Building Better Cultures

Startups are known for being fluid, nimble and open to experimentation. In this episode of Building Better Cultures, Host Scott McInnes' guest is someone uniquely positioned to explain the mindset and best practices under which these ventures thrive. Chief Marketing Officer for MUSH, a Chicago-based food company that has experienced phenomenal growth, Jo shares not only her from-the-front observations in the start-up world but also links them back to some of the leadership experiences she has gleaned while at Fortune 500 companies such as PepsiCo. It turns out that early-stage companies and established enterprises alike have hard-earned lessons to learn – and to teach.

Startups done right embrace healthy workplace practices immediately out of the gate, even well before any formal HR function has been codified. Cultures that prioritize psychological safety, practice empathetic leadership and value internal communication set themselves up for the smoothest possible transition to maturity and scalability. Jo offers strategies for fostering employee engagement and building brand good will. She also describes the importance of building a "fine to fail" workplace environment in which leaders not only permit but encourage experimentation, risk and missteps.

Jo and Scott also get granular about exactly when the time is right to introduce a more formal HR function into the start-up structure. It's a transition that can be tough to make, but less so if leaders are equipped with the wisdom and perspective Jo has developed over her highly successful career across enterprises of all sizes and styles. Enjoy this lively, informative conversation!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Scott opens the conversation by eliciting some of Jo's origin story.
• After many years working at established companies, like PepsiCo, Jo has found the high-growth startup environment at MUSH creative and exciting.
• What does an employee-obsessed culture look like? Leadership and vision set the stage.
• People want to be involved with MUSH because of the sense of community that is central to the workplace and fosters the organic way in which partnerships are formed.
• Bigger organizations versus small: Does size matter when it comes to employee engagement? Not necessarily, if the right principles and practices are deployed.
• Some ways Jo sees that employee engagement can be improved:
• • Employee ownership – Adopt a cooperative model.
  • Employee longevity: Commit and stay close to the consumer.
  • Empower employees to do the right thing (even to the point of creating a P&L line item to underwrite acts of kindness to customers).
• How does Jo translate customer obsession to the back-office functions?
• • Make sure that – regardless of role – all employees spend time on the front lines with the consumers.
  • Integrating with customers is both fun and it generates passion for the business.
  • Leaders need to understand who their consumers are and then empower employees to deliver on that promise.
• Scott shares an anecdote about Haagen Dazs that encapsulates the power of customer touch and good will.
• Jeff Bezos's Day 1 Concept: It's essential to keep thinking like a startup because it keeps enterprises agile, experimental and hungry. Does Jo agree? Yes, and here are three reasons why:
• • Beginners' mindset: Drawn from the Buddhist concept of "shoshin," it refers to an attitude of openness, eagerness and a blank slate.
  • Failure as Data Acquisition: When leaders embrace mistakes, they open a path for creative problem-solving and advancement throughout the workplace culture.
  • Even if you don't know how, just start: Successful startups keep moving forward.
• Jo believes that when an employee is not a good internal fit – and for whatever reason not carrying their weight plus some – it's incumbent upon leaders to act swiftly and decisively.
• Startups don't have values-driven recruiting because they don't yet have an HR manual at all. Rather, it's about building an initial core A team.
• Start-up growth at some point depends on building out from the central players, which requires a concept Jo learned from this management article: Give Away Your Legos.
• At what point in the transition from startup to mature business do questions of shared values, workplace culture and internal communications come into play? Jo shares some basic parameters:
• • When your staff grows beyond 20 employees.
  • When you're no longer able to turn around and get quick answers from the collective hive, it's time to start writing things down.
  • When you get to about 150 in staffing, a robust HR function become essential.
• What can organizations and leaders within more established companies do to promote psychological safety in the workplace?
• • It has to start from the top! Leadership sets the stage.
  • Build moments of gratitude and solidarity into the week.
  • Always have curiosity. Openness breeds vital, collaborative workplace cultures.
• Test before you invest. In addition to being nimble, startups have to be smart, which means trying small-batch products before committing to the large.
• Experimentation means giving employees permission to innovate, fail and try again.
• Jo's best advice for how astute leaders can best help their people to shine:
• • Understand who your employees are, what motivates and excites them.
  • Locate the right person for the right job.
  • Reassure managers in a rapidly scaling enterprise that it's okay to share tasks and delegate roles.
  • Reinforce that there is room to fail and recover.
  • Share the load: Let team members in on challenges. It offers them an opportunity to take ownership – and buy-in breeds loyalty and commitment.
• We all get to the summit – but it's the hardness, the toughness and grit – that make for the most satisfying result.

