Yvonne Heimann [00:00:01]:
Hey there, it's Yvi here and I cannot wait for today's conversation on the She Is A Leader Podcast, because let me ask you something... Did you start your business only find to yourself trapped in yet another demanding 24/7 job? One that you are constantly dealing with a problem, answering questions and feeling like you're the only one who understands what needs to happen? That's exactly what my guest Eden Lovejoy helps business owners overcome with her virtual GM Matrix. It's a fresh approach that lets your team step into management roles so you don't have to do it all yourself. And in this episode Eden explains why most teams aren't failing because they are lazy, they are simply lost without a clear direction. And you're going to hear about how aligning your team with your values, creates a decision making framework that works even when you are not around. Eden also shares a simple sticky note exercise you can do tomorrow to identify tasks that you should not be handling, plus her own wake-up call about leadership communication that changed everything. If you're ready to stop working in your business and start working with your business to create the freedom you started with journey for? This conversation is for you. Your business can run itself, now let's find out how.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:51]:
And with that, I would like to introduce you to Eden Lovejoy, who is joining me on today's episode of She Is A Leader. And Eden has transformed how business are managed. Doesn't just has transformed, she still is transforming how businesses are managed. With her in innovative virtual GM matrix. Traditional management, as we all know, has often meant either hiring a dedicated manager or just shouldering the responsibility by yourself. It's like, that's not why we started business, right? We don't want to have it all on our own shoulders. So with Eden's virtual GM matrix, she's offering a third option. A comprehensive system that enables your team to step into the role of general management.
This approach lets you focus on strategic leadership while your team takes ownership, fosters engagement, and develops accountability loops, ensuring you're connected to those daily operations without being just slowed down and bogged down. Eden helps leaders like you and me move beyond working on their business and teaches them the power of working with their business to cultivate a collaborative, impactful, and energizing workplace culture. And my audience already knows why I invited you. Because similar to you, I'm like, we didn't start a business to just generate another 24/7 job, right? We started a business because we want the freedom of choice to do what we want to do and not be stuck in this, oh, my God, I have to do this all myself. Because you don't know how to do it, and I can get it faster. So with that, welcome, Eden. I'm so excited to have you today.
And I'm curious, did little Eden even think you were ever going to do this? Or what did she think you're gonna be when you grow up?
Eden Lovejoy [00:04:09]:
That's a great question. Thank you, Yvonne. I'm so glad to be here today. You know, I think that I've been doing this work my whole life because I'm the oldest of four children. And we were so my little team, right? I was leading a little team from the very beginning. And I grew up in an environment, a very eclectic, very unusual life. My mother was, like, looking for the answer in San Francisco in the 70s. She's a forward thinker and, you know, always breaking the barrier of the human potential movement is her space.
But what that meant when we were kids was that the rules were changing all the time, right? It was always like, this is the next new idea. This is the next new idea. This is the next new idea. You know, by the time I was 16, I had been to 15 different schools, and I had been almost every religion that you can think of at one, you know, touched on that. And so, and I think that's a lot of what happens in, in business when, when we're trying to figure it out, right. We like get an idea and try to implement it and then it becomes like it doesn't work out right away. So we do the next thing and what happens is you have a team of people who, who are on your side who support you, but don't quite know how to get the work done to really support you. And so the, the owner, who's the, you know, the mom in my childhood story is exhausted and trying to figure this out and the team is, you know, lost and just becomes disengaged because, oh yeah, it's just the next new idea.
So. So this dynamic is one I've been living with my whole life and sort of trained. I like I have the background for the work, if that makes sense.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:55]:
Yeah, I'm like, it completely makes sense. It's like, yes, I see the correlations. I see. How do I always say I see the same hats, patterns and strategies in, in both of those stories. And yeah, it's, it's like sister from another mister, I hear you.
