Jillian Snavely | Being on the Top Floor and Down on the Farm

[00:00:22] This is Andrew Gadomski and this is the Reciprocity podcast. I am so privileged to have Jillian Snavely, who is joining us all the way from Ohio. I am all the way in New Jersey. We are only hundreds of miles away, but it feels like 10,000. We've known each other a long time. Welcome to the show, Jillian.

[00:00:42] Hi, Andrew. How are you?

[00:00:44] I'm good. I'm good. Okay, so let's get into this. Tell us a little bit about you. Give us the elevator story.

[00:00:51] The elevator story. Okay, so as you mentioned, Jillian Snavely. I professionally go by Jillian. However, my family calls me Jill. Fun fact, I have two birth certificates. My mom and dad fought over my first name. I'm very proud to use the name Jillian because my mom back when I was born said that I will need to use a more professional name. So she knew early on that I would need to have a more professional name.

[00:01:15] My husband and I, of 22 years, have four children. We live on 300 acres of farmland in Central Ohio. A fun fact, Andrew, I know you know this. My husband is a sausage maker. So not many women in corporate America can say that their husbands make sausage for a living.

[00:01:34] My experience in my experience in my corporate life outside of the farm is I am a passionate sourcing leader. I've been in sourcing and recruiting my whole career. In my free time, I love spending time with my kids and going to church.

[00:01:46] I love it. Let's get into our standard questions. So the first one is around leadership. Talk about a trait or technique you learned from someone else and how you've executed for success.

[00:02:04] Yes. So I thought really hard about this one. And I think one of my mentors said that if you can just take the first two minutes of a conversation and really try to relate and learn about somebody personally, you'll make a lot of progress throughout that call session meeting, whatever.

[00:02:19] So I really focus on building relationships and being a relater, listening and learning about people because I feel like I get the best of people when they feel comfortable and trusted in a conversation. So I would say relater.

[00:02:34] I like that. Okay. First fun question. Okay. Tell me about food. And specifically, I want to know about a food that you make or you buy for others that you think makes them feel love from you.

[00:02:54] Now, at the same time, you could have received something like that that made you feel love from them. What's that?

[00:03:02] I mentioned my husband's a sausage maker. I love to gift charcuterie boards. I love to make them. I have the product right here in my front yard.

[00:03:14] Convenience.

[00:03:14] I have done a multitude of charcuterie boards. I actually did a 350 person wedding a couple months back and that was my gift to them. You can imagine that in today's world, it's expensive to do those kinds of things. And this young couple in their early twenties getting married very early. I gifted them this beautiful 350 person charcuterie tables.

[00:03:38] I did three tables. It fulfilled me in so many ways because I was able to gift them that to see the people and their guests enjoy it so much. And for them to get those compliments, that was super cool.

[00:03:51] I love that. I think that is fantastic, right? Not just the results of your friend, but of their relationships. That's so powerful.

[00:04:01] And you know that every charcuterie board is not the same. Each one has a unique way of designing it and building it. What type of food and cheeses do I put on it? And so it's my gift and art of the work. And it's special to them because you can't repeat it.

[00:04:17] That's fair. I love it. Let's talk about mental focus. Everyone's got a different way of doing it. Your time is split a lot of different ways. How do you keep focused at work and do you have a model for it? Where did it come from?

[00:04:35] Yeah. I feel, and I could probably relate to a lot of people. I think this is never perfect for any of us. I think it's something we constantly are working on. I personally am every day. I try, I feel like it changes every month depending on the season.

[00:04:49] So when it's nice out in Ohio, I like to get out and take a walk for a quick 10 minutes on the farm, which is very fulfilling. But in the wintertime, it's hard to find that. And so typically for me, where I find rest in my brain and stepping away from work is with my kids.

[00:05:06] So when they get home from school, I like to take a quick 15 minutes just to hear about their day, kind of step away from the job. I guess it depends on the season. If it's nice out, let's go outside. If not, let's hang with the kids.

[00:05:18] So you have areas where you're very concentrated on the work, then you're deliberate about stepping away from it and allowing your environment to refresh you. Then you can jump back in.

