Workplace Culture. The Culture You Create

Season 2 Episode 9 Workplace Culture. The Culture You Create

Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to Morning Coffee and Mimosas. I'm Christina. And I'm Joe. We are a father-daughter duo. We come here Sunday mornings, but you can come here anytime you please. We banter about life, about business, and we do it over coffee and mimosas.

Good morning. Good morning, FAJ. 

Speaker 2: Love you. Love you. This is so much fun. 

Speaker: What 

month is it? What year is it? 

Speaker 2: 2026, baby. We've lost track 

Speaker: listeners. 

Speaker 2: We have not lost track. We haven't. Christina has, we haven't missed a beat.

Speaker: Welcome. It's been a little while since we've talked to everybody. We missed you. 

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. But we're back. And, uh, We're gonna have some fun and we're going to talk about another wonderful topic. 

Speaker: Yeah. We've been busy at work building the morning [00:01:00] coffee and mimosa's culture. 

Speaker 2: That's right. 

Speaker: We've realized there was little toxicity happening within morning coffee and mimosa's there.

I think there was a little bit of acidity in the brew.

I'm just kidding. I, I 

don't 

Speaker 2: know what, you know. She's joking. I'm just kidding. There was no toxicity. Nothing at all. 

Speaker: But our topic today is about corporate culture, so it, that's, it felt like a good way to start. 

Speaker 2: Exactly. 

Speaker: Yeah. No, the, the, the coffee is always on point because that's, you know, mocha Joe over.

Here's big claim to fame is making sure that the beans. Are perfectly roasted, grinded and brewed. 

Speaker 2: There you go. There you go. Because it's very important to remember and to understand that coffee is one of the most important things in the world.

Speaker: It does keep things running smoothly. That's 

right. 

will go with [00:02:00] that Dad. That's right. Coffee. But in the business world, I think now is a fine time. Hopefully everybody enjoyed their holiday season. Uh, a very busy season. We were super busy. but hopefully everybody got to enjoy, relax a little bit and now we're kicking off the new year.

And I think what's better than talking about corporate culture and most importantly, how do we. Foster and build a positive company culture, business culture, and it doesn't need to be across your whole business. It could just be on your team, right? Wherever you can impact, how can we really think about how we can impact the culture around us as we step into our roles and, and try and make 2026 a really positive year for everybody that we engage with?

Speaker 2: Exactly. It's beautiful. So, so Christina, help me out. Is it 

Speaker: beautiful faj? 

Speaker 2: It is. And you're beautiful. Okay. Um, so what is blushing business culture? 

Speaker: Well, according [00:03:00] to Mrs. Miriam Webster,

um. Business culture is the shared personality of an organization defined by its collective values, beliefs, norms, behaviors, and practices that guide how employees interact, work, and make decisions. And that influences everything from daily operations and engagement to overall success and talent, attraction and retention.

So it is very important. And just in case there's anybody fact checking me, that was not actually from the Miriam. Webster dictionary. It was an i AI generation that Google pulled. So, okay. Um, just in case anybody does check that, that is not the, what is it called? 

Speaker 2: I don't know what you, I don't know where you're 

Speaker: going.

That's 

not the, that is not the source. Anybody cares. Okay. I, anybody cares. That's not the source. Yes. Um, 

Speaker 2: so, but culture is super 

Speaker: important because I think if, if you think back into your own business and [00:04:00] you look at the, the year that we just finished, So there is a lot of, there are a lot of external, uh, pretty transformational changes happening right now. Mm-hmm. That it's super important, that like, we're thinking about how do we keep people motivated and keep people grounded and excited about the work that they're doing.

Right. Roscoe, 

Speaker 2: right. And, and you know, what's, what's. Fascinating to me is, uh, as you've mentioned, when all of these things happen, AI and everything else, you know, with going on, at the end of the day, always it is people interaction and people's commitments and, and how people feel and morale and everything else.

Because your business survives by, you know, people. And like, now we're now talking about, You know, necessarily, uh, how you handle how your staff might handle, you know, customers and so on. But as I've always said, and I'm not, I didn't make it up, but how people always say your staff [00:05:00] can't be really nice to your, to their customers if they hate management or their unhappy with their managers.

You know what I mean? So culture is extremely important. In this, in this regard. And it's also, that's, 

Speaker: it's also, it's also something that is built slowly and can also deteriorate quickly if you're not careful. Correct. Correct. So I think, um, but the good news with that, right, is that if there's challenges with culture, and we'll talk a little bit about how we kind of look at identifying those, but if there's challenges, it's, it's not that hard to start.

