Oct. 14, 2025

The Culture Cure: Healing Toxic Workplaces from the Inside Out

The Culture Cure: Healing Toxic Workplaces from the Inside Out
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Toxicity spreads silently, eroding morale, health, and performance. Marilyn Vetter, who transitioned from executive leadership in big pharma to leading a nonprofit, brings her wisdom on what it takes to identify toxicity and cure it. We’ll dive into what leaders must unlearn, why the C-suite often neglects its own growth, and how self-actualization and shared ownership of culture can turn workplaces into thriving ecosystems.

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose

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at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their

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lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization

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that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their

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highest potential. Business can be such a force for good

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in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide

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guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we

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all want Working on Purpose. Now here's your host, doctor

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Elise Quartet.

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Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has

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been brought to you with passion and pride since February

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of twenty fifteen. Thanks for tuning again this week. Great

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to have you. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. If

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we've not met before and you don't know me, I'm

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a workforce advisor, organizational psychologist, management consultant, logo therapist, speaker

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and author. My team and I at gusta Now help

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companies to unlive it and fortify their operations by building

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a dynamic high performance culture, inspirational leadership and nursery managers

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elevated by activating meaning and purpose. And did you know

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that inspired employees actually outperform their satisfied peers by factor

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of two point twenty five two one. In other words,

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inspiration is pretty good for the bottom line. You can

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learn more about us on how we can work together

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at gustodashnow dot com or my personal site, Atliscortes dot com.

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Getting in today's program we'd had with us Marilyn Vetter,

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who is the CEO of Pheasants Forever and Coil Forever,

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where her professional and personal worlds combined. Pheasants Forever and

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Coil Forever is the nation's leading organization committed to conserving upland,

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birds and wildlife through habitat improvement. Her professional background also

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includes thirty years of strategic leadership, business management, and political

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advocacy in the biopharmaceutical sector. We'll be talking today about

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the roots of a toxic culture, the role of leadership

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and culture, and creating cultures that elevate people. She joined

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us today from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Marland. Welcome to Working

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on Purpose.

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Thank you, thank you for having me. I'm excited about

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our conversation.

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I am too, I am too. I really want to

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harvest and be able to share all these years of

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experience that you've had being able to steward culture and

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you've seen the good, bad and the ugly of course

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in that time. So I want to also just give

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a shout out to Hope Mueller and Jennifer Pastikas who

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brought us together because I got to MC the Thriving

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and twenty five conference. You were also a speaker there

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and that's where this great idea to have you on

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CAMON came to be. So thanks for all of that

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great energy to bring you to us.

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Absolutely, those two ladies are very inspiring and doing so

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much in the workplace. And I love the fact that

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you started with the statistics about inspirational work and that

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it isn't just doesn't just feel good, it does good.

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Right. I love that. Thank you for saying that that's great. Well,

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let's hear since milisters and viewers don't know you as

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I do, let's just hear a little bit about your

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background before you got into what you're doing today, and

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why are you so passionate about what you're doing today.

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So I have, as you said, have been in the

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workforce for a little over thirty years, and my background

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started it's kind of a convoluted web. I started in

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broadcasting and ended up in pharmaceutical sales, and then ended

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up in lobbying, and in the meantime, it's undercurrent in

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my whole life. I had this very strong background and volunteering.

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It's something that our parents established with us very very

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early on, is that you should always give back and

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not just take. So while I did that, I ended

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up on several boards, and one of them led me

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to being on the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever board,

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and I got to witness an organization that I was

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incredibly passionate about as a member and then got to

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be so much more involved in it, and I got

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to see how the work that they're doing is enriching

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the environment so much more than what people think it is.

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Our name tends to limit people to what it thinks

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we do, when honestly, what we're working on is wild

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places that more people can experience.

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So when the.

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Position for the CEO role came open, I thought, this

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is a great opportunity for me to expose the team here,

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who is an amazing team, very very passionate to what

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a culture can bring them. And I've, as you said,

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had good, bad and ugly. I've been in cultures where

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it was warm and wonderful and I felt supported and

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cared for and heard and valued, and then there's been

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cultures where I felt like I was a widget and

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a number and I didn't fit in. But there are

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so many active things that we can do to enrich

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a culture and build a culture that this was a

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perfect opportunity for me to bring what I've learned to

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a nonprofit sector that oftentimes I think we take people

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for granted and nonprofits because they're doing work that they

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love that they shouldn't have to also work in an

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environment that makes them feel as important as the mission.

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And that's why I was super excited to be able

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to have the opportunity and honor to be part of

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this team.

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Oh that's amazing, Marylyn. Really appreciate that your passion really

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comes through, and I love that because really passion is

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a conveyance of energy. I do want to talk about

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what you have been doing at the organization. We're going

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to save that for the third segment when we talk

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about how we actually elevate people. So we're going to

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talk about the work that you've done there as well.

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But first, what I want to do for this part

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of our conversation is help our listeners and viewers understand

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how they might start to recognize when a cultures, when

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an organization's culture is actually going toxic. First, what's toxic

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and how do we start to recognize that, ooh, we're

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in that kind of a stew you know.

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I think the first hallmark of what toxic feels like

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is when as a participant in that culture and an

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employee in a team where you no longer feel like

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you can make a difference or want to make a difference,

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when you've become apathetic to the organization and feel like

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it's hopeless that I can't make a change, people start

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avoiding their own personal responsibility, and that is the death

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knil of any organization. When people don't feel like they

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can make a difference, they will stop making a difference.

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And I think the number one way you see that

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present itself is when everything goes underground. People stop being candid,

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they stop feeling like it matters, so they don't bring

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up their voice, they don't bring up their issues. And

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once it goes underground, you've really lost the opportunity to

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make shifts. So you have to be able to be

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open and honest and candid with each other. And once

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you've lost that, you know that something big has to happen,

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something big has to intervene, because it really is the

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root of all things. We're going to talk about that

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probably later, about trust and when people feel like they

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no longer can trust to take risks, they stop innovating,

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they stop being creative, and they honestly go silent. And

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when we talked a lot about quiet quitting during COVID,

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I think it's because people felt like this loss of connection,

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and that they did because they lost connection, felt like

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they were no longer connected to the mission and the organization.

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You have to create connectivity, whether it's remote or not,

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and that an organization should should want feedback, should do surveys,

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should ask for the hard things, because once you do

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hard things, you all get better.

