In the final episode of our 2026 "Building Culture with Brian" series, Brian discusses the intentional routines that reinforce a healthy, sustainable culture. He explains why leadership must focus on celebrating wins that align with core values, not just revenue, and how to leverage storytelling to turn successes into firm-wide learning moments. Brian also tackles the tough side of leadership: normalizing struggle, coaching team members through conflict and burnout, and the critical value of reverse mentorship, learning from younger staff to ensure the firm remains relevant and agile.

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Episode Transcript

(Skyler Gorsett): Welcome to another episode of Laying the Foundation. Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Laying the Foundation podcast. My name, as always, is Skyler. Our guests sometimes change, although today we have joining us Brian, kind of a classic side host for the podcast. I never leave you. Never.

(Brian Crichton): I'm the CEO, so I'm still here.

(Skyler Gorsett): That's right, and you're the perfect person to talk to today for a "Building Culture with Brian" episode, after all, since your name is in the title.

(Brian Crichton): Oh well, that's nice. Yes, it's called after me.

(Skyler Gorsett): Yes, absolutely. And I'm excited because we're going to be talking about a perfect finish out for our "Building Culture with Brian" series for the 2026 year: celebrating successes and looking forward to 2027 by mentoring for challenges.

(Brian Crichton): Yes, a lot here to cover today.

(Skyler Gorsett): Absolutely, 100%. And it'll be great for those listening to be able to think ahead, plan for 2027, and figure out how we can adjust to celebrate our successes and mentor through challenges.

(Brian Crichton): Yeah, I think, just in general, celebrating successes is something that sometimes we just don't slow down enough to do. We get so ingrained in our projects and serving our clients well that we just kind of let things pass. We do need to slow down and sort of be a historian for our own company and say, hey, this is a milestone that happened, and we need to celebrate it. And then on the challenge side, every day is a challenge with projects and what's going on. Sometimes it's not even internal; it could be an external challenge. Tomorrow is our all-staff meeting, which we are having virtually this year, and those are times for us to do that—to do some celebration, but also to talk about some of the challenges that we've had over the past year. It's a perfect opportunity.

(Skyler Gorsett): It is a perfect opportunity right on the edge of our brains. So, what kind of successes are we looking at celebrating? Obviously, it's easy to say a project is done, we're cutting the ribbon, and we're all going to celebrate, sometimes even going over to see the finished projects. But what else is worth celebrating?

(Brian Crichton): I really think it starts at the very beginning of a relationship with a new client or an existing client. That is a relationship that we've kept going for many years. We have many returning clients that bring projects to us. A success—and we have it hanging on one of the columns over here—is a dinner bell. We ring that on occasion to say, hey, everybody come around, we want to talk about what happened. It could be an interview win or getting into that client we've been trying to talk to for six to nine months. That's a success, and those are the little milestones along the way at the beginning of a project and relationship that we need to slow down and think about. As we progress through it, if we hit the dates we said we were going to, we should celebrate those. Yes, we are a business, and we have to think about project budgets, so it's always great to be on budget and potentially make a little bit of profit. When one of our large projects goes through our team, at the end of that, it's exhausting, but we should slow down and say, you know what, that was a big push to get that through. Let's slow down and celebrate that. Those are milestones. So yes, it's at the very end when the ribbon is cut and everybody's walking in and happy, but we truly need to think about that along the way in the project schedule or our relationship schedule because those are small wins that build to big wins over the year.

(Skyler Gorsett): It's doses of motivation in a sense, getting that excitement going. The ball is rolling, the big giant boulder is coming down the hill, and we've got to keep it going like a flywheel.

(Brian Crichton): Right, we're pushing it a little bit, push, push, push, and then it starts to really go.

(Skyler Gorsett): Absolutely. And that bell you mentioned earlier has some history. I thought Lee got it, but you got it.

(Brian Crichton): I got it out in the Black Hills on a family vacation. I thought about how we could use a dinner bell for rounding everybody up. That's why it's a dinner bell and not just a cowbell.

(Skyler Gorsett): Yeah, absolutely. A cowbell would probably just give us a chuckle every time it got rung—more cowbell! You mentioned in your notes that we can use these successes as a storytelling tool with our leadership. What do you mean by that?

(Brian Crichton): Well, we can celebrate an interview win where we were selected for a project. But what went into that to set us up for success at the precise moment the potential client is ready and willing to listen to what we're describing? There's a lot of work that goes into some of those wins. So it's really about telling the story of all that effort, the people involved, and some of the challenges along the way. We need to use those stories to help build our mental picture of how we can get there. I think of my kids when I think of this: as a kid, I did this, this, and this, and maybe you don't want to do that. Instead of just saying no, I'm telling them the context in which that story happened, giving them the details, and then they understand. So it's building that picture for people to see how success can happen with events you're dealing with, the work that goes into putting something together, and the efforts involved. That story is really important.

(Skyler Gorsett): I think using the interview process as an example is perfect. From my own experience in the office, especially when Courtney gets done with an interview that went really well, she'll rush over to Christie's office and say, there was this one thing we said during that interview, and you could see all their eyes light up because they were connecting with us. So telling a story is fantastic. Now, let's move over to challenges. This is where things get a little bit dicey, and some people might not want to talk about challenges as much.

(Brian Crichton): They are learning opportunities. You can call them challenges, but we're learning along the way.

(Skyler Gorsett): Exactly. Along those lines, we talk about mentoring through challenges and not avoiding them or pushing them to the side.