ABOUT JO DUTTAJo @LinkedIn and @camillab on twitter

Company Website: www.eatmush.com

MUSH on Instagram: @MUSH; on Twitter @MUSHFoods; and on Facebook @MushFoods

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNESLearn more about Scott McInnes, your host and the Founder and Director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVOTo discover Workvivo, a workplace communication and engagement platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Culture in the workplace is often assumed to be human-to-human contact in the office environment, so the concept of culture in a solely remote business, on the surface, seems irrelevant. On this episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott discusses the importance of culture within a remote-only business framework with Camilla Boyer, an experienced speaker and Head of Internal Communications and Culture at Hopin.

Camilla shares her extensive background in public speaking and communication and reveals that promoting positive culture is not only possible in the remote setting, but also necessary for the success of the company. A key term that she uses throughout this episode is 'deliberate' – being more deliberate helps effectively shape a culture within companies, and this starts from the top down.

Camilla breaks the barriers of any preconceived notions one might have regarding culture in the virtual realm. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of remote-first business models in relation to culture, the interplay of values and why they should be promoted in the workplace, and how businesses moving forward should be advancing towards a hybrid- or remote-based workplace system.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The common thread that has tied Camilla's career is her effectiveness as a storyteller.

• The main benefit of being remote-first when hiring is the ability to hire purely based on talent without any proximal constraint, which allows much more freedom to hire anyone around the world

• Camilla looks for a few qualities when she hires people:
• • Someone who aligns with the company's values.
  • Someone who desires a remote job rather than simply tolerating one.
  • Someone who is self-directed and knows when to work and when not to work.

• The importance of the transparency of values within a company and how they can be promoted is two-fold: on the employee side, creating a common language internally is essential for coworkers to uphold values; and on the management side, guiding behaviour and making sure employees adhere to the rules.
• The downsides to remote hires are the inability to regulate employees' work-life balance – those who might be prone to over-working which can potentially lead to burnout, and the difficulty of ensuring everyone has sufficient information to effectively do their job.
• Onboarding at Hopin is a week-long event that helps incorporate real-world onboarding sessions on a virtual platform.
• Camilla addresses a couple different ways in which she is deliberate in fostering positive culture at Hopin:
  • How you talk about your culture and that comes through in the values – she received input from a representative sample of the company and formed values from their feedback, and incorporated those values in the hiring process and product decisions
  • How you enact your values – Hopin provides various seminars to bring people together
• Tools and resources within the company can help mitigate siloing – Camilla admits this is still a work in progress. At Hopin, there is a forum to match people from different sectors in the company to chat for 15 minutes.
• Often, the way in which a message is written may be misconstrued – Camilla addresses the importance of conveying the message so that it comes across in the way in which it was intended.
• Camilla is a strong advocate for moving forward and evolving with the times – it is foolish to believe that companies need to be in-person to thrive. Management within companies are realising that their employees are just as efficient remotely as they are in the office.
• The demise of some companies will be their requirement of working in-person – workers are recognising the flexibility and freedom that comes from working remotely.
• The schism of remote-first versus remote-forced mentalities boils down to a positive versus negative attitude. The focus should be shifted from adaptability to evolution – Camilla suggests companies pursue a remote-focused model, whether it is fully remote or hybrid.
• In remote systems, the importance of working with leaders to be more deliberate about how they communicate with their teams and how they are representing themselves, and the ability for the leaders to trust their teams requires hiring the correct people for the job.
• The 'watercooler moment' is a fallacy – it is a manufactured moment in a physical environment. Creating this in a virtual sense is difficult, yet possible.
• Remote-first doesn't mean contact is discouraged – when in-person contact does occur however, it becomes more valuable and more impactful.