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That's gorgeous. One of the things that I know because

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of the work that I get to do when I

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go into organizations where I get the privilege of helping

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them to steward their culture, and really what I love

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doing is helping to activate the meaning purpose, which I

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think is what you've also done. We'll get to that leader.

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But one thing that I recognize right out of the

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gate is I get the benefit as a third party

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coming from the outside of seeing some of those hidden

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or limiting beliefs that are governing the organization that are

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not They're not that the people inside it, the leaders themselves,

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the people that are running organization are not aware of

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these beliefs. So could you talk a bit about how

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limiting beliefs at either the individual level and the organizational

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level create can contribute to creating toxic dynamics.

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You know, I always curiosity for me is as a

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huge driver, and I think that that's in all things,

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not just about learning things, but about how can we

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better our team, how can we better organization, how can

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we better how we deliver to our customers. And when

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we start to limit and we say that this is

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how work will be done, it stifles people's personal investment

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in it. It also makes them feel incredibly marginalized. We

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all have opinions, we all have ideas, and when people

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can't voice those things, when they can't come up with solutions,

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they stop looking for solutions, and that's when the organization loses.

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I think that the most important thing that leaders can

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do is be curious and open and vulnerable, and all

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of those things do not fit in limiting organizations.

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And you know what you were speaking to there when

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you direct people this is how to do the work.

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And there's one particular word in MySpace, the organizational psychology

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space that you're speaking to, and that's autonomy. And we

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know what a strong driver autonomy is for people. I

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have often been just thobsmacked that if I just say

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we want to get here, however you get there, I

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don't care, let's see what you come up with, they

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well surpass what it is we're trying to get to

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with their creativity. So limiting that is just I love

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your earlier death. Now, okay, So now one thing that

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I find interesting, and I was just working with a

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company in February where they were trying to see what

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was under the hood with their culture. I was surprised

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how advanced the toxicity had gotten in the organization and

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the leaders weren't recognizing it. They still couldn't see it.

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So why do you think leaders often fail to recognize

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toxicity when they're in the middle of it, or likely

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the ones that are championing it.

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It's fascinating. Part of it is that lack of awareness.

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Sometimes it's fear. People don't want to admit that there

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are things that could be going better, which we absolutely

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have to face that if we can't face our weaknesses,

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we will never conquer our weaknesses. And I think that's

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oftentimes one of the things that I see in leaders,

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particularly mid stage leaders. You know, once you've arrived at

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that executive level, a lot of times people feel like

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they have conquered enough issues that they feel confident. But

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when people are at mid stage or they have lots

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of folks above them, they tend to be very self

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limiting in about how they attached themselves to success, and

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as leaders, we get hyper focused on metrics, and we

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get so focused on metrics that we think that's the.

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Only measure of performance.

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But if our employees aren't engaged, if they don't feel

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like they are part of the organization or part of

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the success of the organization, then we've missed the best

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opportunities to get the best out of our teams. And

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you know, I think most people want to do.

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The right things, but they get so focused.

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On delivering, whether it's a quarterly earnings report or the

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year in metrics, that they forget that there's so much

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more to the story than that, and people start designing workarounds.

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And I think the other thing that I is that

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people are so averse to conflict. They will do almost

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anything to avoid it. And I find it fascinating, And

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I suppose I was probably guilty of that in my

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earlier stages too, And now I actually relish those opportunities

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where I'm having a one on one with someone to say,

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there is an opportunity for you to be better here.

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How can we address that? When we avoid conflict, we

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steiny people's growth, because if we're not honest with them,

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how will they ever know It's called blind spots for

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a reason, and if we don't address them, then everything

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starts to go underground. People don't feel supported, they don't

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feel like they have an honest, trustworthy leader above them,

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and so I think sometimes leaders get so wrapped in

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either the metrics or protecting themselves that they're afraid to

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be vulnerable. And when we aren't vulnerable, then we're full

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of bravado and and that is we're just not being

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honest with ourselves. Then I really appreciate the depth of

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your perspective on that. That's really really fascinating, and it

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makes me also think about what happens in organizations when,

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especially when you have a large organization, you've got lots

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of different verticals, and those different verticals have things that

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they're being measured for that are maybe different than their neighbors,

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and it does create a sense of competition or sometimes mismatched.

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There's mismatch alignment between what this party orization is doing

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with this one. How do you see that playing into

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the space of eroding a culture and what can we

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do about that?

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Oh, Alice, you nailed it.

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I think the hardest thread to weave in any organization

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is the horizontal one.

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It's really really easy to.

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Build vertical silos, and you can create all kinds of metrics,

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and then at the end of the year, you wonder, why,

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well so and so is working on the same thing

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that I'm working on, or they're worse, They're working on

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something that's the antithesis of what I'm working on.

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And we wonder how it happened.

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So, first of all, people have to understand that sometimes

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you have to slow down to speed up. That means

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we have to find out what our neighbors are doing.

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We have to find out what it is that they're

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doing that I could benefit them and how they can

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benefit me. And that takes a ton of intention and

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I think people get impatient with that. So I think

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breaking down those silos is super important, and there's really

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intentional ways to do that. You create goals that require collaboration,

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that are goals that are across maybe two or three teams,

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so that the metrics are much larger and that they

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actually impact those teams. It drives performance, which then becomes cultural,

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it becomes habitual. So sometimes when you come into organization

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and the verticals are very established, you almost have to

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force it in the beginning through goal development and work

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plans and really taking it down to the nth degree.

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And then when people get to experience the winds, it

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becomes habitual, which then impacts the culture.

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Yeah, and those winds are euphoric, right when we can

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create that shared sense of winning as Oh, nothing better

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than a team win, right, absolutely, with that energy. Let's

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take our first break. I'm your host, doctor Earles Cortez.

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We've been on air with Marilyn Vetter, the CEO of

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Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, the nation's leading organization committed

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to conserving upland birds and wildlife through habitat improvement. We've

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been talking in this first segment about her experience of

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recognizing their roots of toxicity in a culture. When we

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come back from a break, we'll talk about the role

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of leadership in culture. We'll be right back.

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Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultant specializing in meaning

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and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies

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visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

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leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

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commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

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Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at

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elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your

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employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose with

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doctor Elise Cortes.

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To reach our.

