Episode 27: Awareness → Structure → Habit: How Thriving Cultures Get Built with Melissa Fackler
Why culture beats quick fixes—and the three-step cycle leaders can use to turn chaos into clarity
A candid look at values, systems, and habits that help teams work smarter (and stay)
Summary
What does it really mean to build a culture where people thrive—and not just survive? In this episode, I talk with business coach and consultant Melissa Fackler about systems that actually support people, values that guide real decisions, and why so many organizations wait until it’s too late to change. We get into burnout, leadership blind spots, and the myth that working harder = working better. Melissa shares the three-part cycle her company uses to help leaders get unstuck—and the daily habits that matter way more than lofty mission statements. We also talk about how not to weaponize your mission and why culture isn’t your brand colors—it’s how people feel at work. If you’re in the messy middle of leadership, growth, or change, this one’s for you.
Takeaways
Burnout happens when joy disappears from your calendar. Most people don’t burn out from the hardest work—they burn out from doing too much of the wrong work.
Your systems should simplify, not strangle. If a process adds friction without value, it’s not a system—it’s a blocker.
Culture builds itself if you don’t build it intentionally. Skipping value-setting doesn’t mean your org has no culture—it just means you’ve let it default to a mix of clashing norms.
Awareness, structure, and habit are the foundation of real change. Melissa’s 3-part cycle helps leaders stop guessing and start aligning.
People-centered values change everything. Organizational values that center individual well-being lead to stronger teams and sustainable success.
Notable Quotes
“Your mission is what you do. Your values are why you do it.”
“Culture builds itself when you don’t define it. And it’s usually a mess.”
“Burnout starts when the stuff you love becomes 20% of your day—or less.”
“Doing nothing is still a choice. Ignoring a problem is still making a decision.”
“If Melissa isn’t taken care of, Melissa can’t take care of her team. It starts with the individual.”
Show Notes
Email Melissa to join Big Talk (mention Hard at Work in the subject line for a free 7-day trial + 1:1 coaching call)
Chapters
00:00 – Intro & Welcome
01:00 – Melissa’s Work & What “Thriving” Really Means
04:20 – Why Burnout Isn’t Just a Bottom-Up Problem
08:00 – $900 Billion in Turnover: Why We’re Not Acting
10:05 – Why Systems Matter (and How to Build Better Ones)
14:30 – Awareness → Structure → Habit: Melissa’s 3-Part Cycle
18:10 – What Accountability Really Looks Like in Coaching
22:00 – Culture ≠ Brand: How to Build People-Centered Culture
26:30 – Living Your Values vs. Talking About Them
29:30 – Why People-First Values Outperform Mission-Only Thinking
33:00 – Generational Shifts and the Future of Leadership
36:10 – Deep Work > Hustle: Redefining Productivity
38:00 – What Success Actually Looks Like (Hint: It’s Personal)
42:00 – The Case for Slowing Down to Speed Up
46:00 – AI, Assistants, and Where Automation Actually Helps
54:00 – Advice for People in Hard Workplaces
58:00 – Big Talk: A Space for Real Leadership Conversations
1:01:00 – TED Talk Dreams & Wrapping Up
Keywords: burnout prevention, workplace culture, values-driven leadership, employee engagement, leadership coaching, people-centered organizations, building healthy teams, leadership systems, toxic workplace recovery, employee retention, performance management, organizational development, small business culture, HR strategy, leadership habits
Transcript
Ellen Whitlock Baker (00:01.23)
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Hard at Work podcast. I'm your host, Ellen, and I am delighted to be joined today by business coach Melissa Fackler. Melissa, hello.
Melissa Fackler (00:12.15)
Hi Ellen, thank you for having me.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (00:14.412)
You're welcome. I'm so glad to have you here.
Melissa Fackler (00:17.389)
I'm to be here.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (00:19.222)
So Melissa, you do a lot of things. Can you give us, and everyone's heard your bio, but give us your 60 second Wikipedia entry. Tell us what you want us to know about you.
Melissa Fackler (00:29.056)
Yeah. I mean, essentially, I am in the business of helping people accomplish what they want to accomplish. So our entire goal, one team partners, TEAM is an acronym for Thrive Every Available Moment. And that's exactly our intention. So we set out to help small business owners, leaders be able to do exactly that, get the stuff done that they want to get done and do it while thriving.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (00:56.494)
How long have you been doing that work at One Team Partners?
Melissa Fackler (01:02.592)
Four years at the end of September. But it has been quite a journey in those four years, even just of my role, what I've been doing with the company, the different kinds of people that I've gotten to work with.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:26.478)
What are some of the companies or organizations that you're working with.
Melissa Fackler (01:33.728)
We really work with any and all kinds. I think we've all been told at some point, like, you can't do it all. You have to be specific about what you do. And we had a really hard time and kind of pushed back on that because we're like, well, we can and we do because the work that we do is so much more about
Melissa Fackler (02:03.352)
the habits and the things that we're implementing with the people that we're working with. It's not about the work that they're doing. It's about how they're doing the work. And so because of that, we really are able to work with so many different industries and types of companies, you know, from health care and people in like the life sciences industry to hospitality to people who do coaching themselves, you know, so want being like a gym.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (02:12.846)
Hmm.
Melissa Fackler (02:32.096)
or even like a life coach, we have kind of seen a little bit of it all.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (02:37.102)
I loved what I wrote it down. It's not about the work they're doing. It's about how they're doing the work, which I love because as a coach, it's the same thing with us. We can coach anyone. I could coach an engineer or I could coach someone who does the profession I did for 20 years because it's not about me telling them how to do their daily job. It's about helping them get to where they need to get to sort of mentally.
Melissa Fackler (03:00.822)
Well, and we try to explain to people often like you're you've started your business doing whatever you're doing because that's what you're really good at. Like you don't need you're not looking for an advisor on, you know, if I stick with the life sciences example, like you don't need a science advisor. You probably already have that on your team or you're really good at that. But you maybe don't know how to do payroll or how to do hiring. Like those are the things that you need help with. And that for the most part across industries is the same thing.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (03:10.166)
Right.
