Managing former peers and friends is genuinely hard, and pretending nothing has changed is the fastest way to make it harder. Lia walks through three moves: name the relationship shift out loud, co-create norms for feedback and hard conversations, and own your authority instead of downplaying it. This episode is especially useful for new managers who got promoted from within their own team.
This episode is part of the Team Culture, Dynamics & Tough Personalities series. Browse all episodes →
Mic drop moments
“…i want to create freedom and safety for people in our organization. And the only way for them to have freedom and safety and feel secure about their jobs is to know what the do’s and don’ts are of the organization.”
“…accountability is truly the base of the pyramid because how would you feel safe if you don’t know what, like, well, what are the channels to escalate something?”
“Build big people, like focus in on that as hard as you can.”
Episode highlights
Why your core values should come from what you already say out loud
Justin’s team at Bara Agency doesn’t open a whiteboard and brainstorm abstract words like “integrity” or “honesty.” Their core values emerged from phrases that kept repeating organically on the job. “Leave people better than you found them” came from how he coached the sales team on every client call. “Do what you say you’re going to do” came from the hard lessons of client trust. “Read the documentation” came from a running joke when developers showed up at his desk before checking the docs themselves.
The result: values the team actually jokes about, holds each other to, and hires and fires by. When a value shows up as a punchline in a team meeting, you know it has stuck. Lia reinforces why this works: single abstract words mean different things to different people based on background and upbringing. A specific, story-backed statement leaves no room for interpretation.
Takeaway: Audit what phrases you repeat most often with your team. Those are probably already your real values.
The sports team frame and why it protects people more than the family frame does
Justin is direct in every interview: “This isn’t a family. I can’t fire my brother.” The analogy he uses instead is a professional sports team. Everyone performs for their role, underperforming players get cut, and nobody is surprised by that reality.
Lia connects this to a pattern she sees constantly: owners who lean into the family frame end up tolerating behavior they would never accept elsewhere, struggling to have hard conversations, and inadvertently signaling to the whole team that low standards are acceptable. Justin’s counter-intuitive point: the sports team frame actually creates more freedom and safety for people because the boundaries are explicit. Employees know exactly what is and is not okay, so they can take risks and make mistakes without fearing for their jobs.
Takeaway: Clear boundaries are not cold. They are the foundation of psychological safety.
Accountability as the base of the pyramid, not a nice-to-have
Lia makes a point that reframes a common leadership conversation: psychological safety is not the bottom of the pyramid. Accountability is. Without clear expectations and follow-through, there are no deadlines to feel safe about, no standards to escalate against, and no shared language for disagreement.
Justin backs this up with a real example: an intern who called in a panic because he had underestimated a deliverable and already promised the client a date. Justin’s response was simple. He texted a Starbucks gift card and said the intern would probably not make that mistake again. No firing, no lengthy PIP, just a natural consequence tied directly to the value “do what you say you’re going to do.” The intern was not surprised, because the standard had been communicated from day one.
Takeaway: If someone is surprised by a consequence, that is a leadership failure, not an employee failure.
How to run a remote team without micromanaging
Justin admits he errors hard on the side of autonomy. The systems that keep the team aligned are structural, not supervisory. Quarterly goal-setting meetings end with him saying: “I’m never going to look at these again until we meet next quarter. It’s your job to keep track of this.” Forgetting about the goals by the next meeting is the single biggest red flag.
For day-to-day visibility, the team uses Asana for project management and Ever Hour for time tracking, but not to police hours. The time tracking system was introduced specifically to solve an employee complaint about feeling overwhelmed. Justin needed data to identify bottlenecks before he could fix them.
The real accountability engine is the bonus structure. Developers are bonused on delivered hours, not hours worked. If they get faster, they can pick up more work and earn more. Systems architects are bonused on client-retained hours on a rolling 30-day basis, which ties their income directly to relationship quality and delivery. Both structures mean the person is in charge of their own outcome every single month, not once a year.
Takeaway: Connect incentives directly to results the person controls, and pay out monthly not annually.
In-person time is not optional for remote teams
Bara Agency flies everyone in every quarter, automatically. A recent trip was a large Airbnb in Scottsdale with team dinners, good wine, and a full day of Enneagram training. For company-wide wins, Justin goes bigger: a resort buyout, unlimited spa days, credit card on file. He is explicit that these are expensive and worth every dollar.
His reasoning: money past a certain income level stops being motivating. A 500-dollar-a-month raise becomes invisible quickly. A shared experience builds momentum, camaraderie, and memory in a way a paycheck cannot. For fully remote teams specifically, in-person time refills what Justin and Lia both call “relationship currency,” the rapport that makes accountability conversations easier and conflict feel less threatening.