Equality of experience is a huge factor that must always be considered in remote or hybrid work models. If an opportunity is available, it must be equally available for everyone – this is the main hurtle for hybrid companies to overcome.

ABOUT CAMILLA BOYERCamila @LinkedIn and @camillab on twitter

Company Website: www.hopin.com

Hopin on Instagram: @HopinHQ and on Twitter: @hopin

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNESLearn more about Scott McInnes, your host and the Founder and Director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVOTo discover Workvivo, a workplace communication and engagement platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

In this episode, Scott talks about why recognition, why it's important and some ways to do it in a way that's authentic and builds price among your people Key takeaways: ➡️ Recognition is an important leadership skill that improves employee engagement. ➡️ A simple 'Thank you' is often enough - but let people know why you're thanking them so they know what they've done ➡️ Recognition goes supersonic when you relate it to your values - show your people what living your values looks like day-to-day #internalcommunications #creatingconnections #culture #leadership #recognition #values #purpose

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'Shorts by Building Better Cultures' is a short-form podcast in which we share our tuppenceworth on subjects in the areas of leadership, employee engagement, organisational culture and internal communications.

#buildingbettercultures #BBCShorts #inspiringchange #creatingconnections

The culture and structure of military service is completely unique, and yet on some levels there are commonalities with commercial organizations of any type. In this episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott welcomes two front-line officers whose experience shaping the Irish Defence Forces offers lessons applicable within any workplace environment.

Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, recently retired Chief of Staff, and Sgt Rena Kennedy, Head of Internal Communications, have devoted their careers to fostering excellence in leadership and pride throughout the ranks. Like all complicated institutions, the Irish Defence Forces has its own challenges with internal communications, diversity, accountability and effective leadership.

Whether within a commercial enterprise or military line of duty, find out why the concept of Just Culture has an important role to play and how ego can undermine trust, pride and morale among IDF ranks – or among the ranks of enterprises of any other type. Many of the most innovative workplace ideas are generated within military institutions because of the many challenges that must be met: messaging across distributed locations, cross-generational communications styles, security requirements and an atmosphere in which soldiers, regardless of rank, feel safe admitting error.

Enjoy this fascinating exchange about the nature of accountability, tools for promoting individual growth within organizations and leadership techniques that engage team members at any level or stage of career development. Vice Admr Mellett and Sgt Kennedy offer perspectives that you'll find extremely thought-provoking.

To learn more about the Building Better Cultures podcast and related services, visit www.buildingbettercultures.com

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Mark felt the call to military service early, first volunteering with the Irish Defence Forces as a 14-year-old reservist and ultimately launching a multi-decade career upon signing up to be a cadet at 18.
• Rena has 27 years of service, mostly spent in the communications space. She, too, was inspired early as a schoolgirl impressed by the role of the Irish Defence Forces serving with the United Nations.
• The true nature of leadership within the military framework and how it has evolved over the course of Mark's tenure. Diversity of thought is key, and something impressed upon Mark from his earliest experience in military service.
• About the three strands that together define IDF leadership:
• • Warrior – Tip of the spear.
  • Scholar – Open, reflective, growth-oriented mindset.
  • Diplomat – Able to bring complex, diverse institutions and professions together with a common vision.
• Diplomacy is a critical tool for collaboration and progress across military and civilian sectors alike.
• Rank has a role to play in executing missions, but for Mark, competence is the glue that binds teams together and creates a unified, highly effective culture.
• Ego is the enemy of rank – a toxic ingredient that can put at risk the fabric of operations and undermine the authority of those in leadership.
• When Rena and Mark work together they bring diversity of age, gender and perspective that plays a critical role in advancing teams in unison.
• Whether in military or civilian, commercial culture, the fact that you have a title in no way guarantees that people will follow or execute your wishes.
• Communications in the military and corporate spheres may differ, but they share the fundamental challenge to disseminate information effectively and accurately.
• Email is one of the means for delivering messages, but the IDF deploys other modalities that may not be "cool" but get the job done. Flags, for instance!
• Delivering a singular message to a cross-generational, broadly distributed audience with security requirements is a primary challenge for Rena. Communications are increasingly pushed through hand-held social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but there are limits to those formats and the personnel they reach.
• Administrative and more routine internal communications involve messaging strategies quite distinct from operational tasking up and down the ranks. Among Rena's tasks is the mandate to support IDF service members and their families with as much lead time and information as possible.
• Things the IDF have done to enhance communications skills and efficacy?
• • Create a clear presence for Public Affairs representatives within units.
  • Give trainings to teach representatives how best to manage press interactions, compose internal memos, encourage leaders in each barracks to engage in face-to-face communications.
  • Provide augmented educational opportunities to service members at every level and stage of their career.
• The message received often isn't the message given. Mark shares a tale of miscommunication involving a banquet centerpiece gone wrong.
• Just Culture: Why normalizing openness to dissent isn't at odds with military structure. If decision-makers are afraid to admit error, there is no basis for the trust and accountability necessary to turn that error into a "lessons learned" process.
• Leaders must be able to discern between errors and violations, the latter being intentional and pernicious.
• At the center of Just Culture is psychological safety. Mark believes it's paramount that nobody should feel uncomfortable in the workplace and that establishing an atmosphere of safety – and follow-through – is the responsibility of leadership to provide.
• Pride of purpose is rooted in recognition and respect. Offering thanks both publicly and privately (as with the recent very challenging operation in Afghanistan) knits pride into the culture.
• The IDF's Values Award highlights objective examples of bravery, selflessness, loyalty, physical and moral courage. It's also a powerful internal communications tool showcasing individual commitment to core values.
• Looking back on his highly successful career, Mark is most proud of his efforts to foster meaningful authority that reflects the strength in collaboration, communication and unity.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Mark Mellet - @LinkedIn

