EntreLeadership - The Key to Leveling Up Your Leadership Team

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

🎯 Figure out your business’s next steps in a free consult call with an EntreLeadership® team member.   Leadership isn’t built in a classroom—it’s built over time.  In this episode, John Felkins sits down with business owner Jessica Rohrs for a live coaching session on how to develop leaders from within by creating a culture where people are known, supported, and equipped to lead with confidence.   Next Steps: ·      📞 Have a question for the show? Call 844-944-1070 or send us a message. ·      ✉️ Become a better leader in six minutes a week. Get tactical tips sent to your inbox every Friday. ·      📌 Don’t wing it. Get a coach that helps you lead and grow with confidence.  ·      🏢 Attend EntreLeadership Summit. ·      🎤 Attend EntreLeadership Master Series. ·      📖 Order Dave’s book, Build a Business You Love.   Connect With Our Sponsors: ·      Go to Belay Solutions or text ENTRE to 55123 for their free resource! ·      See if Christian Healthcare Ministries Groups is the right fit for your organization. ·      Visit NetSuite today to learn more.   Listen to More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💰 George Kamel   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do I build strong leaders that lead my business like I would? That's the question Jessica Roars asked when she sat down with head coach John Falcons for a live coaching session. And if you're trying to scale a business, you probably ask something similar. Most business owners are used to leading a team, but leading leaders is a whole different ballgame. And the answer isn't some big leadership training or fancy curriculum. As John explains to Jessica, the solution is actually. actually a lot simpler and a lot more personal than most leaders expect.

Let's get to it. Well, Jessica, thanks for coming and hanging out with us today. Yeah, absolutely. Tell me a little bit about your business. Well, Family Crisis Centers is a nonprofit that is statewide in the state of Iowa. Okay. I've been in a nonprofit leadership for about 15 years.

Okay. Been in the executive director role for about three. Okay. Have been with Family Crisis Centers for about 10. Okay. I have about 60 people who work for us across the state of Iowa. And we're really there to serve victims and survivors of violent crimes.

Wow. So domestic violence, human trafficking, burglary, kidnapping, child abuse. When a loved one loses somebody to a murder, homicide, we're there for them to, yeah, just really walking alongside people who are in grief after violence. So tell me, what's the big challenge that you're trying to tackle right now? I would say the big challenge and really why I'm here at the conference today is how do we really grow our leaders from within. You mentioned the money that you have to bring in. Right. And we're so thankful we live in a very generous and giving community that really

supports our mission. We want to be good stewards of the dollar. And of course, professional development is always being a good steward of the dollar. But really, how do we use our funds wisely, but still invest in our people? And so really just trying to figure out, how do we develop some sort of internal training curriculum, or how do we not just put somebody maybe in a leadership role and say, okay, great, go. You know, how do we really build them up to be successful in that? Right. And maybe looking at that middle management level, so we have a director of operations,

who is supervising just our programmatic staff, as well as a leadership team of an HR director, a director of finance, director of marketing. So have that leadership base, and then it goes to our middle managers who are really overseeing those different programs. So it's oftentimes their first experience with leadership. They're probably there because they've shown the skills. They know how to do the work.

They have good values. And so they have all those things. But it's just sometimes those first lessons of, oh, leadership isn't glamorous, maybe? What? Right, I know. I think those are the things of how do we build you up to ensure that you just know how to maybe pour into other people live out our core values? because those get hard when situations get hard.

So how often are you seeing them? They're once a month? Yes, yes. And our Director of Operation sees them more. Okay. And then our middle managers have a team of probably 15 people under them as well. Each one of them? Each one that are trying to see the teams that they have to travel to see.

What are you currently trying? Yes, a lot of probably trial and error, but I think we've learned just relationships are impact. So how do we spend a lot of time with them, supporting them? Mm-hmm. I think the other challenge is that they're spread out across, Okay. You know, a very probably rural geographic region.

How often do you get to see them, like face to face? I would say probably once a month. And then their supervisors are seeing them more. But I would say that's another challenge of that too, is just how do you build those relationships when you can't be one-on-one with each other as much? Okay. That's, you know, we're kind of spoiled because we're all in one building.

And so I want to be careful not to make it sound like it's easy to do. Sure. But that once a month time seems like that's challenging to really be able to sit with somebody and talk through everything that they're facing. Do you have any other channels of communication? Do they do weekly reports or do you have online meetings that you do or anything else? We do. Every week we have kind of a Zoom meeting where our people are dealing with trauma every day,

which is hard too because the support needed then also increases. Sure. You know, they're sitting in a trial with somebody with a child who's been sexually abused. And it's like, I just need someone to talk to. So we have a weekly time where people can jump on Zoom and really talk those things through. So thankfully, the virtual world has, you know, really increased and made that easier for us. But you don't get a, those are great for the more technical things, but it's probably that relational thing of, you know,

how's your family doing, what other, that type of thing you don't really get virtually. Yeah. What would it look like to actually get them to, can they come to you? Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. How often does that happen now? Yeah, I would say they're coming to our building probably once a month as well.

