, I don't know what your experience with this is, but this is really important, is you'll ask them one time, they're like, "I'm good." But if you check in every six months, you know, on the what do you want to do thing or you give them, you're like okay, I know you want to stay where you're at, but I want you to work on this project or this, or do this particular thing."
[00:15:26] Nicole Greer: And like we said earlier, they try it and they're like, "Oh, that wasn't as awful as I thought it was gonna be." Or, "Actually, I'm really good at this," right? Yeah. So sometimes you have to kind of, dare I say this, push people a little bit,
[00:15:39] Jonathan Ribskis: Sure
[00:15:39] Nicole Greer: ... and then, and then they can grow. So sometimes they're in their own, own way.
[00:15:43] Nicole Greer: What do you, what do you do? I call that group that wants to stay where they are Steady Eddies, and every company needs Steady Eddies. How do you expand their work, or how do you work with them so that they do bring more value year over year? Is there something that you all do with your Steady Eddies?
[00:15:59] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, steady Eddies. We have, we have several that I'm thinking of. I think it is, you know, continuing to look for ways to expand their role. So fortunately- ... you know, I'm, we're, we're a growing business. We're gonna- we're not gonna be stagnant next year. There'll be new hires, there'll be new opportunities.
[00:16:12] Jonathan Ribskis: So I do think as a manager revisiting with that person, like, "Okay, you've mastered this, you know, what else could we add into your mix?" Just to keep that variety 'cause I think people in general do appreciate variety and want a new challenge, even if they are on the steady Eddie role. So I think just revisiting that with them and seeing what else you could add to their plate or swap something out.
[00:16:28] Jonathan Ribskis: Maybe they can delegate something that creates room for something new.
[00:16:31] Nicole Greer: Oh, I love that. Yeah, and you know, the other thing too is I have a company I work with, Jonathan, it's called Bloom. It's over in Denver, North Carolina, and they, they have leadership development, but they call it de- leadership, or, or excuse me, expert and leadership training.
[00:16:47] Nicole Greer: So they, they call their steady Eddies, Right ... like they, they turn them into experts. Like, if you don't wanna run a team, you don't wanna be responsible for humans, then you have to own some kind of expertise inside this business. And boy, construction, there's a lot of room for expertise, isn't there?
[00:17:03] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, we, we have some of those as well. I'm just thinking last week my, We were talking with a colleague and he's like, "We've got this guy, he's like a little wizard." That's the one that- Right,
[00:17:10] Nicole Greer: yeah. That's right, the wizard ...
[00:17:12] Jonathan Ribskis: he's like, "He's so unique like we cannot lose this guy. Like, he is special." Like-
[00:17:16] Nicole Greer: Right
[00:17:17] Jonathan Ribskis: We have to get him a hat or a wand or something, but he's so good at what
[00:17:20] Nicole Greer: he does.
[00:17:21] Nicole Greer: That's so good, yeah. And I mean, and I think, you know, I think back about when I was in the apartment business, I don't know if I, I pr- shared that during class.
[00:17:28] Nicole Greer: Yeah. But when I was in the apartment business we had some maintenance guys, they never wanted to manage anybody. "I don't want to manage any people. I don't want to do that. I want to do my job and go hunt the deer and do the things and fish in the pond and do all the stuff." And I'm like, "Okay." But like, you know, you, we would end up having, you know, like, "We're gonna send you to HVAC class," like to all of them.
[00:17:45] Nicole Greer: "And you're gonna become the wizard of HVAC or whatever, right? And so when we have another property that has a problem, you know, you'll go and you'll help them out because you'll know everything about Freon and compressors or whatever." So I think that's a great way to, you know, still grow, and be able to...
[00:18:02] Nicole Greer: and, and to be able to bonus and to pay them more because they- Mm-hmm ... do become more valuable even though they're, kind of sitting in the same seat. I think that's important. All right, so the construction industry is known for labor shortages and high turnover, and I know all of you listening are like, "Us too."
[00:18:17] Nicole Greer: But yet Builtech has achieved unusually strong retention by investing in leadership development, individualized career paths, and understanding behavioral strengths. What do you believe keeps great people engaged? What do you think about that?
[00:18:33] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, so I love the question because one of the things we are most proud of at Builtech is our unplanned attrition.