Rena Kennedy - @LinkedIn

IDF Website: www.military.ie

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES

Learn more about Scott McInnes, Founder and Director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVOTo discover Workvivo, a workplace communication and engagement platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

In this episode, Scott talks about why podcasting isn't just an entertainment medium for millions of people around the world. Organisations - American Airlines, Tata Steel, Deloitte, Permanent TSB and more - are starting to realise that using podcasting internally for staff and harnessing the human voice brings a new level of authenticity, empathy and understanding to communications. Key takeaways: ➡️ Organisations large and small are now using podcasting to reach their staff wherever they are. ➡️ The bar to entry is low - it's not expensive and you don't need loads of experience or oodles of equipment ➡️ It's a great way to put your people and their stories at the centre of your internal comms by giving them a hand in creating them in the first place. #internalcommunications #creatingconnections #culture #leadership #podcasting #ICChannels

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'Shorts by Building Better Cultures' is a short-form podcast in which we share our tuppenceworth on subjects in the areas of leadership, employee engagement, organisational culture and internal communications.

#buildingbettercultures #BBCShorts #inspiringchange #creatingconnections

There is a reason that storytelling has been a primal means of communication dating back to our earliest tribal traditions. In this episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott McInnes's guest, Eoghan Tomás McDermott explains why – and how – people across the spectrum of business, sports and public service arenas can benefit from deploying the power of narrative. All it takes is awareness, guidance and practice!

Managing Director of The Communications Clinic, Eoghan works with clients to help them put in place the building blocks for compelling communications, both internal and external. His expertise centers around three core competencies:

• Strategic communications, PR, crisis communications and story placement
• Corporate training and coaching
• Careers and job interview preparation

But it is storytelling that's the thread that links all of the above. Since its founding in 2008, The Communications Clinic has helped people at all levels of leadership identify, locate and articulate the personal, memorable details that make for effective communications. It's a skill and rhetorical device that engages audiences with even the most abstract of data or statistics, bringing home the "why we should care."

