The Whitley Hurst Podcast
Conversations on environmental compliance, field operations, leadership, and the challenges facing today’s environmental industry.
The Whitley Hurst Podcast
Culture 101
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Culture does not live in a mission statement - it lives in what employees do every day. Culture 101 explores how to build an organization where people move with a shared purpose, take ownership of the business, and recognize the people who shape the environment around them. If you want a culture that stays together under pressure and helps the company grow, start here.
Hello everyone. Thanks for tuning in. My name is Alyssa and welcome to our podcast. I will be hosting our first series on Solution 44, which we'll go into talk about today. Solution 44 is a business model developed by Mr. Brian Whitley. Brian has been in the environmental industry for over 20 years. He serves as a vice president of compliance for EMSI alongside Paul Phillips and Matthew Gobert. Together they have faced distinct and often intricate side of managing an array of people in high-stakes situations. These challenges have provided him with unique insight dealing with people and understanding relationships. Solution 44 was birthed out of the experience Brian gleamed over the past few decades, and it reads as a tool to build and implement a system that ensures the efficacy of a team. Today we are joined by Brian. So thank you, Brian, for joining us.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having me on the show. I look forward to it, and I think we got some exciting things to talk about.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. So we have a little bit of background about you. But would you mind giving us some background on Solution 44? So just introduce us to what Solution 44 is, maybe how it came about, and then maybe we'll roll into the first lesson.
SPEAKER_01Well, my brother is uh somewhat of an entrepreneur, and he had this theme park he was working at, largest indoor entertainment park uh at the country in the country at the time. And he called me and he was like, man, there's a couple of things here I just I just can't figure out. I am working with these kids. I'm working night and day, and it's got so much opportunity here, but I I can't seem to really kind of break through. And when I went and looked, this entertainment park was mainly filled with kids and that are basically operating as managers. And when I say kids, I'm talking about, you know, 20, 23, 24, some of them just getting out of college. And it was very clear to me at the very beginning that they needed structure and unity to try to really come together. And I realized that if I can build something that would take the sum of the pieces and make it equal to or greater than the whole for the person, it would make a world of a difference. So if each person felt like they were being a part of something that was bigger than them, then the results I would get out of it would be really would be much better and more desired than what he was already getting. So when I built that system, it was for that, but I very quickly realized that these principles apply to way more than just this theme part. And that's kind of about how it came about.
SPEAKER_00So tell me a little bit more about what this realization revealed to you.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm gonna start that with a uh riddle, you know. Um so I'll ask you a question, a couple of questions, think about it, and let me know if you can figure it out. What can be seen but is invisible? Its presence can be felt, but it cannot be touched. Can dictate your mood with no words spoken. It can motivate you without giving a single speech. Who am I?
SPEAKER_00I haven't the slightest clue who are you?
SPEAKER_01I am culture, and culture 101 is the heartbeat of any company and also the first lesson in the methodology.
SPEAKER_00So um in kind of looking at the structure of Solution 44, this seemed to be the most important foundational uh component of Solution 44. So, why, in your opinion, is the culture so important to an organization.
SPEAKER_01Well, first of all, I think I need to put my disclaimer out because I am full of metaphors. I love them. I speak, you know, in parables and illustrations and all these different things all the time. So you're gonna hear several of them today as we begin continue to talk about the things that we're talking about right now. But the very thought of culture, when you look at it, um, it's like a petri dish to me. It houses a very specific environment for the purpose of cultivating a specific specimen. When you look at the uh definition itself of just culture, one is directly related to um, you know, an organization and the vibe and feel of it, and then the other one is just like what I explained, you know, cultivating the specimen. We like to think that these things are very different, but the truth of the matter is that they really are very much the same. Um at the company, we seek to create a work environment that does cultivate the same type of employees so that we get these fruitful get the producers of fruitful labor, right? So when we're cultivating one way or the other, we have to realize that it's gonna happen. Like the cultivation is cultivating something. The petri dish is the work environment. It is the place where we are. So what you're gonna get out of it has everything to do with what you put into it. So um I am who I am, but one of the things I do still believe in is the Bible. And the Bible tells us that we can well we will reap what we sow. So if our company is uh sowing good traits and good vibes and energy, then we're gonna reap that. If we're sowing the opposite, then you know what happens.
SPEAKER_00So it sounds like what you're saying is that whether we like it or not, a company is developing a culture. It's either happening haphazardly or intentionally. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_01That is correct. It's like dieting versus not dieting. I look at some people and they stay skinny, but they're not really on a diet. And then I look at some people and they're dieting and they're working toward it and they're not exactly getting the results that they needed. Um there's a third group, and the third group is dieting and they're actually getting the results that they needed. What's the difference between all those people? And to me, the one is the person is dieting and they work out and they do their regimen. That person looks different. You know, the guy who kind of stays skinny all the time, yeah, he's skinny, but he's not the guy that's working out, right? So the one hand is somebody who's got a good energy, got a good vibe from a company standpoint, but they don't really know why. On the other hand, you got the person that's trying it, but they're kind of trying all the wrong things, and then you got the person that's getting it right, right? So we want to be the latter. We want to be the person that's getting it right.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell So just before we move on to being the people that get it right, let's talk about the people who kind of do it haphazardly. So, in your experience, I know you've been working in this industry for many decades, but have you seen or can you say that an organization can ever be successful without directly working towards building their culture?
