The relationship between organizational culture and business success has never been more critical - or more complex. How can today’s leaders strengthen culture in ways that drive performance and connection, especially across remote and hybrid teams?
In this Leadership Levers episode, we sit down with Charles Windsor, CEO of Oakwood Systems Group and TalentPort Inc, to unpack the connection between culture, performance, and leadership in professional services.
Drawing on 40 years of consulting experience, Charles shares practical lessons on how culture evolves - and why it must be intentionally cultivated, especially in a hybrid world.
He explains why culture isn’t just atmosphere - it’s the framework that gives people purpose, fuels innovation, and drives profit.
The conversation takes an interesting turn as Charles details his approach to remote hiring, emphasizing that distributed employees must “put two feet into the business.” He shares the criteria his team uses to evaluate remote fit and how those cultural cues can make or break employee engagement.
Charles shares his philosophy of hiring for attitude over aptitude, why he interviews every candidate, and how his company’s values - risk-taking, community, mindset, and humor - shape performance from the inside out.
His message to leaders is clear - culture is a leadership responsibility, and communication is its most powerful tool.
“How do you walk the floor digitally?” he asks. The answer, he argues, determines whether your team is simply working - or truly thriving.
We'd love your feedback on how we can improve - send us a Text!!
Seeking to align your culture, boost performance & impact your bottom line? Let’s chat—no sales, just real talk about your challenges. Not ready? Join our PL3 Community for free insights & connections.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Gladhart (00:00):
Welcome to the Leadership Levers Podcast.
I'm your host, Will Gladheart,CMO at the Culture Think Tank.
At the Culture Think Tank, weempower leaders with metrics
that strengthen culture, driveperformance and return.
We're here today to learn aboutthe actions leaders have taken
to address organizational change.
(00:21):
Today, our guest is CharlesWindsor, CEO of Oakwood Systems
Group & TalentPort Inc.
Thanks so much for taking thetime to join us.
Charles Windsor (00:32):
Thanks for having me, Will I appreciate it?
William Gladhart (00:34):
Excellent.
Well, let's begin by having youshare with our audience a bit
about yourself, your backgroundand the organizations that you
run.
Charles Windsor (00:41):
A couple things .
First, I guess I'm a father anda husband of two girls that are
early 30s.
I'm even a grandparent.
I've got two grandchildren nowSurprisingly how that happens
when I'm so darn young.
I've also been married for 37years.
I've been in, I guess, in theworld of consulting oh, my
goodness, probably close to 40years, believe it or not.
(01:05):
Coming out of a background ofkind of psychology and then an
MBA in finance, I got into salesand eventually landed at what
has become Accenture and spent adozen years there in Ernst
Young, before jumping into theentrepreneurial pool, as it were
, and starting a business in1999, which it was a consulting
(01:29):
business that I built and soldover a period of three years and
bought Oakwood in 2003.
And then, as a part of thatopportunity to start Talentport
occurred, probably three or fouryears later.
It's almost a compliment we candig in, if it's of merit, the
difference between Oakwood,which is more of what we
(01:50):
characterize as a consultingmanaged services business,
versus Talent Port, which is astaffing company.
Anyway, high level about thosetwo companies.
William Gladhart (01:59):
Thank you for sharing that.
I think it's interesting thatyou started another company out
of need that grew out of yourown business.
That was a complimentaryservice.
Why not go double all in on theentrepreneurial bent?
And thanks for sharing thatabout your journey In our
conversations.
Would you share why you believea healthy culture is critical?
Charles Windsor (02:18):
I think that culture is certainly important
in anything we do, whether it bein a big company, small company
.
The term culture itself, Ithink, has probably been used
quite a bit.
It certainly is the glue that Ibelieve in companies tends to
give people a sense of being apart of something other than
just a job and a paycheck.
(02:39):
I think it's this notion ofculture, ultimately within the
work life has also been kind ofa challenge with culture in your
home life.
So there's some things that arekind of interesting there.
I versus as you could look backthrough the decades and say you
(03:05):
know, what's the culture of acompany in the 50s versus the
culture of a company in 2025?
Quite different, I think youmight agree Absolutely.
