Creating Positive Work Culture

In this episode we invite you to explore the inner workings of CMBA Architects, where fostering a vibrant and motivating workplace culture is at the heart of our success. Join us as we delve into the strategies and initiatives we've implemented to cultivate an atmosphere of teamwork, camaraderie, and professional growth. From team-building events and employee celebrations to our commitment to charitable endeavors and active community engagement, discover how these practices contribute to a harmonious work environment where every team member thrives. Tune in to gain insights into how nurturing a positive work culture can be imperative to employee satisfaction and retention.

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Episode Transcript

Skyler: Welcome to another episode of laying the foundation.

Welcome everybody to another episode of laying the foundation. I'm sitting here with Anna and Joe, both from our Des Moines office, both architects, and today we're going to be talking about creating positive work culture. Welcome both of you. Super glad to have you on the show. Yes, thanks for having us.

Yeah, absolutely. So, okay. We're trying to create, or, well, I would say that with CMBA, we, we've got really great positive work culture, in my opinion. Um, what, I mean, what are some ways that we accomplish this? Like, what's, what's some first thoughts, I suppose, on creating the positive work culture? Do

Anna: you want to go first or do you want

Joe: me?

You, you go first and then I'll follow in.

Anna: Okay, I guess I can start by like when we started. Sure. Um, so I guess 2020, rewind back to when COVID hit us and everyone went home. Right. From working from home. Um, we started. A culture committee. So that's one person from each of the offices. Um, we meet once a week to talk about like different activities we want to do with the office.

Um, whether it's just within our own personal offices or through Through all the offices, um, and just trying to get people away from their desk a little bit. Yeah, um, and I guess the understanding is we work hard, but we also play hard. Oh, like we want to have a good time. That's a solid slogan. Yeah, it's kind of fun.

Um, so yeah, just trying to get. Everyone together. Um, I think it's more of like a bonding time too, trying to under, you know, meet your other co workers that you're working with. Um, I know I've think I've met everyone in the office, all of the offices, which is kind of cool. Yeah, and being like able to participate.

Awesome. So I would say that that's a little bit about our culture committee. Sure.

Joe: Well, and full disclaimer, I'm not on the culture committee. I'm just a, an appreciator of good company culture.

Skyler: Yeah. Yeah. No. And there's more to it. Right. Then like, so what the culture committee does is they put together, I say Bay as if I'm not on it, which I am, um, put together like events and stuff like that.

But. Company culture kind of bridges outside of that. Right. Absolutely.

Joe: Well, and I think it's funny that the, the culture club, you know, it kind of came about during COVID because we were all working from home and trying to find ways to still be interactive with each other and engage and kind of, um, Break away from the monotony of, of working from home.

I'm, I'm a big believer in working office and I think it's because we have great culture. Um, one of the benefits of, of what we do as a profession and CMBA specifically is we're, we're pretty good at collaborating with each other and being in an open office and having people that, you know, have, uh, different skill sets than you do.

It creates a great culture because you're constantly working together and learning from each other and relying on each other for different aspects of work. And, you know, with that, I think you really get to know each other and it becomes a really great harmonious thing. You know, Anna's great for our Des Moines office because she's usually the one that's setting the music station or, um, bringing the energy in the morning.

Good morning every morning. And I think that that those are things that. that we get at CMBA just from a culture standpoint that make me excited to come to work. And I, I've worked from home a little bit here and there, but I really don't like it because you, you lack those

Skyler: things. Sure. And then I think, I think you make a really good point with the, the collaborative aspect of.

just having the team around you, whether or not you like the, you know, work from home versus work from in office, but knowing that the people around you are there to help you there to collaborate with you and to work with you on maybe something that's not necessarily their project, but something that they know something about and they can offer something to, and definitely something that's important about.

Creating that work culture and creating that positive work culture. So,

Anna: um, kind of one thing that Joe was saying that every morning I do say good morning to everybody. Um, but when I turn the music on, it's, I really do it just to encourage that collaboration. Cause you might have younger members in the office that may be a little shy and they don't really want to ask questions.

Whereas like when you have the music going, you kind of have, you're kind of forced to talk a little

Joe: louder and it breaks the tension to new people that are nervous to be at work. And we all remember when we first started out at college and it's just, everything's a little tense. I think doing that and showing that we're fun.

I, I think it's good for interns or new people and I think that they enjoy it too. So. Gets them out of the shell, I think.

Anna: Yes, no, I would totally agree because, yeah, there are some interns that come in and they're completely nervous because they don't know what to expect when you're going into the real world, quote.

But, um, yeah, I think that it loosens the tension for everybody and makes it more easy, easy going.

Skyler: Oh, absolutely. So... So those are, you know, definitely some great highlights on like the benefits, the, the positivity that it creates, the, uh, sort of enhances collaboration, breaks people out of their shell, which is awesome.