[00:18:39] Jonathan Ribskis: So we've hovered around 5 or 6% unplanned attrition for the past at least six years since I stepped into this role.
[00:18:45] Nicole Greer: Wow.
[00:18:45] Jonathan Ribskis: Which is great 'cause that's lower than the construction average by quite a bit. Yes. Certainly way lower than all construction if you look at tradesmen as well, you know, in the field.
[00:18:54] Jonathan Ribskis: So we keep a close eye on that. You know, if, if people are leaving, you know, having that conversation. You know, why? What, w- w- how is the grass greener or perceived greener, right? You know, we want to make sure we keep a close eye on that. So we're thrilled about that. The other thing we're proud of is Best Places To Work.
[00:19:07] Jonathan Ribskis: So as you're familiar with, Nicole you know, these surveys are important to us because they- Give us anonymous feedback from our people on how we're doing as, as an organization.
[00:19:16] Nicole Greer: Right.
[00:19:17] Jonathan Ribskis: And, you know, year after year, being able to rank on the best places to work list tells us, like, all right, we're, we're getting things mostly right.
[00:19:23] Jonathan Ribskis: Always room for, for adjustments, but you know, understanding, like, as a whole, people are very content here. Obviously, that ties directly to the unplanned attrition when you get a best places to work, 'cause of course they make sense together.
[00:19:33] Nicole Greer: That's right. Yeah. So how did you get that program started, or how did you all begin to, to pursue, "We wanna be a best place to work"?
[00:19:43] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah. So our owner, Chris, would just say, you know, "We like to keep score. We wanna know how we're doing against similar-sized, you know, businesses in our markets." So we do it in our Chicago office, we do it in our Charlotte office, and it's important that we, we just know how we're stacking up against competition.
[00:19:57] Jonathan Ribskis: Construction in and of itself is competitive, but also marketplace-wide, we wanna know how Builtech's doing.
[00:20:03] Nicole Greer: That's great. So what, how m- how long have you been a best place to work?
[00:20:07] Jonathan Ribskis: So the Chicago office probably goes back, I wanna say, seven years now. And then Charlotte, we've done it the past, this will be our fifth year.
[00:20:14] Nicole Greer: Oh, that's so fantastic. That's so fantastic. And, and it must be, like, dialed in at the leadership level.
[00:20:21] Jonathan Ribskis: Our leadership team is pretty unique in the sense that there's, there's 10 of us in that group, and our c- as a group we've been together at least seven years. So the shortest tenured person in that group is seven years, and the longest, myself, at 19.
[00:20:34] Jonathan Ribskis: So we've got some really good synergies, 'cause we know each other really well.
[00:20:38] Nicole Greer: That's right. So we can finish each other's sentences, right? And know how the other person's gonna think about a certain thing that just happened. We don't even have to check in. Isn't that great? Oh, love it. Love it. Okay let's see here.
[00:20:50] Nicole Greer: You oversee hiring leadership development, mentorship engagement, career development, and safety. Phew. That's a bunch, everybody. How do all those pieces fit together into one talent strategy instead, instead of becoming, like, separate HR initiatives? How do you keep all that together?
[00:21:08] Jonathan Ribskis: So we hate silos, we'll tell you that.
[00:21:10] Jonathan Ribskis: If you, if... That's, that's the one thing we don't wanna be. So we don't want safety to be here, and operations to be here, and career development to be there. We want it all to be looked at as Builtech. So that's the first thing. Awesome. The other thing is, you know, we talked about the start, but, like, these all involve people, right?
[00:21:24] Jonathan Ribskis: None of these programs exist without our awesome people, and a lot of them are in multiple areas. So you might be on the safety committee, but you're also in the mentorship program. And you might be in our emerging leaders group, but you're also on our wellness team. So, like, there's overlap between all these as well.
[00:21:38] Jonathan Ribskis: So for us, we really just look at it as everything's flat. One group's not better than the other. One initiative's not better than the other. We, we try to just level the playing field internally as, as much as we can.
[00:21:48] Nicole Greer: Oh, that's fantastic. Okay. So tell me, you just threw out this wellness thing, so I'm so curious about that.