So I would say kind of just interms of our world, a healthy
culture and the importance of it.
Companies really that are, Ibelieve, successful tend to have
(03:25):
open communication, rightCollaboration and teamwork.
There's a sense of continuouslearning and development.
There's a sense of work-lifebalance.
There's a feeling that yourviews are important you could
use I don't know the DEI is evena term we can use anymore.
It seems to now have differentconnotations, but it's certainly
critical.
Diversity, inclusion andunderstanding of people's views
(03:48):
is incredibly important.
Recognition and reward right,some level of ethical and
companies need to have folksthat are ethically and honest
and show a sense of integrityand I would say just maybe even
this notion of the ability tohave a company that can innovate
and adapt, I mean, to the worldtoday.
Look at what's going on in theworld today.
My goodness, I bet you almostevery company out there is
(04:11):
trying to say, okay, what do wedo now?
Right, you can't just stay as atask.
I think culture, without kindof glamorizing it anymore, is
incredibly important to manybusinesses and certainly ours.
William Gladhart (04:21):
Yeah, Well, I love that you touch on culture,
tying to not only the bottomline of the organization but
also the purpose of employeesand staff, and then how it ties
to innovation, because those arethree key areas that we often
find that there are lags orthere are gaps in how the
organization is operating or howthe leader is communicating.
(04:43):
So with that in mind, let'sbegin with our first question.
It's been our experience thatleaders tend to struggle in
three key areas people, processor profit.
In your role as a leader and aCEO, could you identify an area
that represented a culturalchallenge or just a challenge in
general within yourorganizations?
Charles Windsor (05:00):
And I thought about this question.
That's an interesting one, andI would say interesting
specifically because we driveour business with our people.
This isn't a company that sellsa product.
We didn't come up with aproduct.
I believe are directly impactedby the culture of the
organization that you're tryingto generate, or build, as it
(05:26):
were.
The notion of happy people andhappy customers yields a happy
company right and happy profit.
I would say, of all of those Idon't know that your culture, I
think, is a byproduct of thebusiness you have, but you can
be very intentional about tryingto build your culture.
In my mind and, by the way, I'mnot such a historian that I
(05:51):
could frame out examples wherecompanies have had to pivot
their culture, but I certainlythink that in our world, in the
world of technology, which isthe core of what we do, we build
and implement technologysoftware for primarily
Microsoft-centric solutions, butcertainly we touch on a lot of
other technologies that industryis changing incredibly quickly.
If you were talking to a CEO ofa manufacturing business or a
(06:14):
CEO of a retailer, thosebusinesses are changing as well,
but in different ways.
I think that the challenge thatwe have tried to address in
terms of our team and theculture of those people.
People in our businessrecognize that we need to
produce a profit and, by the way, they have a real direct link
(06:35):
because in our business peoplebill by the hour or they bill by
a project or they bill undersome guise, and they know that
if they do certain things, thatproduces revenues for the
business and ideally it will runa profit.
So they have an understandingof the notion of profit.
They also understand that ourbusiness processes need to be
followed.
(06:55):
There's a variety of reasons whyI want to unpack those for you.
In terms of that, we reallysell a process for delivering a
result.
If you think about it, in somesense the challenge that we have
culturally is to make sure thatthe people that we hire fit our
culture and the culture that wehave fits our people, and so,
(07:17):
in that context, part of whatI've tried to do is we simply
say, well, what is our culture?
And again, you could argue thatcompanies put posters up on the
walls and of sunsets andwhatnot.
We try to refine and define ourculture in kind of the values
that we espouse as anorganization and again, we try
(07:39):
to embrace those on a somewhatconsistent basis.
But I'll share what thosevalues are with you, literally
just for your audience.
That would be fantastic.
We encourage responsiblerisk-taking to find bold
solutions and foster personaland professional growth.
Hard work is our foundation andhumor is our mortar.
We actively seek opportunitiesto help our clients, our team
(08:01):
and ourselves through knowledgesharing, volunteering and
community events.
We believe helping others is aparticipatory sport.
We are inspired to be pushedoutside of our comfort zone and
are eager to thank those forinspiring us to take a risk, and
we encourage everyone to leadthrough their attitude and
approach.
