Scott McInnes

Dec 21, 20213 min

Building Better Cultures Podcast - Top 10 in 2021

Updated: Nov 28, 2022

Hello everyone,
 

 
It’s almost the end of another year - and what a year it has been. With lockdowns, vaccine rollouts, remote + hybrid work and return-to-office transitions, there have been a lot of changes. While 2021 is coming to a close, we are excited to start a new chapter in 2022.

Over the past few weeks, we've been reviewing our year and reflecting on what we have accomplished. We decided to make a small, two-part series sharing our top podcasts and blog posts from 2021.
 


 
This week we have rounded up our top 10 episodes on the Building Better Cultures podcast. Dive into these episodes and learn from industry experts as they share their unique backgrounds, experiences and knowledge with our listeners.


 
And, before we dive into the playlist, we'd like say thank you to both our guests and our listeners for their support over the past year. Your contributions, feedback and listenership has been greatly appreciated. We can't wait to continue making and delivering quality internal communications content to you in 2022.
 


Your Podcast Playlist 🎧


 
72 | How to build a high-performance culture, with Stuart Lancaster
 

Key Points:

  • The role of psychological safety in workplace cultures and the purpose it serves as far as empowering and inspiring teams.
     

  • Big personalities will, by default, become dominant leaders – when in fact the loudest voices don’t necessarily make the best leaders.
     

  • Seniority doesn’t always equate with visionary leadership. To the contrary!


61 | The Future is Now: Workplace opportunities in a post-pandemic world with Kevin Empey


 
Key Points:

  • Covid19 and the mandate to work at home counterintuitively brought co-workers closer together through the power of resilience, empathy and vulnerability.
     

  • People are asking themselves post-pandemic about their individual journey and what it means for organisations in terms of change and adaptation.
     

  • Experimentation will go hand-in-hand with developing new ways of working and incorporating flexibility as well as full employee engagement.


67 | Empathy as a key driver of business success with Pritesh Shah

Key Points:

  • The company’s cultural orientation is 100% patient-forward at every juncture along individual's cancer journeys.
     

  • Empathy as a front-and-center core value at Novocure and how it shows up in the company’s day-to-day interactions with clients and co-workers alike.
     

  • How Covid-19 isolated people from one another and challenged Novocure’s ethic of empathy. (Short answer: Creative leadership was key.)


70 | The power of words in creating inclusive cultures, with Charli Nordonne

Key Points:

  • What “tone of voice” means and why is it so essential to clear, effective messaging.
     

  • Learning any new skill takes time, support and permission to try with impunity.
     

  • Remember when you’re writing: It’s all about the reader.


76 | Building a culture based on purpose, with Jonathan Reed

Key Points:

  • The role social responsibility plays in employee engagement and customer experience success. Do venture capital investors “get” the intersection?
     

  • Unleashing passion, pushing the envelope and a willingness to fail makes for an engaging, accepting workplace culture.
     

  • Jonathan’s strategies for having board meetings (versus “bored meetings”) and how he fosters inclusive communications/engagement.


56 | Focusing on shared values, leadership and disruptive culture in Cooper Parry

Key Points:

  • A healthy company culture is good for people and good for business.
     

  • “Color” in accountancy adds humanity to all relationships involved.
     

  • It’s not about location, it’s about the people you have.


79 | Why remote working doesn't kill company culture, with Chris Dyer

Key Points:

  • Why transparency is hands-down the foundational pillar of amazing company culture.
     

  • Good company culture isn’t impacted negatively by remote work because good leaders know how to lead well from anywhere.
     

  • It’s hard work to figure out how to do remote work and remote management well.


63 | Five Pillars: How to Build a Humane Workplace Culture with Dr. Jerry Gule

Key Points:

  • Values must be embedded in the hearts of people up and down the business.
     

  • The message behind the Zulu phrase: “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.” – I am because you are
     

  • Pandemic drove home our interconnectedness as humans and within the workplace. We are all in the same boat, and need/desire to row together.


80 | Diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization, with Wema Hoover

Key Points:

  • COVID-19’s impact on diversity, inclusion, equity, and mental health in the workplace.
     

  • Corporations now have a bigger role to play than ever in addressing the fact that there is little to no separation between personal time and work time, due to an increasingly virtual working environment.
     

  • Why it’s critical for organizations to get their DEI strategies right, and what “right” looks like.


74 | Sustainable success through human leadership, with Mark Edgar

Key Points:

  • What is Human Leadership? People-centric movement where everyone matters.
     

  • Importance of shifting companies to an employee first perspective. Acknowledging the challenges and setbacks and how we can learn from them.
     

  • Hybrid work has leadership problem; the fundamentals support happier teams but it requires effective leadership.


Listen to our latest episodes on the Building Better Culture here.