Doing things that make a meaningful difference, that then over time, I think can compound to suddenly people feeling less apprehensive about speaking up or coming to work, et cetera. 

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. You're right, you're right. So, uh, so since it's not abstract and and so on, um, how does it [00:06:00] show up at at day to day?

You know, so culture really shows up day to day, you know, by how people, like you said, how they communicate, you know, how decisions get made. even, even, you know, meetings and so on. You know, do they start on time? Do they live late? Or you know, do people not care about the meetings and show up?

Or do they show up? 

Speaker: Well, and there's a big term that floats around right now, right? How are the vibes. 

Speaker 2: What's it called? 

Speaker: How are the vibes? Oh, how are the vibes? Are the vibes off? Right? Because you, it's easy to feel that, right? Like mm-hmm. I think in, when you think about corporate culture, like identifying, and this is huge too, if you're somebody who's looking for a new role or looking for a new company.

And, you know, that's one of the number one things I think, you know, in, in my, uh, when I think about what I do every day and the organization that I, I get to do it for, um, culture is one of the most important things and. Maintain that [00:07:00] positive culture being maintained for the long term. Right? And the impact that I can make on that is huge.

So as you're interviewing with other companies, or as you are interviewing candidates for your own company and your own team, looking for little things, right? How they talk about themselves, how they talk about their teams, how they talk about opportunities for collaboration. You can learn so much about the way somebody might approach culture or the culture of an organization.

What is the vibe that you get when you're on with that particular, you know, hiring manager, right. Or the um, you know, the recruiting staff. Is it, uh, you know, a, an open, uh, easy conversation? Does it feel at ease or do you feel on edge? 

Speaker 2: Right? That's right. And, uh, you know, liking people and, and people that, that go along with people is very, very important as far as people getting along.

Additionally, uh, in [00:08:00] for culture, can people, uh, express themselves in the sense of bringing. Uh, issues or problems to light, you know, uh, do they feel comfortable doing that? Is it, you know, will they feel punished if they bring it up? Because, um, in, in that regard, it's very important because when people feel, well, I'm not happy.

I have to put up with this and so on, but, uh, I don't want to say anything. I don't want my boss to get mad at me. Stuff like that, that. In impedes progress in a company, you know, that that is, becomes definitely a negative. And so that's part of culture, you know, going forward. So, 

Speaker: well, you're so right, like, there feedback that happens always?

Like is there just feedback that's coming top down? does staff and, and you know, like is there bottoms up feedback that comes up and are [00:09:00] people empowered and. Are they encouraged to share with their leaders and with other people what's working and what could make things better? Do they care to, like, don't you wanna work with an organization where you have people that care enough that they say, you know what, it's worth me sticking my neck out there because I care about this place.

Yeah. And I care about. The success. So, so you really need, like, I, I think to build that positive culture, you need, uh, an environment where everybody trusts each other enough to know that I can share openly as long as I'm doing it respectfully in a way that it will help the full cause. Right. 

Speaker 2: Right. Not, not be the, the critic that, you know, every day there's something being criticized, but We should have, You know, that openness where people can express themselves. 

Speaker: yeah, I mean I think that that's a huge, huge tell. The other thing is, you know, do you. Do you know how decisions are made? I think there's so much, that goes into culture [00:10:00] with there being, uh, an element of transparency like that, you know, how to be successful. there's consistency in how decisions are made and, and, you know, you know, there's predictability.

I think part of that is, is part of a positive culture. 'cause you can have like the nicest people, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and, and that goes a long way. Because, you know, a, a toxic culture can create environments where people are looking to leave faster than they come in. But, you know, you could be working with nice people, but, but if the systems and the, you know, if there's systemic issues with like, you know, uh, lack of transparency or favoritism and things like that that are happening, uh, it becomes really challenging for, for people to feel like.

Uh, you know, to foster that positive environment right. Either way. 

Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. So the employee experience and engagement, uh, another piece about culture [00:11:00] that helps the culture and so on is visibility. 

Speaker 3: What I'm saying is that it's with people not being in the office all the time and so on, that uh, it's very important that managers find a way to let, to compliment their specific employees to upper management. To explain who did what, why, things like that. That helps culture because if you are working from home and you feel like no one other than your manager or your coworkers know you or know what you do.

Y you know what I mean? It, it can be, it can a affect culture. 

Speaker 4: Totally. So here's a question. When in your world, uh, 'cause I'm thinking about my own, my own personal experience with this, we have to do a lot of that, right? Um, and I think that's true in any business where you have a lot of lines of business or business units and, and different leaders, you know, [00:12:00] that, that you have to, uh, you know, that you're serving.