[00:05:31] Yes. And again, reminder, and I'll bring it up a couple of times because it's a big part of my life is the business. We own a small business on the farm. Sometimes I can go down there and check on customers. I can break that up in terms of, hey, I'll go out and hang out in the business for a couple hours, which helps break it up a little bit.

[00:05:47] Yeah, I guess in the world of the gig economy, that works itself, whereas you can still leverage some of the intellect and experience towards another end, but it's not necessarily, it's commercial, but personal to you.

[00:06:01] Yes, yes, yes.

[00:06:03] All right. Movie, play, musical, poem, or book. Name one that speaks to you and you've experienced more than once and did someone recommend it to you, but talk about that.

[00:06:22] So I could come up with a few here, but you just passionately said just one. So I'm going to go off my heart here. Marriage is difficult and challenging. Most recently, my husband and I did a 33-day prayer retreat together.

[00:07:07] Wow.

[00:07:09] And dedicating time for each other, which I think is important for those that are struggling in a relationship or finding time to make sure that they prioritize. That was really helpful for us.

[00:07:18] What's the name of the book? And if you have the author.

[00:07:21] So I don't have the author, but it's 33 Days of Married Saints. It's all around the faith and how people from many generations ago focused on their marriages.

[00:07:31] Love that. I did not expect, I'm expecting all kinds of things from the season, right? So far it's been a wide variety, which is actually one of the funnest questions related to that.

[00:07:45] Okay. Back to business.

[00:07:48] Yeah.

[00:07:50] So we all hear this all of a sudden, oh my God, a board member, a customer, one of my team have come to me and say, you got to tell me about this.

[00:08:02] Yeah.

[00:08:02] So when you have little time to do it, how do you prepare and how do you get that audience to know your story that you want to tell and really get a good response or lean in?

[00:08:15] I think this ties back to the lesson or the trait in terms of being relatable. So in most cases, most of the C-suite that I deal with, I don't have that two minute time to make a relationship, but I try to be as authentic as I can be and connecting with individuals.

[00:08:32] I think also, and I know you'll appreciate this because you're a data guru, always making sure you have your facts going into it. Because if they, if you aren't confident in the story and the facts, they can nitpick and make you become less confident, which then you might, you might struggle.

[00:08:48] So I always try to make sure that I go into those conversations with the facts, ensuring that I have that data in front of me if I need it, but also being authentic in that. If I don't know the answer, it's okay to say, let me get back to you.

[00:09:00] And I think sometimes people struggle with that and just being vulnerable because those people you're working with are just as human as you are. So allowing that ability to just say, I don't know the answer to that. Let me come back to you.

[00:09:13] I relate to the, I don't know. We'll get back to you. I tend to get questions after a hearing that I'm not at like Andrew, they asked this question, go find the answer. For those of you who know what I do.

[00:09:27] Yeah. I love that concept of saying, I just don't have that in front of me, but it doesn't mean I can't.

[00:09:35] Correct. And then the follow-up is even more important because you come back once you have it and the way you frame it, you know, in response to, I didn't have the answer to this. I know it now. Let me help explain that in the story.

[00:09:49] But you almost have to repeat what you did know so that they have the full story and not just parts and pieces. So I think being very deliberate in the response back once you have the information is important.

[00:09:58] Oh, wow. So reintroduce the context of where that question came from.

[00:10:03] Correct.

[00:10:03] Who asked for a follow-up? If you recall, I made these three points. Here's the fourth that you asked for.

[00:10:09] Yes. Because I think they even forget, right? They're working, especially for me, a lot of it comes when I'm talking to our CEO or some of that, the higher C-suite staff, right? They're busy. They don't remember. Okay, wait, what? I don't remember what the conversation was in some cases. So helping them remind them, I think responding back to what was the original ask.

[00:10:28] That's awesome.

[00:10:31] Which class? Elementary, secondary, high school, a professional one? What made you raise your hand?

[00:10:39] Yeah. This is interesting. I'm going back to elementary. I remember when my parents would get the report card or go in for teacher conferences, and I was always too social.