An attitude for me personally isI think oftentimes I tend to be
(08:24):
the last interview.
I interview everybody that webring on board and some that we
don't.
That may not be a fit, but I'mtending to interview more for
their attitude than theiraptitude.
I have a lot of folks thatevaluate their aptitude under a
number of different components,that evaluate their aptitude
under a number of differentcomponents, and while our
business is incredibly rigorousin many things that we look for
whether they're analyticalskills or certain technical
(08:47):
skills or problem solving orcritical thinking, whatever I
think if you bring somebody withthe right attitude and they
have some elemental level offoundation, you're going to hire
good people.
So that's really when we arekind of evaluating those folks.
We're trying to evaluate themaround an attitude and aptitude,
but then, more importantly, fit.
Do they fit within the cultureof what we're trying to build
(09:09):
here?
William Gladhart (09:10):
Great.
Now I think that's a reallyinteresting point that you've
brought up in terms of you kindof covered our other questions
in your thoughts about thediscussion about what the
challenge was, especially aroundpeople, and then the thing that
you identified was really thevalues that you've laid out for
the organization.
That the person fit has to betied to the values and to the
(09:32):
other people in the organization.
I love hearing about thatconnectivity, because we've
shown statistically that themore connected employees are in
an organization, the more theyunderstand their role, the
better they feel.
The higher they perform, thebetter revenue gets generated.
You know up to 15 to 20, 30plus percent gains over 12 to 14
(09:54):
months.
There is some secret sauce toit's not a secret sauce, but
there is something to whatexactly you were putting in
place and what you have kind ofsteered your company towards.
As we kind of wrap up ourconversation today, is there
anything else you'd like toshare with fellow leaders?
Charles Windsor (10:10):
I'll unpack it a little bit more for you,
because I think the interestingdichotomy of culture today with
culture of yesterday and theculture challenge in our world
is that we hire people who don'twork in two of our physical
geographies.
So we have quite a few peoplethat are remote workers and I
would dare to be so bold as tosay I think the challenge that
(10:34):
we're seeing with the remoteworker movement that occurred
during the pandemic and as nowcompanies are pulling workers
back into the office we'vealways had this in the services
business, certainly when Iworked in the bigger companies,
and even when I've been on myown and we were just chatting
about earlier is that when youhave a remote worker, it's more
(10:54):
challenging than ever to makesure that you're hiring those
folks for the kinds of thingsthat they're going to bring to
the table, other than whetheryou're going to bill for them.
Remote workers we have a set ofcriteria and evaluation
criteria and questions that weuse, because remote workers,
while they have many of thethings you might look for in the
job description to besuccessful, there's certain
(11:16):
characteristics you have toevaluate about who can be a
successful remote worker,because, as anybody that's
worked remotely, there'scomplications there.
There's no separation withwork-life balance, right,
there's oftentimes distractions.
So you've got situations whereif you're sitting in a cubicle
or sitting in an office, youdon't have those, and so the
(11:36):
dilemma that we have is not onlythe ability to be productive in
that remote setting, but from acultural contribution.
You have to be much moreintentional with remote workers
of engaging them to be a part ofyour culture, to engage them,
to put, as I like to call it,two feet into the business
versus one foot.
And when you think about thenotion of remote workers and you
(11:59):
think about the portability ofjobs today and I mean there's
nothing more portable than IT,skilled folks, right, there's a
tremendous demand for them.
And there's this industry, notonly on the staffing side that I
mentioned about anotherbusiness, but in general, where
companies, via LinkedIn, can berecruiting people, and those
(12:19):
employees whose images are outon, say, linkedin can be
recruited.
And so the ability to findfolks that fit your culture,
that you can bring into thebusiness, that aren't working in
your physical offices, you canmake sure they're engaged
appropriately, you can make surethey're feeling that sense of
recognition, reward, a challengein a business where maybe
(12:41):
you're not walking down the halland you can give them an
attaboy or an inaugural kind ofthing right.
It's complications like thatthat undermine a leader's
ability to foster culture, muchless the portability problem.
I think I saw a statistic andthis was maybe for the, not the
millennials, maybe it was themillennials, it could even be
(13:02):
Gen Z.