Um. When you talk about that, right, creating visibility as a leader, how much are you? Creating the visibility for your employee or are you encouraging that employee to create the visibility for themselves? And what I mean by that is, um, I could certainly send a note that highlights a positive thing that my team has done and recognize the individuals who did said thing right to, let's say that the leadership chain.

What I've often done is suggest that the person that drove the, like let's say the the deal in my case, um. They send the note of the positive themselves, right? Recognizing, you know, all of the things that went into said positive thing [00:13:00] happening because I think that creates more visibility probably than I, I'm curious your perspective, because I think you could look at it two ways.

Am I skirting an opportunity to recognize that person directly and would it be meaningful coming from me as their leader? Um, or is that visibility for them directly more impactful? 

Speaker 3: when I say seniors, it doesn't have to be the president of the company, but whatever the organization is, you don't want.

Uh, 10, 20 people, you know, saying, hi, president, you know, I did this, I did that. That's not appropriate. However, um, one of the things they try to do is, um, if there is a presentation that needs to be made or whatever, let that person, you know, who wrote, you know, let your employee do the presentation or be part of the presentation.

If, uh, if there is something that is research done. Again, it all depends on the situation, but if there was research done. Or, or there [00:14:00] was, uh, something happened and it was fixed and how it was fixed. Having that person send. Here's what happened here was the thing, here's what we did, you know, and so on.

That's to your point. Yeah, absolutely. But it depends upon the situation. 

Speaker 4: Well, yeah. And it depends on, I think your, your company and the way that you operate. That's, and what kind of an open door policy you have and how much these individuals are maybe engaging with, you know, uh, the leaders as it is. But, it's, it's always something interesting, right?

Because like, I feel like as a leader, you know, I'm usually. More quietly behind the scenes when something is being celebrated. Right. Like, I may be celebrating the thing, but, um, but, but I'm not look like, I'm not looking to be the one celebrated. Right? No, but 

Speaker 3: but you don't need to because Right. Your executives already know you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they work with you directly. Yeah. So just think about that. But I think that that helps 

Speaker 4: to build culture though. If you think about, and, and probably like depending on who the people [00:15:00] are, you, you'll start to, to understand your team and like. Are they somebody who, that makes them uncomfortable to share positive news that it, it would be more meaningful for you to kind of give them a pat on the back?

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I, I don't know, but I think recognition is a really good way to build positive culture. And you can do that at any level, so, right. Um, you know, I think it's, it's very effective when. You work with other teams and collaborate across different groups, um, to look for any opportunity to it, it both, um, I think amplifies the good work that the whole group, including yourself is doing, but also gives you an opportunity to, you know, put a, you know, keep making a stamp towards positive culture because you're creating an environment where people are used to getting notes about positive things.

Um, and it also. It makes it a whole lot easier when you do have something that is challenging, that needs to [00:16:00] be addressed, that you don't, you're not just like the guy that always comes to people when there's an issue, but you also come to, you know, recognize the good work. 

Speaker 3: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. Now, uh, there are some clues.

So if you're thinking, listening to this and saying, well, I, you know, I don't know. I never really thought about this. You know, I never thought about. the culture, everything. What are the red flags? Everything Define exactly. So what are the red flags? You know? So some of them, you know, high turnover would, could be, could potentially be one.

Um, and, uh, lack of accountability. So, so where, where people are not now, you know, not held responsible or one way or another. You know, they're not, or not taking response, accountability, just kind of blowing it off, you know, things like that. 

Speaker 4: Well, and that's, I think, a danger when you have a culture, uh, you don't have a culture of accountability, right?

Like, 'cause I, positive cultures are cultures of high performance. Yeah. It's not a positive [00:17:00] culture if, you know, everybody is like really nice to one another, but nobody's getting anything done. Nothing. Yeah. So that's not positive. Right? Right. Because part of it is, you know, positive culture is people are getting rewarded, people are making money.

Speaker 3: Right. 

Speaker 4: You know, there's positive outcomes. 

Speaker 3: Right. And another, another clue is, you know, if, if people are fearful of, of making a decision or fearful of. And offering suggestions, things like that, that should be, you know, that these are like little things you can notice and, you know, instead of putting a bandaid on 'em, address them and so on.

Speaker 4: I think one of the sneakiest, uh, red flags and kind of like tells of, doesn't necessarily mean toxic culture. Either poor culture or, uh, start to, you know, kind of like dipping into that, you know, problematic culture is when you start hearing consistently and probably listeners, everybody will have heard this and we're all gonna be like nodding heads [00:18:00] like, yes, but the, that's just how we do things here.