[00:10:51] Jill, you know, Jill, because they called me Jill at that point, is always talking, always has a question, always has a comment. And now as I look back into my professional career, it's very clear, again, that it's about relationship building and the connectedness that I thrive off.

[00:11:08] I want to be engaged in the conversation. I'm here for a reason, and I want to be a part of it. And so it's been a journey to see that happen, right?

[00:11:15] Like going back to saying I was too social in school, or I wouldn't know when to not raise my hand or not make a comment. But now to see that now it's being very intentional in those conversations and being present and knowing that I'm trying to learn from that conversation.

[00:11:29] I can see how that why that was.

[00:11:32] Right. Okay. Yeah, I can't, I can, I can relate to that a bit in that.

[00:11:37] I've got a meeting coming up. And it's one of these things that I know a lot about, but I'm not the person who's briefing.

[00:11:43] And I literally have to sit with my hands crossed and say nothing.

[00:11:47] Well, one of the nice things I do is when I do that, I can squeeze my hands as much as I want. And nobody knows that I'm doing it.

[00:11:55] Right.

[00:11:56] I love the participating versus the listening, but then the listening. So you can participate. That's fantastic. I like that wisdom.

[00:12:03] Yeah.

[00:12:06] Community versus conflict. God pick one.

[00:12:10] How do you create a community amongst a team or how do you diffuse conflict to strengthen connectiveness?

[00:12:20] So when you gave me the idea that this might be a question, I asked, actually asked one of my leads, how I create community.

[00:12:27] Because I think I know, but I wanted to hear from one of them. And I think it is the grounding in that I build rapport and it's almost like my family.

[00:12:38] So I think a lot of us can relate to spending more time in our work environment than in our personal environment.

[00:12:44] And I work really hard to want to understand the interworkings of my people and the people around me and what they're experiencing at home and how it might reflect in their work or impact their work.

[00:12:57] And so building that rapport and that community of friendship and family, but then also being able to drive and get to outcomes and to be effective leaders or be effective employees.

[00:13:13] I think people are passionate to want to do that because they feel connected to me personally.

[00:13:18] They know my family, they know my kids, they know my husband. Some of them have my husband's phone number.

[00:13:22] I mean, like people interact with my family as if it's part of their family and how that connects to the conflict.

[00:13:28] Because we talked about this is that I think they're more comfortable to bring conflict to me because they know that I am forgiving.

[00:13:35] I am compassionate. I am open to helping them learn in the situation.

[00:13:40] The conflict isn't as hard because we have that rapport built.

[00:13:43] And a lot of the people who work for me have worked with me for many years.

[00:13:47] I think it's because there's that culture of we're family.

[00:13:53] So I have a follow up. Did you experience that and then apply it?

[00:13:58] I think I experienced the opposite.

[00:14:00] I experienced working in a culture that wasn't there.

[00:14:05] I remember very vividly struggling in that culture and being committed to myself that I would never allow to lead in a culture like that.

[00:14:14] I think I learned the opposite and wanted to not be like that.

[00:14:17] And what I thrived for was that connectedness and community of family.

[00:14:23] It was just something that I built in my own leadership style because I learned from what I didn't like.

[00:14:31] Okay.

[00:14:32] That might be your quote right there.

[00:14:35] Yeah, sure.

[00:14:36] Great.

[00:14:40] What type or specific technology do you think will be retired almost completely?

[00:14:45] It could be anything.

[00:14:47] This doesn't have to be AI, talent acquisition, blah, blah, blah, related.

[00:14:51] Healthcare, construction, communication type, whatever.

[00:14:56] What's going to go away?

[00:14:58] So if I look at this more at a personal level, I think text messaging could be different or could go away or could be done more automatically.

[00:15:13] And I struggle with that because I think about, again, I've said it multiple times.

[00:15:20] I'm more human to human relationship building.

[00:15:22] And I do think a lot of what technology is bringing is causing us to really think about how does that impact the human to human relationship.

[00:15:32] What worries me is as we've been along this journey of texting and connecting with people through text, I think that will become a bigger challenge as it could become more automated in the way that we interact.

[00:15:45] And so I think that's one of my thoughts in terms of technology.