Eden Lovejoy [00:06:12]:
So what I love to do is bring clarity and organization. You know, my, my personal mission statement is to bring my clients freedom and, and financial success through the power of clarity and alignment. And really what we're doing in the virtual GM matrix is bringing everyone on board with clarity, with alignment, with, you know, cultural engagement to, to achieve the dream. And that lets the owner, you know, really experience what they set out to do, which is having a team that supports the vision so that they can be in that strategic leadership space and enjoy the, the, you know, rewards of their investment and their, you know, like, everything that they've put into the business.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:57]:
And I would love to dive deeper into this. You mention on your website or maybe even in the. We read it somewhere, you have 30 years, over 30 years of leadership experience through owning 4 private companies yourself. So I'm curious, what was that, that pivotal moment where you realized that business owners needed the virtual GM system rather than that trend traditional management system? What was that? Oh my God, this doesn't work. This is what this needs to look like.
Eden Lovejoy [00:07:35]:
Well, I think it's an outcome of my internal vision always. So as a, as a very young woman before I went into school, like I knew that what I wanted to do was work in small business leadership and small business management. And I always had the idea, even at the age of 19 or 20, that I wanted to work not just with One company at a time, but to be impactful in a bigger way. So in the back of my mind as I went through my career as a, as a young adult or young professional was always the question of how do I translate what I know I'm good at into, you know, something that can be delivered across a broader range. So it was always working in the undercurrent. And as I got experience being a manager in a variety of companies and leading companies before I started my own businesses, you know, you know, went into business for myself, which like many of us, I did a couple of times right into business and then out for a minute and then back back into business. But what I, what I realized is that there's, I think two things. One is that operational management and leadership is a skill set that we, we don't really acknowledge.
You know, I think that, you know, I like to compare it to a business owner is happy to hire a bookkeeper because they know that's not their skill set and they don't want to do that work. They're happy to hire a marketing person maybe because they know it's not their skill set and they don't want to do that work. But when it comes to operations, there's just this internal idea as an owner that I'm supposed to do that work. So One of the AHAs was just recognizing what if the owner doesn't have to be the one to do that work. But, but I know my client like I know my market. And the businesses that I worked with and worked in often needed the skill set, but they didn't have the budget or the need for a full time person. So it was like, how do we figure this out? Was the challenge. And I love that I found a way to figure it out to build in the key functions of a GM in the established team, to hold each other accountable, to leverage performance and do all of those things that we want as results from a general manager without having to make that huge investment of bringing on somebody full time who may or may not even be a fit for the company.
Yvonne Heimann [00:10:08]:
And you brought up a good thing of the, the collaboration and the, the work and communication between us and the team, which shouldn't be us and the team, which is everybody. So I'm curious, you also mention, you make this really interesting point that most teams aren't failing because they are lazy. They are just simply lost. So how do you help entrepreneurs and business owners really shift that perspective from blaming the team, maybe just indirectly blaming to team, maybe completely directly blaming the Team that things don't get done to just building better systems. How do you. How do you switch that?
Eden Lovejoy [00:11:01]:
Well, I'll share with you my aha. Moment about that. I. So as. As a young professional, I was executive director of a not for profit at the time. And. And my team called me out on having a tone of voice that was characterized as actually as abusive by one staff person, right? As unprofessional. I mean, called me out.
What was happening was I was in a space where, you know, people weren't doing what I wanted them to do. And that frustration, that tension, that tone of voice that comes when we just. That tone of voice that was really not a right tone to work with, to use with other human beings. And at the time, the. The chairman of the board of that organization invested in a coach for me, and I was on the phone with that coach. So two things happened. I was on the phone with that coach and I talking about a staff member and what they weren't doing that I needed them to be doing. And I got that tone in my voice.
And she said, first, that tone right there, you don't ever get to use that again. Whatever it takes, walk outside, do whatever. You don't ever get to use that tone of voice with the team again. So I needed to modify my behavior. But the more important thing that she said was, well, I guess they were equally important. What she said was, if your team's not doing what you want, it's for one of three reasons. One is that they have. You have not clearly communicated the expectation.
Two is that they. You have not provided the resources that they need in order to be successful in the. In the. To meet the expectation. And three is they're quite simply not a good fit for the position. What she pointed out was that anger and upset was not a useful strategy to solve any one of those three things. So I really started to think about that, right? Two of those three things are my responsibility. Have I clearly communicated the expectation? Have I provided the tools and resources? And I need to really test those all the way through before I determine that someone's not a right fit.