Takeaway: Budget for quarterly in-person gatherings as a non-negotiable operating expense, not a perk.
Build big people first, then let them build a big business
Justin’s closing philosophy: owners default to focusing on revenue and profit because it feels familiar and comfortable. The harder, more important work is developing the people. He invests in conflict resolution skills for his Gen Z team members not because it shows up on a KPI but because he wishes someone had done that for him at their age.
The payoff is compounding. Early hires who embody the values become the culture detection system, flagging problems before leadership even has to intervene. The team that let go of its one underperforming hire did so because the rest of the team surfaced the issue first.
Takeaway: Hire slowly for values, invest in the person beyond the job description, and trust that the business results will follow.
Related episodes in this cluster
- Ep 224: Why certain team members bug you (and how to actually handle it). When a team member drives you up the wall but is technically doing their job, the problem is rarely performance. Lia breaks down three specific archetypes that trigger leaders, explains what each one is actually signaling, and gives you a concrete strategy for each. This episode is especially useful for owners and founders who keep dreading their own one-on-ones.
- Ep 218: How to get out of the friend zone with your team members. Being friendly with your team is great until it erodes accountability and makes hard conversations feel impossible. Lia walks through a three-step reset: name your leadership style out loud, set real boundaries, and commit to having the hard conversations consistently. This episode is especially useful for small-team owners and founders who hired people they already knew personally.
- Ep 144: How to motivate and align your team when everyone feels like they are sprinting a marathon. Motivating a team under tight deadlines comes down to shared context, early visibility, and a culture where people feel seen beyond their project output. Alison Curtis and Janessa Mason, leaders at creative agency Skona, share how they align client services and creative teams through transparent communication, collaborative timeline-setting, and deliberate relationship-building at every level. This episode is especially useful for founders, agency leaders, and anyone managing across departments that can feel like they have competing agendas.
- Ep 141: How to manage former friends without making things weird. Managing former peers and friends is genuinely hard, and pretending nothing has changed is the fastest way to make it harder. Lia walks through three moves: name the relationship shift out loud, co-create norms for feedback and hard conversations, and own your authority instead of downplaying it. This episode is especially useful for new managers who got promoted from within their own team.
Want to go deeper?
The Unstoppable Team. How to build a team that runs without you in the room.
Full transcript (click to expand)
We’re just going to have to cut ties sooner than later, because this isn’t going to work out in the longterm because not only is it bad for you, like I was saying, like, you’re not going to create relationship with your coworkers. Cause they’re going to be annoyed with you. You’re going to be super isolated. Like, so let’s find you a better place in the world. Welcome to the managing mid simple podcast. I’m Lia Garvin, your host and team operations consultant.
Through this show and my signature Ops Playbook, I condense a decade of experience driving team operations in some of the most influential companies in tech to save you time, money, and stress. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner who realized that running a team isn’t as easy as you thought it would be, or a new manager looking to learn the ropes. Or are a seasoned manager ready to up their game? Everyone is welcome to hang out with managing made simple from conflicts to feedback to delegating and more.
We leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing kind of hate it and everything in between. Let’s go entrepreneurs and business owners listening right now. We all started with big dreams, right? Freedom, impact, bringing our visions to life. But there’s a twist many of us didn’t see coming. That managing a team is the hardest thing about running a business. And the words, because I said, so it doesn’t work with children or our employees drawing on my team operations experience in big tech and with business owners, I realized we often complicate how work gets done more than we need to.
That’s why I wrote the unstoppable team. It’s a playbook for easing the complexities of team management, showing you the how behind the what and why of your vision. This book’s about finding relief amid the chaos, injecting simplicity into tackling hard problems and turning your team members into profit generating machines all without burning you or them out. Kind of nice, right? So if you are ready to make this whole managing thing easier while scaling your business, head to LiaGarvin.
com slash the book. Or amazon. com and get your copy of the unstoppable team today. Welcome back to the show today. I am so excited to have Justin Benson with me. Justin is the CEO of the Bara agency, a company delivering technology solutions to help businesses scale. And as the founder and leader of the Bara agency, Justin is the place where problems come to die. Half nerd, half real estate agent. He has built teams from the ground up.
sold thousands of houses and created the custom technology systems and strategies that were needed to scale all along the way. And Justin and I met in a mastermind that we’re both in, and we instantly hit it off talking about our shared passion for. Building great teams and really helping businesses scale. And we literally swapped ideas and stories for like three hours about all of this. Yeah. I forgot that like I really needed to like go meet the rest of the mastermind members, honestly.