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Program today or to open a conversation with Elise, send

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an email to Elise A. L Se at elisecortes dot com.

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Now back to working on Purpose.

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Thank you for staying with us, and welcome back to

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working on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor release Cortes, as

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I am dedicated to helping create a world where organizations

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thrive because their people thrive and they're led by inspirationial

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leaders that help them find and contribute their greatness, and

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we do business the better for the world. I keep

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researching and writing my own books. So one of the

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ladies came on is called the Great Revitalization, How activating

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meaning and purpose can radically in live in your business.

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And I wrote it to help leaders understand today's diverse

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and discerning workforce. What do they want in me to

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be able to give their best and stick around with you?

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And then I offer twenty two best projects to help

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you do that for them. You can find my books

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on Amazon or my personal site at least quotes dot

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com if you are just now joining us. My guest

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is Marilyn Vetter. She is the CEO of Pheasants Forever

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in Quail Forever. So now for this segment, I want

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to talk specifically about the actual leadership role in culture.

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There's so much we can do, and I really like

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first and I want to emphasize what you've been saying

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about how critical it is to be intentional about your culture.

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And one thing that I have found really really interesting

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and I love working with leaders, Marilyn. I love working

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with C suite leaders, senior level leaders, and I also

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recognize you mentioned something earlier about how vulnerable that it

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can be to be in those roles. It's it is

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a hard job to be at the top of an organization,

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and I do believe they need help. And what I

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also have come to understand is, you know, a culture

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can only evolve to the level of wherever the leader

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has evolved. So if you could speak a little bit

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about what that looks like from your vantage point, your experience,

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how do we know that you know that this is

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what we're when we see the culture? How do we

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know Oh, that's a reflection of where the leader is.

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So culture does it's led by leaders at the top,

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but it has of course owned by everyone. But if

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your leaders haven't done their own work and identified their

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own strengths and weaknesses, then you're really going to topple over.

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You know.

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One of the things that I think is important for

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people to understand is we can't expect people on our

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teams to travel further on our on their journeys than

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we've traveled on our own. And I absolutely believe that

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everybody should do work, whether it's a coach or it's

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a therapist, whatever that is. You need to know what

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your drivers are that make you be your best and

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let's admit it, when we're our worst. And if you

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haven't figured those things out, then sometimes that outside person

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as a coach, can be the absolute best way for

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you to do that. You have to be able to

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model what that looks like to a team, and you

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can't model it if you don't know what your drivers are.

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And you know oftentimes and you of course probably see

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this all the time, is that so much of what

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we experience is fear based and that people are afraid

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to fail. They're afraid to be enough, and when we

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work through fear, that is a terrible driver of performance

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for anyone on the team. And when our leaders can

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instead model vulnerability and curiosity, they will absolutely inspire others

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to do their own work as well.

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I really appreciate that, of course, applaud that I am

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a lifelong learner. Part of the reason I continue to

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host this podcast Maryland after ten and a half years,

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is because it helps catalyze my own ongoing learning and development.

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And I personally always have two coaches that I work

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with continually, so and I believe that to be affected

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in today's times, that you need to do that as well.

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Anybody that's in a leadership world must do that, even

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if you're in an individual contributing role. So my question

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for you then is how can we or how how

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have you helped executives to, especially in the C suite

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and the senior levels, realize the importance of their own

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ongoing development. How do you help them get present to that.

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Actually, where I'm at right now is such a good

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story about that. You know, nonprofit oftentimes don't have the

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funds to invest in leadership development. And when I came

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here two and a half years ago. One of the

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very first things I asked, well, well, when was the

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last time the leadership team was through a three sixty

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and most of them had not experienced that. And when

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you haven't had a three sixty, well, you've never been

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exposed to your blind spots then, because maybe your boss

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can identify it, but maybe not, and maybe they can

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coach you through it and maybe not. And so the

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first thing that I recommend for anyone, whether you're an

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individual contributor or whether you're leading teams or you're leading

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a company, you should have three sixty feedback routinely, at

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least every eighteen to twenty four months, I believe, because

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as you work on one thing that you learn and

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you might then next time find out you either over

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triangulated or something else has popped up and said. And

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my personal favorite is Leadership Circle Profile because it doesn't

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just measure you know, it doesn't just give you numeric ratings.

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It gives people the opportunity to actually write in dialogue

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and those have been some of our leader's biggest aha moments,

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like I had no idea that I was showing up

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to others, and that is oftentimes the best way to

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inspire leaders that you think aren't going to make it

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to transform how they work.

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It's been absolutely transformational to this leader. Steam.

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I so appreciate what you're saying. In fact, I can

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tell you this just to you, Maryly, not anybody else

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listening right, just you, that I have over the years

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worked with several senior level leaders who were of course

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asked for feedback for their their leader, a very high

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level leader, and of course they were scared and remiss

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and didn't really want to be honest. And I really

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helped coach them, or have helped coach them over the

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years to articulate really how their leader, what they appreciate

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about the leader, and how their behaviors or communication limit

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their contribution or imped what we're trying to do. And

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so often what I what I understand is that senior

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leaders especially really miss getting crucial feedback because people are

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afraid to give it to them, and then it's a

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disservice to them, the disservice to the senior level leader

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that doesn't get the benefit that real unfiltered feedback that

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is designed to really help them. So I really appreciate

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what you're saying and make and then, of course you've

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got to make it safe. Once they give you the feedback,

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you can't come after them and say, who the hell

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gave me this feedback? Where are they? Aither? It was

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so and so right.

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One of the things that I love about the fact

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that you bring so much experience from the coaching perspective.

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I never allow three sixty feedback to be given in

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an organization without coach support.

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That's great, that's great.

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It is so hard to sometimes hear that feedback and

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ways to then transform those learnings into wins. And you

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have to have someone that's not emotionally invested in you

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or you're certainly invested in your success, yes, but not

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invested in your role. They are invested in you, and

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that's where it sometimes just two to three coaching sessions

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for every time somebody goes through. It helps them turn

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those learnings into work plans and their own individual development plans.

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And I honestly think it's a disservice to people to

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give them feedback without a coach to help them decipher it.

