Podcast Summary: Fixable — "Quick Fixes: How to level up, job craft, and manage colleagues you can’t stand"

Date: February 24, 2025
Hosts: Frances Frei & Anne Morriss

Episode Overview

In this "Quick Fixes" edition of Fixable, hosts and renowned leadership coaches Frances Frei and Anne Morriss tackle three workplace dilemma calls in one rapid-fire episode. With a focus on actionable insights, they deliver pragmatic advice on scaling a small business, redesigning your role through job crafting, and navigating the challenge of managing colleagues you may not get along with—especially when returning to a previous workplace. The tone is fast-paced, candid, and solutions-oriented, peppered with personal stories and memorable exchanges.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scaling a Small Business: Growth vs. Depth

[03:01–10:10]

Caller Dilemma:

A co-owner of Voss Fitness seeks advice on how to grow and scale—should the business expand by offering more services to existing clients or by serving more clients with current offerings? And could they be thinking too small?

Discussion Highlights:

• Growth Strategies:
  Frances frames the classic choice:

  • “Are we going to do the same thing for more people or more things for the same people?” ([03:53])
  • If operationally possible, scaling volume (more clients, same service) is easier and often more profitable.
  • If not, expand breadth—but only with services creating high value for both clients and the business, being careful not to chase revenue at the expense of profit.

• Customer Partnership & Data:
  Anne emphasizes returning "to the basics":

  • “Who are his best customers?...Why are they giving him their hard earned money over time?” ([05:16])
  • Advocates gathering day-to-day customer data (“get him out of his own head”) and deeply partnering with clients to surface valuable insights.

• Balancing Customer Focus and Profit: Frances warns, “...you’re so in touch with the customer, you forget to make profit for yourself.” ([06:11])

• Learning from Domino’s:
  Anne recalls Domino’s customer-engaged turnaround:

  • “...customers got very invested in this turnaround and they loved that they had a role, a very important role in this organization getting better.” ([06:44])
  • Takeaway: Intimately partner with clients, not just as consumers but as co-creators of improvement and new offerings.

• Unlocking Growth with Insight:
  Anne urges:

  • “Is he hungry for the insight that’s really going to unlock growth?” ([08:57])
  • Big ideas more often come from “wrestling with the basics” alongside customers and employees than from isolated brainstorming.

2. Job Crafting: Redesigning Your Role

[11:56–15:21]

Caller Dilemma:

After six months in a job, a listener wants to propose splitting their role into two positions to focus on energizing work—and wonders when and how to approach this conversation with their manager.

Discussion Highlights:

• Making the Pitch a Win-Win:
  Frances is clear:

  • “You will have a much higher success rate if you sell a win win, which is what’s in it for your manager and what’s in it for the company.” ([12:37])
  • The proposal should go beyond personal fulfillment: explain how the split could “wildly more than 2x what we’re able to do.” ([12:37])

• Stakeholder Perspective:
  Anne:

  • “It can’t just be you...there has to be a bigger payoff to the other stakeholders here.” ([13:31])
  • Recommends openly discussing benefits to the team and organization.

• Crafting from Within:
  Anne suggests listening to their previous episode with Laurie Santos (on job design):

  • Focus on “the power you have—even without changing your duties and responsibilities,” to make your role more meaningful.

• Agency and Mindset: Frances:

  • “Laurie Santos taught us that you can inject more meaning even into the same job by cleverly changing your mental model towards it.” ([14:45])
  • If the formal split isn’t possible, change your perspective to find more meaning and energy in your current duties.

3. Returning to Supervise Difficult Colleagues

[15:21–20:53]

Caller Dilemma:

A seasoned professional is considering returning as director to a previous organization, where they’d have to supervise three problematic former colleagues. They ask whether to go in with a fresh mindset or heed past impressions, and whether they should even withdraw their application.

Discussion Highlights:

• Growth Opportunity:
  Frances:

  • “You saw the behavior of others without the gift of your leadership...now you’re going to get to influence their performance by your own leadership.” ([16:52])
  • The new role is a learning opportunity—to see if positive leadership can change previous patterns.

• Danger of Prejudice:
  Anne is frank:

  • “...they’ve made [the colleagues] into a two dimensional cartoon like villain in the workplace...They can’t walk into this job with this mindset.” ([17:45])

• Options for Action:

  • Option A: Embrace the chance to learn, shift mindset, and see if you can bring out the best in people.
  • Option B: Walk away—if you can't approach the role without prejudice, it's not the right fit.
    Anne: “Go forward. Find a team in an organization where a better version of you can show up.” ([18:31])
  • Option C: If inclined to withdraw, have an open, adult-to-adult conversation with leadership about your concerns before making a decision.

• Impact of Mindset on Others:
  Frances:

  • “Your mindset will influence the behavior of others in powerful ways.” ([20:17])
  • Real leadership is about creating change—both in self and team.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Frances Frei on Small Business Growth
  “You’re so in touch with the customer, you forget to make profit for yourself.” ([06:11])

• Anne Morriss on Partnering for Insight
  “Is he hungry for the insight that’s really going to unlock growth?” ([08:57])

• Frances Frei on Proposing Job Changes
  “You will have a much higher success rate if you sell a win win, which is what’s in it for your manager and what’s in it for the company.” ([12:37])

• Anne Morriss on Stakeholder Perspective
  “It can’t just be you and the prize inside can’t be that you are now happy...” ([13:31])

• Frances Frei on Mindset and Management
  “If we change our mindset, the performance of other people can change, which is just, it remains mind boggling to me.” ([16:52])

• Anne Morriss on Choosing to Return
  “Go forward. Find a team in an organization where a better version of you can show up.” ([18:31])

Segment Timestamps for Easy Reference

• Scaling a Small Business: [03:01–10:10]
• Job Crafting & Role Redesign: [11:56–15:21]
• Returning as Manager of Previous Peers: [15:21–20:53]

Summary Takeaways

• Growth comes from deeply understanding and partnering with customers, not just expanding offerings.
• Job crafting conversations succeed when they are framed as mutual wins.
• Leadership is an opportunity to rewrite old narratives—if you enter with an open, growth-minded approach.
• Your mindset about others and your own agency directly shapes outcomes—for yourself, your team, and your organization.

Engaging, candid, and jam-packed with actionable wisdom, this episode of Fixable is a must for managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to “move fast and fix stuff” at work—without losing their sense of purpose or possibility.