There was a statistic that saidthe average millennial is going
to have 15 jobs in their careerand if you think about the
average career mid-60s 40, someodd years that's a job every two
to three years.
When you think about a leader,how do I build a culture?
Culture comes throughconsistency, engaged employees,
(13:23):
the ability, maybe to be intouch with them.
Thank goodness for video right,it certainly helps bridge the
gap.
And then you combine that withthis notion of skills,
portability and the gig workenvironment and folks being able
to move jobs easily.
I think it creates a tremendouschallenge and you've got to
(13:44):
find a way.
And, by the way, it's one of thebiggest things we found in that
kind of evaluation of do youput two feet in versus one is
those remote workers that arereally good at remote work.
They put two feet in becausethey believe that it's their I
wouldn't say responsibility.
They enjoy reaching out as muchas you enjoy engaging them.
(14:07):
Whether you're the manager oryou're a member of the team,
they make a point of engagingwith the rest of the
organization on a proactivebasis.
And it's that combination ofmaking sure you got the right
folks on the bus, as Jim Collinsliked to say, and in the right
seats, and make sure those seatsfit your business model.
It's a complicated stew.
William Gladhart (14:28):
Yeah Well, I appreciate you bring up that you
approach two different pathwaysfor hiring individuals, both
in-person and remote work, andthere's a different set of
criteria.
I think you're one of our firstguests and leaders that has
actually brought that up.
Many have remote workers orthey have a partial remote
workforce, but no one's reallyaddressed those key points and I
(14:49):
think it's absolutelyimperative that leaders
understand that.
I mean, it is a difference andit is a different type person
that are in different roles.
So, again, going back to thecommunication values, finding
the right fit at theorganization.
So thank you so much forsharing that.
Anything else you'd like to addbefore we wrap up today?
Charles Windsor (15:08):
You touched on the last thing I was going to
mention, and truly, when yousaid what has been one thing
that impacted your culturepositively Communication,
communication, communication.
Yep, right, if you look at theimportance of that level of
communication, right, whetherit's downwards, sideways,
(15:28):
upwards, the ability to be ableto hear and see from folks, and
again, it's a never-endingimprovement story.
Right, I think, if we were todo surveys every year.
More communication, and again,it's got to be the right stuff.
Employees don't want exhaustivecommunication, that you know.
Oh my gosh, another email,another CEO missive, charles,
(15:51):
you know, pontificating from onhigh.
They want stuff that's going tobe relevant to them and they
don't necessarily always want tohear it from me.
And, by the way, as a leader, Ithink that gosh, who is that I
read about, jensen Wang atNVIDIA has such a flat
organization that he has, Ithink, something like 30,000
people that can email him aboutanything, everything and
(16:18):
anything.
Now, granted, that can producea little lack of focus, but the
fact of the matter is you, as aleader, have got to be willing
to take the pulse of theorganization, not just through
HR or just through your directreports.
But how do you talk to thefolks, maybe that are two, three
levels down or more.
How do you find a way to ensurethat you're listening to that
drumbeat of the organization sothat, when it comes to the
culture, either you're able toget ahead of it more importantly
(16:39):
many leaders can't be allthings to all people but that
your people and the folks thatare in touch with that part of
the organization can make surethey surface those things and
address them on a productivebasis?
So that would be my finalthought.
William Gladhart (16:55):
It's the communication stupid.
No, I love that because a verywise mentor said to me many
years ago he goes, you know,when I was in operations,
manufacturing, warehouse,logistics, et cetera, he said
don't sit in the office, go walkthe floor, know your people,
know what they can do, know whattheir capabilities are, and
when you do that and you can doevery job that they do, your
(17:18):
things will run very smoothlyand you will have buy-in from
your staff and they will makeyou look great.
Charles Windsor (17:25):
Hence beautiful advice.
In the world of today, how canyou walk the floor digitally?
Yeah, how can you walk thefloor if they're not there?
How can you go down the hallhave?
William Gladhart (17:35):
a cup of coffee, or grab a bite to eat
with somebody.
Charles Windsor (17:38):
Again, that's the dilemma of big companies and
small companies.