Okay. Yeah. So that's, are you hit, so are we, doubling up, is that twice a month that you're getting together? Yes, hopefully if our schedule is aligned. Yeah. But it's also just kind of managing that those day-to-day needs as well. I love that you want to do training, but that's still isn't the same as sitting

with somebody kneecap to kneecap and building the relationship with them. And it's just an investment of time. Absolutely. It's just an investment of time. Yeah. How frequently are you able to cast vision for the whole team and reinforce the core values by talking through those? Well, first, maybe let me ask you,

do you have those things written down and shared with everybody on the team? And how frequently do you review those things? I would say we're reviewing them. We do our strategic planning once a year and we're reviewing a strategic plan. And so at that same time, reviewing those core values and how we're living out those core values.

So I would say we're revisiting, revisiting them often. Okay. Yeah. What do you suggest there? So I was just going to say to you, we do that every week. Okay. Tell me, tell me more. What's your, how do you go about that?

Yeah, so we have an all team meeting. Okay. Every week. Okay. Now, the reason that I hesitate to say that is, is because we're not all spread out all over the state. So the thing that's important is, is to think about the princely about the principles and then apply them to your process because I wouldn't try and say to you,

you need to bring your whole team together every week, you know, and put them all in the same room because you just can't do that. You're spread out over all these locations. But I'll tell you what we do. And then maybe we can talk through like, what from that can we glean, right? Yes, please. So every week we get together. And as the month goes by, we kind of hit on different things. So I'm not saying that every week we have a whole session on just quarter. values. But every month we do, and as we go through the month, we'll do things like one, one week is going to be about celebrating team members. And maybe it's new team members. And we pray for them as they join the team. Or we celebrate, you know, you've been here a year,

you've been here five, 10, 15, 20 years. We do those kind of celebrations. And then one of the other weeks in the month is, hey, we're going to deep dive on something that's going on in the business. So this part of the company, they're going to explain this is what we're doing this is our new thing okay this is the plan that we're working on and also here is how it's going we're actually behind here or we're ahead here and we we talk shop okay and the whole team knows that this part of the company is you know this is what they're they're going after and and this is kind of the the update on that and our leadership team talks about that not just not just dave and daniel okay the dave is there less now and daniel runs the majority of those meetings

Okay. Daniel or a board member. So somebody from the senior leadership team. And then one of the other things we do is pretty much every month, we hit one of the core values. Okay. And I'll say from your seat, I can appreciate that that's going to get repetitive. But as soon as you start to get sick of hearing yourself say it, you're starting to say it enough. Okay.

Because it just leaks. People just forget that stuff. and then you hire new people. And I understand you're spread out. You're in a lot of different locations. So it's gonna look different for you than it does for us. But you could do that via a Zoom meeting,

or even just a recording that you send out or an email that you send out. But they really need to hear from you and your heart of this is the North Star, this is where we're going, this is why it matters. Then the other thing that we do that I think could be really valuable for you is we celebrate when one of our team

members lives out our car values. Yeah, I love that. So one of your middle managers, you know, you wanna pour into them. One way that you can do that is, is catching one of them doing something right. Absolutely. And then celebrating that in front of everybody.

Okay. You know, it's one thing to go to their office or, you know, have a conversation with say, you know, Jim, I just loved that you did this, you know, you went this extra mile, you did whatever it was. But to celebrate that person in front of the whole team. Yeah.

then everybody sees what you're looking for. Everybody sees you celebrate that person. That isn't necessarily the same thing as being able to sit with them kneecap to kneecap and build a relationship. But I'm sorry to say, I'm sorry, not sorry, that it's a both-and situation. Yes.

Right? From you, your heart, your vision, they need to know that North Star. And they need to be reminded of the why, because gosh, what you do is, is tough. It's tough work. It's tough emotionally. I imagine the hours are crazy sometimes.

That really is genuinely very tough work. And being really tied to the why is got to be the fuel in their fire to keep people going. And then knowing that they have an environment that's safe and they have leaders that care about them, you know, it might sound funny. But I remember, you know, I've heard pastors say it many times at church. You spell love, T-I-M-E. And how we grow people is by just loving them well. Yes, yes. And we can't substitute anything but spending time with them.

I love that. I think probably one of the biggest lessons in leadership is figuring out that it's actually about just caring for your people. So, yeah, I love how you say that. And I love how you say the North Star. I think that's a really good, a really good reminder too. We'll get right back to our episode. But first, I want to talk about company culture for a minute. A vision statement is important, but it's not a company culture.

Friday pizza parties aren't either. Your company culture is what your team feels like when they work there. And there's something that I've learned. Overwhelmed leaders, create overwhelmed teams. And if you're constantly reactive, buried in your inbox, and running from meeting to meeting, that stress eventually becomes your culture. That's why I love Belay. Belay matches you with executive assistants

who can take those repetitive day-to-day tasks off your plate and help you get some margin back in your calendar. And margin matters, because when leaders finally have space to think, communicate clearly, and cast vision, healthy culture gets built on purpose, not by accident. And look, I know the people at Belay. I know Trisha, their CEO and her leadership team, and they want to help you.