Yeah. Oh, or 

Speaker 3: exactly. 

Speaker 4: It's out of my hands. That's just how things are done here. That's, yeah. And we've all said that. At different times. Right. But it's kind of like an opportunity to check ourselves and say, okay, well is that something that maybe we should look at changing? 

Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. 

Speaker 4: Because that's not an excuse.

Yeah. Well, is it the right thing to do? 

Speaker 3: Yeah. And to your point about how, you know, technology changes and things change, it's not just technology. Everything changes. People grow and develop. People are, you know, uh, new people come in, other people have left this and that, blah, blah, blah. Which means the way things have always been done, should never.

Always be that way there. There can, you need to find a way to, if someone, and this is where I I get into, is when you have a subordinate who has a suggestion, at least listen to it. Don't say, we've been doing it that way for five years, and that's what I want to keep [00:19:00] doing Well. You know, they're looking at it going, but this doesn't really make sense, you know?

Well, 

Speaker 4: it's a big sign of company politics, right? Correct. And you know, that goes back, it comes back to the trust. And in some cases, like we need to be able to stick our necks out and say like. When's the last time that was challenged? Like I understand there's a precedent. Mm-hmm. And that's how typically this corporate culture has worked.

And maybe politically that's kind of been a non-starter up to this point. But if we really look at all the data points and, you know, try and look objectively, is there a way to get the right people on board to at least have a conversation about it? Right. Because I think things like that. Like we've all had ideas or something that we've been probably championing that you ultimately get to that like, listen, great idea.

It's just not the time here. Right? That's right. Or that's just not that this, [00:20:00] this company culture or you know, the politics don't have the appetite for that kind of risk, whatever. Right. I think it goes a long way for company culture, for for our team members, for ourselves to at least see. That the idea was given, you know, the respect that it deserved to at least be, um, promoted to the right people or explored and even let some of those direct conversations happen for them to kind of like have a chance, you know, I think 

Speaker 3: Right.

I agree. 

Speaker 4: But that's been my biggest pet peeves, I think. Yeah. 

Speaker 3: So, you know, basically it's actually quite simple. Basically to fix all of this and to, you know, if you have the problems, because by the way, negative culture doesn't necessarily mean it all is bad, you know, that's why we, we kind of went through some of the, you know, uh, specifics of what you can identify.[00:21:00] 

Uh, so you may not have bad culture or whatever. It's just, there may be a piece of it that. Needs correcting and stuff. So that's why, you know, clear communication is very, very important. You know, uh, making sure people know what the expectations are, letting people know that they can talk to you, you know, and it's one of the things I believe in very strongly.

No matter what position, you can come in my office, close the door if you want, and you know. Blurt it out, whatever it is, and you're not gonna get fired, you know, you know, whatever we want to hear of it and, and open it up. Mm-hmm. You know, I always joke by the way, um, even though I'm talking about, you know, how to, how to clear these things up, but I'll never forget when I was in high school, one of my first jobs at the car, be.

One of the best jobs I've ever had. Would 

Speaker 4: you say that was the best corporate culture that you've ever been a part of? 

Speaker 3: Well, it was a fun culture, but I was a high school student and of course we had the owner, but I'll never forget one day, [00:22:00] uh, you know, I had a list when I closed at the end of the night.

It was a list of what the mopped the floor floors, clean the counters, you know, clean the equipment and all this stuff. And I'll never forget I happened to have, uh, on this, it was a Saturday, so I was opening the next morning. And my boss was, was the one who I, I didn't work the day before my, the owner worked and closed the night before, but I was opening for him the next day and he didn't mop and he didn't do some of the stuff.

And I'll never forget, I was really nervous, but I said, um, how come, how come you know the mo? I just want you to know like the mopping wasn't done, or whatever it is. And he goes. Hey, just do as I say, don't do as I do, 

Speaker 5: which is exactly what you don't wanna do, right? 

Speaker 3: So, 

Speaker 5: but at least it was a lesson I learned 

Speaker 3: as a 16-year-old.

Speaker 5: At least he acknowledged it. He did. He didn't say. What do you mean I didn't mop? 

Speaker 3: Right. [00:23:00] So all I could tell you is I started, uh, not criticizing my boss anymore. 

Speaker 4: But it was good that you brought that up though, because I think that's the kind of thing like, you know, PE we all need to be checked at times, right?