What about, um, what are, well, I guess we did really kind of talk about some ways that we promote it to, you know, saying good morning, having a little bit of music in the office. Um, what about the events? Like we talked about the events, we kind of mentioned them. Um, how does that really help to kind of collect or create that and promote that, uh, positive work culture?

Joe: Well, I think it's, it just lets us relate to each other on a personal level, much more so than a coworker level, right? The most recent one we had was, uh, the Cinco de Mayo event, which was kind of combined with, uh, May the 4th. Yup. So, Kent, uh, you know, he wore a lightsaber around on his belt all day and then.

Nice. We went and had guacamole and, and, uh, Tostitos later and had a nice patio event at Peter's apartment before he leaves. So I think we definitely try to find ways to do things outside of work where people can not always be thinking about work and just have

Skyler: fun. Awesome. Yeah. Keeping it so that, you know, we have outside lives, right?

And to some extent, you know, there's a private aspect of that. You know, I don't necessarily want to share everything with my coworkers, but there are aspects of it that aren't work related that I would love to share with my coworkers and spend time with coworkers because they're people I'm working with eight hours a day plus, you know, whatever, um, five days a week.

So I want, like, I'm around them. I hope that I like them ideally. And, and that's kind of part of what that. work culture kind of promotes is the ability for you to get to know those people outside of just that work environment. Yeah. Agreed. And create those positive

Anna: memories. Yeah, and I feel like when you get to know someone on a personal level, again, depending on how much they want to share, you, I guess, connect a little bit more with them, and then you can, you can support them, too.

You can learn how to support them better, too.

Skyler: Yeah, I've seen a lot of people do stuff. On a regular basis outside of work because they found out that, Oh, I have this coworker and they're also into that thing, you know, whatever that may be, uh, for me, I play board games with my friends and I've gotten some work friends to play board games with me, you know, or whatever the case, you know, something that you can take outside of work and outside of the work environment, which can be stressful and it can be exhausting, but knowing that those people around you are people too.

And maybe that's another aspect of it too, is realizing that the people. Yeah. In your work office are also people, they're not just, you know, maybe we go in one day or every day and we kind of have this like mindless drone mentality or something like that, that, you know, uh, it's just another day of filing paperwork or, you know, when I worked at a grocery store when I was a kid, you know, it's just another day of putting cans on the shelves.

I'm not thinking about like the people that are walking around me that are also people too, and they have interests and they have lives outside of our lives. So, yeah.

Anna: The, uh, I'm gonna add to that because I think another thing of it, another aspect is when you get to meet someone Through the culture events that we have, you kind of create a level playing field, I would say.

Um, cause I mean, we know Brian on a personal level. Sure. Um, but like to someone new, they're like, Oh my gosh, he's the CEO, that's scary. Like to, I don't want to, like I'm really nervous to talk to him, but it's like when you get to do those events, it's easy. Like he's again, another person, it's fun. We're all trying to lift each other up and do a good job at what

Skyler: we do.

Exactly. He's, uh, he's trying to have fun with all the rest of us right alongside the rest of us. Yes. He's playing the same game as the rest of us with the same rules as the rest of us. Right.

Joe: Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think when you, when you get to interact with your, your bosses in that way, it just kind of reinforces that you can just be yourself.

You don't have to be uptight or really nervous, especially for the new people like you're talking about. Yeah. And I think that that all goes to creating a good culture whenever somebody can kind of feel relaxed at work.

Skyler: And there's kind of an importance of that to establish that when somebody starts right off the bat, like you want them to know that you have positive work culture.

Oh, definitely. This is how we, not so much like, this is how we do things, because that sounds really intense. And this is, you know, but in a positive way, say this is what we like to do here. And, you know, you're free to bring your stuff to the table and here's what some stuff that we've done in the past.

And we want you to be involved in that to whatever extent that you're comfortable with. So.

Anna: Yeah, bring your personality to the team. Like we want to, we want to see that confidence and personality bloom.

Skyler: Yes.

Joe: Yeah. I mean, that's how you learn about people too. You learn about what people's passions are. You mentioned board games or whatever it is, sports teams or activities.

And those are the fun things that you get to actually talk about when you don't want to talk about specifications or, uh, door hardware, you know, you can actually talk about things that people get excited about. And I think that all comes back to people enjoying being at

Skyler: work. Yeah. Yeah. And that's kind of, yeah, that's a tough one.

You don't, you don't always think about like creating an environment where people want to come to work, right? Where they feel excited to some extent. And maybe not every day, you know, maybe not every day. There's a culture club event going on that they're like, Oh, I can't wait to get there. Well,

Joe: there's still deadlines.

But it's good to break things up and kind of mix in those events.

Skyler: Absolutely. So when it comes down to creating that work environment, Are there any like key strategies that you can think of that any company might be able to integrate in order to establish that work culture or, or try to reform their work culture?

Maybe they're sitting here listening to this episode and they're like, Oh, these guys have some really good ideas. Like maybe we could start a culture club of some kind and set up some events. Like what are some steps that they could take in order to get there?