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell Yeah, so here I go with the with another metaphor again. Um, let's time uh let's right now let's just think about water, right? Water in itself is a life source for millions of organisms. It is it is what keeps us afloat. I mean, if you think about humanity in itself, how many days can we survive without actually having water? It's not many. It's perfectly balanced. But when you tip the scales, one way or the other, this perfectly balanced thing that is a source of life for so many different sources can actually become acidic or a base. And in either case, this is corrosive and harmful to the very same people that it nourished. So what do you think happens when a company's culture becomes acidic?
SPEAKER_00Well, based on my own experience, I would assume that anything that was built intentionally prior to this point would probably be undone. And I think that it would definitely undermine the trust that you would have with your employees. And I think undoing that can really harm progress for rebuilding culture in the future. Your employees are just not going to trust you because they've seen it crumble.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so this is particularly true when a company is service-based. When we look at a service-based culture, um, everything affects everything else. So how the employees are being treated matters, and how the company is treating those employees, the reason why that does matter is because of how those employees are expected to treat the people that are actually choosing that service from them. So in some cases where you have clients that are being serviced by, you know, there's a difference between how you feel about Walmart employees and people at Walmart in your neighborhood publics or Starbucks or, you know, Chick-fil-A, you start naming these names, the first thing that comes to mind is something that you like about them or something that you don't like.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I kind of hear, you know, Starbucks or Chick-fil-A, and I'm thinking friendly, kind, they care about me. And so I'm kind of thinking of myself being an employee in this type of environment. And so I'm opening the window and I'm greeting a customer with kindness and respect and a sense of urgency and like what they want matters to me. So I can see how if my work environment was unkind or disrespectful or no urgency to help me, that's gonna be what I treat my clients with because that is what this environment reflects. Um I think that's a very good point. Um, so I in reading solution 44, I feel like the argument that you build around culture is important and compelling. But the challenge that I had is that it seems like where companies run into trouble is that they cannot seem to build it. They want to, they want to have this culture, they want to be known as this customer service expert, and they're doing all of these things with excellence and care, but they can't do it. Why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, I want you to remember something. And for all the people who are uh listening and you know, I'm honored that that you that you would take the time out to hear this. So if you remember anything from what we talked about today, as much as you can, great. But if you remember anything, I want you to remember these three words. Think, feel, experience. Think, feel, experience. And it goes like this. If you want to change how a person thinks, you must change how that person feels. If you want to change how that person feels, you must change what that person experiences. That is where the employer has the ability to touch the employee with the experiences that they give them every day. It'll change how they feel about you, therefore changing how they think about you.
SPEAKER_00That's good. So I want to kind of move into like a more practical piece and get some of your real life experience with implementing something like this. So my question for you is how does your company currently actively engage this think-feel experience idea? I think a lot of times we kind of have these, you know, philosophical ideals, but how have you seen that actually played out in a real life work scenario?
SPEAKER_01I can definitely give you our own experience, my own experience with the company that I work for now. And we, you know, at the beginning, we were that skinny kid that didn't know why they were skinny. And um, so, you know, you just go along and you got everything right, we're hitting it on all cylinders, and then as we kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, we really lost our way. Yeah. You know, and upon losing that way, we didn't know which direction we were headed. Uh, we became that kid that was trying all this different stuff, but couldn't lose weight. Yeah. You know. So we went into I like to call it the dungeon. Whenever I say I'm going into the dungeon, it just means I'm going to a very place, quiet place where I can really focus and the intensity of what I'm trying to create, you know, happens, right? So as a company, we did that. And it was in the hill country, somewhere outside of Austin, Texas. And we were locked up with each other for uh four days. And what came out of it has a little bit of uh fun with it and and humor, but we came out with flaps. F-L-A-P-S flaps. And it stands for fun. Um we all want to have fun. Everybody wants to enjoy what they do. If you want to see some people do things good, then let them enjoy what they're doing. They generally that those things kind of go hand in hand. Yeah. Um, loyalty, and you know I can get into loyalty, but I'm really curious. Like, what does loyalty mean to you?
SPEAKER_00Oh. Well, to me, I feel like loyalty means sticking it out when times get tough. Um and that's because there is something there to the relationship that's more or more valuable than the temporary tough situation that we're in.
SPEAKER_01I agree, I agree. And uh for us, it requires a lot of sacrifice. You know, loyalty means sticking together like, you know, from a company standpoint through thick and thin. You know? Yes, yes. You know, it's funny we when we uh talked about all of the stuff, I wrote this a long time ago, but what's happening right now, uh, this COVID crisis is requiring a lot of sacrifice from our company to our clients who are not, you know, making the same money they w they were making a while ago. They're asking for reductions and benefits uh that are what can be considered somewhat abnormal, but our core values are based upon partnership. And a partnership is not just one-sided.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Adaptability. Um, us being able to be adaptable. One of the cornerstones of our company, but we realize that that's what it is. When you're a service-oriented company, you can't cookie-cutter fix like this is what we do. You know, not in the environmental industry. We try to do everything that leads up to that partnership. So we knew that we needed to choose that as one of the things that stood for us, right? Um, people. People, I'll put you on the spot again. What do you think people means? Or at least just tell me tell me what it means to you.