Eoghan shares compelling anecdotes about clients who have found their voice through articulating vivid details behind what otherwise might register simply as impersonal facts. He and Scott share stories about helping leaders find an authentic voice, one that communicates branding by reaching people in meaningful ways. Whether cultivating loyalty and commitment internally among company ranks or projecting an effective, resonant message outward to clients, the power of connection cannot be underestimated. Find out why – and how to begin building connections today!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Eoghan shares a bit about The Communications Clinic, its founding and areas of focus.
• Storytelling as a valuable communications tool – not just a buzz word.
• Moving things from the conceptual to the real; abstract strategy doesn't have the "stickability" that a narrative does.
• Written versus Oral: Why there is such a lineage of storytelling in religious and other tribal traditions.
• The critical elements of storytelling:
• • Moving from general concepts and statistics, to the specific.
  • Vivid detail that enable audiences to fully use their imaginations.
  • A deliberate and satisfying structure: the before, the catalyst, the after.
• It's the combination of data and story that gives a message credibility.
• A critical piece: making old things feel new and new things feel familiar.
• Linking and Labeling: The challenge for leaders to learn how to communicate the big picture that drives and inspires employee commitment.
• Three mutually reinforcing elements foundational to effective messaging:
• • Substance to back up and elucidate subject matter.
  • Technique to render subjects interesting, understandable and memorable.
  • Clear, compelling communication to draw audiences in.
• How to help leaders in need of help with their communication style:
• • Establish where you are and hope to go as a corporate entity.
  • Understand your audience and what motivates those you're addressing.
  • Provide a suite of different stories that will resonate in different situations.
• Case studies can provide the framework for powerfully vivid, relatable stories.
• Authenticity isn't innate to everyone, but it is a skill that can be cultivated with help and practice.
• Verbally practicing a pitch or presentation is critical to performing comfortably and effectively. There's no substitute for rehearsing your story!
• Believing your own story is crucial to communicating confidence and authenticity.
• Practice makes perfect when it comes to communications fluency from start to finish.
• Being able to tell a story is a fundamental skill for all people at all career stages, from job applicant to C-suite leadership.

To learn more about the Building Better Cultures podcast and related services, visit www.buildingbettercultures.com

To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

ABOUT EOGHAN TOMAS MCDERMOTT Company Website: https://communicationsclinic.ie/

Book: "The Career Doctor: How To Get - And Keep - The Job You Want

Eoghan @LinkedIn and @Twitter

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES Learn more about Scott McInnes, Founder and Director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVO To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication and engagement platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

The summer of 2020 brought a reckoning on race around the world that few anticipated, but we may have all needed. After the months of Black Lives Matter protests and racial reconciliation, organizations and individuals alike have been left to grapple with what it actually looks like to promote diversity in the workplace.

On this episode of the Building Better Cultures podcast, host Scott McInnes sits down with global DEI thought leader Wema Hoover to talk all things diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), how the virtual work environment has brought this concept to the forefront in new ways, and how organizations can work to effect lasting change for their leaders and employees.

Wema believes the "right" way to approach DEI is different for each individual organization, but that doesn't negate the fact that DEI is an essential aspect to a successful organization. During her time at some of the world's biggest companies— including Google, Pfizer, and Bristol-Myers-Squibb—Wema saw firsthand what it takes to promote DEI in the workplace and put in place KPIs to measure how DEI is progressing and changing a company's culture.

Scott and Wema finish their conversation by talking through the many benefits promoting diversity can have on an organization, including the ability to recognize differences in your customer base and creating a purpose-driven organization your employees actually want to work for. Creating a work environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion is not easy, Wema says, but in order to do so, organizations must look at their stats and listen to their employees, while employees work to find the courage to raise their voice.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Wema's journey to becoming a global DEI thought leader.
• COVID-19's impact on diversity, inclusion, equity, and mental health in the workplace.
• Corporations now have a bigger role to play than ever in addressing the fact that there is little to no separation between personal time and work time, due to an increasingly virtual working environment.
• An introduction to and definition of DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Why it's critical for organizations to get their DEI strategies right, and what "right" looks like.
  • It's critical both to have an ambition and to have a strategy to combat apathy in employees.
• One of the biggest barriers to creating a culture of DEI in organizations is the desire to do good, but thinking that desire is good enough to effect change.
• Organizations need to ask questions of themselves and their teams to create parallels and pathways to educate their organization.
• Success in DEI looks like evolving your organization's culture.
• To move the needle in the area of DEI, leaders need to:
  • Start by understanding themselves.
  • Create a space for dialogue.
  • Make DEI more than a one-time thing, but part of Management 101 basics.
• If you're a leader who's not part of a marginalized group, you need to be courageous and unafraid of asking questions.
• Asking and seeking to understand creates new norms for your organization and teams.
• Great leaders step up and recognize the absence of empathy and humility in themselves and their company culture.
• Wema believes that leaders should put measures and KPIs in place to effect lasting change when it comes to DEI.
• The types of KPIs an organization can use to promote diversity and inclusion include:
  • Data
    • Hiring stats
    • Promotion demographics
    • Leadership demographics
  • Talent programs
  • Engagement surveys
• The channels for success in the C-suite are sometimes so narrow, Wema believes organizations need to widen those channels to promote DEI.
• Quotas on diversity become insignificant when channels for success are broadened.
• The benefits to organizations of having a more diverse and equitable workforce include:
  • Harnessing the full complement of your organization
  • Recognizing the differences in your customer base
  • Promoting a purpose-driven organization that employees want to work for
• Wema believes that the future is now when it comes to DEI and moving the social climate forward.
• The first things to do on your DEI journey, according to Wema:
  • Organization
    • Look at your stats
    • Have a channel to listen to employees
  • Individual
    • Raise your voice