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I completely agree, of course, and I also want to

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recognize that you know, feedback can really really sting and

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even really hurt you know, let's not overlook that. And

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it's the only way to grow. I mean, if you

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don't want to go through life keep repeating the same

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issues and problems and setbacks over and over again. If

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we could just somehow someone a little bit of courage

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to be able to, you know, listen and be open

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to that feedback, the difference it can make. What I

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love the most, Maryland is when I'm working with senior

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level leaders for some period of time and their spouse

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reaches out to me and says, thank you. I don't

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know what's going on, but things are already better at all, right,

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we know because it cascades.

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You are so right.

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I had a gentleman on one of my previous teams

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that his wife reached out to me and said, I'm

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guessing he's a better colleague, but I can tell you

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he's a hell of a lot better husband than he

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was before. And the other thing that's really important, too,

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is when teams can do these things together. Yes, it

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helps bring them together. You're building and even just it's

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build a common vernacular. You're building common tools throughout the

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organization that people can resonate with, and it helps them

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build accountability partners internally of if you've been through this

466
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.920
and I'm going through this, how what did you learn

467
00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:45.799
from it? It's an extraordinary tool. It's I'm not going

468
00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.519
to lie, it's a big investment, but it's the best

469
00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:49.519
investment we've made.

470
00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:54.119
I completely agree. And I'll tell you an advantage point of,

471
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:57.480
you know, being on the serving part of those kinds

472
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:00.799
of deals. It's incredibly fulfilling to be able to see it,

473
00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.559
To watch a team literally grow together, watch their molecules

474
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.240
change and elevate together. It is amazing some of the

475
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:09.440
best things that I get to do in my work.

476
00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:13.720
For sure. We're still talking about the role of leadership

477
00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:15.440
and culture. So now what I want to get to

478
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:21.200
is what happens when a leader defers the idea of

479
00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:24.519
steward and culture just to HR's responsibility.

480
00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.880
Oh that's such a cop out, it is, is it all?

481
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:31.279
You know?

482
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:32.960
People do it all the time.

483
00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.440
And I'm so glad you asked the question because HR

484
00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:41.279
might help mold what that looks like and how it's

485
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:46.400
done inside an organization. But they don't own what the

486
00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.799
culture is. We all own what the culture is. So

487
00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.680
maybe I'll give you an idea of how we tackled it.

488
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:53.720
First of all, I think there's lots of tools that

489
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.640
are used by HR for us to help as an

490
00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:02.640
organization build that. That's engagement and surveys amongst our teams.

491
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.039
That then helps those leaders figure out how they're doing

492
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:10.559
on their team and how they can improve themselves. That

493
00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:14.119
then tells them that HR can't own this. They might

494
00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.880
own the results, but as leaders, we have to own

495
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.359
the work of how we transform those cultures. So whether

496
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:24.920
it's through surveys, whether it's through a culture working group,

497
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:28.519
which we defined after we got our most recent survey

498
00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:32.079
results and they were really great and powerful, but they

499
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:36.519
showed us gaps that we had, and well, if HR

500
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:39.240
just says well, I'm going to create a solution, they

501
00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:41.920
might get the wrong solution. So you have to have

502
00:27:42.039 --> 00:27:46.119
people involved in all layers of the organization in that

503
00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:48.880
process of not only identifying the gaps, but what are

504
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:52.960
those solutions. And they've come forward with incredible solutions that

505
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.519
we probably wouldn't have thought off because a lot of

506
00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:58.759
people said, well, I don't get enough time and money

507
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.960
invested in my career. So people thought right away all

508
00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:03.799
this is going to get expensive, and what they really

509
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:08.440
asked for was internal mentors, share leaders and career ladders.

510
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.759
Those are not expensive things for us to invest in.

511
00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:16.599
But it isn't what they asked for. But HR can't

512
00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:18.759
be the only one that owns it. They just happened

513
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:21.400
to maybe they own the center of this spoke, but

514
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.240
the rest of us have to be the spolks on

515
00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:23.720
the wheel.

516
00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:27.599
I got to say two things to that beautiful share, Marylynd.

517
00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.039
One is I fundamentally believe to my core so I

518
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:36.720
set this question up intentionally, is that culture has to

519
00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:39.559
be driven by the top leadership, and so HR is

520
00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:41.720
your partner and collaborator, but they are certainly not the

521
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.880
one that's running in the culture train. They can help

522
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:48.240
that along. But I like what you said, give tools

523
00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.079
and such to be able to support it and steward it.

524
00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:51.960
The second thing I want to say to what you

525
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:54.680
just shared there is how critical it is that I

526
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:56.880
love that you're doing this at your organization, that when

527
00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.599
you do do a survey, an engagement survey or whatever,

528
00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:02.000
that you share those results back to the people who

529
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.519
gave you the information. So many organizations, right, so many

530
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:09.160
organizations don't want to do that because it's they don't

531
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:11.279
like the vulnerability of that that, oh there's things in

532
00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:13.200
here that people don't like. I don't want to share this,

533
00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:17.000
but when you share it, one you reflect that to

534
00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.960
the organization. We listened to you, we hurt you, here's

535
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.480
what we got from you. And then when you share

536
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:24.680
that back, the team ought to go, oh, yeah, that's

537
00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:27.319
what we said. They heard us, and then I love

538
00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:30.359
the idea and I want to celebrate that you're involving

539
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:33.319
your team to be able to address the gaps. Then

540
00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:35.599
they own it. They're part of it, right and to

541
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.240
your point, they'll have ideas that maybe don't cost any

542
00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:40.599
money at all, and it would take you further to

543
00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:42.960
address those gaps and whatever you came up with in

544
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:43.960
the leadership circle.

545
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.279
And you know, one of the things that we did

546
00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:53.480
actually going forward was we designed a workforce health metric

547
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:58.960
that is a combination of turnover and our engagement results

548
00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.240
that we report to our board on every scorecard that

549
00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:06.839
we give them, and we hold ourselves as executives in

550
00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:10.039
the organization accountable as part of our own review process

551
00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:13.319
and our bonus process of if we're going to be

552
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:17.079
committed to growing and building this culture, we all have

553
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:21.319
to be part of that and if nothing else, that

554
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:24.720
will always remind people of what their role is in this.

555
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:29.119
I don't really want to let you go at the

556
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:31.160
end of sor just so you know, we could keep

557
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.400
this going for quite some time. The last question I

558
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:36.319
want to I want to serve up for this part

559
00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:38.880
of our conversation about the role of leadership and culture.