[00:21:53] Nicole Greer: I think a lot of organizations have a wellness program, a wellness committee, but, like, it's not very alive. It doesn't have any juice in it. Can you share with us kind of what you're doing with that?
[00:22:04] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, so we, we've got a group that set up different events for, again, the two offices, Charlotte and Chicago.
[00:22:10] Jonathan Ribskis: And we've done things like, you know, the traditional, you know, you do a 5K walk or run. We do a step challenge every year that gets a ton of chatter going on internally- ... 'cause we have awesome prizes at the end of it. And for 30 days we track - you know, we track steps competitively on an app.
[00:22:24] Jonathan Ribskis: That's awesome.
[00:22:26] Jonathan Ribskis: , We did a sound bathing thing last year. Never done that before. Oh. Brought someone in, like almost-
[00:22:30] Nicole Greer: With
[00:22:30] Nicole Greer: their singing bowls and everything?
[00:22:32] Jonathan Ribskis: You got the bowls.
[00:22:34] Nicole Greer: That's so fantastic.
[00:22:35] Jonathan Ribskis: We're like, "Br- bring your pillow in, and at 3:30 on Thursday- ... he's coming in." So- ... you know, we try different things too, just to see what sticks.
[00:22:42] Jonathan Ribskis: We've also done, like we've, we've brought in someone to do some cooking. You know, healthy eating type, you know, tips and tricks, and meal prep. So we, we're, we're trying different things there. But that's another example of, like engaging our, our newer team members, the younger generation, mixed with some of our more senior folks.
[00:22:57] Jonathan Ribskis: You get some really cool ideas.
[00:22:59] Nicole Greer: Yeah, that's fantastic. I absolutely love it. Okay. All right. So, you use behavioral insights to better understand people and how they communicate and work together, which I'm a big believer in, and without giving away your secret sauce how has understanding behavioral styles changed the ways your teams collaborate?
[00:23:17] Nicole Greer: So that was what we were talking about a little bit earlier about personality, talking to the different contractors different ways.
[00:23:24] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah. So the tool we use is the Predictive Index. They're based out of Boston. They've been around for 72 years now, I believe, so their, their assessment is proven.
[00:23:32] Jonathan Ribskis: And it's short, which is why we like it. It takes six minutes for someone to complete, so very, very quick, and then we get these really, really robust results out of it. And really two things that have been super helpful for us that they provide is behavioral reports, which is what we talked about earlier.
[00:23:45] Jonathan Ribskis: You get this very, very deep insight into, like, all right, here's the person that you're gonna work with. Here's what you can expect, strengths, challenge areas, behavioral tendencies, all these things that aren't obvious when you just shake hands and meet someone for the first time. The other thing we're able to utilize with them is relationship guides.
[00:24:00] Jonathan Ribskis: So we're able to take two employees, two team members at Builtech, pair them together, and we get a nice little concise readout that says, again, "Here's what to expect when these two folks work together. Here's where you might see some friction points, and here's some ways to kind of, like, work around that friction."
[00:24:15] Nicole Greer: Yeah, and, like, don't miss, you know, new construction project. We're gonna have a new GC or what do you call it, the supervisor, superintendent of the pro-
[00:24:22] Jonathan Ribskis: Superintendent. Mm-hmm
[00:24:23] Nicole Greer: ... superintendent, and he's gonna have a project manager, and then he's gonna have this right-hand man that's gonna be on cleanup or whatever.
[00:24:29] Nicole Greer: And he can sit down, and he can, like, kinda coach all of them about this is how y'all need to treat each other so that you don't have any conflict. And you know, the thing about conflict Jonathan, I get asked all the time, "Can you do conflict management? Can you teach- ... conflict management?"
[00:24:43] Nicole Greer: And I'm like, "Well, I can, but, like, I'd really like to just stop the conflict altogether. Like, let's get to the root cause." And what, what we're talking about right there is getting to the root cause. You know, people, everybody write this down. Ready? Everybody ready? People are different. They're not like you.
[00:25:01] Nicole Greer: There's the answer to conflict management right there. You are. And if you can understand it and you have a tool it helps
[00:25:09] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, definitely. Why, why not provide some, some, some guidelines, some direction, some insights, right? Like, why, why not? It's only gonna help that relationship.