[00:15:49] I just experienced that.

[00:15:51] And I totally see what you mean.

[00:15:53] It's almost like when you're doing texts and there's an auto response generated based on the incoming.

[00:16:01] And so you just hit the button.

[00:16:02] That's already automated.

[00:16:05] That's make a choice based on what we gave you.

[00:16:08] Then the next question is, based on the responses I've given previous, does it just automatically do it?

[00:16:16] Oh, wow.

[00:16:16] I'd like that.

[00:16:17] But it's, okay, yeah, my blame's, okay, so now I got to stew on that one a little bit.

[00:16:22] So thank you for making my weekend easier here.

[00:16:30] We talked a little bit about focus earlier.

[00:16:32] Let's talk to work-life balance.

[00:16:34] How have you helped another colleague who's been struggling with that?

[00:16:37] Not yourself, but somebody else.

[00:16:39] Yeah, sure.

[00:16:40] So I think a lot of people are personally struggling with this right now.

[00:16:43] This is probably one of the hardest things.

[00:16:44] We had a session yesterday with Joey Hubbard at Thrive, who is phenomenal speaking on these topics.

[00:16:50] And I think one employee has gone through a lot of struggle with losing loved ones and trying to figure out how to make time to grieve and to make time to leave work to the side.

[00:17:04] And so I constantly am telling her, remember, we're not curing cancer here, right?

[00:17:09] Like in our career, there's a lot of ways that you can delegate work.

[00:17:13] There's a lot of ways you can set boundaries.

[00:17:15] And so really making sure that people take the time to, whether it's grief, whether it's a balance, and to understand that it's okay to be okay not being 100%, right?

[00:17:28] And that allowing you to use your resources that can help you get your work done so you don't feel like you're not doing anything, but you don't feel like you have to give 100%.

[00:17:37] And that's hard.

[00:18:08] I think that's hard for people is to, and it's, there's that humanity, right?

[00:18:14] It's because we all have that ability.

[00:18:17] We all are vulnerable, but it's breaking down.

[00:18:20] Sometimes I think that wall gets there and we're afraid to, you know, we put it up because we think we need to rather than realize that what might make us the most human or part of being human is this idea of our vulnerability won't be automated.

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:38] Right.

[00:18:38] Well, I think our people want so much, at least my experience, my leaders under me want so much to feel like they can take things on for me and allow me that space to do that.

[00:18:50] So I think it's also teaching people.

[00:18:51] It's okay.

[00:18:52] If you ask for help, people actually want to help you.

[00:18:55] They're just waiting for you to ask in those moments of time where you need to balance ask because people want to help you.

[00:19:01] They want to be engaged.

[00:19:02] They want to support.

[00:19:03] We often take so much on ourselves because we feel like that's going to give us career growth.

[00:19:09] That's going to give us all these accolades.

[00:19:10] But at the end, it's actually those who provide and ask for help actually grow better than those who don't.

[00:19:23] Last question.

[00:19:24] Okay.

[00:19:25] If you were to create a music group, what type of music would you play?

[00:19:29] Who do you want to listen to it?

[00:19:31] And of course, the band name.

[00:19:34] The band name.

[00:19:36] So I talked a little bit about this earlier.

[00:19:40] My husband and my family are really into our faith.

[00:19:42] So I would create a Christian worship band.

[00:19:46] That's where we listen to a lot right now as a family.

[00:19:49] In terms of the band name, I struggled with this.

[00:19:53] I don't know that I, you know, I think one of my favorite worship bands is Damascus Worship.

[00:19:59] And so maybe something tied to them.

[00:20:02] But yeah, Christian Worship would be what I would.

[00:20:06] Christian Worship, you know, Pork and Prayer.

[00:20:09] Pork and Prayer.

[00:20:10] There you go.

[00:20:11] That's the name of the band name.

[00:20:15] So good.

[00:20:16] So good.

[00:20:17] Pork and Prayer.

[00:20:18] All right.

[00:20:25] We're now moving into the unscripted lightning round.

[00:20:28] So these are either binary answers, yes or no, or I'm giving you two choices and you're

[00:20:35] going to pick a choice.