Melissa Fackler (03:30.168)
that we're working with people on.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (03:30.57)
When you think about helping companies create cultures that thrive at work and life, which is so important, and we talk on here all the time, and I just got off a call talking about this too, that a lot of things are broken in the current workplace. And there's this understanding that they're broken, but yet, inability to fix or desire to fix them? I'm not entirely sure which. What are some of the things that you've seen are the most broken and how are you helping them fix? Fix is a bad word, but how are you helping them address the challenges?
Melissa Fackler (04:23.82)
Sure. I mean, that's a loaded question because yeah, it's huge. How much I was just going to say, how much time do I have for that? No, I mean, it's it's a few things.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (04:27.849)
It's huge, I know. That's the rest of Okay, we're done. No. That can be the rest of the talk.
Melissa Fackler (04:41.56)
people are jumping to this conclusion that companies are thriving in those environments, that leaders are thriving, and that they're just letting their employees fall through the cracks. And I think that's a really large misconception. I am going to jump to the conclusion of the opposite, that the companies that are having those issues, it's likely trickling down. So that leader
Melissa Fackler (05:08.852)
is probably struggling the most. And they're the ones that need significant help. We will. Sure. I think the problems are stemming a lot higher up than people maybe are willing to admit or acknowledge. And so we think in some of these larger organizations, like everyone at the top is doing so great. And they're just letting these bottom folk struggle. But in, know, in our experience, what we're really seeing is
Melissa Fackler (05:37.994)
It's those people, the leaders at the top that are the ones that really need where we can address and make change. And that will then trickle down to assist everyone. Now that stems to a bigger question, which is like, so why don't people want to do that? And I think it's a couple of things. Typically when we come into a client, we kind of say we have two different, complete different personalities. So
One is like a startup that is like we really want to get started and start correctly. And obviously that's a dream for us to come in and get to build from the ground up. The other is the client that is ready to potentially close their doors or is feeling like I can't do this anymore. I don't know how to keep going. I'm drowning. I'm struggling. My business is struggling. Like I can't keep going forward. And those are the ones.
Melissa Fackler (06:32.258)
that are ready to acknowledge and want to make a change. But it's really hard. that middle area, people still think that they're doing fine. We're doing okay. These are the pain, you know, these are growing pains. These are things that every company is facing. And they're not always ready to say like, hey, we need to put the time or the money in to make these changes. I don't think they realize how big the effects are until it's too late.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (06:59.693)
I 100 % agree. And it's like personally burning out. You are doing great, and then all of a sudden you're totally done and cooked. And there was this middle point where it would have been the time to say, ooh, I'm burned out. I need to change some things, but I can't because X, Y, or Z.
I see this all the time in the companies that I work with and that I've been in. There's this real fear of pausing or slowing. And I was looking at some statistics the other day, I was researching an article. But I saw the statistic from the Work Institute's 2024 State of the Workforce Report. US companies spent nearly $900 billion to replace employees who quit.
in 2023. That's like with a B, with a B. And so none of that is, I mean, it's not a surprise. And that number has been steadily climbing for years. In fact, in 24, it was down a tiny bit from 23, but not a lot. So I'm curious your take on why aren't we acting on this sooner as leaders?
Melissa Fackler (08:00.376)
crazy. Can you even comprehend that? Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (08:19.832)
Because it's hard because you have to want to care before you have to care. And I think that's the difference between companies that are not a part of that statistic and companies that are. So the ones that have put the effort in from the beginning who've built a culture of care.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (08:31.437)
Mmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (08:35.274)
Ooh.
Melissa Fackler (08:48.792)
who've built a psychologically safe space, done all of those things, they're likely not in that statistic because they're doing it from the beginning. They wanted to. It's the companies that realize like, oh my gosh, we have to make changes because people are leaving that are a part of that statistic because they're doing it too late. They're missing the window to make people want to stay.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (08:58.263)
Right, right.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (09:09.377)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (09:13.951)
The warning signs are really clear. Your retention rate is low. Your engagement rate is low. Almost everyone I know does some kind of engagement survey once a year. It's being tracked. But the solutions that I keep seeing are band-aids, right? It's like yoga.
We'll do the yoga at lunchtime and everyone will be happy again. And obviously that's not the case, but there's something that I think is preventing leaders from feeling like they can actually make that structural change that needs to happen. When you and I were talking before the podcast, you had talked about setting up systems being one of the most important things that you do. And that really has been sitting with me because I think you're a hundred percent right.
Melissa Fackler (09:40.012)
you
Ellen Whitlock Baker (10:05.334)
And so if you're listening to this and you're in a company that is in that middle place or maybe even edging closer to that, you know, burned out place, why are systems so important? And everyone will say that they have systems, but I don't think they know exactly what that means. How do you help companies through that? Like, what would you recommend if someone was kind of feeling like we're losing people left and right?
Melissa Fackler (10:29.388)
First of all, I echo everything that you're saying. Like systems are the answer for a lot of things. but not the answer to everything. And that's probably another question that I could get into at, some point, like the culture that you're building is, is equally, if not honestly more important than the systems, right? Like we need to have a culture that is supporting the environment.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (10:53.079)
Right.
Melissa Fackler (10:59.092)
Oftentimes, the burnout that people are feeling is stemming from doing things that aren't bringing them joy or filling their cup, right? So like, when we started a business or when you start a new job or whatever that is, there's things that you're excited about doing, like that's why you took it or that's why you started it, right? And those are the things that you want to spend 80 % of your time doing. And the 20 % is for the things that are boring, but you you have to do whatever.
Melissa Fackler (11:29.206)
when burnout starts to happen is when that flips. So when the 80% is becoming the 20%, so I'm only getting to do the things I enjoy 20 % of the time because 80% of the time I'm doing stuff I don't care about. And so what I believe and what one team also really stands for is, so many of those things can be simplified if systems and processes are put in place correctly, which I think is the key word here.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (11:42.818)
Mm-hmm
Ellen Whitlock Baker (11:58.319)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (11:58.644)
You nailed it when you said before, people think they have them, but do they actually have them or are they helpful? How many systems and processes do people actually say, like, it slows me down because I have to do five steps that my company makes me do, but it's not helpful, but I have to go log it. So it's like making sure that the systems and processes are also value add and are assisting people and not doing the opposite.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (12:25.004)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (12:28.904)
and I mean, it sounds so dumbed down to say that it really is just a three part process, but you know, we kind of operate under three pillars at one team. And so when we work with, with clients and even with ourselves internally, like we go through these three pillars. And so our first is awareness. say awareness precedes choice. So step one is stepping back and becoming aware.