560
00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:42.240
I'm sure from your thirty plus years of experience that

561
00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:44.559
you have some kind of a story or an example

562
00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:48.720
that you can share of how leadership transformation unlocked or

563
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.160
elevated cultural change in the direction in which if they

564
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:53.039
were trying to get to.

565
00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:57.079
I actually do and it's from this team. And we've

566
00:30:57.160 --> 00:30:59.279
hit on some of the high points. So this team

567
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:03.680
had not had an opportunity to work on themselves and

568
00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:07.759
work on the organization. So by having them have the

569
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.839
opportunity for three sixty for them to work on themselves,

570
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:16.160
then build this common nomenclature that they get to work with.

571
00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:19.319
Now we get to work on teams, and then we

572
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.160
get to work on bigger things like culture and focus.

573
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:26.039
And so we undertook.

574
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:28.160
So then we went all right, So our mission and

575
00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:30.880
our vision we reiterated, are they still the same?

576
00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:31.640
Yes, we are.

577
00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:34.160
Our mission, what we do, our vision, how does that

578
00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:38.039
look our strategic plan, what does that look like?

579
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:39.680
How did we get that work done?

580
00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:43.039
And then we agreed we all got together on our

581
00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:46.559
one big thing when we call it our OBT, which

582
00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:49.359
I'm going to read to you, that we committed to

583
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.839
together achieve and celebrate ambitious mission outcomes by investing in

584
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:58.720
cross functional relationships, bold gold setting, and a collaborative culture.

585
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:01.920
And they all created that together.

586
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:06.000
M oh I am totally with you on that. In fact,

587
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.960
I want to comment more on that, but I want

588
00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:11.920
to go. Let's het our last breakuse I really celebrate

589
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.960
and also applaud and do something similar when I'm working

590
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.799
with other teams. So let's let our listeners and viewers

591
00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:20.440
take that in and celebrate that for themselves and consider

592
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.599
how they might do that in their own teams. What

593
00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:26.359
we take our second break, I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes.

594
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:28.799
We've been on here with Maryland's Marilyn Vetter, who's the

595
00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:32.440
CEO of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. We've been talking

596
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:35.039
a bit about the role of leadership in culture. When

597
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:37.559
we come back, we're going to talk about building cultures

598
00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:40.160
that elevate people the way she's done at your organization today,

599
00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:45.200
We'll be right back.

600
00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:59.880
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing and meaning

601
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:03.799
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies

602
00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:07.680
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

603
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:11.720
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

604
00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:15.039
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

605
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:18.039
Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at

606
00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:21.279
elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your

607
00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:30.119
employees working on purpose. This is Working on Purpose with

608
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:33.400
doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or to

609
00:33:33.480 --> 00:33:36.559
open a conversation with Elise, send an email to Alise

610
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:42.200
A Lise at eliscortes dot com. Now back to working

611
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:42.960
on Purpose.

612
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:50.160
Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to Working

613
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:52.839
on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes, and as you

614
00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:55.440
know by now, this program is dedicated to empowering and

615
00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:58.200
inspiring you along your journey to realize more of your potential.

616
00:33:58.599 --> 00:33:59.799
If you want to learn more about how we can

617
00:33:59.799 --> 00:34:02.240
work together and learn about the Gusto Now Academy for

618
00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:05.240
Leaders and individuals on various journeys alike. Make your way

619
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:08.079
to gustodashnow dot com and then go to the training

620
00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:10.599
tab and there you will find the academy. If you

621
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:12.840
are just now joining us. My guest is Marilyn Vetter.

622
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:15.559
She is the CEO of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

623
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:21.039
So the idea of creating that objective together like that,

624
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:24.079
I think is really powerful. In fact, what I do.

625
00:34:24.280 --> 00:34:26.599
One of the offerings that we do at Gusto Now

626
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:30.239
is it's a visioneering. It's it's a joint visioneering sort

627
00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:34.199
of exercise where we take representatives from all of your

628
00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:40.000
stakeholder communities and really align them along your your your purpose, mission,

629
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:42.480
vision and value. So you're enrolling them in that whole

630
00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:44.719
thing together. So all of your leaders have already gone

631
00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:46.599
through this, and now you do this with your full

632
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:50.639
stakeholder community and then learn, of course, are what is theirs?

633
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.119
And now you create a shared sense of mutual purpose

634
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:56.199
together everybody's grown in the same direction. Energize like that,

635
00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:59.920
and I call it your parliament of purpose and the reason.

636
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:04.000
And we call that exercise creating your Parliament of purposes.

637
00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:07.559
Because I'm wildly obsessed with owls. And you know, when

638
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:09.880
we talk about a group of owls, you know where

639
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:12.079
I'm going with this. You would be one person who knows.

640
00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:14.800
So listeners and viewers if you don't know, you know,

641
00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:16.880
you think about what do we call different groups of birds?

642
00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:18.880
And we have a you know, a flock of geese,

643
00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:21.880
we have a murder of crows, all these kinds of names.

644
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:24.199
But how we talk about a group of owls? Is

645
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.320
there a parliament? A parliament of owls? And I like

646
00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:29.360
the idea of having this, you know, sort of wisdom group.

647
00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:33.719
That's that's all, you know, nestled around your purpose, mission,

648
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:36.320
vision and values and firing on all engines. So I

649
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:39.159
wanted to celebrate what you said and take it maybe

650
00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:41.519
one step further. Thoughts reactions.

651
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.679
Well, first of all, I love that I love that

652
00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:47.360
you've used that word. You know, for me, I love

653
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:52.519
parliament as well. It's it's like any government institution. It's

654
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:57.800
this wide array of voices that come to consensus at

655
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.039
the end of the day, and everybody gets.

656
00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:04.679
To own the consensus. And it can be an ugly process.

657
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:08.880
That's okay, that's an okay process to go through because

658
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:10.119
once you've survived it.

659
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:11.480
What you will.

660
00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:14.679
Produce will be extraordinary and you will have so much

661
00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:18.599
better buy in, and people will remember the good and

662
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:21.119
the bad and how they got there, and the journey

663
00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:25.639
will be remarkable and it will be much more enduring.

664
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:25.960
Because of it.

665
00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:30.880
Yes, beautifully said. Okay, So for this last segment here,

666
00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:34.199
I want to talk about how listeners and viewers can

667
00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:38.559
leverage your experience of really building a culture that elevates people.