But I am 100% convinced that 99% of human beings, there might be a few out there with a different perspective, but people want to do well. They're not coming to work to screw you up and do badly and cause grief, right? That's not the intention that anybody wakes up with in the morning when they head off to their job. They want to do well and be successful. So my opportunity as a leader is to ensure that I'm creating an environment where they have good information, good resources and good opportunity to do what they already want to do, which is be successful. They're not successful if they're not giving me what I want.
Yvonne Heimann [00:13:47]:
And I love, I love that team alignment piece. So your virtual GM matrix includes vision, mission, Vision mission and values activation. Welcome to the German tongue twister. Now that means you are working on aligning the team with a purpose, not just a paycheck. So how can we, what can we do to really at that point activate our team? Align each team member with how I see it. This is how I see it. Because similar to you, it's like I'm, I'm a lot of purpose driven. I'm a lot of where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What fuels you? Because sometimes you have people in positions that are great at what they are doing on paper, but they're not passionate about it.
So I'm just getting 50% of them because they're coming in, doing the job and leaving again because they're not excited about it. So what can we do to really align a team with our purpose and help them be the best they can be?
Eden Lovejoy [00:15:00]:
Well, the first is there's a few components to it. First is we have to articulate those framework pieces and the framework of the mission, which is why we're here. Like the ultimate purpose that's driving everything that we're doing. The values, which is our agreement about how we're going to behave while we're here, and then the vision, which is where we're going and where we're headed, we need to articulate those. Then we hire to them. I mean there's a process of hiring people asking questions not only about technical skills, skill set, but values driven questions that confirm alignment. And in my experience, you know, a lot of times people will hire based on personality or skills. But when we hire to values like we can, we can bring team members will come together around the values and accept each other's different personality styles and types and skill sets when there's real agreement that we're here to some higher purpose.
Right. So the first is to communicate it. The second is to hire to it if you have the opportunity. But the third is to really reinforce it in actions and in, you know, we have a virtual GM certification program that teaches the leadership on the team how to use values for corrective action, for motivation, for recognition and reward. And we bring it alive so that we're always looking to that, that higher purpose. And when I talk about those pieces, the mission and the values and the vision combined create a framework of decision making, right? So if you're a business owner and your employee makes a decision that's different from what you would have made, and you ask them, why did you do that? And they say, well, I thought about our mission and I looked at these two values and I really felt like this answer was the one that was most consistent with that framework. Like, even if it's not the right decision, you're going to feel pretty good about it and you're going to have an easy coaching moment to say, yep, you got that. That was really good thinking.
But what you forgot was our vision piece or whatever it was, that was a miss, right? Why was that not in alignment with what you would choose? So, so you use that framework to give your team the reference point that they need to make the same decision that you would make if you were in the room, even if you happen to be in, you know, on vacation, on a cruise ship, somewhere you can't be reached.
Yvonne Heimann [00:17:31]:
And I love, I love that values alignment because as you already said, if our values align now, suddenly you already have an idea where I potentially would go. And it's been interesting how internally with me and my team, without, without even having talked with you before, I initially used to hire for skills, right? I'm like, you just do. I don't want to do it. You were the expert in this. Just do. And I didn't get the results I was expecting. I still had to, quote, babysit people and wrong decisions were made. And that's where, where I came back to my realization, my company, where it's like, I can teach you the skill.
I can teach you the skill. I've done everything in my business we need to do, and I'm still playing around because I, I, I just like doing once in a while where we test something new out and I get my hands dirty in the process again. And nowadays, yes, I need some basic skills. I need a ground level for a certain position. I can't just hire zero skill set, don't get me wrong, but the specific skill set is somewhere down here where when I interview people, the values, their personal, their language, how they are showing up is completely that that's my number one. Where it's like, if we have a similar set of values and I see somebody's excitement for the goal of the company where I want to take this and what I want to grow this into, you're getting to the top of the pile, where I will spend additional time polishing your skills, giving you the resources you need to get to that skill level where I need you to be, rather than hiring somebody with the full on skill set. And you are not seeing the company's vision.
Eden Lovejoy [00:19:27]:
Exactly, exactly.
