Barrett Chow, Executive Coach with McFarlin Stanford, joins Marty to discuss why the green industry's approach to human resources is fundamentally broken—and how to fix it. Barrett shares the strategic framework that transforms HR from a cost center into a growth enabler.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leave a Review for the Grow Show!
️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel!
Episode Chapters:
00:30 - Episode Welcome
02:51 - Barrett’s Journey: From PGA Tour to Green Industry Coaching
04:23 - Why the Green Industry Is Different (And Better)
06:46 - Leaders Are Bringing in HR Much Earlier Now
09:34 - Why “People Operations” Eliminates the Grim Reaper Stigma
12:07 - Ways to Improve Your People Operations
16:29 - Transformational HR Practices
18:04 - Building a Positive Company Culture
23:06 - Defining Your Company’s Unique Value
24:14 - Creating an Inviting Workplace
25:10 - Managing Employee Engagement
27:28 - Promoting from Within
31:28 - The Importance of Stay and Exit Interviews
40:08 - HR Predictions for 2026
43:26 - Please Like, Share, Subscribe to the Grow Show!
Resources:
Virtual Sales Bootcamp
Grunder Landscaping Field Trips
The Grow Group
Show Notes:
HR Is a Philosophy, Not Just a Department – I heard the president of SHRM say "HR is not a department, it's a philosophy." Poorly run HR pits employees against the company, where people go to HR when they don't like a policy. That creates tension that's not needed. Well-run people operations creates strategic partnership.
Leaders Are Embracing HR Much Earlier Now – We're seeing leaders embrace HR a lot earlier in their business lifecycle. Before, you had to be $15-20 million with over 100 team members for it to make sense. Now we're bringing in HR professionals earlier so they get to build the foundation for a company to grow on versus trying to be an add-on.
Rebranding to "People Operations" Eliminates Stigma – At Lifescape I rebranded HR as "People Operations" because of the stigma—if HR is in the room, you did something wrong. There's a joke that I was known as the grim reaper: if Barrett asked you to bring your computer charger, you knew what was happening. Rebranding allowed people to see me in a different light.
COVID Shifted HR from Cost Center to Strategic Partner – COVID turned HR on its head. We're now seeing that shift from "this is a cost center" to "this is my strategic partner, this is strategic enablement for me to focus on areas in my business that I know nothing about." Owners themselves can be the biggest HR issue—that's where you need a partner.
Onboarding Separates Top Performers from Underperformers – The difference between your top performers and adequate performers and underperformers comes down to: did you set them up for success from day one? It's not just the first day or week—it's the first 30, 60, 90 days where you're continually checking in on expectations.
Stay Interviews Matter More Than Exit Interviews – Exit interviews tell you why people left, but stay interviews tell...