We were like in a bubble. It was awesome. And I just loved all your insights on how you’ve built and scaled a fully remote team, how you’ve built such a great team culture and, and all of that and more. So I cannot wait to talk about this today. Let’s do it. I’m pumped about it. Yeah, I’m excited to be here and chat about people and culture. It’s like my favorite thing, honestly. So yeah, love it. Well, and I mean, I honestly, I think that’s part of it, right?
Is that when you’re passionate about that, it just becomes embedded into how you work. It’s like you wouldn’t be able to build a business without focusing on that. Because I view it as so valuable, right? Like it’s, it’s for me personally, like the businesses that I’ve built in the past, like the people, like it literally doesn’t exist without the people. So like always on a mission to like not build big businesses, but build big people. And if we do it right, then I think maybe those people will help contribute to building a big business.
So, yeah, I love that. Well, kind of on that note, you know, you’re, you’re running a technology company. You’ve always got to be on the edge of. Tools and AI and all the systems in place like from that side of it, but yeah, I think like we both would agree You know, you also have to operate on the edge of what resonates for the people side of it. And so, you know, I really feel like in our conversation, you were really operating at this cutting edge of building a great team.
And I’m curious on, you know, what was, what’s your approach been as you’ve built this tech company and, and trying to, you know, Build the right team, build the right culture and everything from the ground up. Yeah. I mean, it’s interesting if I were to like, like roll back to the very beginning, I really take seriously who employees like one through five are like, I’m treating those as like make or break decisions. Like I care so much about those.
Those aren’t just like the, I don’t know. We’ll see if it works out type of hires. It has to really be a hell yes. Kind of thing in order to get somebody on that early. And what’s interesting is that like that group of a players helps facilitate that at the same time. Right. And, um, I, the like framework that I’m going about at all times is that I want people to understand when they come to bar agency that like, this isn’t a analogy.
I literally use on interviews is this isn’t a, uh, this isn’t a family, right? Like I can’t fire my brother. Like, don’t get that twisted. If you need an analogy. We’re like a professional sports team, you know, and we all perform for our jobs and our things that we’re hired to do. But like what happens to underperforming players at the end of the season on professional sports teams? Like here it is. Right. And then from there it’s starting to draw the boundary space of like where the container of the company is for people and how they act and how they engage with clients.
And I want people to be as Free as they possibly can to like make mistakes within those boundaries and like not fear whether they’re going to get fired or reprimanded for those things. But it really starts with like understanding where you want that boundary line to be both like inner office wise and then like with clients and all of that good stuff. And I’ve, we’ve done a good job in the past, like creating core values, but not, I guess like not in the traditional way of doing it, like, No offense to anybody that has like a core value of honesty or an integrity or anything like that.
Like just for me that it just never sticks, right? Like I don’t, it doesn’t stick for me. So the way that we would create core values through our companies is that they would be organic statements that would happen over and over again. Like a core value number one is leave people better than you found them, you know? Okay, great. So like, why did that come about? Because the way I was training the sales team was these are not sales calls.
All we want to do is leave people better than we found them. And every interaction at all times, we are problem solvers. All right. You know, number two, gosh, how am I blanking on our second core value? Leave people better than you found them and do what you say you’re going to do. So do what you say you’re going to do is like the other like client fulfillment thing, and how did that come about? Because I’ve really stressed on this.
Like, if we can’t do what we say we’re going to do, then like, we don’t have a company and nobody should trust us with anything. And like organically, even like read the documentation is one of our core values. So we’re a tech company, so lots of nerds, right. But like that came because the developers would come to my desk and go, ah, Justin, I can’t, I can’t figure it. It doesn’t look like this is. It’s like anywhere in the API or the documentation or anything.
And I would like command, find my way through the documentation and go, look, it’s right there. It’s right there. So it turned into this joke when a developer would come into my office, they would be like, Hey, Justin, I read the documentation. And because before then they would come in at a go. Did you read the documentation? Like without even looking up from my computer and they’d be like, put their head down and walk away. So like finding those things that like, we actually say on a day to day basis, we, like, we actually hire and fire by those things and they become like, we even make jokes about that stuff.
Like all the time, you know, like. Somebody was making fun of somebody the other day, and they’re like, Hey, you’re not leaving me better than you found me. Right. And then it just, like, that is how it creates culture. And, and what I love about that is not only does it bring it to life and, and, and people understand it, but it came through, you know, values should indicate how we operate. And the fact that they came up organically, which was.
in, in how you already were operating, everyone sees themself in that. And then they also embody, you know, what you’re talking about embodies accountability, integrity, honesty, all these words that feel too abstract. And then they also mean different things for different people. And I think that’s the tough thing when we have. One single word is that my interpretation of that might be is going to be radically different than yours because of our background and experience and upbringing and socialization and everything.