(Brian Crichton): Does anything get better with time, Skyler? Not really. We tend to degrade with time, so challenges never really go away. If we don't address them fairly early on, they're going to continue to be a challenge that could cause bigger issues. When anything comes up, if I can be a mentor to our younger staff, I've got stories about what happened 10, 12, 15, or 20 years ago and can say, hey, this is very similar to what you're talking about. This is what happened, this is how I got myself into that, and this is how we got ourselves out of that, because I had mentors back then too who stood beside me and showed me how to address something.

(Skyler Gorsett): So passing down that knowledge. And hindsight is 20/20. When we talk about client conflict, potential burnout, or performance difficulties, things along those lines...

(Brian Crichton): It can be a design challenge, right? Our designs are not perfect. You've heard this in all-staff meetings—I talk about design deficiencies, things that we've had to write checks for. I think people like to hear about them. I'm not trying to pick on anybody when I bring them up, but if people see that they aren't alone and that other people make mistakes, it helps them realize it's okay to make a mistake. The key is how do we learn from that and potentially not have that same issue in the future on the next five projects?

(Skyler Gorsett): Because things come up in every single project. We don't do cookie-cutter buildings, but things carry over within the design process. If we can identify those challenges and design deficiencies, we make sure we don't repeat them.

(Brian Crichton): I want to also hit on peer-to-peer challenges—working together challenges. I think differently than you think, and if I don't take the time to understand how you think, that can create a roadblock in the way we work. It's investing the time, sitting down, having a conversation, and listening.

(Skyler Gorsett): That's the hard part.

(Brian Crichton): Taking it in, not just barreling ahead with the way I want to do something, but truly respecting that person's time, effort, and thought. They are another person involved with as much weight as I do. We're all teammates, and having those difficult conversations sometimes isn't fun, but we have to have them to get past roadblocks.

(Skyler Gorsett): Like you said earlier, ignoring them doesn't make things any better. In the architecture and design field, are there specific tough moments or challenges that you often see?

(Brian Crichton): The first time a younger designer goes through school, they present a project and sit in front of a jury that picks it apart. When someone younger has a design they think is awesome, and they push it in front of a client who says that's not what they thought it was going to be, you can't take it personally. You have to have a thicker skin because the client is seeing the world from their own point of view—how is this going to make teaching children better, taking care of patients better, or serving the community better? We look at space, overall flow, and efficiency. When they push back, you can't take it personally; you have to ask them to help you understand where they see it doesn't quite work, listen, take it back, make adjustments, and come back with better ideas.

(Skyler Gorsett): It's frustrating when you feel like the expert, but it's a conversation where we learn about what they do, which helps us adjust our ideas so everyone is happy at the end.

(Brian Crichton): The other key point is when we put together drawing sets for contractors and walk on site once the true shell of the building is going up. You talk to a field superintendent or carpenter who asks, "What in the heck were you thinking? There's no way I can build that." You've invested 20 hours in that detail, and they're telling you it can't be built that way. You have to stop, ask how they would build it, and be willing to learn from the person in the field. It's easy to draw, but not easy to build, and that can be humbling. Just listen to their perspective and have a conversation. These are key points in architecture and interior design that I see younger staff struggling with a bit.

(Skyler Gorsett): Transitioning into the real world and realizing those tricky elements. I remember my first project back in 1997—a library in Kingsley, Iowa. It was awesome to see it coming out of the ground, but then questions kept coming up, and it was very humbling.

(Brian Crichton): As a leader, I need to own my struggles so others see that if the leader makes mistakes and continues to grow, it's okay if they make a mistake too. We make a big deal of problems in our heads until we ask for help. At the leadership level, you have to be authentic and vulnerable enough to say you screwed up, and then show them how to fix it.

(Skyler Gorsett): Being the example. Now, let's jump back to celebration to close things out on a positive note. How do we create recognition routines so we don't forget to celebrate milestones, build morale, and keep momentum flowing?

(Brian Crichton): It's not easy because we get set in our ways. We need to highlight successes publicly, whether it's a new staff certification or years of service. We publicly acknowledge the effort that goes in and celebrate every little thing we can. If someone put six months of work into a $40 million project and it goes out on time, we need to celebrate and shout that out. Leaders need to recognize and acknowledge those going above and beyond so people feel valued.

(Skyler Gorsett): The worst thing you can do is not notice or recognize it, leaving the person feeling bummed out after missing birthdays or sacrificing to get a drawing out. And tying recognition to the right time is important—you can't wait six months to praise a job done in April.

(Brian Crichton): Also, not everyone is the highest performer in the company, but very good employees need to be recognized too. We need to recognize all the little successes. If I go to a client meeting and the youngest designer stays back at the office, they still worked to prepare for it, and we need to thank them and recognize that team effort.

(Skyler Gorsett): That touches on reverse mentorship, as Adam Van Gorp discussed recently—how long-term staff learn from younger members on the team. Why is that so important?

(Brian Crichton): The key phrase is "lifelong learner". If you aren't staying curious about processes, materials, design concepts, and technology, you get stuck. The industry progresses every day. Younger staff coming out of college are in a more progressive environment regarding technology, and while they might pick expensive materials without worrying about cost ramifications yet, bringing those fresh ideas to the table is valuable. We engage younger staff and interns early because they are fearless, and we can learn from that and push the envelope.

(Skyler Gorsett): They are locked in on time and full-time deadlines, but they have the ability to do obscure research into new materials and ideas and bring summaries to the wiser architects.

(Brian Crichton): It comes back to staying curious about what you do, why you do it, and how you can improve.

(Skyler Gorsett): Stay curious—that's key advice for 2027 as we look for new ideas and better ways to celebrate successes and mentor for challenges. Thank you, Brian, for a fantastic year of "Building Culture with Brian," and we'll see you in 2027.

(Brian Crichton): I'm sure we'll have some good episodes next year.

(Skyler Gorsett): For those listening, we'll see you on the next episode of Laying the Foundation.