668
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:41.559
I think that people talk a lot about culture, but

669
00:36:41.639 --> 00:36:43.719
I really don't think for a many organizations or leaders

670
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:46.719
really understand how to steward it really well. So I

671
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:49.199
want to start with the idea first of how what

672
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:52.079
you say is how culture has to be owned by everybody.

673
00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:55.199
I completely agree with that and your experience. What does

674
00:36:55.239 --> 00:36:57.039
that actually look like in practice?

675
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:03.719
I think it's listening first. So I'll give you a

676
00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:06.519
good example. One of the things that when you're a

677
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:11.679
nonprofit that is at the recip receiving end of grants

678
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:15.039
that in the past few years we've had lots of

679
00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:20.239
federal freezes on dollars and that makes those employees feel

680
00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:21.719
super vulnerable.

681
00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:25.400
And we could have said, well.

682
00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:28.320
That's that's that's the job that you have and because

683
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:32.440
it's a federal grant funded position, that's the risk you take.

684
00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.519
But that doesn't feel good, right They know that that

685
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:38.480
is the choice. So that means they either have to

686
00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:41.000
leave the organization for stability, or we need to find

687
00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:44.599
a way to give them that sense of stability. In

688
00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:48.639
my mind, if you ask someone if they live and

689
00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:50.719
work in a good culture, they're going to say, what

690
00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:53.360
does that look like? It means like I matter, they

691
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:56.280
care about me. So when our team came to us

692
00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:58.840
said this is untenable. It is really hard for we

693
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:02.320
want to stay here, but we feel vulnerable. So we said,

694
00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:04.239
all right, well, let us put our thinking hats on,

695
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:09.079
and our team came up with creating a PTO exchange,

696
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:14.719
and so people can donate their PTO to the exchange,

697
00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:18.320
they can write a check to the exchange, they can

698
00:38:18.360 --> 00:38:21.639
do whatever that is that transitions those into dollars for

699
00:38:21.719 --> 00:38:24.159
the people that would be at the other end of

700
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:27.639
a furlough. And so we started it in January, which

701
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:29.559
meant we didn't have a lot in there. Well, then

702
00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:31.840
once we saw that there were going to be federal freezes,

703
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:35.840
people just started dumping in their PTO. For those of

704
00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:38.559
us haven't been around a long time. We wrote checks

705
00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:41.800
and so every leader in the organization found ways to

706
00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:44.679
contribute to that PTO exchange, so that when we had

707
00:38:44.679 --> 00:38:47.800
one hundred and thirty people that were impacted, some for

708
00:38:47.880 --> 00:38:49.920
a couple of days, some for a couple of months,

709
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:55.199
we funded every single one of their hours team And

710
00:38:55.400 --> 00:39:02.599
those are examples. Your words show that you actually are

711
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:06.880
going to act on them. Your intention has to marry

712
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:11.360
the impact, and so that's how cultures are built, and

713
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.320
that's how they're measured, is whether or not.

714
00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:16.639
You walk the talk completely agree. You know, it's one

715
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:18.280
thing to say we stand for the step. It's quite

716
00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:20.960
another to make the hard decisions choices and behave to

717
00:39:21.039 --> 00:39:24.440
support them in that way. That is so beautiful what

718
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:27.079
you shared about the share PTO that has loves me

719
00:39:27.159 --> 00:39:30.679
to tears. It's so beautiful. Talk about feeling like you

720
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:34.719
matter someplace, well, you know, definitely. So what I want

721
00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:37.000
to do is really for pretty much the remainder of

722
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:41.199
our conversation is just let our listeners and viewers into

723
00:39:41.320 --> 00:39:43.159
the great work you and your team have been doing.

724
00:39:43.559 --> 00:39:46.199
So I know you run a group of six hundred

725
00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:48.679
people in your organizations and you've been there for two

726
00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:51.719
and a half years. So talk us through. You know,

727
00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:54.039
when you came in, you know, what did you see,

728
00:39:54.159 --> 00:39:56.199
What did you recognize that you wanted to work on,

729
00:39:56.280 --> 00:40:00.000
which you wanted to address, and some of the things

730
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:02.719
the early decisions and steps that you took to steward

731
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:04.079
your role as the CEO.

732
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:08.360
Okay, well, first of all, I came into an organization

733
00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:11.719
that the longer I'm here, the happier that I am,

734
00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:14.800
and the amazing amount of work that they do, but

735
00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:19.159
how they care about each other, and that really is remarkable.

736
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:22.400
But one of the all organizations have room for growth

737
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:25.960
and improvement. And we talked about this earlier. Those verticals

738
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:30.559
that were established were established with good intentions, but because

739
00:40:30.599 --> 00:40:33.920
they were so entrenched, it was really hard for people

740
00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:38.239
that worked in conservation operations to think about, like the

741
00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:41.480
marketing team for instance, like how does my work impact them?

742
00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:44.360
So we started to think about how can we be

743
00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:49.880
intentional about driving collaboration, so work plans, it's it's included

744
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:51.159
in everybody's work plan of.

745
00:40:51.079 --> 00:40:52.519
How do I work with others?

746
00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:57.079
We hired and promoted someone internally to be a director

747
00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:02.199
of internal communications. People know what everyone else is doing

748
00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:05.840
when you know what your colleagues are doing, then you

749
00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:08.679
get to celebrate it for one, but you also get

750
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.400
to think like maybe I could do that in my region,

751
00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:14.400
or how could I amplify those works. And then the

752
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:16.400
other thing that we really did is we've always had

753
00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:20.519
awards in the organization and there have not been as

754
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:24.280
many team awards as we have now, and so we

755
00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:28.920
are awarding and recognizing It's not big financial dollars, but

756
00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:35.400
team recognition of collaboration that is celebrated is really profound

757
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.199
and how it changes people. And we make sure that

758
00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:41.039
our board is aware of all of those things so

759
00:41:41.079 --> 00:41:44.079
that they get the internal communication newsletter that goes out

760
00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:48.079
all the time that recognizes those moments of collaboration. They

761
00:41:48.119 --> 00:41:50.000
got to see the videos that we cut of the

762
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:52.639
folks that won all of those awards, so that it

763
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:55.920
is witnessed from the organization from the very top to

764
00:41:56.239 --> 00:41:57.760
all the way through all of the ranks.

