Culture By Design

One of the hardest things leaders have to do is communicate change effectively to their teams.  I invited Dr. Rachel Boehm today to help me uncover the key reasons why it can be such a struggle to get everyone on the same page when changes are coming. Dr. Boehm is an expert in organizational psychology and in our conversation, we unpack what might be going on with your people when announcements fa...

What makes a business valuable? Many owners assume it's revenue, growth, or years in operation. But according to business broker and M&A advisor Angie Scheribel, the factors that drive business value are often the same factors that create a healthier, stronger company in the first place. In this episode, I sit down with Angie to explore what buyers actually look for when evaluating a business,...

A lot of leaders know they want and need to develop a company culture, but they struggle with where to start. Dave Kuhnert reminds us that competence builds confidence and that clarity is the foundation of competence. In our conversation, we talk about how having clarity of your purpose and values and then bringing that clarity about who we are, what we value, and how that shows up day-to-day work...

Taking on a leadership role is hard. There are days when the mountain just feels too high, the problems too complex, and you’re not sure if you can keep going. Dr. Amy Thompson has keenly felt those moments of uncertainty over the last decade or so as she has moved from practicing pediatrician to her current role as CEO of Covenant Health.. I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside her, and she...

Have you ever looked at your customer experience metrics and thought, something feels off, but you can’t quite put your finger on why? Or maybe you’re trying to hire and compete for talent, and it feels like other companies just have more pull, even when you know your company offers something special. Here’s the hard truth: Your employer brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what your employees pro...

Business leaders often feel that everything is urgent in their business. The challenge is that when everything is urgent, team members are confused, important work doesn’t get done, and real priorities get lost in the shuffle. My guest today shares a take on approaching urgency in a way that supports progress and forward momentum. When Matt Kane describes the kind of urgency that benefits growth,...

When a leader is tasked with creating a major turnaround in a business, or even getting out of a plateau, culture might be the last thing on their mind. But being intentional about culture as a strategy that supports the bottom line can create outcomes and momentum that they never dreamed of. Mike Ware lived this when he was put at the helm of a 40-year-old organization that was literally days fro...

In this episode of Culture by Design , I’m joined by executive coach Diana Lowe for a thoughtful conversation about the inner work of leadership. Diana blends positive psychology with cognitive behavioral coaching to help leaders uncover the beliefs and patterns that shape how they show up at work. We explore why self-awareness is such a critical leadership skill, how outdated leadership paradigms...

Business owners often look to optimize systems and processes to achieve big goals.  But as my guest today can attest, without a solid foundation in culture, systems and processes will only take you so far.  Chris Seegers is a long-time owner of multiple businesses that he has stewarded through major transitions and growth. In this conversation, we talk about how people, processes, and profitabilit...

Our approach to company culture inevitably has to make some shifts when experiencing significant growth. What works for twenty employees in one location doesn’t have the same impact when it’s spread across multiple cities and hundreds of employees.  My guest today, Stephanie Henderson, has been through exactly that experience over her nineteen years at her former customer-service based company and...

When companies achieve significant growth, a strong cultural foundation is key to the long-term success and sustainability of that scale. My guest today, WoundCentrics COO Stuart Oertli, saw culture eroding after significant company growth. As WoundCentrics expanded, they also saw employee turnover rise to over 50%, and that churn was eating into energy and resources, negatively impacting the cult...

Many people talk about and recognize the importance of employee culture. But when it comes to identifying and defining what employee culture is, a lot of people struggle. At Talent Elevated, we define culture as shared attitudes, norms, behaviors, and beliefs. This is a broad definition, but it covers the many ways we bump into each other within organizations. As my guest today, executive coach Dr...

How do we successfully shift workplace cultures away from being driven by toxicity and fear? Reshaping company culture is never an overnight project. It requires an investment of time and resources and there is always a messy middle that leaders have to persevere through, even when it feels like team members are resisting change. But the outcomes of committing to culture change are absolutely wort...

Most often, clients come to Talent Elevated when they haven’t been paying attention to their culture and have reached the point of needing a total overhaul. So when founders come to us with an eye on proactively developing their company culture from the ground up, it’s an ideal scenario. For my guest today, building culture into the roots of the company has yielded tremendous success in employee r...

At too many companies, employee culture just sort of happens—shaped by haphazard norms and one-off events that don't create lasting impact. But culture is too important to be left to chance. Culture By Design is the podcast that makes employee culture a competitive advantage. As CEO of Talent Elevated, host Heather Smith helps leaders at small and mid-sized companies design intentional cultures th...