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES

Learn more about Scott McInnes, founder and director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVO

To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

Our world was flipped upside-down when COVID-19 entered the vernacular in 2020, and virtually everything, including how and where we work, changed. Eighteen months into the pandemic has society adjusting to this "new normal" in ways few could have predicted. One of those adjustments? —working remotely has become much more of the rule than an exception.

On this episode of the Building Better Cultures podcast, host Scott McInnes sits down with bestselling author and CEO Chris Dyer to discuss all things remote work and how it has affected both managers and employees. Chris is the author of The Power of Company Culture and Remote Work. A self-described remote work leader and advocate, Chris is a firm believer in the fact that company culture is built not through in-person chats at the watercooler, but instead by principles like transparency, listening, mistakes, and recognition—all things that can be practiced whether workers are together around a table or meeting via Zoom.

Throughout their conversation, Chris and Scott share practical examples of remote work success stories, the reasons why hybrid work is inherently difficult, and the types of meetings Chris and his team use to signal expectations no matter where employees are joining from.

Although remote work can have its difficulties, Chris and Scott both agreed that this new form of work, spurred on by the pandemic, is here to stay and should be embraced for its many benefits.

Grab a copy of Chris's new book here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• About Chris, an accidental expert in remote work.
• Chris's definition of what an amazing culture looks like.
• The pillars of great company culture:
  • Transparency
  • Positive leadership
  • Being good listeners
  • Celebrating what makes us unique
  • Recognition programs
  • Mistakes
• Why transparency is hands-down the foundational pillar of amazing company culture.
• Chris saw the most transparency during COVID, because companies actually had the time to share and they were all in the mess together.
• Good company culture isn't impacted negatively by remote work because good leaders know how to lead well from anywhere.
• Chris's biggest problem is his people overworking, not underworking when they're remote.
• It's hard work to figure out how to do remote work and remote management well.
• Leadership failures and how leaders can become better for their employees.
• The giant pile of work waiting when you get back is often why Americans don't take vacation.
• Practical ideas Chris's teams use to help employees taking vacation not work while out of the office.
  • How to help the employee avoid FOMO while they're on vacation.
  • Carve-outs for salespeople who are closing a sale while they're out.
• Hybrid work is inherently problematic because it forces a square peg into a round hole and everyone is at a different place.
• Remote work is successful when we use the familiar "signposts" of in-person work that we're all used to.
• The types of meetings Chris and his team use to signal to team members what to expect:
  • Cockroach meetings
  • Ostrich meetings
  • Tiger meetings
  • Tsunami-planning meetings
• The talent opportunities remote work presents in this new world of work.

Benefits of remote work for employees is varied and needs to be communicated by employers.

ABOUT CHRIS DYER

Chris's website: https://chrisdyer.com/

Twitter: @ChrisPDyer

LinkedIn: Chris Dyer

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES

Learn more about Scott McInnes, founder and director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVO

To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

At this point in the pandemic, none of us are strangers to change. But for Kyoko Minegishi, change has been the one and only constants in a life full of cross-cultural moves, varied leadership positions, and now spearheading a startup with an eye on the convergence of living spaces and robotics.