765
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:01.559
Oh that's so ecat Okay, So a couple of things

766
00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:03.920
I have to say to that. So I have a

767
00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:06.360
dear friend and colleague in the UK named Paul Skinner,

768
00:42:06.960 --> 00:42:08.760
and I met it back in twenty eighteen. He wrote

769
00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:12.039
a book called collaborative advantage, and it's the whole notion

770
00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:16.519
of turning competitive advantage on its head. And so we

771
00:42:16.519 --> 00:42:19.559
were saying before about how silos can compete, and now

772
00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:21.840
you're talking about how do you get your team, your

773
00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:24.880
various teams with different interests to collaborate. I just think

774
00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:27.480
that's just delightful, and you celebrate them for that, so

775
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:32.880
just makes me happy. I also know, and I can't

776
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:35.159
let you off the show without talking about this, Marylyn,

777
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:38.679
but I know that you also spent some time working

778
00:42:38.760 --> 00:42:41.320
with your purpose, mission, vision and values with your team,

779
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:42.679
So tell us how you did that.

780
00:42:44.800 --> 00:42:47.400
We should never assume that our mission and our vision

781
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:50.440
are exactly the same as they were when this organization

782
00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:54.559
forty started forty three years ago. So we started there

783
00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:58.400
is our north stars. It's still our north star, and

784
00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:03.159
thankfully it was, which is wonderful. It's a serendipity when

785
00:43:03.239 --> 00:43:07.159
that happens. And the vision really of how that presents

786
00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:10.280
itself to the world does look the same as well.

787
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:15.000
But our strategic plan changed, and more importantly, how we

788
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:18.880
used and built and shared our strategic plan changed. So

789
00:43:18.920 --> 00:43:21.119
in the past, the strategic plan was built by the

790
00:43:21.159 --> 00:43:24.760
executive team and it was run past the board, and

791
00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:29.360
the board obviously endorsed it. And the interesting thing is

792
00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:34.079
that the strategic plan didn't really change a lot. It

793
00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:38.320
changed somewhat, But what we did was that we brought

794
00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:40.800
it was almost sixty people that got to be part

795
00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:43.480
of that strategic planning process. So we broke it up

796
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.719
into small chunks, so we had four priorities, and then

797
00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:50.679
there were objectives under each priority. We broke each one

798
00:43:50.679 --> 00:43:54.559
of those objectives into teams so that we had managers

799
00:43:54.599 --> 00:43:57.440
and directors and people at all levels that got to

800
00:43:57.480 --> 00:43:59.639
be part of it. So the wonderful thing is that

801
00:43:59.679 --> 00:44:04.480
it it didn't change wildly. It changed substantially, but not wildly,

802
00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:08.679
but it increases the buy in tremendously. So then you know,

803
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:10.880
obviously you go through the normal process of the board

804
00:44:10.920 --> 00:44:13.039
and all of that, and once the board endorsed it,

805
00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:16.440
then we said, let's take this a step further. Our

806
00:44:16.519 --> 00:44:19.360
organization is different or a nonprofit, but it's also a

807
00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:22.440
membership organization. We have one hundred and sixty five thousand members,

808
00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:26.119
seven hundred and fifty chapters across the United States and Canada,

809
00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:28.599
and so we said we need them to know what

810
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:30.960
we're working on. So that can be part of that

811
00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:36.159
because they're volunteers in our work. So we did podcasts,

812
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:40.000
we did blogs on it, we published it in our journals,

813
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:42.599
we put it on our website so that everybody knows

814
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:45.800
what that looks like. And it increased buy in by them,

815
00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:48.400
and now they feel like they're not just a member,

816
00:44:48.440 --> 00:44:53.880
they're part of that, and that that whole communication of

817
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:57.039
what we are clearly doing gave so much clarity to

818
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:00.480
everyone on our team and everyone around us and just

819
00:45:00.559 --> 00:45:04.639
dramatically increase the buy in. And it has just been

820
00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:08.000
this common drum beat. And I think the fun part

821
00:45:08.039 --> 00:45:11.360
is that so we named it Building Forever, and that

822
00:45:11.559 --> 00:45:15.719
has been this tether that has kept us really folk

823
00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:17.159
hyper focused on collaboration.

824
00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:21.119
Well, and that's totally the spirit of the problem and purpose.

825
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.960
That's exactly the whole spirit of that. And I think

826
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.320
that it seems like you would be terribly remiss if

827
00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:29.199
you hadn't taken this step of involving your members. But

828
00:45:29.280 --> 00:45:31.400
I don't know that every organization that occurs for them

829
00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:34.559
or that that's where they go. So one thing I

830
00:45:34.559 --> 00:45:36.599
also want to put out for our listeners and viewers too,

831
00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:40.599
and get your perspective on. This is what's beautiful about

832
00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:43.159
the world of purpose. Purpose is one it's always about

833
00:45:43.199 --> 00:45:47.400
serving beyond yourself, right, It's there's a self trendscence in it.

834
00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:50.199
So whatever it is, whatever you're up to in your organization,

835
00:45:50.320 --> 00:45:54.719
you're serving somebody outside of yourself. And because of the

836
00:45:54.719 --> 00:45:57.800
world is changing, sometimes you do need to slightly amend

837
00:45:57.800 --> 00:46:00.800
your purpose to be able to to that, to aim

838
00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:02.280
to that kind of thing. So in your case, you

839
00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:06.039
didn't have to do that. But what is powerful that

840
00:46:06.079 --> 00:46:07.679
I want to weave in here in addition to what

841
00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:10.519
we've been talking about, is we can actually measure the

842
00:46:10.599 --> 00:46:14.000
experience of purpose and organizations to make sure that it

843
00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:16.920
is being lived in our organization. And there's actually there's

844
00:46:16.920 --> 00:46:19.360
three simple measures to be able to do that. Just

845
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:23.000
curious if that was part of what you were doing

846
00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:27.800
or if you have been able to measure the experience

847
00:46:27.840 --> 00:46:29.840
of how purposes lived in your organization.

848
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.280
I suppose it's probably measured in a couple of different ways.