And so when you pair it with a statement and specific actions and examples, folks are like, Oh yeah, I totally get it. There’s, there’s no question of like leave someone better than you found them. You know what that means. And I know you shared an example on, um, You know, we do what we say we’re going to do around team accountability when we were talking and, you know, folks, Hey, if you’re going to come to me and say, you know, I, I didn’t finish this thing, but it’s cause I have to go on this trip last minute and I didn’t plan ahead.
And it’s like, well, like. What’s your plan for getting that done? And I think that what I love about that value specifically is so many of the teams that I work with, both in the corporate world in big tech and small business that I support, they really struggle with that personal accountability thing on teams where, you know, folks will do a great job and they may like crush all the work on their to do list. But.
When anything gets in the way, it’s kind of like, like, what do I do next? And, and so it feels like you really tuned into that to, to have some safeguards against that. Oh, that makes sense. I mean, I’m no good at managing like large scale teams that aren’t like, don’t get me wrong, there are businesses that don’t, they cannot be compiled of like only these like a players kind of thing, but I play in a playground of tech where you can build it in one of two ways, you can have a small container of a players, or you can have a large container of like C and B players.
Right. And there’s. There’s, it’s not a one size fits all. Just my own personal experiences. I’m better at dealing with the a players thing. And the reality of that is that we do our best to hire for personal accountability on the front end, right? Like try to suss out whether or not people are actually accountable people and like desire to be, because if they’re not, then like, it’s just not worth having the conversation. But then. Once they’re in the, you know, company walls, nobody’s surprised when I, you know, if a developer moves a task over the weekend and didn’t tell the systems architect that they were going to do that.
And the client was expecting it on Monday. Well, they’re not surprised if they get a phone call that says like, Hey, I know it’s Saturday, not sure what you’re up to, but like, we’re not allowed to move tasks like that without communicating. And like, Do what you say you’re gonna do. You said you were gonna get it done by this date, and failure to communicate is like, not also leaving people better than you found them. You’re like, hanging your teammate out to dry right now.
So like, you’re gonna have to get on the computer and like, get it done. Even like, in more severe examples, where like, we had a new in, like, intern, where He called me like kind of freaking out and was like, Hey, I need like three more days on this due date because I just grossly underestimated like what this work would be. And I already communicated to the client. It would be X, Y, and Z. And I responded to Davis and said, well man, I don’t, sounds like it’s going to be a long few nights.
Here’s a Starbucks gift card. I texted him a Starbucks gift card and said, you’ll probably won’t make this mistake again, you know, because we’re just unwilling to, to, and he wasn’t surprised by that. It’s just what we do around here. So, yeah. And I wonder, I think some of the folks that I, business owners that I work with worry about reinforcing those boundaries, I think, cause they’re worried, well, what if someone quits or, or says no?
And. And what I’m hearing from you is it’s so embedded and ingrained, like that’s not really on, like, that’s a low likelihood because everybody is so deeply embodying it that it’s like. know they want to be here for the long haul and they’re not like one thing around having to work one extra night is going to be like, no, I’m out of here. Like, is that something that you worry about? Or is it that, am I right?
That it’s like, no, people get it coming in the doors that like, they’ve committed to this whole thing. Yeah. People, I would say at least here, like they get it when they come in, because like, We do a decent job on the interview process on the front side, you know, to like make sure that that, again, it goes back to like personal accountability. Like I can’t teach people all of the skills, but I mean, I’ll reel that back.
We can teach people a lot of skills. Accountability is. to teach people essentially. Like I, I just can’t, I haven’t found a like efficient way to train somebody to be accountable. So if they are surprised by the actions on our team, honestly the culture becomes like the early warning detection system for me. Anyways, we’ve only had to have one, one person that we’ve let go at bar agency and the entire company history. And the team started like, chirping up about like, Hey, I can’t get back from this person.
I can’t hear like they started. That person became like a big Yeah. Like red flag in the organization that the rest of the team started seeing. And that was brought to my attention before we even had to address like the longterm concerns of like that person or put them on like a, uh, I don’t even know what you call it. Performance. Yeah. Like we don’t even have those around here basically. So. Yeah. Well, and it’s so important to reinforce, you know, like you said, the hiring process.
And I think folks listening, it’s like thinking about how do I ask questions and have conversations and share examples around our values, how we work, because I’m guessing you fold that into the conversation when you’re hiring, when you’re talking to people, asking for stories that embody this or sharing even, Hey, like this is some of the ways in which we operate and really getting a sense from people on. You know, are you, you know, is this something that resonates with you and that you’re excited about?