SPEAKER_00As far as business goes, um, I would say that people are the heartbeat of the company. Um, they're the ones who actually deliver the service or the product or the solution, um, depending on what type of company that you have.
SPEAKER_01Right. And now that you got me this curious, what about personally?
SPEAKER_00Personally, I think people are unique and diverse, and every person desires to be treated with dignity and respect. And truly, I think at the end of the day, people just want to find peace and happiness and to do work they can find meaning in.
SPEAKER_01I would agree. I would agree. And for us, because I'm my company EMSI, where people are the cornerstone of everything that happens with us. It's one of the things that we must always keep track of because without good people, then we literally is is is greater than just saying we don't have a company. It's bigger than that because you know it takes people and the people make up the company. You always hear people say that, but our people touch all of our revenue. All of it. They it goes through the hands of our employees before it ever touches us. So our dedication to the people that that we have in our company needs to be as high as we can possibly hope to get it.
unknownTrevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00More so because it's a service-oriented business. There's no product really. The people are the face. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Right. That's an excellent segue to the S in Flaps, which is service, right? So in our service that we provide, we want to be second to none. So as we talked about in the very onset with the Starbucks and Chick-fil-A's and, you know, Publix and Fresh Markets and places like that of the world where you know them for service and that that care, we try to be the same way in our environmental industry. We we focus really hard on what it means to be a partnership with them, that they're not doing it alone. We bring the talent that's necessary to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So of these five, have you found that any of these culture points is the most important, like the one that you cannot do without or the one that gets the priority?
SPEAKER_01I've wanted to answer yes to that question for a long time. Uh and I try to. I I I run these debates in my head over and over and over again. But what I end up with is in the same spot as always. You know, for me to be able to say one of these things is more important than the other would be just like saying my eyes are more important than my ears, or my feet are more important than my hands. Now, in all honesty, any one of those things being removed doesn't mean that I wouldn't be able to live or even have some kind of great life. But how much more of a great life would I have with all of them working in unison with each other? So I I I really wouldn't pull one above the other.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So there's quite a bit of content, but one last question I have for you to unpack is can you share a company you've worked with that is really building culture well and how you can see that directly contributing to its success? I think it'd be helpful to have, you know, some practical examples of someone who's doing it right that we can look to.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm a little reluctant to stay, uh to stay or at least say everything that I'm uh that I'm thinking, because I'm still getting paid, you know, by my company. So what I'll do is I'll give you some examples and um talk about some of the things that I've seen over my history with employment with everyone and some of the things that really stuck out in mind. So uh one of the companies that I work for, as the president was building the company and he was trying to acquire talent, there was a couple of times where he actually had to acquire talent and pay the talent more than what he was paying himself as the president of the company to be able to help the company grow because he needed those people on his staff. Doesn't mean that those people were more important than him, but the key is that he realized that they were as important as him. And that helped him to grow that company in a really quick in a very short period of time. Second thing I've seen that was really impressive to me in my career is uh when companies decided to disassemble cost centers. So in a service-oriented business, cost centers are a killer, right? So I mean it's one thing, you know, there's certain service services that it works for, like a bank, for example, or you know, a grocery store or someplace like that, you know, if you got one in location to you, that's great. But when the expertise is something that's more of knowledge, what you know, what experience you can bring to the table, then because somebody lives in California and the need is in Massachusetts, she doesn't stop that guy from California to be able to help him. So when it broke that down and built a system that allowed for the experts, uh we call them subject matter experts of whatever field to be able to be accessible to all the other places, that uh that took a whole nother level of service. You felt like you can call the best person for the question at hand at any time, regardless of where you were located. Um and the last thing that I experienced is when, you know, and this is actually with our company, when we realized that we will only ever be as good as our weakest employee. So we spend a lot of time at the very bottom level of employees to acclimate them, to cultivate them, to grow them, to do the things that we need to do to try to get them up above, because our impression that people will see from the world will be based upon what the weakest one of them is. So that's important to us to focus on.
SPEAKER_00Right. So I understand you're hesitant to say names, but even now I'm kind of thinking of um, in particular, tech companies who kind of um have these similar principles of just compensation and how much that motivates employees and incites creativity, and then just this refusal to box employees in, just increasing the amount of flexibility and mobility that employees have in an organization. I think we've seen that success happening. So I think that all of these elements that we're applying to the industry that you're in, we've seen it be successful in other industries. Um I know that there's a lot of really great insight here. So, Brian, thank you so much for introducing Solution 44 to us and just kind of sharing a little bit about one of the first lessons. Um, and we will continue this discussion in future episodes. But I just wanted to thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. You know, I I don't have a problem talking, so I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about you know things I'm passionate about.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. All right. Well, everyone stay tuned for the next episode of the series where we will discuss the round table workforce. We'll see you soon.