And right now, Belay has a free resource, for you. It's called Culture Clarity, and you can download it for free by texting Entree to 55123. That's E-N-T-R-E to 55-1-2-3. Now, let's get back to our episode. What would you say throughout maybe your career was something that maybe a leader did for you that was so impactful? I think my challenge with that question is, is thinking which one? Because a lot of leaders have done a lot of things, but I'll tell you a story. Okay. So October 14th, 2022, I was in a budgeting meeting. Okay.

And I had a heart attack at the office. Wow. In the meeting? In the meeting. Wow. And before it was over, the emergency services people were there. And looking at me on the floor and I said, Mr. Falcons, you're having a heart attack. And, you know, that wasn't on my bingo card for the day.

Right. But I was there. I'll tell you one funny thing, too. I was there in the emergency room while they're getting me ready for surgery. And I had a fitness tracker on my arm. And they couldn't get it off. Oh, sure.

And they said, what is this? How do you get this thing off? And they weren't panicking, but they were asking me. And I'm like, I don't know. I have other things on my mind right now. And I kind of turned my head for whatever reason. And I looked, and Daniel Ramsey was standing in the hall. And I said, he wears one.

he'll know how to get it off his arm or my arm. And so they said, come here. And so then he comes in and he takes it off my arm and he goes back out. And they asked me, they said, who's that? I said, that's my friend from work. And I don't know why I did it, but I said, and I worked for Dave Ramsey, and that's his son. I just felt like it was a good time to brag, you know, as I'm getting ready to go into surgery. And these two nurses stopped and looked at me and they both said, we hope you're paying cash today. And they thought they were real funny. But anyhow, I go in and they take good care of me.

But the thing that impacted me so much was not that Daniel was there in that moment, but my son was sitting in the waiting room, wondering if his dad was going to live or die. And Daniel sat there with him for hours while I was inserted. My wife was out of town and she was racing back to be there, but my son was by himself. Yeah.

And Daniel sat with him that day, and I'll never forget that. And Daniel didn't do that to manipulate me or anything. He did that because that's how he cares for me and for everybody on our team. Yeah. You know, I mean, that just blew me away. And now, like I said, he didn't do it to manipulate me, but the loyalty that I have to Daniel as a leader is, you know, unquestioned. Yes.

I think that shows a lot of how we, as leaders, need to. need to show up. You talk about retention and all those different things. Those are solved once people feel loved and cared for outside of work. We focus a lot about on that. We offer services to businesses locally, and we tell them if your people aren't dealing with crisis outside of work, they can show up better for you at work. Absolutely.

And so it's, yeah, just those humbling moments as a leader of the audit can wait. The donor can wait, you know, what truly needs the attention. Yeah, I've talked to a lot of people in your role that are executive directors of nonprofit, and they say the crux of the whole thing is their team. Is your team 100% paid, or do you have volunteers? Yes, we do have some volunteers, especially that work at our thrift store. So we have a thrift store that the proceeds come back into the operating budget. So we have some volunteers.

Yeah. You know, I understand that some are paid and some aren't paid, but in today's work environment, kind of everybody's a volunteer. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, you're right. Because they can go someplace else if they want to, right? Yes. Let me ask you, just as we're talking about this,

is there anything that comes to mind that you think, you know, I could do this, or we could do this to just spend more time with our folks? I think just being more intentional and proactive. I think if you're not intentional as a leader, you can just be caught in the weeds and caught in the fire and just going from one thing to next instead of stopping and saying,

when's the last time I looked at those core values, or when am I going to, you know, the different towns to see people. And so I think that's what's sticking out in my mind is, I need to be putting in the calendar for when I'm going to see everybody two or three months in advance. So that as the calendar gets full, that that's not the thing that goes to the wayside.

Yeah, I think that would be fantastic. And I would also encourage you, don't take that all on yourself. You know, absolutely. do what you're talking about, but then talk to your leadership team and say, y'all, this is what we need to be doing. We all need to pour into our people. I'm going to be doing this, and I really am asking you and expecting you to set intentional time apart, because you can't do it all yourself. Yeah, yeah. But it sounds like you've built a good leadership team, and with them, I think you can probably get to that next level of leadership and invest in them like you want. Because at the end of the

you don't build the business. You grow people that build the business. Yes. And that's what you need to do. Yes, absolutely. That's great. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us. Yeah, thanks for having me. I love talking to you. Yeah, it was nice to meet you. That's awesome. Yeah, thank you. Building a team of rock star leaders doesn't happen by accident. It requires building relationships. It requires intentionally sharing your vision and your values as often as possible. That's how you create leaders who think like you, who make decisions like you, who run your business the way you would, even if you're not in the room. But the best leaders I know aren't just pouring into others, they have other people pouring into them. It's why we have an entire team of coaches ready to help you overcome your challenges and grow your business, just like John did for Jessica.

Just click the link in the description to schedule your free 30-minute consultation call. today. And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, share, and subscribe for more real-world content. I'm your host Dave Ramsey and this is Entree Leadership.