I mean, I think you can, when you’ve asked the right questions, you can tell right away, um, a lot of these things now, yes, of course, there’s always people that can kind of like, you know, play the system. But I think when you’re so crystal clear around what you want to see from like that behavior and, and like kind of, Sort of spirit quality. I think, you know, I think we can, sometimes this culture fit concept can create a homogenous team.
And again, that’s not what you’re describing here. Cause you’re not talking about everyone works the same way. You’re saying it’s a quality in the way, like personal accountability can take very different shapes and come from any background in any industry. So, uh, I think remembering that it’s not just people that work like you, but it’s people that understand these qualities and embody them. Right. I like, I sincerely like. Really don’t want to waste people’s time and life and energy.
. Well, and I think that takes us back to the point you made around, you know, a job that you’re at or a company being more like a sports team than a family. And I think people can get really stuck in this. You know, treating everyone like a family and feeling like they can’t have hard conversations. Even though we probably have some of the hardest conversations with our own families anyway. Like I think that doesn’t, it doesn’t really mean, talk about something that doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone, right?
Like everyone’s definition of family and how they interact with their family is very different. But I think that’s a trap I’ve seen a lot of folks fall into is where they want to be Like in this too much friend space or family, if that’s how they look at it and where you, you can’t set boundaries. It’s very hard to hold people accountable. You tolerate a lot of stuff that you really would not tolerate in a sports team or any sort of other environment.
And it’s because we haven’t really thought clearly about what we even mean by that. Right. And I’ve heard someone, you know, say, uh, A team, you know, manager or teams are like a results based relationship, right? Is another, another kind of example of a sports team versus family. And you know, I think it’s not to come across as cold or like we don’t care about people. I mean, just the way you talk about your team, you can, you, you hear from what you’re saying.
You, you deeply care about everyone and you have a high standard and you expect them to show up to that. And that’s, Truly how the best teams are made. And that’s why we look to sports for those examples. Right? Yeah. I feel like I’ve done the opposite mistake and it’s hurt people honestly. Right? Like the more you sweep the problem under the rug, like it creates a culture problem internally where like you’re, if you. Allow that behavior.
You’re basically giving it your blessing for the rest of the team as well. Like is, is essentially what you’re doing. And without those like boundaries and, you know, kind of guide laws and values in place that I don’t want anybody to ever be surprised that like they’re having a conversation that is, you know, not an ideal conversation for them. I think I feel like it’s my. It’s my issue. If they, if we get to that conversation and they’re surprised, like that’s a leadership mistake in my opinion, right?
Like they should have fair warning to know they should definitely know that this is a line that was not ever crossed and it shouldn’t have been crossed. And here we are having this conversation, but like it, I want to create freedom and safety for people in our organization. And the only way for them to have freedom and safety and feel secure about their jobs is to know what the do’s and don’ts are of the organization. Right.
And now, like, I don’t have people that like, we have innovative people because part of innovation is failing and screwing up at stuff basically. Right. Like, so like. I have systems architects, like account managers that like, they’ve lost clients, but it wasn’t really through any issue of their own. And they were actually really surprised that I wasn’t like pissed off or like reprimanded them for it. I’m like, listen, every now and again, we’re going to drop the ball.
We’re humans kind of thing. Like, but as long as like the spirit of who you are and the track record of who you are is upholding to these values, like. You’re safe here. Like you’re not going anywhere and we are super valued here on this team. And yes, guess what? We, I have screwed up lots of times. You’re going to screw up a bunch of times. Maybe we’ll get angry at each other sometimes or annoyed at each other or whatever, and have to go through that conflict, but it doesn’t challenge the security of their job on the team, if that makes sense.
Yeah, I love that. And it’s funny because, you know, you, you often hear, I guess you, if, if you like study organizational dynamics and love talking about work stuff, you know, psychological safety is like seen as a foundation for an effective team. And I’ve always felt like, well, It’s not the bottom, like it’s the bottom of the pyramid, but like sitting right on top of accountability. I feel like accountability is truly the base of the pyramid because how would you feel safe if you don’t know what, like, well, what are the channels to escalate something?
What, how do we disagree? What are we even trying to talk about here? And so I think your, your example right there really reinforced that. Like, You have to have that accountability in order to feel safe in order to, you know, know that it’s okay to make a mistake to learn from something to, to bring something up. So if you, cause if you don’t have that, like, Where is that even going? You know, like, like say, Hey, you know, I’m worried about this deadline because we have this issue.
Have you thought about this already? If we don’t have accountability, then we don’t even have deadlines in the first place. Right. Yeah. Who cares what, what are we talking about? And it’s like the degradation of client trust and all the stuff that really kind of kills the company in the longterm. Right. So yeah, that, that’s a big one. You’re right. The basis of it all is accountability, but that’s kind of that. Do what you say you’re going to do core value that we have.
