Inward Inquiry, LLC

I am thrilled to give a keynote on Friday to the group. My keynote “Storytelling as a Hard Skill: Excavating Your Experiential Wisdom” is designed to inspire and equip the next generation of entrepreneurs to share their stories authentically. Stay tuned for more!

My phone recently died. So I walked into my provider’s store and what followed was some of the worst customer service I’ve had in years.

Cold, disengaged and zero communication. Another customer asked about the wait and got silence. He stormed out. I tried a softer approach and got “you can do whatever you want, we’re open till 7.”

So we left and went to a different location. Completely different energy: Warm greeting, the wait time communicated, and we didn’t feel like a burden. Same company but two completely different cultures.

When I mentioned the first store, the employee nodded: “That’s the headquarters branch…they get bad reviews all the time, they are understaffed and miserable.”

And there it was! Culture is a mirror. What it reflects on the outside almost always starts on the inside. The real question isn’t “how do we improve our customer experience?”

It’s this: What are we building internally that permeates to the customer?

If I had to describe workplace culture in one word, it’s relationships. It’s at the center of everything an organization does. Time and time again, I’ve found that people are willing to stay in workplaces where they’ve found community and belonging; even if it’s not their dream job.

When I work with organizations, the very first pillar we focus on is “People” and the core competency within that is “Relationship-building.” It’s not a soft skill, it’s an essential foundation.

Want to change your culture? Start by building relationships.

Committees have the power to enact massive changes — or be a massive waste of time.

If you’re curious about starting a Culture Committee, send me a message so I can help you avoid common pitfalls I have seen.