I need to understand it to be able to then choose. And sometimes the choice might be to ignore it or to say, we actually can't fix that. So we'll deal with the consequences. That's still a choice. Or the choice is to say, wow, now that I know this is happening, I need to fix it. Then our second pillar is correct. It's yes. You might think you're ignoring it. That's still a choice. The choice is still to do nothing. And that's okay.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (13:09.838)
You're right.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (13:15.254)
You're actively making a choice is the point. You're not letting it take you, yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (13:25.494)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Melissa Fackler (13:28.502)
But people need to realize that they are actively making that choice. It's not something that just happens to them. Then we move into structure. So structure determines performance is our second pillar. And so that's where we start to say, okay, your performance is determined on how you set yourself up for success. So the more structure, the more systems, processes that we can help you get in place. even using tools that are already at your fingertips, I'm not saying
Ellen Whitlock Baker (13:32.184)
Great.
Melissa Fackler (13:58.104)
You need to drop a million dollars on software. It could even be free tools. can be the way that you set up your day, calendar blocking. All of those different things are creating success for your performance. And then the third pillar is habit. It's doing it over and over and over and over again until you don't have to think about it. It's natural. And so we say habit builds success. The things that you do naturally are what
Ellen Whitlock Baker (14:10.115)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (14:14.99)
Hmm
Melissa Fackler (14:26.686)
makes or breaks you. And so it's, it's not only building good habits, but it's also breaking bad habits, right? And so acknowledging, which is a part of the awareness phase, which is why we literally call it our cycle, because guess what, you don't just do it one time, it's a constant cycle of, I'm now in the habit, building success, wait, this habit is is not adding to my success. Okay, now I'm aware, now I have a choice to make.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (14:33.004)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (14:36.876)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (14:42.645)
Over and over. Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (14:56.276)
And if you're able to do that and do that well, you will thrive. And that's where, you know, having a coach comes in to be able to walk you through that, talk through that, have accountability. All of those things are what I think are the benefits of working with someone else.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (15:16.77)
It's so true. mean, anyone listening will know that nine times out of 10, when you work with a consultant, they are listened to and are able to say things that maybe you couldn't say as a leader. But the consultant or the coach coming in from outside really gives it legitimacy.
Melissa Fackler (15:39.404)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (15:42.938)
But just the thought of someone sitting you down as a leader and walking you through that cycle, what a gift that is. As a leader, I was always overwhelmed. I knew things weren't working, but I didn't know how to fix them because there were too many things. And I think a lot of people are like that. A lot of people I coach are like that. Because there isn't that awareness phase or it's...
Melissa Fackler (15:49.676)
Yeah, I think.
Melissa Fackler (16:01.698)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (16:13.567)
I'm still stuck on the awareness of we're choosing not to act on this or we're choosing to ignore this, but it's a choice to do that. Because I think that is huge.
Melissa Fackler (16:25.912)
You said it earlier. You said people, the statistic keeps growing and people somehow act surprised. And that's the call out is like, you knew these things were happening. And even if the choice was to turn a blind eye and say, we'll figure it out later, it was still a choice. And so I think it's just an interesting accountability piece to be able to call out to people.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (16:34.039)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (16:52.63)
I guess the blessing and curse of being an outside source is sometimes it's really difficult. I have a difficult job to have to come in and shine a light on those kind of blind spots. But it also, I have the ability to do that and not, fear for my job the way that someone that works there is afraid to maybe say, hey, this isn't going well, so it's an interesting position to be in that.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (16:55.811)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (17:20.204)
I'm really grateful for. really love what I get to do.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (17:23.407)
How would you want leaders to approach working with someone like you or even just having a super accountable conversation in that awareness phase?
Melissa Fackler (17:50.432)
We are pretty straightforward from the beginning about what working with us looks like. If you go to our website, you see it says at the top, let's get big shit done. And we were told right away, like
Ellen Whitlock Baker (18:11.373)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (18:16.591)
I love that.
Melissa Fackler (18:18.498)
Are you sure you want to cuss? And we were like, absolutely, because we want to work with the people that we can show up as authentically as we can with and we want them to feel able to do that too. And so if I'm coming into a company, and really the whole goal is to get big shit done, I don't want to have to walk around that and keep saying like, how's stuff going? Like, I want to talk about it the way that we want to talk about it. We're very clear in our discovery phase of
working potentially with clients of like, we're not going to sugarcoat things I'm also not here to make you feel terrible, right? Like I fully support that the concept for every negative thing I'm going to share, I'm going to tell you four positives, I'm definitely not just sitting down saying, here's all the terrible things that you're doing. Now let's figure out how to fix them. Of course, there's incredible work that's being done. And there's things you know, every company is
Ellen Whitlock Baker (18:54.499)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (19:15.874)
trying. And so they're doing things right. There's plenty of things that they're doing right. And I think it's having the balance but also having the relationship. We built one team off of values. And that's something that we talk a lot about also when we work with clients is like value alignment. And one of our values is investing in relationships. And I think that's what makes us able to be good coaches and able to deliver news like that or have these difficult conversations is because we've built a relationship. I'm not coming in day one and telling you that your company sucks, right? Like I'm going through the entire awareness phase, which I mean, it might be three months potentially of the awareness and of interviewing and talking to different people and getting to know them as humans and asking questions and figuring all these things out so that we're delivering things in a way that is
Ellen Whitlock Baker (19:51.257)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (20:12.138)
appropriate and also isn't like running into a brick wall
Ellen Whitlock Baker (20:17.365)
There's such a nuance there. But I like what you're saying because it's the authenticity but the grace that you have as a leader to, I'm going to tell you the truth, but I'm not going to do it in a way that makes you feel bad about yourself. I'm going to do it in a way that helps you get better. Yeah, I love that.