Like we, we assume that of the people on the team, we don’t, that’s not something we even focus on. It’s just kind of assumed that of our, all of our core values. assume that people leave people better than they found them and that they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do. Right. Uh, sorry, my iOS little thumbs up thing showed up there, but, uh, yeah, yeah, I, uh, that stuff is assumed and then everything else happens on top of that.
So. Yeah. So super quick, just kind of piggybacking on this, what’s assumed, I think for folks thinking about, you know, how do I motivate my team members? I, I’ve heard a lot of, of business owners and managers saying people want like a participation award or a raise just from doing the bare minimum. Um, and I think. What’s, what’s so important to establish first is those baseline expectations. Like this is just the cost of doing business. This is how you have a job here.
And then to advance and excel and get promoted and get a bonus, raise whatever it looks like. Then you set really clear outcomes and metrics around that. But I think when people are thinking like, okay, like just showing up and then anything like actually doing my work costs more and then it’s like, there’s something wrong there I think with the initial level setting. Yeah, that’s like, entitlement a bit. It kind of encroaches on that conversation of entitlement a little bit.
But yeah, we at least do have a very clear, like, In order to keep your job here, this is what is expected of you kind of thing. And if, if we don’t hit that, then like, we’re just going to have to cut ties sooner than later, because this isn’t going to work out in the longterm because not only is it bad for you, like I was saying, like, you’re not going to create relationship with your coworkers cause they’re going to be annoyed with you.
You’re going to be super isolated. Like, so let’s find you a better place in the world, you know? So I’m, I’m, you know, running a fully remote team. I’m curious. You know, how do we, people have a lot of personal accountability and so maybe that’s kind of the answer. But you know, I think a huge fear folks have is how do I know what people are working on? How do I have the right level of oversight without micromanaging?
Like what are some of the things that you’ve brought into the mix to, to be able to have that level of oversight for yourself and other managers that, that makes you feel like you give the right amount of autonomy, but also stay in the know. Yeah, I probably error on the side of autonomy because it’s kind of I don’t want to micromanage people I get annoyed by doing that like it’s just not it’s honestly not in my wheelhouse either, but it’s it’s kind of Systematically ingrained into the culture right so like even our quarterly reviews that we do with our clients They’re not quarterly reviews or quarterly check ins where we create some goals that are aligned with like our Where they want to improve in their job and their trajectory and where they want to go.
And then maybe like a couple personal ones as well. Like they want to work out more, like find better ways to actually check out and recharge and stuff. So we kind of set those quarterly, you know, goals, this, these multipliers that they’re going to focus on over the quarter. And at the end of that meeting I go, cool. So I’m never going to look at these again until we meet next quarter. So it’s like your job to make sure that you keep track of this.
And the worst thing that could happen is that you show up here at the next quarterly meeting and go, Oh, shoot. I forgot all about those, right? Like that’s the absolute worst thing that you could do. Sometimes priorities change and goals shift throughout a quarter. Like that’s understandable, but if you didn’t have the personal accountability to keep track of it along the way, then like, that’s a giant red flag for us. And then when we get down into like the minutia of the work, obviously we have like an hour tracking system and a like task management system.
We use ever hour for, you know, Time tracking use a sauna for all of our like project management stuff, right? But we don’t even use the time tracking. We don’t use that for Client billable hours. So like that’s on a different scale. So we’re not tracking time. Actually, the way that we instituted the time tracking system is that we had people saying they were overwhelmed and I don’t know how to fix that problem until I can understand like what is bottlenecking or like what’s holding up the process, like why are they overwhelmed?
So the time tracking system for our systems architects and devs was really there for me. Like the way we introduced it was like, I don’t want you guys working nights and weekends. Like I want you to be able to unplug when that happens. I can’t do that if I don’t have the data to like help guide you through it. Right? So we’re going to do this time tracking thing so we can understand what the most amount of time is being spent on.
So that helps like some of the accountability. Obviously if somebody doesn’t track time for an entire day and they didn’t have PTO, like giant, giant red flag kind of thing. But then on top of that, we want them to have control over their client work and the way that they go about things. Right? So, so. Like the developers get bonus off of the delivered hours. So what’s cool is that that juxtaposition between time worked and actual delivered hours, if they get faster at delivering that same amount of hours, we don’t decrease the amount of hours as an agency.
Like the value of that thing that we’re providing is X amount of hours. But that means that like, if they get faster and template it and it passes QA every single time, that means that they can start getting 20 hour tasks done in five hours or 10 hours and they can go pick up another task and they can make extra money that month. Right. Um, so they are like directly in charge of. how much extra income they make throughout the course of the month, which like makes them super happy.