William Gladhart (17:41):
Yeah Well, Charles, I've enjoyed having you
on our Leadership Leverspodcast.
Thank you for your thoughts andyour time.
Charles Windsor (17:48):
You bet Will Take care.
Thanks so much.
William Gladhart (17:52):
Thank you for joining us on the Leadership
Levers podcast.
Find all our Leadership Loversepisodes on the Culture Think
Tank website at www.
theculturethinktank.
com or listen on your favoritestreaming platform.
We'd love to hear from youabout the challenges you have
faced as a leader platform.
(18:13):
We'd love to hear from youabout the challenges you have
faced as a leader Tune in weeklyas we invite leaders to share
their experiences instrengthening culture and
performance, one action at atime.
Welcome to the Leadership Levers Podcast.
I'm your host, Will Gladheart,CMO at the Culture Think Tank.
At the Culture Think Tank, weempower leaders with metrics
that strengthen culture, driveperformance and return.
We're here today to learn aboutthe actions leaders have taken
to address organizational change.
(00:21):
Today, our guest is CharlesWindsor, CEO of Oakwood Systems
Group & TalentPort Inc.
Thanks so much for taking thetime to join us.
Charles Windsor (00:32):
Thanks for having me, Will I appreciate it?
William Gladhart (00:34):
Excellent.
Well, let's begin by having youshare with our audience a bit
about yourself, your backgroundand the organizations that you
run.
Charles Windsor (00:41):
A couple things .
First, I guess I'm a father anda husband of two girls that are
early 30s.
I'm even a grandparent.
I've got two grandchildren nowSurprisingly how that happens
when I'm so darn young.
I've also been married for 37years.
I've been in, I guess, in theworld of consulting oh, my
goodness, probably close to 40years, believe it or not.
(01:05):
Coming out of a background ofkind of psychology and then an
MBA in finance, I got into salesand eventually landed at what
has become Accenture and spent adozen years there in Ernst
Young, before jumping into theentrepreneurial pool, as it were
, and starting a business in1999, which it was a consulting
(01:29):
business that I built and soldover a period of three years and
bought Oakwood in 2003.
And then, as a part of thatopportunity to start Talentport
occurred, probably three or fouryears later.
It's almost a compliment we candig in, if it's of merit, the
difference between Oakwood,which is more of what we
(01:50):
characterize as a consultingmanaged services business,
versus Talent Port, which is astaffing company.
Anyway, high level about thosetwo companies.
William Gladhart (01:59):
Thank you for sharing that.
I think it's interesting thatyou started another company out
of need that grew out of yourown business.
That was a complimentaryservice.
Why not go double all in on theentrepreneurial bent?
And thanks for sharing thatabout your journey In our
conversations.
Would you share why you believea healthy culture is critical?
Charles Windsor (02:18):
I think that culture is certainly important
in anything we do, whether it bein a big company, small company
.
The term culture itself, Ithink, has probably been used
quite a bit.
It certainly is the glue that Ibelieve in companies tends to
give people a sense of being apart of something other than
just a job and a paycheck.
(02:39):
I think it's this notion ofculture, ultimately within the
work life has also been kind ofa challenge with culture in your
home life.
So there's some things that arekind of interesting there.
I versus as you could look backthrough the decades and say you
(03:05):
know, what's the culture of acompany in the 50s versus the
culture of a company in 2025?
Quite different, I think youmight agree Absolutely.
So I would say kind of just interms of our world, a healthy
culture and the importance of it.
Companies really that are, Ibelieve, successful tend to have
(03:25):
open communication, rightCollaboration and teamwork.
There's a sense of continuouslearning and development.
There's a sense of work-lifebalance.
There's a feeling that yourviews are important you could
use I don't know the DEI is evena term we can use anymore.
It seems to now have differentconnotations, but it's certainly
critical.
Diversity, inclusion andunderstanding of people's views
(03:48):
is incredibly important.
Recognition and reward right,some level of ethical and
companies need to have folksthat are ethically and honest
and show a sense of integrityand I would say just maybe even
this notion of the ability tohave a company that can innovate
and adapt, I mean, to the worldtoday.
Look at what's going on in theworld today.