[00:25:17] Nicole Greer: That's exactly right.
[00:25:18] Nicole Greer: That's exactly right. Okay. So every leader I hope wants a vibrant culture, a high performing culture. It, And in your experience, what are the everyday, everybody get your pens ready, pens ready, pens at the ready. What, what are the everyday behaviors that we can ask people to do that would actually create a vibrant culture?
[00:25:38] Nicole Greer: 'Cause I think you guys actually have one over at your place.
[00:25:41] Jonathan Ribskis: I think we do too. Yeah, it's, it's a great place to work.
[00:25:43] Nicole Greer: Yeah, don't miss that. That, that's how you know. Yeah. People make statements like that.
[00:25:47] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah. I mean, literally, not just 'cause of the, the ranking or whatever. Like, it really is a great place to work, so.
[00:25:52] Nicole Greer: Right. And how long did you say you, you've been there?
[00:25:54] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, it's wild. It'll be 19 years this summer for me, so.
[00:25:57] Nicole Greer: Okay, so he did start there when he was 12. Yes. So don't miss that, everybody. And he's not left, he's not jumped around, he's not had to go somewhere else. Right. Sounds like you've got good leadership, good philosophy over there.
[00:26:08] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, it's great when you can do it all at the same place. So yeah, a couple things behavioral-wise that, you know, internally c- create that vibrant culture. So I think the first that comes to mind is, is being available to help people, especially if you're in a management role. Yes. Not having your door shut, not being out of office, not being on Teams calls all day, but being available for your people.
[00:26:27] Jonathan Ribskis: And it's as, it's as little as walking around and, "How was your weekend?" and, "Hey, I like that shirt you're wearing." It's, it's honestly the littlest things like that. It just starts there. So I think-
[00:26:36] Nicole Greer: I agree ...
[00:26:36] Jonathan Ribskis: being available, you know, being looking for those common connection points too with, with your team is, is super important.
[00:26:42] Jonathan Ribskis: The other thing I, I tell our young professionals is I was like, "Just say yes a lot and almost as much as you can." So when someone gives you a new assignment or a new challenge, just keep saying yes. Like, good things happen to you if you keep taking on new things.
[00:26:55] Nicole Greer: That's right
[00:26:56] Jonathan Ribskis: It's
[00:26:56] Jonathan Ribskis: if you say, "Oh, I'm too busy," or, "I don't know if I can work the extra hour," just say yes.
[00:27:00] Jonathan Ribskis: Like, just keep saying yes. So I think that has helped us as well. And then the other thing, you know, is you know, team events and outings, right? So it's, it's baseball games and it's barbecues, it's you know, all you can eat sushi for lunch. It's all these things you do.
[00:27:15] Nicole Greer: Oh,
[00:27:15] Nicole Greer: what day is that? I need to put it on my calendar.
[00:27:17]
[00:27:17] Jonathan Ribskis: We
[00:27:17] Jonathan Ribskis: did it last month here in Charlotte. It was, it was phenomenal. It was great.
[00:27:22] Nicole Greer: I bet. Oh,
[00:27:23] Nicole Greer: that's- But,
[00:27:23] Jonathan Ribskis: but all those little things, you know. You, you break bread together, you get to know each other. You'll... They feel like they're taken care of by the organization. They get a free lunch or, or an outing, whatever it is.
[00:27:32] Jonathan Ribskis: That stuff matters. It, it really does. And we try to include families with those some of those events as well. So if we're doing a company-wide baseball game or tailgate, you know, we're inviting spouses and kids. That, that's part of it for us.
[00:27:43] Nicole Greer: Yeah. That's so good. Yeah, and people, they, they do. They like to bring their family, show off their little bride and their, and their kiddos and all the things.
[00:27:51] Nicole Greer: That's so good. Yeah. Okay. So if a CEO asked you, you know, "We wanna build this vibrant culture where should we start?" what, what what advice would you give to a VP, a CEO out there who's listening to this going, "We don't do any of this stuff"?
[00:28:06] Jonathan Ribskis: So in addition to being available, like I said earlier, I think you also, if, if you don't know what's going on inside your organization, you got to survey it somehow.