And on the systems architect side, it’s all about client retained hours. Like how many hours did you retain from the previous month? Which enforces that like, well, in order to retain clients, we have to deliver, we have to build relational rapport. We have to do all of the things that are necessary to retain. So their bonuses are on a monthly basis of the Past 30 days of rolling, um, retained hours, essentially. So like that system seems to, because it’s tied to like our employees, bottom lines, essentially, like they figure out how to make sure that that stuff gets taken care of, because if not, if they lose a bunch of clients or they don’t get a bunch of hours delivered, they see that happen on their next paycheck.
So, Well, and what’s so awesome about that is, like you say, they’re, they’re directly responsible for their incentives. And I think a lot of times where we can go wrong in companies, large and small is you have. Your job responsibilities, you get paid either way. It’s unclear how you advance and it’s just like all over the app. And then what you’ve accounted for too, is if you go faster, you get penalized because you get more work thrown at you.
If you’re on salary, right. You’re just taking up two people’s jobs. And if you’re on hourly, then you’re just like, you know, not getting any, you’re, you’re getting punished for, for working faster, like you said. And so you’ve solved for so many things there. And. And like you say, it means you really need less monitoring and oversight because it is comes down to the person’s bottom line and, and how they’re being evaluated. And, and so I, I love that.
I encourage anyone listening to think about, okay, How can I connect the dots between like the direct results that people have control over and, and incentivizing them on a regular basis. And you said monthly too. You didn’t say annually, right? Because that’s a really long time horizon. If you know, if I’m thinking about like, Oh, maybe at the end of the year, they’ll they’ll give me a bonus and I get my dog treat at the end.
Like it’s a little bit harder to stay motivated. And you also know that one thing didn’t make or break it. So if you have one month with a bonus, awesome. One month you’re flat, okay. Right? So it also gives you room to kind of fine tune your work and approach. I, uh, maybe this isn’t the best way of doing things, but it’s the way that I’ve seen things done well for like my own like world of building businesses is that I want financial bonuses to be directly tied to an action that that person can do.
Like discretionary bonuses, like never made sense to me where it’s like just up to some manager, like, all right, we got 15, 000 to bonus out our team. Like, It’s up to you to decide like how that’s going to happen. Like you don’t have any control over that. Right. So for the larger company goals, instead of running bonuses on that side, money’s a funny thing, right? Like a raise only brings happiness for a certain amount of time.
Right. And we pay all of our people very, very well over here because that’s what a player’s, you know, that’s what they deserve at the end of the day. But like past a certain income level, like a raise of, 500 a month or whatever like it you did they don’t even see it like that doesn’t matter anymore So what we do instead is that for those larger company goals when we’re all driving towards one goal together opposed to our individual goals We do like big experiences and like like we shut down the company for like three days straight and go stay at a really nice resort and people can like go have a Unlimited spa day.
We’ll just put the credit card on file and you can stay in the spa and buy as many things as you want kind of thing. We’ll do like really lavish stuff like that. And that seems to like do not only are like people super thankful for it, but it also builds momentum and camaraderie and all of that stuff. And it’s expensive to do that. We’re a remote team, so we have to fly everybody in, get hotels for everybody.
That is not like a cheap thing to do. And that’s on top of the quarterly. Things that we just do automatically where we fly everybody in and like have, we just had Tracy, uh, like just four weeks ago or whatever. We got this giant Airbnb in Scottsdale and everybody had their own rooms. It was awesome. We like cook dinners together, got some fancy wine and Tracy hung out with us and did a bunch of like Enneagram training for the whole team.
And that’s, we just do that automatically every single quarter. It’s expected that everybody comes to those. But if we go above and beyond, We usually like take one of those quarterly events and like do something extra actually. So I love that so much. And I think that’s kind of the perfect place to wrap, right? Is like, and you talked about one more thing too, which is when you have a remote team, finding those meaningful moments to come together and you do it quarterly, which I think is kind of the bare minimum.
I would say like, if you have the budget, maybe every six months, but if you know, people do need to refill that. Relationship currency in person. You can be fully remote. Yeah, but there are there do it does need to be touch points So I’m glad you I’m glad you highlighted that as well a thousand percent It builds you cannot undervalue how much in person builds momentum in organization Like it just is people desire connection and it’s unfortunately very hard to do it over zoom.
So Yeah. So I always love to ask, like, is there anything you’re working on that you’re excited to share with our listeners? Specific to you personally, or to BARA, or how did I learn about BARA is also, you know, a weird place to go with that. Just trying to figure out how to be a better dad to a two year old and a four year old, you know, trying to stop them from lighting the house on fire.