Melissa Fackler (20:28.407)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (20:40.16)
is productive.
And we also like to sorry, we also just like to lean into, you know, we use the phrases growth and fixed mindset a lot. And it's like, I, that's another part of our discovery call is understanding, like, and you know, I'm we're not asking straight up, do you have a growth or fixed mindset, but it's asking these questions to understand, like, are they open to this feedback into this change? And if the if we're feeling that they're not, then it's probably not.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (20:51.085)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (21:00.995)
Ha ha ha.
Melissa Fackler (21:11.498)
a client that we're going to start a relationship with because we aren't going to be successful and we don't want to show up somewhere that we can't help them.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (21:49.506)
You were saying that culture was really kind of the linchpin of all of this. So I want to go back to that. How do you help organizations or companies build healthy cultures?
Melissa Fackler (22:08.152)
when I started at one team, I was brought in to really help build our internal culture and figure out what that looked like. We built one team from the ground up and then to then start working with other
Melissa Fackler (22:33.228)
companies and do that with them. And that evolved into kind of marketing. And then that evolved into realizing like, I don't think people understand when we say the word brand, what that means. think people like you hear brand and you think like, logo font colors is typically what people jump to. But brand is its culture. It's how you make people feel.
Are they feeling the way that we want our brand to make people feel? And so
Ellen Whitlock Baker (23:07.021)
Hmm. Mm hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (23:15.565)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (23:30.708)
The way that we establish that is through values and standards. so when we work with teams, we do a full brand breakdown and go through and understand like, do you have values? If the answer is no, then that's where we start is with building it. If the answer is yes, then we're going to do a deep dive into back to the awareness. We're talking about the cycle again, like, are they present? Are you?
Ellen Whitlock Baker (23:48.077)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (23:54.423)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (23:56.98)
making decisions based off of them? Do they align with the way that you're running your company? All of those things. If the answer is no, then we need to figure out why. Are the values wrong or do we need to change the culture because it doesn't match?
Melissa Fackler (24:52.096)
And I think people don't realize that, again, just like we talked about with the choices, like doing nothing or not building it yet is a choice and it will build itself. And oftentimes that's where the toxic culture comes in is when no one knows what the culture is. So it builds its own and now it's a mix match and it's this person's values and this person's values and standards are not matching and all of these things.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (25:07.181)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (25:18.496)
And that's where we start to get conflict. That's where we start to get all of these issues internally that create issues and people don't realize where it's stemming from.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (25:28.495)
Values are so important and they can be treated really like a, we're gonna check the box on that as opposed to something that's really interwoven. And that's what I've seen in places I've worked for or worked.
that my clients work for, it's really hard to figure out how to weave the values into everything you do. And I can see how that cycle could really help with that. But what are some other ways to like, as Brene Brown would say, live your values or operationalize them that you find effective?
Melissa Fackler (26:05.356)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (26:14.072)
knowing them, saying them, talking about them is huge. Like I guarantee most people, especially if you start looking at larger companies, if you ask what their values are, they probably don't know. They maybe could, you know, rattle off a couple, but not in the way that I think they should. So, you know, talking about them regularly.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (26:17.679)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (26:30.638)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (26:42.676)
we for the first like, gosh, probably two years at one team, in our team meeting would literally discuss like, which value do you feel like you're living most this week? And we would talk about that. And everyone had different answers, right? So just to give you a little insight, like our our values are practice self care, bring your whole self, be present, invest in relationships and commit to learning. Well,
Ellen Whitlock Baker (26:58.459)
wow.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (27:11.534)
Hmm.
Melissa Fackler (27:11.618)
I'm not gonna be able to do all five of those fully every single moment of my life, right? So some weeks it might be that I'm really focused on investing in relationships. And so I'm spending a lot more time away from my desk interacting with people, know, doing these other things. Other weeks, I might be feel like I'm very focused to committing to learning. And I'm, heads down, working in a new software and understanding what that looks like.
That doesn't mean that I'm not investing in relationships because I'm heads down and focused, but it means that the season of what I need to be focused on is leaning more into one value than another, right? So we have those conversations and we talk about it or saying like, hey, bring your whole self. I'm having a really rough day. Like I'm not in it today. Or like my head, you know, my 100 % is 40 % today. I showed up, but
Ellen Whitlock Baker (27:49.679)
Hmm.
Hmm.
Melissa Fackler (28:07.074)
I'm not here as much as I want to be. And it's acknowledging that, it's being authentic. It's all of those pieces. None of that happens on accident. It happens because we intentionally said we're gonna talk about it. We intentionally set time. We used the same words over and over again. We built the vocabulary so that people feel safe to talk about it, want to talk about it, enjoy talking about it.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (28:32.931)
Yeah, I love, love, love that. Even your values are fabulous, which I would, I'm not surprised, that's so, it's interesting to hear those values because they're more individually focused than I have seen before, but it makes complete sense why. You know, I think we look for values.
Melissa Fackler (28:43.0)
Thank you.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (28:59.391)
about the organization, like we're an organization that does X, Y, or Z, or a company that does X, Y, or Z. But those are people-centric values right there.
Melissa Fackler (29:10.048)
And that's the way that we operate. That's the way that we've built the foundation of our business. That's even the name of our company, right? One team partners was meant to show exactly that we focus on the individual. The individual is then able to show up for the team and the team is able to show up for our partners. That wasn't an accident. It was intentional because that's the way that we want to live. That's the way that we want to do business is I'm focusing on what I need. And if I can give myself what I need.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (29:17.901)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (29:39.66)
And this is what true like this is the secret, right? If someone wants the secret of how we do our coaching, it's you as an individual need to thrive so that your business can thrive so that your customers can thrive. And that's exactly how we operate internally is if Melissa, if Melissa is not taken care of, how am I supposed to show up for my team? And how am I supposed to show up for my clients? If I'm, if I'm burnt out, none of us can.
if your values are focused on the company, then you're missing the whole part of taking care of the people that make the company exist.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (30:19.823)
To get to the place where you can say what you just said from a leadership level down, that is a challenge, I think, for a lot of people, because we do it the opposite. It's, you know, the client is the one who's pushing us to do X, Y, or Z, and we're serving them.
in a way that depletes us. And that sort of scene is like, that's okay, you leave it all on the table, you hustle, you get exhausted, you grind because you're gonna win, be the best tire seller that you can or raise the most money or whatever. And that flip is so important. But I think we just don't see it that often.