[00:28:14] Jonathan Ribskis: And if you have the relationship with your managers to get that information, great. If you need to apply for a Best Places to Work to get it, do that too. Even if you get a terrible score, at least you've got some information then.
[00:28:24] Nicole Greer: That's right, data ...
[00:28:26] Jonathan Ribskis: yeah, you might think it's great, but the reality is, you know, your folks aren't happy.
[00:28:29] Jonathan Ribskis: So I think you just need to, you need to ask around. You need to be curious, whether it's through your managers or through your employees directly just to figure out if the reality that you think is happening is actually happening, or if you know it's not good, all right, well, let's start working on making it better.
[00:28:41] Nicole Greer: Yeah. That's so good. So Jonathan, a little while ago, mentioned a book called Good to Great, and so, that's an oldie but a goodie, and some of the, some of the material in there, like, it's outdated, and some of the companies that are in there are gone. But his concepts remain I think, you know, great concepts.
[00:28:59] Nicole Greer: And so he talked about the flywheel. There's another book that Jonathan has alluded to a couple of times it, that, that says this How to Be a One Minute Manager: Take One Minute and Manage by Walking Around. So, manage by walking around. MBWA, I think, is what that is called in the book. So get out of your chair and go out and see what's up with the people.
[00:29:21] Nicole Greer: First of all, people are delighted to see leaders roaming around. And they, you know, usually they're just delighted to see you. All right. I love that. Okay. So looking ahead five years, how do you think talent optimization is changing? So, you know, I'm in classes all the time with all these HR people, teaching and doing, and so I'm always learning from them.
[00:29:41] Nicole Greer: They're teaching me, I'm teaching them. The world is changing, so what do you see out there? What will best organizations be doing differently than everyone else?
[00:29:51] Jonathan Ribskis: Yeah, I think it is using these tools like Predictive Index or others, these, these assessments that are giving you these, these insights. Yeah.
[00:29:59] Jonathan Ribskis: You know, what we see from PI specifically is, you know, there is 17 potential different behavioral profile types. So like you said earlier, Nicole, like the likelihood that I'm the same as the person next to me, probably not.
[00:30:10] Nicole Greer: Nope.
[00:30:10] Jonathan Ribskis: There's 16 o- there's 16 other options. I just probably get to understand what those, those people look like.
[00:30:15] Nicole Greer: Yes.
[00:30:15] Jonathan Ribskis: So I think, yeah, I think those are just gonna be important especially for growing organizations where you're adding people, you're growing, new faces, new names, new teams. That newness is a huge risk factor if you don't know well, the resume looks great, and we hired them, and they start. Okay, well, who's the person though?
[00:30:30] Jonathan Ribskis: Like, what, what are we, what can we expect them to be doing day-to-day on the, on the job site in the office? So I really, I do, we do believe in these behavioral tools, whichever one you use, and I, I think they are gonna continue to be helpful especially for growing organizations.
[00:30:42] Nicole Greer: Yeah. And listen, I have behavioral tools in my toolbox, people.
[00:30:45] Nicole Greer: Call me. Call me. All right. So, the other thing I think too about that is the Predictive Index also helps you figure out job fit. Right? So when, when Jonathan is hiring for a project manager, he's saying, "This is what my best project managers do." Yep. "Here, here's the three guys that didn't make it, and this is what they did."
[00:31:07] Nicole Greer: You know? And so- Yep ... there, there is some science to it, 'cause if you heard, he said that it's very short to take and you get the results very quickly, and it's robust. And you're thinking, "Well, how in the world? Is it, like, a crystal ball or something?" The answer is, he said they're 72 years. So these assessments have been around a long time.
[00:31:24] Nicole Greer: They're all built on research and data and tweaked and looked at. So I couldn't agree more with that. I think that's a fantastic fantastic answer. Okay. So you spend your career helping people become their best. I do the same thing. Isn't it fun?
[00:31:39] Jonathan Ribskis: It is good.
[00:31:41] Nicole Greer: It's so dang fun helping people develop, right?
[00:31:43] Nicole Greer: Right? 'Cause it... 'Cause when they do, like, get out of their own way, or they do get an opportunity, and you connect the opportunity with the person, and they kill it, it's just so fun to watch. It's like a good movie, right? So, so you spend your career helping people become their best. I'd love to end personally.