849
00:46:35.320 --> 00:46:38.880
Certainly that when we do our engagement survey, we ask

850
00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:42.400
about that. We are actually going through the process right

851
00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:45.000
now with some of our team of did we get

852
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:48.960
it right? Were we overly ambitious or not, and it's

853
00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:51.159
been really fun to see the results that have come

854
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:55.480
back from that and really giving them that constant voice

855
00:46:55.519 --> 00:46:58.000
within it. And one of the things that I think

856
00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:02.400
that has shifted in the organization that for many years

857
00:47:02.440 --> 00:47:03.920
we at the end of the year, we would tell

858
00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:07.559
you what we did MM and we're transitioning to an

859
00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:08.880
organization that says.

860
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:10.199
We're going to tell you, We're telling you what we're

861
00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:10.840
going to do.

862
00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:14.960
It increases not only accountability, but a buy in and

863
00:47:15.559 --> 00:47:18.039
like we need you to be with us in this journey.

864
00:47:18.440 --> 00:47:22.000
And so while I don't know that we've necessarily undertaken

865
00:47:23.119 --> 00:47:25.639
an assessment, I think that's actually really wise.

866
00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:26.960
I will tell you that just.

867
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:30.719
Rhetorically, I've gotten lots and lots of comments from people

868
00:47:31.079 --> 00:47:33.559
throughout the organization of how excited they were to feel

869
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:34.480
like they were part of it.

870
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:38.480
M that's so delightful. It's just there's just three simple

871
00:47:38.519 --> 00:47:40.280
questions that we could ask, but I have to do

872
00:47:40.360 --> 00:47:42.679
with the extent to which people feel like the leaders

873
00:47:42.719 --> 00:47:45.360
are walking to talk of the purpose, that their colleagues

874
00:47:45.400 --> 00:47:47.880
are living, the purpose of the organization, that they feel

875
00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:50.559
personally aligned to the purpose. You ask those three questions,

876
00:47:51.119 --> 00:47:53.559
it tells you where to where to where to address things.

877
00:47:55.280 --> 00:47:57.360
And we've done that with our employees that probably where

878
00:47:57.360 --> 00:47:59.360
we had the messes. We haven't done it with our members.

879
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:04.199
Beautiful, I like that idea so exciting. Well, it happens

880
00:48:04.199 --> 00:48:06.119
so fast, Marlin. We're at the end of the show here,

881
00:48:06.159 --> 00:48:08.199
and you know that this shows is white people around

882
00:48:08.239 --> 00:48:10.880
the world that are trying to get better at becoming

883
00:48:10.920 --> 00:48:13.719
leaders and selves, student their own organization, or even just

884
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:15.960
plugging more deeply into the world of work.

885
00:48:16.239 --> 00:48:18.960
What would you like to leave them with that each

886
00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:21.760
of us has an impact on culture. I think it's

887
00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:24.199
too easy to think that you can.

888
00:48:24.079 --> 00:48:26.800
Give up on a culture. And cultures are built.

889
00:48:27.400 --> 00:48:29.519
Yes they are led from the top, but they are

890
00:48:29.559 --> 00:48:33.719
built from the inside out. And the hallmark of an

891
00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:36.960
exceptional team, of a high performing team is the team

892
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:39.440
of people that cares as much about each other's success

893
00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:43.760
as they do their own. So own that be the

894
00:48:43.880 --> 00:48:46.840
leader in your own team, whether you lead that team

895
00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:50.519
or not. To reach out and to make sure that

896
00:48:50.599 --> 00:48:53.159
your colleagues feel like you're as invested in them as

897
00:48:53.199 --> 00:48:57.000
you are as yourself, and that will impact your team.

898
00:48:57.159 --> 00:49:00.000
People will want to be on your team. They will

899
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:03.320
want to they want to amplify your work. They're going

900
00:49:03.400 --> 00:49:05.760
to want to create create your work. They're going to

901
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:09.760
ask what you're doing. That is how if you aren't

902
00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:12.320
at the top but want to change your culture, that's

903
00:49:12.360 --> 00:49:14.960
how you change your culture. You start doing it from

904
00:49:15.079 --> 00:49:19.199
the roots of the organization and it will change. I've

905
00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.480
seen it happen. I've seen it in other organizations, and

906
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:26.840
it's slower for sure, but it makes a meaningful difference,

907
00:49:26.880 --> 00:49:29.280
and at the end of the day, you for sure

908
00:49:29.559 --> 00:49:32.400
will know better about your place in that organization by

909
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:33.719
doing so.

910
00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:36.000
What a powerful and beautiful way to close, Marilyn. I

911
00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.480
am so grateful to know you and to share with

912
00:49:38.519 --> 00:49:40.719
my listeners and viewers around the world. You've really made

913
00:49:40.760 --> 00:49:42.960
a beautiful contribution to this Thank you so much for

914
00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:44.079
being on working on purpose.

915
00:49:44.920 --> 00:49:45.280
Thank you.

916
00:49:45.400 --> 00:49:48.400
I really appreciate you being here, and I absolutely love

917
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.639
the fact that you're spreading this message to others who

918
00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:52.679
really need to hear it.

919
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:58.159
Thank you. I'm with that's exactly what we're about. So

920
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:00.000
listeners and viewers, you're going to want to learn more

921
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:02.519
about Marilyn Vetter and follow her work or connect with her.

922
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:05.320
Highly suggest you find her on LinkedIn. She's pretty easy

923
00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:07.599
to find. Just type in her name. It's Marilyn standard

924
00:50:07.639 --> 00:50:11.480
spelling Vetter be e t tdr Marilyn Vetter on LinkedIn.

925
00:50:12.519 --> 00:50:14.280
Last week, if you missed the live show, you can

926
00:50:14.320 --> 00:50:16.960
always catch it via recorded podcast. See you then for

927
00:50:17.039 --> 00:50:20.639
another nourishing and elevating conversation together. Let's lean in and

928
00:50:20.719 --> 00:50:23.280
learn together how to make workplaces that work for everyone

929
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:25.039
and find ways to do business in a way that

930
00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:26.559
betters the world that's working.

931
00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:32.119
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

932
00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:35.760
tune into Working on Purpose, featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortez,

933
00:50:35.920 --> 00:50:39.159
each week on W four C. Why Together, We'll create

934
00:50:39.159 --> 00:50:43.880
a world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion performance,

935
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:46.760
and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the meaning

936
00:50:46.760 --> 00:50:50.599
and purpose they crave. See you there, Let's Work on Purpose.