Melissa Fackler (31:13.452)
No, we don't. I mean, I think there's a significant wave and change coming. In the last five years, if you look at, as the younger generations are getting hired, like they have very different expectations. They have boundaries that they're a lot clearer about from the beginning. Iit's so different than when I
talked to my dad about when he was, starting out and it was all about grind and how many hours you were doing and all of these things. And now you have this new generation that's saying. I also need time to recharge and reset, and I need to be able to take a mental health day so I think the change is coming and for for a lot of companies has already come. It's just not as prevalent.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (31:50.222)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (32:05.675)
I totally.
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (32:12.232)
as people might, not everyone knows about it yet.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (32:16.527)
No, and there's a tension in the workforce right now because of the older generation, the younger generation, the people kind of in the middle who are like, kind of get what the older generation is saying, I kind of get what the younger generation is saying, I don't know where to go. And so there's a big responsibility, I think of the people who are that sort of elder millennial gen X, like these are the people that typically are going to be in or coming into the big leadership positions as the boomers retire. The flexibility is so important and that listening to the younger generation and that the concept of being people-centric in your values, it just changes the way you would do everything. It's so minor, but it's so major.
Melissa Fackler (33:07.896)
Yeah, it's so major and the the results speak for themselves. And I think that's the biggest piece is when you look at organizations where and I've been a part of both, right? Like I come from the hospitality background where I mean, you said it a second ago, like when there's a guest, when the word is not customer, when the word becomes guest or patient.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (33:13.357)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (33:22.989)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (33:36.086)
all of a sudden the expectation is like, you have to give them everything. Like we are giving our whole, every part of us to make sure that the guest is happy, to make sure that the patient feels good, is happy. You can't keep going from that.
even if we just think about like productivity and the results of it, like I know for myself, if I'm like working on a project and I am so focused, we call it being in like deep work. So complete distraction free in my deep work. If I do three hours of deep work, I'm exhausted
Melissa Fackler (35:09.322)
And I don't necessarily need to work a million more hours , because what am I gonna do? I'm gonna, you know, click around, do some things, make myself feel like I'm working, get distracted, all of these things, to where if I come in, do what I need to get done, have a goal, have these objectives, these are the things that I'm working on today, these are the things I'm accomplishing.
we're seeing that when people work smarter and not harder, that we're getting not only better results, but more results. I can get more done in a 30 hour work week than I can a 40 hour. How does that make sense? It's because I'm coming in focused. I know what I'm doing. I've set up, let's go back to structure and habits and processes and all those things. Like I've blocked my calendar the day before for tomorrow. So when I sit down, I'm not sitting down saying like,
Ellen Whitlock Baker (35:56.778)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (36:05.622)
All right, what do I have to do today? And trying to spend an hour figuring it out. I know what I'm doing today because I planned it yesterday. And here's what I'm working on. so I can get so much more done when I do it in a structured way than I can just by trying to flounder my way through. And I think that's the difference in the way that people work. I don't think it's necessarily generational.
it's making sure that we're doing it in an effective way and then explaining that to people because that's where the generational piece comes in, I think is like, wait, you're only working 30 hours, you need to work 40. And it's like, well, I got 45 hours worth of work done, you know, like I've done those things. And so it's definitely a different mindset for sure.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (36:38.869)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (36:45.219)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (36:51.715)
Yeah. Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (36:56.527)
Yeah, it really is. I think about when I started out and you worked your 40 hours, I was often just filling time because I'd finished what I had to do, but I couldn't leave because I had to be butt in seat until 5 PM. And it was just such a waste of time and made me less productive overall. So I think that's amazing. I want to work for your company 100%. You were talking about
Melissa Fackler (37:12.888)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (37:23.608)
You
Ellen Whitlock Baker (37:25.845)
success that you've seen? Can you give a couple of examples or an example of a company or organization that you've worked with that has, like how have they seen success using this system and thinking the way that you all teach?
Melissa Fackler (37:41.644)
Success looks different for everyone. So, you know, the biggest successes for me are watching a client love what they're doing again, I think that's huge. you know, we, we all have our own kind of catchphrases at one team. And the one that I tend to relate to that I like to use a lot is I flip what keeps you up at night to what gets you up in the morning. And so it's like, what are the things that you're laying awake at night stressed out about? And how can we flip that to the things that make you excited to get out of bed and go to work? And so
Ellen Whitlock Baker (37:59.972)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (38:14.828)
Ooh.
Melissa Fackler (38:25.672)
That for me is the truest scale of success is when someone tells me that we've done that. So like, I was so excited to come in and do blank today. I'm like, we're getting there, you know, or or one of the CEOs for a company that I've been working with for a good amount of time now. She took a family vacation and was on vacation the whole time. and that was a huge.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (38:33.421)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (38:39.168)
Woo, yeah.
Melissa Fackler (38:55.2)
a huge win. before working with us, she had didn't take vacations or if she did, her phone was glued to her hand. She had computer time set up like all of these things. This woman went on a 21 day trip and we didn't talk to her because we had set up processes and all of the things and her team was able to do things without her. Right. And so it's, explaining like
Ellen Whitlock Baker (39:10.489)
Good.
Melissa Fackler (39:21.226)
You don't have to be the decision maker on every single thing as a CEO. You have people in place that are capable I think success can look like so many different things and that truly is also a part of the awareness phase and a part of investing in relationships. Every single person that I work with has a different measure of success. So I can't tell you success looks like blank because it's different for everyone. It depends on their personal values. What motivates them? What do they want to get out of it?