That’s where a lot of my attention goes. But honestly, like on the BARA agency side of things, like we did start as this fractional CTO agency in the real estate space, right? Since then, we’ve. Brought on a principle of e commerce about eight months, eight months ago, Jim, who you know, and he’s doing an incredible job with like online brands and coaches and basically like anybody that is doing business on the internet. Right. We were servicing a ton of clients doing this whole fractional CTO thing, and it’s honestly been cool to see it work in a different industry and work so flawlessly in a different industry.
So yeah, like if you’re an e commerce business or you’re a real estate business, like come hit us up at Bar Agency and we’ll see you there. set a initial consult, you can just come to the website and book that consult. Those all actually get booked with me initially. We don’t have this like crazy high volume of like appointments coming in every month. And I really do want to be the first person that everybody speaks to to make sure that like we set the pace of the relationship well, you know?
So I think that that’s going to be awesome. And ultimately like our tagline is that we’re the best. Best and fastest place to get all your technology streamlined without having to do it yourself. So, so any, you know, last takeaway you want to share with folks before we go, but like on this team management, building great teams, sort of thing. Build big people, like focus in on that as hard as you can. It’s so easy to get like focused in on money and profit and like, don’t get me wrong, like it’s a rule of business.
You have to generate revenue to stay in business. Like, it’s like, Going out of bounds in football. Like you can’t go out of bounds in football. It’s a, it’s a good rule, uh, to abide by and profit numbers and margins and all that good stuff. Right. But like, I think as business owners, many times we try to, we go to that because it’s like what feels comfortable, actually. It’s what feels like it’s the stuff that we know.
Um, But going to be more uncomfortable and focusing in on trying to develop and build and nurture your team and caring about them past the job. But like, man, what’s going to equip them really well. Like all our Gen Z employees, like I’m trying my best to like get them equipped with like, conflict resolution and all that stuff before they get married and have kids and they’re going to need all of that. Like, and there’s stuff that I wish that I had when I was their age.
Right. So like really lean all in on building big people. And I think that you’ll be surprised how fast the organization flourishes. I love that. Thank you so much, Justin. And again, folks to check out Justin and Bara Agency head to BARAagency.com and you can learn everything there and also schedule that consult. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Justin. Thanks for having me. That’s all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive.
With that said, let’s spread the word. If you love this episode, please pass it along to someone who might benefit from it. See you next time.
Questions this episode answers
How do I build accountability on a remote team without micromanaging?
Set clear expectations from day one and hire for personal accountability, because it is nearly impossible to teach. Use quarterly goal-setting sessions where team members own tracking their own progress, not you. Pair that with a task management system and, if needed, time tracking introduced as a tool to help people avoid burnout rather than to police them. When team members know their bonuses are tied directly to results they control, like delivered hours or client retention, accountability becomes self-reinforcing and you rarely have to chase anyone.
How do I create core values that my team actually remembers and uses?
Skip abstract single words like 'integrity' or 'honesty' because they mean different things to different people and they never stick. Instead, listen for the phrases you and your team already repeat organically on the job. At Bara Agency, values like 'leave people better than you found them' and 'do what you say you're going to do' came directly from real coaching moments and client conversations. When values come from how you already operate, people see themselves in them, make jokes about them, and actually hold each other to them day to day.
Should I treat my team like a family to build a strong culture?
Treating your team like a family can actually backfire, because it makes it harder to hold people accountable and have hard conversations. A better analogy is a professional sports team: you deeply care about everyone, you invest in their growth, and you also have clear performance standards that everyone understands going in. The goal is a results-based relationship where people feel safe and supported, not a dynamic where poor performance gets swept under the rug because it feels too personal to address.
How do I structure bonuses so my team actually stays motivated?
Tie bonuses directly to actions the person controls, not to a discretionary pool a leader divides up at year end. For example, developers can earn bonuses based on delivered hours, so getting faster and more efficient actually pays off for them personally. For company-wide goals, consider shared experiences instead of cash, like flying the whole remote team to a resort or a group retreat. These build camaraderie and momentum in ways that a small raise, which people stop noticing quickly, simply cannot match. Monthly bonus cycles also work better than annual ones because the feedback loop is tight enough to actually change behavior.
How often should a fully remote team meet in person?
At minimum, aim for quarterly in-person gatherings if your budget allows. Remote teams can function well day to day, but in-person time builds relationship momentum and camaraderie that is very hard to replicate over video calls. These gatherings don't have to be formal conferences. Cooking dinner together, doing team development activities, or simply sharing space for a few days fills the relationship bank in a way that keeps people connected and motivated for the months in between.