Yvonne Heimann [00:19:29]:
That's like, you can't. I don't. That comes my English in values and the passion and the driven is more of a soft skill. Right. Am I using the right language right now?
I can't teach those. I can't teach those. Those are in you. Those are your personality, the hard skills, how to use a damn tool. I can teach you that all day long. That's not.
Eden Lovejoy [00:19:54]:
You can't teach that. That heart connection. And the thing that's really. That I love about this is. And I really talk with people about, you know, articulating those values that are true to who you are. A lot of times we'll see a set of values and it looks like all the same stuff. Right. Everybody's got integrity
Yvonne Heimann [00:20:15]:
The values to decide for your company. And it just sounds like you copied it from somewhere and it's like, yes.
Eden Lovejoy [00:20:20]:
Right. It's like watching paint dry and it's just not. It's not interesting. And so when we really dive down into. And because I work with privately held companies, right. I'm always focused on the owner. I'm focused on, this is your company, this is your skin in the game. Right.
You're the one who's houses on the line. We've gotta. The. The values and the mission need to be a reflection of who you truly are. And when you tell the truth about who you are, then you'll attract people who were inspired by that. And we like really want to give people an opportunity to make the right choice. Right. To be inspired by their leadership and by.
And to say, yes, I care about that too. And. And then like, it's half the battle because, yes, I care about that too. How. And then we just need to point the resource in the right direction. Absolutely. You know, and just to say. And, And I think, you know, it seems like it should be relatively easy to say, oh, this is who I am.
But you probably know that it's. It's hard. It's hard to see ourselves in this way. So one.
Yvonne Heimann [00:21:25]:
Everybody, everybody just listening to the podcast, you didn't see me giggle behind the scenes because it is not easy. And it has been a journey for me for the last two years to really drill deep. Back in the day when I did my NLP practitioner And then master practitioner, we dove into core values where we literally have a framework and a process to, to tickle out our core values, our subconscious core values that are not decided but actually in your subconscious. And it's interesting how learning all of this and doing all of this, one of my highest core value is safety. It's being able to pay the bills, being able to make decisions without anybody else telling me or feeling like I have to make a decision, that freedom of choice to do what I want to do and feel safe to do so. And it's interesting looking back over the last year as we as a company dove deep into our values, mission and, and, and vision and polishing it up and polishing it up over and over. As you said, the more I've done my work and the more I've done work on my personal growth and figuring out what's just external, you shoulds and really go inside and listen how more and more and more all of that got polished up, but also not just polished up, connecting more and more and drawing more of those people into my life and into my business that I do want to work with. So seeing this whole thing come full circle, that's why I was giggling in the background where it's like, yeah, it sounds easy just knowing who you are.
And I'm like, yeah, right, sure thing.
Eden Lovejoy [00:23:20]:
Well, and. But I want to give people some hope here, right? So because it is, I find it's one of my superpowers. Actually. One of the things that I love to do more than anything else in the world is meet with an owner and I have a process. In a 45 minute conversation, I can pull out that mission and values in a way that when I reflect it back to people and reflect it back to their teams, they're like, oh yeah, that's who she is, that's who they are. So I love to do that for people because it is hard to do it for yourself because you've got so much internal dialogue between that, that core. So. So if you want to get quickly, like it can happen and get a really good launch on this to get started right away.
Yvonne Heimann [00:24:00]:
And it's often having external help to really tickle that out means you don't have the imposter going on. You don't have. I'm like, I don't even know how many voices I got in my head that challenge me every single day. And it just takes that out. And you can, as you said, take it, take it to the team, take it too close. Clients that you can gain real feedback from. And often enough, when you use somebody externally that can really bring that out like you do, that's exactly what happens. Like, oh yeah, that, that right there.
Rather than, oh, we decided on values.
Eden Lovejoy [00:24:38]:
And I think it ties back to that whole childhood experience too. Right. I mean, because I had so much, I mean all of the alternative schools and different living environments and different communities and different faiths and different, you know, exposure to altern worldviews. I think that's just a piece of what was cultivated in me is being able to hear people and, and where they come from. And, and so, and I also think the real value of, of this, not only internally, but externally is when we're in our marketing materials and there's so much chatter out there, there's so much noise out there, but you know it. When you see somebody who's really, truly, authentically being themselves out in the world, that's interesting, right? It's like, oh, that's interesting. That's curious. That resonates.