Ellen Whitlock Baker (39:25.123)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (39:35.363)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (39:42.052)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (39:51.128)
But I think that's one that's pretty relatable for people to be able to step away and know that things are happening without you is a big deal.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (39:59.128)
You bet. just was talking about this on LinkedIn, but I remember reading somewhere, and I can't remember who it was. So apologies for not knowing the source. But someone said that they delete every message that comes into their inbox while they're on vacation. So you don't not just go on vacation, but you come back and you don't have 400 hours of work to do because you have a huge mess in your inbox waiting for you. She was like, if I'm gone, they should be able to deal with it. And sure, there's one or two things I need to know about. other than that, she had it in her auto response. Don't send me an email right now, because I'm going to delete it. And I was like, ooh.
Melissa Fackler (40:40.492)
This will be deleted. Yeah. That's amazing. That's self control right there.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (40:45.689)
I know, but that's self-care too. I love it. When I think about success too, I think about like, are you seeing like numbers be better or, this is one of the things that I keep trying to find data on is, are we actually seeing that workplaces that are created in this people-centric values-based manner, are we seeing them do better?
Melissa Fackler (41:13.42)
Yeah, I think there's two answers to that. Yes and so you mentioned earlier something about needing to pause or slowing down to speed up and that definitely needs to be addressed. I think people need to understand that. I'm not going to come in and make your numbers skyrocket overnight, in some cases they actually may dip a little bit before they increase because.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (41:18.083)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (41:40.431)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (41:42.252)
We do have to take that pause. We do need to set up the foundation correctly. It's like building a house. Sometimes you got to dig into the ground before you're building up, right? And so it looks like you're making almost negative progress before you're putting up those walls. And so the same thing has to happen for us. It's going to take some time to get those results. So I don't want to make anyone...
Ellen Whitlock Baker (41:51.757)
Right.
Melissa Fackler (42:08.418)
have an assumption of like, hiring a coach means I'm immediately gonna be on this trajectory that's upward, like not always the case. But in the long term, absolutely the results. having a team that, again, it comes back to the values, but when you're motivated by why you're doing something,
Melissa Fackler (42:33.536)
the results are bound to exist because people want to do something when they have a reason to do it. That's not just, this is what I'm supposed to want to do. Right. And so when, when we're hiring or, you know, in some cases it might be culling a team, like, and I think people, part of those statistics that what we're not talking about is maybe some of those people weren't the right fit and that's okay that they
Ellen Whitlock Baker (42:44.569)
year.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (43:00.728)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (43:03.094)
they need to be a match not only for them, but also the company needs to agree that it's a match. so, a value assessment of like, if this isn't motivated, if our why isn't motivating to you, that might be a problem too. And then, so, you know, then, I mean, the amount that one of my clients is getting done with two less team members because...
Ellen Whitlock Baker (43:07.875)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (43:17.131)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (43:28.578)
they got rid of people that were bringing the team down and that was their choice. I didn't come in and say, we need to fire people. That was obviously not what I was hired to do. But as we did all of this work and did all these things, they started realizing, Hey, some of these people aren't the right fit for us anymore. This isn't working. And they made some decisions and their productivity has skyrocketed with less people. And it's because they have the right people doing the right things and they want to do it.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (43:53.209)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (43:57.656)
Yeah, I love that. And also, I think that that term of like the motivation of being motivated by what you're doing at work, I think that we've been using that in the wrong way for a lot of years, especially in the nonprofit and public sector where it's like you must give your all because we are helping X, Y, or Z population and that is our why. And that's actually not your why, that's the mission of the organization. But if you go back to how you set out really people-centric values, your why is kind of in there too, right? Don't you think? Like it's not, yeah.
Melissa Fackler (44:30.956)
Mm.
Melissa Fackler (44:40.566)
I do. Yeah, our CEO Carlo, his background is in life science. So a lot of work with companies that are doing things for a patient. And he has been on multiple podcasts talking about exactly this saying like, when you start using do it for the patient, or like in my background, in my world, do it for the guest, you're immediately doing a disservice to your team to your company, like, because now instead of being motivated or inspired by it, it's this like pressure of like, my gosh, I need to work 10 extra hours to do it for the patient. It's not it's no longer productive. It's not helpful. It's it's actually in a lot of ways doing the opposite. But if we're focused on saying, you need to take care of yourself, go recharge, come back and we'll finish this for the patient tomorrow.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (45:14.957)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (45:28.129)
Exactly.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (45:37.997)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (45:38.228)
Imagine how much better people would feel. Imagine how much better the work results would be. When you say it in those terms, it almost feels like a no-brainer. It's so crazy to think that this is not the way that every company operates.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (45:48.671)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (45:54.786)
It's so flipped. we call it the service sector. And I mean, it's public service. Like, of course, there is a service aspect, but I do think we, overvalue believing in the mission more than we do, you know, creating these sort of shared values so let's say you're the person doing payroll and you love doing payroll and you come in and you have good systems set up and you do your payroll and you come home. You don't have to really have a strong attachment to the mission of the organization to do that payroll. I mean, you can like it and be interested in it, but you don't have to bleed the mission of the organization like they talk about often. And I think that's where we go awry in many ways.
Melissa Fackler (46:38.134)
Yeah, right.
Melissa Fackler (46:50.594)
Well, I mean, your mission is what you're doing, right? So it's what you're doing. It's not why. Your values are why you're doing it. So why are we doing this? And that should be driving decisions for everything. even questions of like, is this the right client? well, does it do our values serious towards this or away from this? If it's away, then we shouldn't be working with them.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (46:53.581)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Melissa Fackler (47:18.86)
I mean, every decision really can come back to your values and should.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (47:23.489)
It's the filter. Yeah, it's the filter. I'm going to ask you about this knowing you may or may not be an expert on this, so feel free not to answer. No, it's about AI. I have a question. It keeps coming up in my brain because a lot of these systems and structures and processes are things that we've started to potentially rely on AI to do. And there are things about AI that I find incredibly helpful.
Melissa Fackler (47:31.146)
Ellen Whitlock Baker (47:50.544)
And there are things about AI that I find incredibly not helpful. I'm an N of one. what are you finding? Are you finding that people are leaving some efficiency on the table if they're not embracing some of these AI programs like Co-Pilot? Or is it a Band-Aid and not a solution?