My goodness, I bet you almostevery company out there is
(04:11):
trying to say, okay, what do wedo now?
Right, you can't just stay as atask.
I think culture, without kindof glamorizing it anymore, is
incredibly important to manybusinesses and certainly ours.
William Gladhart (04:21):
Yeah, Well, I love that you touch on culture,
tying to not only the bottomline of the organization but
also the purpose of employeesand staff, and then how it ties
to innovation, because those arethree key areas that we often
find that there are lags orthere are gaps in how the
organization is operating or howthe leader is communicating.
(04:43):
So with that in mind, let'sbegin with our first question.
It's been our experience thatleaders tend to struggle in
three key areas people, processor profit.
In your role as a leader and aCEO, could you identify an area
that represented a culturalchallenge or just a challenge in
general within yourorganizations?
Charles Windsor (05:00):
And I thought about this question.
That's an interesting one, andI would say interesting
specifically because we driveour business with our people.
This isn't a company that sellsa product.
We didn't come up with aproduct.
I believe are directly impactedby the culture of the
organization that you're tryingto generate, or build, as it
(05:26):
were.
The notion of happy people andhappy customers yields a happy
company right and happy profit.
I would say, of all of those Idon't know that your culture, I
think, is a byproduct of thebusiness you have, but you can
be very intentional about tryingto build your culture.
In my mind and, by the way, I'mnot such a historian that I
(05:51):
could frame out examples wherecompanies have had to pivot
their culture, but I certainlythink that in our world, in the
world of technology, which isthe core of what we do, we build
and implement technologysoftware for primarily
Microsoft-centric solutions, butcertainly we touch on a lot of
other technologies that industryis changing incredibly quickly.
If you were talking to a CEO ofa manufacturing business or a
(06:14):
CEO of a retailer, thosebusinesses are changing as well,
but in different ways.
I think that the challenge thatwe have tried to address in
terms of our team and theculture of those people.
People in our businessrecognize that we need to
produce a profit and, by the way, they have a real direct link
(06:35):
because in our business peoplebill by the hour or they bill by
a project or they bill undersome guise, and they know that
if they do certain things, thatproduces revenues for the
business and ideally it will runa profit.
So they have an understandingof the notion of profit.
They also understand that ourbusiness processes need to be
followed.
(06:55):
There's a variety of reasons whyI want to unpack those for you.
In terms of that, we reallysell a process for delivering a
result.
If you think about it, in somesense the challenge that we have
culturally is to make sure thatthe people that we hire fit our
culture and the culture that wehave fits our people, and so,
(07:17):
in that context, part of whatI've tried to do is we simply
say, well, what is our culture?
And again, you could argue thatcompanies put posters up on the
walls and of sunsets andwhatnot.
We try to refine and define ourculture in kind of the values
that we espouse as anorganization and again, we try
(07:39):
to embrace those on a somewhatconsistent basis.
But I'll share what thosevalues are with you, literally
just for your audience.
That would be fantastic.
We encourage responsiblerisk-taking to find bold
solutions and foster personaland professional growth.
Hard work is our foundation andhumor is our mortar.
We actively seek opportunitiesto help our clients, our team
(08:01):
and ourselves through knowledgesharing, volunteering and
community events.
We believe helping others is aparticipatory sport.
We are inspired to be pushedoutside of our comfort zone and
are eager to thank those forinspiring us to take a risk, and
we encourage everyone to leadthrough their attitude and
approach.
An attitude for me personally isI think oftentimes I tend to be
(08:24):
the last interview.
I interview everybody that webring on board and some that we
don't.
That may not be a fit, but I'mtending to interview more for
their attitude than theiraptitude.
I have a lot of folks thatevaluate their aptitude under a
number of different components,that evaluate their aptitude
under a number of differentcomponents, and while our
business is incredibly rigorousin many things that we look for
whether they're analyticalskills or certain technical
(08:47):
skills or problem solving orcritical thinking, whatever I
think if you bring somebody withthe right attitude and they
have some elemental level offoundation, you're going to hire
good people.
So that's really when we arekind of evaluating those folks.
We're trying to evaluate themaround an attitude and aptitude,
but then, more importantly, fit.