On this episode of the Building Better Cultures podcast, host Scott McInnes talks with Kyoko, the vice president of marketing for transformable furniture company Ori, about what forms change has taken in her own life, how change affects her teams, and why change is and always will be a driver of progress in company culture.

Kyoko began her career in the music industry, right when the traditional model of record companies and labels was making way for the digital age of streaming. She then spent time at Red Bull, helping transform the beverage company into the sports and adventure brand it's known as today. Recently she landed at Ori, a startup bent on transforming the way we see and live in spaces through tech-driven furniture and architecture.

That's a lot of change for one individual to manage, but Kyoko has used the changes to her advantage—driving the way she views company culture and creating effective communications both externally and internally. Throughout their conversation, Scott and Kyoko touch on how to maintain and enhance a culture of community despite the constraints of the pandemic, why companies need to maintain a constant level of engagement with their teams, and how poor internal communication can really hurt a company's bottom line.

The episode wraps up with a look at hybrid work and how to build culture despite employees working from different locations. Kyoko believes listening to your employees and customizing communications to their needs and preferences is key to not only increased success and productivity, but also necessary for success in this new hybrid work world we're all living in.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• An introduction to Kyoko and a look at her upbringing in the midst of constant change.
• Kyoko's journey from starting in the music industry and transforming Red Bull into a media business to landing at Ori, where she now helps people maximize and enhance spaces.
• Kyoko's thoughts on creating a culture of hyper-transformation at its core.
  • Culture is a nonnegotiable for Kyoko because it bonds a business and team together, and if there's a lack of culture there's a cost to the bottom line.
• The sense of community in culture has suffered over the last 18 months of the pandemic.
• Companies maintain a constant level of engagement with their employees—even in the presence of hybrid work models—through intentionality, flexibility, and creating meaningful moments, even online.
• Kyoko's transformation of Red Bull's brand from a beverage company to a sports/adventure brand.
• Kyoko's keys to creating culture during her tenure at Red Bull:
  • Being intentional about bringing people together and creating a bond of community
  • Global conferences every year
  • Connecting with communities
  • Mix of people on teams
• Red Bull's high-octane energy externally was also true on the inside, and it was driven by passion.
• The story-first approach and person-first approach Red Bull championed while Kyoko was there gave its individuals and teams "wings."
• Culture is all about people, according to Kyoko.
• Poor internal communication can be detrimental to a company's bottom line because change is constant and team members can get lost if comms are poor.
• In order to communicate effectively, you need to ask yourself these two questions:
  • Who's your audience and what's their current reality?
  • What are you trying to actually achieve with that communication?
• Poor internal communication is often due to a lack of follow-through when it comes to relaying a message.
• Internal communications need to be paired with empathy and the correct tools to leverage that information into something useful and productive.
• The most important thing in the current state of hybrid work we find ourselves in is being connected with the workforce you're communicating with.
• Kyoko believes it depends on the work and workforce to see whether hybrid work will be successful.
• Customize for your audience to make sure whatever you're relating to them is workable and effective.
• Listening to your workforce about how you're developing and progressing is crucial for success in this new hybrid work world.
• Culture in startups is ignited by the founder and founding teams.
• Kyoko's current experience at Ori shows that behaviour really brings to life the culture of the company.
• It's tricky to determine when to formalize and instill a cultural muscle into a startup to allow it to grow its own company culture.
• Kyoko's biggest drivers of culture: behaviour and decision making.

ABOUT KYOKO MINEGISHI

LinkedIn: Kyoko Minegishi Twitter: @KY0_co

Ori website: https://www.oriliving.com/

ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES

Learn more about Scott McInnes, founder and director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

ABOUT WORKVIVO To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here.

In this episode, Scott talks about why connecting your people to your strategy is so important and how an inspiring story can help you capture their hearts and their minds. Key takeaways: ➡️ Why strategy is a necessary evil. ➡️ How you can create a story that brings your strategy to life and connects with your people. ➡️ Why leaders are so critical in translating that strategy for teams across your business. #internalcommunications #creatingconnections #culture #leadership #corporatenarrative #inspiringstories #winningheartsandminds