[00:20:36] Okay.

[00:20:37] If you want to go ahead and put a little flavor on something, that's fine.

[00:20:41] But we're going to go through them fast.

[00:20:43] Are you ready?

[00:20:44] Ready.

[00:20:45] Pumpkin spice or gingerbread?

[00:20:47] Pumpkin spice.

[00:20:49] Toilet roll.

[00:20:50] Do you put the paper forward or do you put the paper back?

[00:20:53] Forward.

[00:20:54] Summer or winter Olympics?

[00:20:57] Summer.

[00:20:58] Because I like swimming.

[00:20:59] So you like swimming?

[00:21:00] Yeah.

[00:21:02] Sandals.

[00:21:02] Socks?

[00:21:03] Yes or no?

[00:21:04] No.

[00:21:05] My kid wears socks with her Birkenstocks and she gets made fun of.

[00:21:09] No stop.

[00:21:10] Butter or no butter on the popcorn?

[00:21:14] Butter.

[00:21:14] And it has to be Amish butter, like real margarine.

[00:21:18] Wait, what does that mean?

[00:21:19] Real margarine?

[00:21:20] Like real butter.

[00:21:22] Like made from Amish country, real butter.

[00:21:25] Okay.

[00:21:26] Okay.

[00:21:27] We saw it at our store.

[00:21:29] Oh, there you go.

[00:21:30] A little plug.

[00:21:31] Yeah.

[00:21:31] You know, I'm ready to pop one.

[00:21:33] Bringing fast food onto a plane.

[00:21:36] Yes or no?

[00:21:37] Who wants to eat next to somebody?

[00:21:39] Exactly.

[00:21:40] That you don't know.

[00:21:41] Nothing like a tuna sandwich right next to you.

[00:21:44] No.

[00:21:46] Roller coaster or water slide?

[00:21:48] Water slide.

[00:21:50] Oreos.

[00:21:51] Do you break them before you eat them or do you just chew them, right?

[00:21:55] I do not break them.

[00:21:57] Pancakes or waffles?

[00:21:59] Waffles with strawberries and powdered sugar.

[00:22:03] Rainbow or chocolate sprinkles?

[00:22:07] Rainbow.

[00:22:08] Apple or Android?

[00:22:10] Apple.

[00:22:12] Is the first Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis a Christmas movie?

[00:22:17] No.

[00:22:19] One.

[00:22:19] One pillow or two?

[00:22:20] No, you're looking.

[00:22:21] You're motioning.

[00:22:23] Bring it on.

[00:22:24] You don't think that-

[00:22:24] I don't know what the Die Hard.

[00:22:25] I don't watch Die Hard.

[00:22:26] I don't know.

[00:22:27] You haven't watched Die Hard?

[00:22:28] No.

[00:22:29] You should ask Sam that question.

[00:22:31] Well, we're coming into the season.

[00:22:32] Watch Die Hard.

[00:22:34] Okay.

[00:22:34] Watch it.

[00:22:35] One pillow or two?

[00:22:37] One.

[00:22:37] And the purple pillow is the best.

[00:22:39] I've tried many.

[00:22:40] And as I've aged, purple pillow.

[00:22:43] Pineapple on pizza.

[00:22:44] Yes or no?

[00:22:45] No.

[00:22:47] Book club or dance lessons?

[00:22:51] Neither.

[00:22:53] Book club.

[00:22:54] Book club reluctantly.

[00:22:58] Jillian, that's all I got.

[00:23:00] It was great.

[00:23:01] Can we do it again?

[00:23:03] Yeah.

[00:23:03] We can do it again.

[00:23:05] We can have you on the next season with brand new questions and everything else.

[00:23:10] Did you want to say anything to the audience as a final thought?

[00:23:14] It's so good to take time away and just talk about things that are not related to the actual

[00:23:19] job.

[00:23:20] So I appreciate you for including me.

[00:23:22] My pleasure.

[00:23:23] So everybody on behalf of Jillian Snavely and myself, I thank you for joining the Reciprocity

[00:23:30] podcast.

[00:23:30] We will see you next time.

[00:23:33] Bye-bye.