Do they fit within the cultureof what we're trying to build
(09:09):
here?
William Gladhart (09:10):
Great.
Now I think that's a reallyinteresting point that you've
brought up in terms of you kindof covered our other questions
in your thoughts about thediscussion about what the
challenge was, especially aroundpeople, and then the thing that
you identified was really thevalues that you've laid out for
the organization.
That the person fit has to betied to the values and to the
(09:32):
other people in the organization.
I love hearing about thatconnectivity, because we've
shown statistically that themore connected employees are in
an organization, the more theyunderstand their role, the
better they feel.
The higher they perform, thebetter revenue gets generated.
You know up to 15 to 20, 30plus percent gains over 12 to 14
(09:54):
months.
There is some secret sauce toit's not a secret sauce, but
there is something to whatexactly you were putting in
place and what you have kind ofsteered your company towards.
As we kind of wrap up ourconversation today, is there
anything else you'd like toshare with fellow leaders?
Charles Windsor (10:10):
I'll unpack it a little bit more for you,
because I think the interestingdichotomy of culture today with
culture of yesterday and theculture challenge in our world
is that we hire people who don'twork in two of our physical
geographies.
So we have quite a few peoplethat are remote workers and I
would dare to be so bold as tosay I think the challenge that
(10:34):
we're seeing with the remoteworker movement that occurred
during the pandemic and as nowcompanies are pulling workers
back into the office we'vealways had this in the services
business, certainly when Iworked in the bigger companies,
and even when I've been on myown and we were just chatting
about earlier is that when youhave a remote worker, it's more
(10:54):
challenging than ever to makesure that you're hiring those
folks for the kinds of thingsthat they're going to bring to
the table, other than whetheryou're going to bill for them.
Remote workers we have a set ofcriteria and evaluation
criteria and questions that weuse, because remote workers,
while they have many of thethings you might look for in the
job description to besuccessful, there's certain
(11:16):
characteristics you have toevaluate about who can be a
successful remote worker,because, as anybody that's
worked remotely, there'scomplications there.
There's no separation withwork-life balance, right,
there's oftentimes distractions.
So you've got situations whereif you're sitting in a cubicle
or sitting in an office, youdon't have those, and so the
(11:36):
dilemma that we have is not onlythe ability to be productive in
that remote setting, but from acultural contribution.
You have to be much moreintentional with remote workers
of engaging them to be a part ofyour culture, to engage them,
to put, as I like to call it,two feet into the business
versus one foot.
And when you think about thenotion of remote workers and you
(11:59):
think about the portability ofjobs today and I mean there's
nothing more portable than IT,skilled folks, right, there's a
tremendous demand for them.
And there's this industry, notonly on the staffing side that I
mentioned about anotherbusiness, but in general, where
companies, via LinkedIn, can berecruiting people, and those
(12:19):
employees whose images are outon, say, linkedin can be
recruited.
And so the ability to findfolks that fit your culture,
that you can bring into thebusiness, that aren't working in
your physical offices, you canmake sure they're engaged
appropriately, you can make surethey're feeling that sense of
recognition, reward, a challengein a business where maybe
(12:41):
you're not walking down the halland you can give them an
attaboy or an inaugural kind ofthing right.
It's complications like thatthat undermine a leader's
ability to foster culture, muchless the portability problem.
I think I saw a statistic andthis was maybe for the, not the
millennials, maybe it was themillennials, it could even be
(13:02):
Gen Z.
There was a statistic that saidthe average millennial is going
to have 15 jobs in their careerand if you think about the
average career mid-60s 40, someodd years that's a job every two
to three years.
When you think about a leader,how do I build a culture?
Culture comes throughconsistency, engaged employees,
(13:23):
the ability, maybe to be intouch with them.
Thank goodness for video right,it certainly helps bridge the
gap.
And then you combine that withthis notion of skills,
portability and the gig workenvironment and folks being able
to move jobs easily.
I think it creates a tremendouschallenge and you've got to
(13:44):
find a way.
And, by the way, it's one of thebiggest things we found in that
kind of evaluation of do youput two feet in versus one is
those remote workers that arereally good at remote work.
