When companies achieve significant growth, a strong cultural foundation is key to the long-term success and sustainability of that scale.

My guest today, WoundCentrics COO Stuart Oertli, saw culture eroding after significant company growth. As WoundCentrics expanded, they also saw employee turnover rise to over 50%, and that churn was eating into energy and resources, negatively impacting the culture and morale of their teams.

Over the last few years, Stuart has focused on developing a strong company culture that will set the foundation for continued growth. He has found that while culture might seem like a soft skill, it is absolutely connected to and significantly impacts the bottom line.

Today, we’re talking about the systems he has put in place to improve communication throughout the company, gather better-quality feedback, and a surprising process from hospital settings that they’ve adapted across all their teams.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Stuart Oertli spent ten years at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in progressive rehabilitation leadership roles. Upon completing his graduate degree in clinical practice management, he left the Texas Medical Center to experience a variety of acute and post-acute care leadership roles including Director of Rehabilitation at Blessing Hospital in affiliation with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, as a regional manager for HCR ManorCare, in rehabilitation leadership at St. David's HealthCare and as Executive Director of Post-Acute Services for Covenant Health. Stuart joined WoundCentrics in 2015 as Chief Operating Officer, leading expansion into 12 states, more than 100 facilities, and 400 employees, including 65 medical providers.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The direct impacts of cultural problems on finances and operations
• How the Influencers Council has positively shifted decision-making and communication processes away from a top-down mentality
• Why turnover rate is a key metric of the success of cultural changes
• How town halls and specific training for more effective staff meetings have improved internal communications
• How “hospital rounds” have been adapted for all staff for check-ins, feedback, and recognition
• The impact on team members of receiving simple but personal thank yous from leadership
• The biggest trap for implementing cultural changes that a leader can fall into

Learn More About Stuart Oertli:

• WoundCentrics
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

•  Sands Leadership Assessment for Values

Many people talk about and recognize the importance of employee culture. But when it comes to identifying and defining what employee culture is, a lot of people struggle.

At Talent Elevated, we define culture  as shared attitudes, norms, behaviors, and beliefs. This is a broad definition, but it covers the many ways we bump into each other within organizations.

As my guest today, executive coach Dr. Kathy Crockett shares, the teams she works with will describe issues in relationships or in character or misalignments between people, but don’t necessarily describe those in terms of employee culture.

In our conversation, we’ll talk about why fostering an employee culture that supports strategic goals is vital to success and sustainability, how respect and trust lay the foundation for relationships at work, and how executives can empower their teams to take individual action towards intentional culture.

Dr. Kathy Crockett is an executive coach and partners with organizations in customized strategic planning, employee leadership development, speaking and training. She has served as a university professor in business for over 25 years. She also served as Interim President for an organization that had an unexpected crisis and worked to transition the organization to new leadership. Kathy is chair of the board for the Pure Hope Foundation and an executive board member for Parkridge Medical Clinic and Mission Lazarus.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why culture is at the core of sustainable results, even through challenging times
• How intentional culture supports strategic decision-making throughout an organization
• Why organizations need to be able to document culture as well as performance
• How executive fatigue and overpacked schedules get in the way of culture building
• How trust, or lack thereof, impacts leaders and organizations
• How leaders can facilitate productively considering strategy and culture together

Learn More About Dr. Kathy Crockett:

• Kathy Crockett + Co
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• FranklinCovey
• The 13 Behaviours of High Trust - FranklinCovey
• BRAVING Definitions - Brené Brown

How do we successfully shift workplace cultures away from being driven by toxicity and fear?

Reshaping company culture is never an overnight project. It requires an investment of time and resources and there is always a messy middle that leaders have to persevere through, even when it feels like team members are resisting change.

But the outcomes of committing to culture change are absolutely worth it, as today’s guest, Adam Roberts, President and CEO of Diversus Health, can attest. When Adam started in 2019 as CEO of Diversus, a community mental health care provider based in Colorado Springs, he recognized the impacts of a toxic culture–turnover was near 50%–and that it had to change.

In this conversation, you’ll hear us talk about the very practical upsides of investing in positive culture, navigating the messy middle of behavior change in organizations, and why defining company values is more than a corporate exercise.

Adam Roberts, has been the President and CEO of Diversus Health, a leading community mental health center in El Paso, Park, and Teller Counties since May 2019. Under his leadership, he rapidly shifted the organization to a telehealth model during the COVID-19 pandemic, transformed the organization's culture to be client-centric, and oversaw a comprehensive organizational rebrand from AspenPointe to Diversus Health. Previously, Roberts served as COO of Valley-Wide Health Systems, and as a senior staff member with the Veterans Health Administration health care system. Mr. Roberts is a Colorado native and enjoys spending time with his wife and two children and also enjoys trail running, golfing, wood carving, and competitive axe throwing at logger competitions.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How Adam realized that culture had to be a top priority in order for any strategic plans to succeed
• How introducing metrics to the clinical process with a solutions-oriented mindset has empowered teams and improved care
• How committing to their company values has implicitly and explicitly impacted day-to-day operations
• The challenges of invisible resistance to behavior change when shifting company culture
• The question leaders need to start with when something isn’t working

Learn More About Adam Roberts:

• Diversus Health
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Most often, clients come to Talent Elevated when they haven’t been paying attention to their culture and have reached the point of needing a total overhaul.

So when founders come to us with an eye on proactively developing their company culture from the ground up, it’s an ideal scenario.

For my guest today, building culture into the roots of the company has yielded tremendous success in employee retention and satisfaction, even through the struggles of COVID and shifting to a remote workforce.

Stephanie Smith is the co-founder and former COO of Eolian, an energy investment and infrastructure company, who also happens to be my sister. In our conversation, she shares why she knew culture had to be a priority from the beginning; how Eolian took the leap and built a connected, collaborative remote workplace; and their unique approach to employee management and feedback.

Stephanie is a Senior Advisor to American Clean Power while she takes a career break to travel and recharge. She is the co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of Eolian, an innovative energy investor and energy storage company. Prior to Eolian, she was an executive coach and the founder of Smith Strategic, as well as the COO of two other energy companies, Greencastle, and Sol Systems.

Outside of the office, Ms. Smith loves to sail, travel, host dinner parties, and mentor women in the energy sector. She also serves on the board of Real Options for City Kids

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why prioritizing culture can be challenging for startups to mid-size companies, and why it’s as vital as your revenue plan
• The key factors that drove Eolian’s commitment to a remote workforce, and how they’ve structured a culture that supports collaboration and connection even with distance
• Why culture has to be an ongoing, dynamic project
• How Eolian implemented conversation days to generate valuable, honest feedback between employees and management
• Why making people feel seen and that their work matters is a key piece of sustaining a supportive culture

Learn More About Stephanie Smith:

• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh

At too many companies, employee culture just sort of happens—shaped by haphazard norms and one-off events that don't create lasting impact. But culture is too important to be left to chance.

Culture By Design is the podcast that makes employee culture a competitive advantage. As CEO of Talent Elevated, host Heather Smith helps leaders at small and mid-sized companies design intentional cultures that accelerate growth while enabling employees to thrive.

In this podcast, you'll learn why great company culture develops by design, not by accident, and how intentional culture becomes a strategic advantage in today's market.

Each episode features conversations with CEOs, leaders, and experts about practical strategies and real-world applications for proactively building culture—whether you're just beginning or need a complete overhaul.

Your business and your people deserve culture by design.

Subscribe now and turn intentional employee culture into a leverage point for innovation, adaptation, and growth.