Melissa Fackler (48:10.358)
Yeah. I mean, I can tell you right now, if you asked me this a year ago, my answer would be significantly different than it is now. And I'm by no means an expert. And I also, this is Melissa and Melissa's opinion and not necessarily, you know, One Team's full team belief, but I think that AI can, can and should be used in places that it's appropriate.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (48:17.797)
really?
Melissa Fackler (48:39.588)
Yes, are there things that AI can do that are extremely helpful and time saving and, ways to utilize it? Absolutely. And if you're not using it, is that a mistake? No, if you have processes and things that are working for you now, if you're constantly like, I'm under I'm underwater, I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what to do.
I think it's a great resource to ask some questions to and talk to. Where I start to have really strong opinions is when it starts to replace things that...
The way that I explained this in a group the other day, I was talking at my networking group about this topic and I said, if I had a personal assistant and it's a task that I would ask them to do, I think it's something that you can use AI for. If it's something that I would want to do myself, I don't think it should be used. The example that was brought up in our networking group was like,
Ellen Whitlock Baker (49:37.497)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (49:43.171)
interesting.
Melissa Fackler (49:48.79)
someone got an email from someone who was a friend and it was clear that the email was written by AI and she was really upset by it because she's like, I use AI for emails often. That's not a problem to me, but this is my friend. Why did she not just write the email? And I thought that was really interesting. And I'm like, yeah, I would never have my assistant respond to an email from a friend, right? I would want to respond to that, but I might have my assistant
Ellen Whitlock Baker (50:13.994)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (50:18.124)
draft up a proposal and do a first draft. Now, I also think it's worth acknowledging that it's a tool to assist. So like, I'm never going to ask AI to write something for me and then post it and be done or send it and be done. I think it's a place to
Ellen Whitlock Baker (50:20.159)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (50:41.667)
Right, right.
Melissa Fackler (50:46.258)
use as an outline or get ideas down or
Ellen Whitlock Baker (50:49.667)
take notes during a meeting and summarize them or whatever. Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (50:51.744)
Yeah, I mean, I bring a note taker to every meeting I go to. And then I have a transcript. I have a summary. I have an action item like that's an amazing thing. But that's my point is if I was at a place that I had an assistant, I would have her do that or him do that. That's a perfect use of it. But I'm not going to have them write the email to a CEO I'm going to do that myself. So I think that's but it's a
Ellen Whitlock Baker (51:08.599)
Right, right.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (51:18.145)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Melissa Fackler (51:21.62)
It's a subject. That's it. We could do a whole podcast on that.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (51:24.409)
I know. I'm curious what your opinion would have been last year. You said it would have been vastly different.
Melissa Fackler (51:28.734)
I was very against the use of it. I think partially, I was very much in the social role at One Team. I was doing a lot of posting to LinkedIn and things like that. And it was, I had a really hard time with the amount of time and energy that I was spending to show up authentically and share things as a thought leader. And then seeing posts that were so clear to me that someone had just been like,
Ellen Whitlock Baker (51:42.669)
Mm-hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (51:57.806)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (51:58.754)
hey, write a post about blah, blah. And like, it was so obvious. And I'm watching it, get clicks. And I'm like, writing and doing it so authentically. I just had a very hard time with that. And so I was like, I hate AI. will never use, you know, it's replacing creativity. And then once I started to really understand like, it doesn't need to do that.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (52:01.54)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (52:24.534)
but it can also do a lot of really great and helpful things. I think I'm starting to understand a better balance of how it can be beneficial.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (52:32.655)
I hear you, because I can totally tell what's written by AI, because I use it to help me outline and draft, and I know the cadence, and I know the words it uses all the time. so when I'm scrolling on Instagram, the word “fluff” is the one I dead ringer. No frills, no fluff. This is your no fluff, blah, blah. If I see that, I'm like, that has to be AI, because I've never heard that word used like that.
Melissa Fackler (52:42.634)
It's so obvious. The emojis.
Melissa Fackler (52:59.245)
Yes.
Yeah, I mean, we kind of say like, if you want to be a novice at something, AI is the best tool. If you want to be an expert or a thought leader, it needs to come from you. And so I think that's another way to think about it is, what's the goal of this? If it's just that I need to get something done, sure, use it. But if I'm trying to show up as me, I need to be the one doing that.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (53:01.88)
so often.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (53:12.066)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (53:24.579)
So useful, but not replaceable, replacing everything. We are coming close to out of time. Can I ask one question before my final question? If one of my listeners is finding their workplace untenable, we've talked about from the other end, like if you're a leader, what are some things you could do, how you all work with leaders.
Melissa Fackler (53:30.528)
Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (53:39.064)
Of
Ellen Whitlock Baker (53:52.536)
I'm a worker, I'm in a workplace and it's really hard. What would your advice be for that person?
Melissa Fackler (54:01.004)
My the obvious answer, which I know is so much easier said than done always, assess if it's the place that you actually want to be. Because I do think that if there's a value alignment and if you've picked the place that then they would appreciate like there's already a culture set up that gives you a space to have those conversations. If you're in a space where you don't feel safe to do that.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (54:12.388)
great.