They put two feet in becausethey believe that it's their I
wouldn't say responsibility.
They enjoy reaching out as muchas you enjoy engaging them.
(14:07):
Whether you're the manager oryou're a member of the team,
they make a point of engagingwith the rest of the
organization on a proactivebasis.
And it's that combination ofmaking sure you got the right
folks on the bus, as Jim Collinsliked to say, and in the right
seats, and make sure those seatsfit your business model.
It's a complicated stew.
William Gladhart (14:28):
Yeah Well, I appreciate you bring up that you
approach two different pathwaysfor hiring individuals, both
in-person and remote work, andthere's a different set of
criteria.
I think you're one of our firstguests and leaders that has
actually brought that up.
Many have remote workers orthey have a partial remote
workforce, but no one's reallyaddressed those key points and I
(14:49):
think it's absolutelyimperative that leaders
understand that.
I mean, it is a difference andit is a different type person
that are in different roles.
So, again, going back to thecommunication values, finding
the right fit at theorganization.
So thank you so much forsharing that.
Anything else you'd like to addbefore we wrap up today?
Charles Windsor (15:08):
You touched on the last thing I was going to
mention, and truly, when yousaid what has been one thing
that impacted your culturepositively Communication,
communication, communication.
Yep, right, if you look at theimportance of that level of
communication, right, whetherit's downwards, sideways,
(15:28):
upwards, the ability to be ableto hear and see from folks, and
again, it's a never-endingimprovement story.
Right, I think, if we were todo surveys every year.
More communication, and again,it's got to be the right stuff.
Employees don't want exhaustivecommunication, that you know.
Oh my gosh, another email,another CEO missive, charles,
(15:51):
you know, pontificating from onhigh.
They want stuff that's going tobe relevant to them and they
don't necessarily always want tohear it from me.
And, by the way, as a leader, Ithink that gosh, who is that I
read about, jensen Wang atNVIDIA has such a flat
organization that he has, Ithink, something like 30,000
people that can email him aboutanything, everything and
(16:18):
anything.
Now, granted, that can producea little lack of focus, but the
fact of the matter is you, as aleader, have got to be willing
to take the pulse of theorganization, not just through
HR or just through your directreports.
But how do you talk to thefolks, maybe that are two, three
levels down or more.
How do you find a way to ensurethat you're listening to that
drumbeat of the organization sothat, when it comes to the
culture, either you're able toget ahead of it more importantly
(16:39):
many leaders can't be allthings to all people but that
your people and the folks thatare in touch with that part of
the organization can make surethey surface those things and
address them on a productivebasis?
So that would be my finalthought.
William Gladhart (16:55):
It's the communication stupid.
No, I love that because a verywise mentor said to me many
years ago he goes, you know,when I was in operations,
manufacturing, warehouse,logistics, et cetera, he said
don't sit in the office, go walkthe floor, know your people,
know what they can do, know whattheir capabilities are, and
when you do that and you can doevery job that they do, your
(17:18):
things will run very smoothlyand you will have buy-in from
your staff and they will makeyou look great.
Charles Windsor (17:25):
Hence beautiful advice.
In the world of today, how canyou walk the floor digitally?
Yeah, how can you walk thefloor if they're not there?
How can you go down the hallhave?
William Gladhart (17:35):
a cup of coffee, or grab a bite to eat
with somebody.
Charles Windsor (17:38):
Again, that's the dilemma of big companies and
small companies.
William Gladhart (17:41):
Yeah Well, Charles, I've enjoyed having you
on our Leadership Leverspodcast.
Thank you for your thoughts andyour time.
Charles Windsor (17:48):
You bet Will Take care.
Thanks so much.
William Gladhart (17:52):
Thank you for joining us on the Leadership
Levers podcast.
Find all our Leadership Loversepisodes on the Culture Think
Tank website at www.
theculturethinktank.
com or listen on your favoritestreaming platform.
We'd love to hear from youabout the challenges you have
faced as a leader platform.
(18:13):
We'd love to hear from youabout the challenges you have
faced as a leader Tune in weeklyas we invite leaders to share
their experiences instrengthening culture and
performance, one action at atime.
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