Show Notes: Christopher Gilbert – Culture Is the Customer Experience: Leading from the Inside Out

Episode 185 of The HaltingWinter Podcast

Overview

In this episode, Seth Winterhalter sits down with Christopher Gilbert, Township Administrator of Springfield Township, Ohio, to explore how customer service isn’t just a frontline task, it’s a leadership philosophy. With a background in engineering and a passion for systems, Chris shares how he led a cultural shift across the organization that made public service smoother, faster, and more human.

For Chris, the goal isn’t just “better service.” It’s building trust by making every city interaction feel respectful, responsive, and frictionless. This conversation is a masterclass in what it means to lead from the inside out—designing teams, training, and systems that turn municipal values into resident experiences.

Episode Highlights:

• More Than Manners: Why Chris’s customer service initiative focused on culture, not scripts and how that changed everything

• Removing Friction: How Springfield redesigned internal workflows to make city services easier to access and navigate

• Cross-Department Consistency: What it takes to build a shared service philosophy across multiple teams and touchpoints

• Leadership Through Systems: Why good leaders don’t just solve problems—they create structures that solve them over and over

• Transparency as a Trust Strategy: How showing residents what’s happening behind the scenes strengthens public confidence

• From Tactical to Strategic: His journey from city engineer to city manager and how technical skills gave way to people-first thinking

Connect with Christopher Gilbert:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-gilbert

Connect with Seth Winterhalter:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sethwinterhalter Website: www.HaltingWinter.com

About HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions

At HaltingWinter, we help local government leaders build thriving teams and resilient workplace cultures through keynotes, workshops, and leadership development programs rooted in the ABCs of Impactful Leadership.

Learn more at HaltingWinter.com

Seth's Upcoming Keynotes:

2025 South Carolina APWA Chapter Annual Conference June 24 | Spartanburg, SC Details at SCAPWA

2025 Kentucky League of Cities Conference & Expo September 24 | Owensboro, KY Details at KLC

2025 Kansas City/County Management Association Annual Conference December 4 | Manhattan, KS Details at KCMA

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