[00:31:59] Nicole Greer: What one piece of leadership advice that has shaped Jonathan? What, what's shaped you to become the guy you are today?
[00:32:08] Jonathan Ribskis: So we- we've a- you've alluded to you know, my development internally, and it, it does, I would tie it all back to our, our owner and founder, Chris. when I started with him, again, 19 years ago as, as a new buck out of school.
[00:32:19] Jonathan Ribskis: And he had told me very early on, just like, "As you get started in this industry, you need to develop your own style. So the people you're gonna work with, you're gonna find good attributes and, and not so good ones. Grab onto the good ones, ask them more about those, and that'll kind of then build your own style."
[00:32:34] Jonathan Ribskis: So that stuck with me, and I'll still pass it along to interns and new hires now. It's like, as you're just getting started, grab the good attributes of all the people around you to kind of help mold your own style because no one's got it perfect, so try to- ... gather up the good stuff and, you know, put your own spin on it.
[00:32:49] Nicole Greer: So good. And y- y'all, there's this guy, his name is Jim Rohn, R-O-H-N. Everybody go watch a video or get a book by Jim Rohn. He popped off the planet. He was on the planet, like, in the '70s and the '80s. But he used to say "Jonathan, you are the product of the five people you hang out-" with the most."
[00:33:07] Nicole Greer: So make sure you're hanging out with the right people at work. If the people you're hanging out with are complaining, not getting ahead- didn't get a ...raise, you gotta pick new folks to hang out with. All right, so we're gonna close it out with the lightning round. Are you ready for the lightning round?
[00:33:22] Jonathan Ribskis: Bring on the lightning, Nicole.
[00:33:25] Nicole Greer: Okay, here we go. So what's one leadership book everyone should read?
[00:33:29] Jonathan Ribskis: I'm gonna give you three 'cause I couldn't think of one.
[00:33:31] Nicole Greer: Okay.
[00:33:32] Jonathan Ribskis: So, Unreasonable Hospitality, which came out a few years ago. Great book. So
[00:33:37] Nicole Greer: good ...
[00:33:38] Jonathan Ribskis: The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. That has been, yeah, super helpful for me.
[00:33:44] Jonathan Ribskis: I've read it several times now. And then I'll put a fun one in there Shoe Dog, which is the story of Phil Knight and the Nike story.
[00:33:51] Nicole Greer: Oh, yeah, so good. Okay, I haven't read that one yet, but I think I, I think that it's on the list. I have a very long list. You should see my office. Yeah. It's just wall-to-wall books in here.
[00:33:59] Nicole Greer: But, but Shawn Achor, if you, if you're thinking, "I don't read books," okay, first of all, everybody, leaders read. But then Shawn Achor has a TED Talk that- you ...must watch. I insist. I insist you must watch. Okay. All right, what's one hiring mistake organizations make over and over?
[00:34:17] Jonathan Ribskis: Hiring on gut and nothing else.
[00:34:20] Nicole Greer: Ooh. One interview question you always ask.
[00:34:24] Jonathan Ribskis: I like to ask people what it, what are they looking for culturally if they come to our company. Like, what are they expecting in their work environment with the people around them?
[00:34:34] Nicole Greer: That's right, 'cause we gotta make sure it's a fit, right? What's one quality you can teach and one that you can't?
[00:34:42] Jonathan Ribskis: I can't teach passion, I can't teach tenaciousness. What we can teach specifically in our industry is how to build a building. I can teach a lot of people how to build a building, but if you're not passionate about it and you're not tenacious and you don't ask a bunch of questions, I'm gonna have a hard time getting you to build that building quickly.
[00:34:59] Nicole Greer: That's right, and correctly. Yes, that's so good. Okay. Finish this sentence: A vibrant culture is...
[00:35:06] Jonathan Ribskis: I think it's one where team members are transparent with one another, they enjoy working with each other, and they wanna solve challenges together to help move the business forward. You wanna be able to leave every day and be like, "We worked on something.
[00:35:18] Jonathan Ribskis: We, we fixed it or we moved it forward maybe even just an inch or a foot, but we're gonna do it again tomorrow," and to just get that good feeling.