Yeah. Like if, if anybody, if we're not being accountable to the teams that we support, you know, to the leaders that, like honesty is, is critical, right? Mm-hmm. Like we. Because that's how you build trust and you keep trust. 

Speaker 3: Right, right. 

Speaker 4: So it was good that you were honest. 

Speaker 3: Right. And well, and, and I know how he felt.

He is like, you know, I got a million problem running this business and he had another store, you know, and all this stuff. And he is like, so you're gonna tell me I didn't mop? Just shut up. You mop. Show you're a high school student, you more on. So, but you know, anyway, a a couple 

Speaker 4: of, um, a couple questions. I think like, uh, that.

Could be asked to try and get to whether or not you've got, you know, a, a problem. I think as you're trying to understand with your team, like where do you, where do we fall? You know, from a [00:24:00] corporate culture perspective, I think there's a few things that you could be doing. Um, first of all, if you're new to an organization, you're coming in and you're in a position where you can maybe impact meaningful change, um.

Look at old exit interviews and try and, and, and ask HR for some, you know, uh, visibility into where the, where the highest turnover exists. I think that will give you a really good impression of where you might wanna start looking to see where you might have culture problems. Some other questions that you might wanna ask are, you know.

To your team as you're, you're talking to your team and, and I'm thinking about these things as I'm taking on a new team. You know, where are people hesitating instead of contributing? Mm-hmm. Um, open questions, right? Uh, what behaviors are we unintentionally rewarding? That maybe we shouldn't be. What frustrations keep coming up but don't get resolved.

Things like that where you're asking open questions and you're, you know, [00:25:00] encouraging people to share things that may feel uncomfortable, but recognizing that, you know, we need to know in order to make sure that we're creating an environment that's better. Okay. 

Speaker 3: Very good. 

Speaker 4: Is it? Very good. Very good. I'm glad you think so, FAJ, very hopefully the listeners agree.

Speaker 3: Well, I don't wanna have a bad culture here, so, you know,

so, and, and, and really to wrap this up, uh, be aware of the culture, be aware, and that's the, you know, the biggest thing. You know, you can't see things that you don't look at. Um, you know, just an, an example. Right. We all drive every day to work or this and that. We're all over the place. We see cars all over, and you ever notice if you're looking for a car or if you bought a new car, whatever, you start to notice that car and you say, oh, here's another one like that.

Here's another right. Point. He's just trying to bring up his lucid somehow. No, no, no, no, no. I see what you're doing [00:26:00] here. No, my point is can 

Speaker 4: we just get, can we get through one conversation without talking about the fact that you my beautiful car? Yeah. 

Speaker 3: But, uh, my point is that use that same strategy in the sense that we see things every day.

We go to work, everything is routine, blah, blah, blah. Kind of open your mind to, Hey, are people happy here? What could I do to improve the culture? What is it? So once you start being bringing that forward to the forward part of your brain, then some of these points that we have brought out will become up, come up front and you can deal with it.

And this can be cured. Any kind of problem you might have, and you never know when culture is good in a company. You're gonna make more money because you're gonna be more profitable. You're gonna be more productive, and people are going to be more apt to come up with great ideas or to take on additional [00:27:00] responsibilities.

And so on. 

Speaker 4: And people will be looking forward to the week ahead because they'll be invigorated by all that they could bring to the table. That's correct. That's correct. You are so right. Like look for, Every opportunity that you personally have to make a positive impact.

Absolutely. And if you do see something that. Could use changing, think about what could make it better and bring that up. So it's not just a complaint, but it's something productive. And I think correct. doesn't matter where you sit in the organization, we all have an opportunity to, to make a difference and change it.

You 

Speaker 3: got it. 

Speaker 4: So here's to 2026, a year of positive culture, high vibes, good times, and, uh. Maybe no dad jokes. 

Speaker 3: I don't know. See, 

Speaker 4: that's a, see. Thanks for being with us today, listeners. Thank you. We promise we won't take quite as long to bring our next episode to you, but we appreciate you coming back. [00:28:00] If you liked what you heard, please listen, subscribe, share with a friend, maybe share with somebody who's stepping into something new and could use to learn a little bit about culture.

Speaker 3: There. Go very good wherever you are. Whatever your story. Thanks for spending time with us this morning. Now go and make a difference in your world.

You know, do you know why crabs never volunteer? 'cause they're shellfish.

Speaker 5: Oh man, 

Speaker 3: I had that in my head the whole time. Did you? Thank you for putting up with us and everybody what restraint you exhibited? 

Speaker 5: Have a great week, everybody.