That's true. So I can't say enough about having these framework pieces and they're the foundational pieces for the virtual GM matrix. They're the core pieces. And then we go into, of course, the various operational pieces and other tools that we use to leverage that, but it's definitely the foundation.
Yvonne Heimann [00:25:47]:
And I love how you got that perfectly background to the systems. That's like, guys, we did not plan this lineup, but you perfectly lined me up for my last questions where I'm curious. You help owners create systems that scale without you. So for, for my listeners, for my audience who might just feel completely overwhelmed right now with their business and they feel like they are burying all of that weight of it. Do you have one practical system, something that they could implement or begin implementing tomorrow to really reduce that, that daily operational burden?
Eden Lovejoy [00:26:32]:
Well, the, I think one piece that people overlook that is important is really to, if you have to do only one thing, sit down with a couple of pads of sticky notes and a big sheet of paper and write down on it everything that you do. And on every, you know, a sticky note for every task that you're doing through the day, the week or the month, and then put them on that piece of paper. On a hierarchy, an org chart should be a hierarchy of. At the bottom it's tasking, filing, mailing, posting, picking up, dropping off. In the middle it's coordinating, you know, assembling, doing some middle mid range tasks. In a management level, it's leading, directing, scheduling, planning. And in a strategic level, it's you know, strategizing external relations, those kinds of things. So, so do a little map for yourself to discover where you're spending your time in and on what layer of the org chart you're spending your time.
I mean, the next steps to that would be. So this is an exercise in the virtual GM matrix. It's one of the action plans, but it will then, then you can sort of group those things and really look at who should be doing those things that you're doing. Because I would suggest to you that if you're that overwhelmed, that it's 100 guaranteed, that there's a lot of things on your plate or things that you ought not to be doing. And it's an easy way to sort of group them and plan to build that. I had a client recently say to me, she said, you know, Eden, you told me you were going to do an org chart. And I thought I just have this retail shop with, you know, there's just not a lot of role definitions and variation in what people are doing. But it's a.
And it's a classic trap, right? We have this small business and we have everybody doing a little bit of something. When you can organize it into a chart and really look at how you want to group tasks either vertically or horizontally and then you can look at how many of those roles you're personally filling. It gives you a path forward to like, what do I want to do next in order to free up my time so that then I can do what's next? So that would be one piece out of the middle of the matrix that I think can be a real game changer. If you're just sitting in that overwhelmed stuck spot .
Yvonne Heimann [00:28:50]:
And you also have a freebie for my audience and looking at it. The Activate your virtual GM. It sounds to me it's like the perfect step by step guide to, to get that started and get your business running itself. Do me a favor, tell my audience about it. And once we got that, where can they find it? Where can they find you?
Eden Lovejoy [00:29:14]:
Absolutely. Thank you. Yep. It is a, it is a book. It's a small book because it's an easy read because my job is to make your life easier. Activate your virtual GM A step by step guide to get your business to run itself. And my gift to all of your listeners today is you may download a full copy of that book. And my gift to you freebusinessbook.com don't want you to have to remember too much.
Remember free business book no s at the end .com and you can access a version of you know, a gift of the book, activate your virtual GM. You'll learn a little bit more about me there. Or also you can go to yourvirtualgm.com and learn more about who I am too.
Yvonne Heimann [00:30:00]:
And as always if you've listened to even just one of my episodes you know exactly what's coming. All of the links are in the description so you can follow Eden, you can get the ebook, you can get started to get your business running itself and stop just being the founder that does it all. And if you haven't done so yet subscribe because we have a whole bunch of more amazing ladies doing just like Eden right here coming onto the episode Eden my fellow systems loving gal, I am so thankful you joined me today and I hope to see you soon again. Thanks so much for coming today
Eden Lovejoy [00:30:36]:
Yvonne. Thank you so much. What a great conversation.
Yvonne Heimann [00:30:37]:
Bye everybody.