[00:35:25] Nicole Greer: Absolutely. Yeah. All sorts of dopamine dripping through our bodies. Yeah. Okay. What's one habit every great leader practices consistently?
[00:35:33] Jonathan Ribskis: I mean, you said it a minute ago.
[00:35:34] Jonathan Ribskis: Be a reader. I said be a reader, be a learner, continue education, conferences, all the things that are niche to what you're doing. You build the network, you build connections, but then, yeah, just reading. Reading. And I'm old school, Nicole, so I'm gonna tell you to read a physical book in your hand and not-
[00:35:49] Nicole Greer: Oh, I love it
[00:35:51] Jonathan Ribskis: a Kindle or a screen. I think there's something about having a highlighter out and being able to mark a book, circle something. I, there's something happens there that's really powerful.
[00:35:59] Nicole Greer: I agree. I agree. Yep, and I, you know, I, I buy all the old books that are from the libraries off the Amazon- Nice ... you know, that are $2.98.
[00:36:08] Nicole Greer: So you could probably get The One Minute Manager- Yeah ... good to Great, all the books that you mentioned just a minute ago. Yeah, get them, people. What's one thing you hope every employee feels when they leave work each day?
[00:36:20] Jonathan Ribskis: I think they've, again, for us in construction, you wanna feel like you moved something forward.
[00:36:25] Jonathan Ribskis: Sometimes it's super tangible 'cause we're building buildings, right? You're like, "All right, when I came to work today-
[00:36:30] Nicole Greer: We got the roof on.
[00:36:30] Jonathan Ribskis: ... yeah, we put the roof on today. Like, awesome. I can show my kids this weekend when we drive past on the way to lunch, right? Right ...So I think you just wanna move things forward, especially you just like, man, n- not being stagnant and knowing, like, change is fun, moving things forward.
[00:36:42] Jonathan Ribskis: This, this feels, this feels great.
[00:36:44] Nicole Greer: Yeah. And I, I would just like tag onto the end there. You know, we talked earlier about managers should be talking to their people, like, "What do you wanna do with your career?" But, you know, the other thing too is, like, when people have little small wins and they get to tell their leader-
[00:36:57] Jonathan Ribskis: Yep
[00:36:57] Nicole Greer: "I, I, I got this done," and the leader is like, "Way to go," you know, it, it just drives the whole thing. It's just so important. Oh my gosh, I have had such a great time. .. Having you in class, which I mean, I mean, you probably already knew everything I was talking about, but I'm so glad that you came to class at UNC Charlotte.
[00:37:16] Nicole Greer: I'm so glad that we got to know each other. Is there just maybe a final nugget? People are probably like, "I like Jonathan. Keep him talking." Is there one little thing you would leave us with before we go?
[00:37:26] Jonathan Ribskis: Oh, good question. Man, maybe just to highlight a few things I already said of just being curious and being tenacious, you know, not being stagnant.
[00:37:34] Jonathan Ribskis: And if you're at a if you're at a workplace that doesn't allow that, you know, maybe find somewhere else that does because,
[00:37:41] Nicole Greer: That's right
[00:37:41] Jonathan Ribskis: ... you know, we, we don't have many years on this earth to be working, so you wanna be doing something that's fun with people that are enjoyable to, to work together with.
[00:37:51] Nicole Greer: Yeah. Go find you a vibrant culture to be part of. That's right.
[00:37:53] Jonathan Ribskis: That's it.
[00:37:54] Nicole Greer: That's it. Okay. All right. That's been another episode of the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. Jonathan, if people wanted to get ahold of you, give us your name, give us where you want us to find you. Probably on LinkedIn, yes?
[00:38:06] Jonathan Ribskis: I'm a simple guy.
[00:38:07] Jonathan Ribskis: LinkedIn is it. Yeah, Builtech LLC, we talked about earlier. Check it. go check out our website careers page. Definitely, you know, if you're, if you're looking for a change or something, you wanna chat about construction, we'd love to have a conversation, but yep, that's the way.
[00:38:20] Nicole Greer: Okay. Very good. All right, everybody.
[00:38:21] Nicole Greer: Thank you so much for tuning in. Go down check the like button, it just takes a hot second, and leave a little love note for Jonathan and myself. We appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you next time on the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast.