The Ice Cream Incident: Culture, Conflict & Compliance with Janine Yancey

In this insightful episode recorded live at Transform 2025, host Denise Chaffin sits down with Janine Yancey, Founder and CEO of Emtrain, to explore how workplace culture, compliance, and leadership are deeply intertwined. A former employment litigator turned e-learning innovator, Janine shares how Emtrain’s analytics-driven approach is transforming outdated compliance training into a strategic tool for leadership development and culture building.

They discuss the shift from traditional DEI language to a focus on “inclusion,” how to recognize and resolve group dynamics before they lead to litigation, and why psychological safety is essential for retention and productivity. Janine breaks down Emtrain’s 16-skill framework, offers real-world examples (including a $120K investigation sparked by a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s), and explains how shared language like the “workspace color spectrum” helps teams give feedback without creating conflict.

Whether you're an HR leader, executive, or people manager, this episode provides a roadmap to creating high-performing, inclusive teams—and why doing so isn’t just good for culture, but for your bottom line.

Key Episode Segments:

• Inclusion Over DEI: Janine explains the strategic shift from politically charged DEI language to more universally accepted inclusion practices grounded in leadership development.

• Behavioral Analytics in Training: Emtrain combines e-learning with data collection to identify team dynamics, red flags, and areas for improvement—transforming compliance into a proactive culture strategy.

• The 16 Skill Framework: Emtrain’s training is built on 16 essential workplace skills categorized under ethics, respect, and inclusion, helping individuals at every level grow.

• Shared Language to Reduce Conflict: The “workspace color spectrum” allows teams to label behavior (green, yellow, orange, red) instead of labeling people, promoting psychological safety.

• Cost of Neglecting Culture: Real-life examples highlight how small exclusions or cliques can lead to costly litigation, and how early interventions and leadership accountability prevent escalations.