Melissa Fackler (54:30.602)
and you want to be able to, then maybe there's a value misalignment and it's not the right place. Now, do I want my last piece of advice on here to be telling everyone that they should just quit their jobs? No, of course, it's not always that simple. But sometimes I think it could be. you know, I think that is a really big piece. But if there is a value alignment and you love it and you're just struggling in this season.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (54:47.385)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (54:59.638)
what we talked about earlier with like, what were the things that brought you joy when you started? Why did I take this job? What were the things I was excited to do? A question that we like to ask a lot is what brings you joy and how often does it show up on your calendar? And if, yeah, it's a good one, right? And if the answer is not regularly, then I think that step one is addressing what
Ellen Whitlock Baker (55:06.839)
Hmm.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (55:15.457)
Ooh,
Melissa Fackler (55:26.7)
What are the reasons it's not showing up and how can I make it start showing up more? And if you're not in a space that's giving you the opportunity to do that, then I think that's another huge flag that it's not a right space. if I love doing job A, but I only ever get to do job C and no one wants to let me do job A even though I was hired for it, that's potentially a problem.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (55:40.323)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (55:50.933)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (55:55.18)
Being aware of it, then let's the choice happen of what do I want to do next? My biggest piece of advice is, be an advocate for yourself and be willing to have conversations. Where people fall sometimes is they wait until it's bubbling over and now, I'm no longer calm. can't have a rational conversation. I'm upset. I'm
Ellen Whitlock Baker (56:16.0)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Fackler (56:22.88)
in a toxic head space. And so I think addressing it when it's starting to bother and having a rational conversation with whoever your leader is is really important too. And then digging into your personal values and feeding them however you can. So if that's self-care, if that's communication, whatever those look like, finding a way to bring those into your work environment is helpful too.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (56:52.505)
That's great advice. A lot of times we think it's our fault that we're not liking our jobs. We don't fit in, or the way the work has changed, we're not liking it as much. And what you're talking about is such a great way to realize it's not your fault. It's just how you're feeling and what you're feeling. And if your workplace is toxic,
Melissa Fackler (56:54.936)
Thank you.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (57:20.611)
That's not your fault. And you can also figure out whether or not it's time to go or time to stay or if change can be made.
Melissa Fackler (57:28.8)
We're also allowed, I think we forget that we are humans and we're allowed to change. you know, if you asked me three years ago, my favorite food and you asked me today, it's probably different. And no one says, wait, that's bad. You've changed your favorite food or my favorite color, right? If you asked me as a kid versus as an adult, my favorite color has changed. Why do we expect that we're always going to fit in the same box at work and that we're not supposed to
Ellen Whitlock Baker (57:35.321)
Yeah.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (57:44.023)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (57:58.324)
adapt and grow. I think the more that we learn, the more that we meet new people, all of these things, we change and grow. And sometimes you might outgrow your environment. And that isn't a bad thing.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (58:09.615)
Mm. I love that outgrow. Yeah. Yeah, it's not. Or it outgrows you in the way that you want to be right now. Before we get to the very last question, you have a really incredible program called Big Talk. Can you tell everyone a little bit about it and how they might be able to use it?
Melissa Fackler (58:17.879)
Yeah.
Melissa Fackler (58:30.289)
Yeah, we have a community in school, which school is SKOOL. And yes, and the community is called Big Talk. And the reason that we named it that is because we feel that often leaders are kind of pushed into this world where they need to have small talk.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (58:36.047)
Like old school.
Melissa Fackler (58:55.148)
But there's not really a lot of spaces, especially in smaller companies where they don't necessarily have a leadership committee or board that they can talk to. There's not a lot of spaces for leaders to have big conversations. And so we created this Skool community to do exactly that. And so it's an opportunity for leaders to come work with our coaches in a group environment. So we have two calls a week.
One is an hour long Big Talk call, and then the other is a 30 minute brand call. And it's basically an open conversation virtually where you can come say, hey, this is what's top of mind for me today. I need to talk to someone about it. You get to talk, get a non-biased opinion. You get to talk to other business leaders. So it's great because it's not just our coaches, but it's also, other leaders that have joined this community as well. Plus we also have a bunch of digital resources and it's all virtual. So no matter where you are in the world, you're able to join this community with us and it's only $20 a month. super affordable. our purpose is not to, we're not trying to make all of this money. It's that we really wanted to create this space.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:00:09.0)
my gosh.
Melissa Fackler (01:00:18.412)
where we can do exactly what I just shared. And so that's what we're trying to do.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:00:22.905)
That is so awesome. As a person who's worked in some small organizations as well as big ones, it's lonely everywhere. It can be so lonely as a leader. And I love that concept of create, I love community. So I love that concept. That's awesome.
Melissa Fackler (01:00:33.92)
Yeah, well, and then we wanted to do something special for listeners of the podcast. And so if anyone listening today wants to join us on Skool, they can just send an email to skool@oneteampartners.com. And if they put hard at work in the subject line, then they will get our free seven day trial plus an individual one on one on one coaching call with me. So we can Yeah, so we're I'm excited to get a chance to meet
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:00:39.151)
Woohoo!
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:00:58.007)
my gosh. Winner.
Melissa Fackler (01:01:03.264)
some new faces and see how we can have some big talk.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:01:09.005)
I love that, thank you. And that's really exciting. We'll put all the info in the show notes so you all can take advantage of that very amazing offer. Okay, Melissa, last question. If you were gonna give a TED Talk, doesn't have to be about work, but I'm realizing after I've been asking this for quite a few people, it often is. What would it be about and why?
Melissa Fackler (01:01:19.448)
Thanks.
Melissa Fackler (01:01:42.968)
I think this is very prevalent in my life right now. So I'm just going to share fantasy football is the best way to learn the sport if you are not a huge football person. So when I met my boyfriend now fiance, I didn't know anything about the game. And the first season was rough because I was not super into it.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:01:53.295)
Ha ha!
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:02:03.727)
Melissa Fackler (01:02:12.768)
And the second year, he said, we need to get you on a fantasy team. And let me tell you, that was such a game changer because I had stake in the game. I was invested. So I think my TED talk would be on like why joining a fantasy football team has its.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:02:22.571)
Mm-hmm. And you learned all the players from all the different teams. Love it.
Melissa Fackler (01:02:42.356)
its pros as a partner.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:02:43.887)
That's amazing. I can totally see how that works, for sure.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:03:11.527)
Well, Melissa, thank you so much. I really appreciate you being here. I had a great time talking to you.
Melissa Fackler (01:03:30.252)
Yeah, I did too. I really loved it. Thank you so much and thanks to everyone that listened. It was a fun one.
Ellen Whitlock Baker (01:03:36.706)
Yeah, so fun. We'll see you all soon.
Melissa Fackler is the Small Business Operations Coach and Event Specialist at One TEAM Partners, where the mission is to help teams Thrive Every Available Moment. With over a decade in the hospitality industry, Melissa brings a people-first lens to business operations, rooted in the belief that people remember how you make them feel. She blends hospitality principles with smart operational strategy to help business owners build strong team cultures, avoid burnout, and create sustainable rhythms that actually work. Her goal? To help leaders stop surviving their work—and start thriving in it.