Anna: I think one thing, and I know that all the offices do it.

differently or at different times. Um, but the Des Moines office has set every Thursday, we set from four to five, just a banter period. So, um, that time can be used to talk about a project. It could be used to have a Cinco de Mayo party. Um, just trying to implement a time that you set aside for the whole or

Play a board game or something. I think just having that set time is really good to okay get people together And set aside a

Skyler: specific time. Yeah. Okay. Okay, that makes sense. What about the kind of subtopic of like communication? like how do we communicate whether that be with maybe new employees or Like I said, if somebody was listening to this episode and they were like we want to kind of integrate some of these ideas How how could they communicate to the team?

even if they have like Different locations, you know, like kind of like we do, we have like four locations currently, you need to communicate

Joe: loud and forcefully.

Skyler: Okay. Okay. Especially with new people.

Joe: I'm kidding. I think that was one of the good things that came out of COVID is that we had to rely. On communicating through Microsoft teams is the big one in zoom, which is not ideal.

I think we'd all rather be in person, but the reality is we're a company that has multiple locations and a lot of companies are like that. And we also have clients that are in different locations that now prefer to meet virtually. Oh, so you had to adapt a good method of using email teams in zoom. Um, in a way that's effective.

And I, like I said, I think COVID kind of forced us to do that. And now it's second nature. And so, you know, we're constantly talking with the other offices through teams, um, live and having quick calls with them to ask questions and vice versa. So I, I think we do a very good job of that. I maybe even coming out of COVID and using those, we've kind of interlinked with the other offices more so than before.

But I don't know, Anna, what do you think? I would

Anna: agree. I feel like we talk to the other offices more. And I know that we as a company have started to create project teams that are from different offices. And again, at first that seemed really challenging, but I think now we're understanding like, Oh, we can just get on a quick Zoom call or Zoom call and get this problem solved or Play a game.

Skyler: Yeah. It is really cool to see some of the stuff that came out of, you know, kind of the post COVID world and the, like just the technological, like jump almost that we saw that came out of it that allowed for all that, like networking and communication and collaboration, even from like you said, the game standpoint.

Oh yeah. Cause I know like recently we played that, that maps, I guess I didn't get to, but the city guesser. Yeah. Yeah. City guesser. Which like. Is really cool. Like you can get a whole group of like multiplayer game, not like the typical, like I get on a console and I play call of duty kind of thing. I mean, I guess maybe, but if that's what you're, yeah, I know.

I think they did it. Was that in the office? I think they did that. Potentially. We haven't. We don't. Yeah, not us. But I'm thinking

Joe: about like when Brad had his retirement party. Yeah. And everybody was just in the conference room of their location and we were all, you know, several hours away from each other.

Yeah. And everybody had, you know, their little snack bar and we're hanging out and we had the conference room TV with, you know, Brad's office in there. And it kind of felt like we're all together, even though we're all several hours apart. I think stuff like

Skyler: that's really cool. That is really cool. That's cool.

Yeah. Really getting the feel. Through technology that we're all together, even if we might not be all together. Yeah. Right. That's cool. That's awesome. Attention architecture professionals. Are you looking for an employment opportunity that will provide you with a wonderful work culture and a competitive pay rate?

Look no further than CMBA architects. Our firm offers flexible scheduling, a casual dress code. and a great work environment that will help you collaborate and create. Plus, who doesn't love having Fridays off? To learn more about our available positions, visit the careers page at cmbaarchitects. com and apply to join the CMBA team.

What kind of challenges might, like I said, if someone was listening to this and they were thinking about trying to like improve the work culture that they have or make it more positive, what challenges might they come across? And I guess in turn, how could they kind of overcome those challenges?

Joe: I think everybody's different and that makes it challenging.

Cause especially with the way that. Office layouts are going and ours is, which is more of an open office where we're very close to each other. And so noise travels, there's people in the office that are very extroverted and there's people that are very introverted. And so just learning those, you know, personality types and being respectful of that, I think that's sometimes a challenge.

And, you know, luckily for us, we have some breakout little conference rooms that if someone needs to have quiet meetings and they can go do that. But, you know, not everybody's going to like the same music. Not everybody's going to like the same level of. And so that, that always seems to create somewhat of a challenge, but now that we're settled in, I, I don't think it's as much of a concern as it used to be.

Anna: No, I think when we started the culture committee and we're doing these games, it was kind of like a trial and error to see what people were interested in. Okay. So we did it for, I think, a couple of months. Um, we just would find random virtual games that we could try to play with the offices. Um, and then we ended up sending out a survey and just saying, Hey, how frequently do you guys want to meet up to do this stuff?

Like we understand that you have deadlines and other work things. Right. But we want to make sure that you make time for the fun and to like, Meet up with each other and get to know each other better. So I think that's how we started. So yeah, so far it really hasn't been, I, I think we've learned everybody's like personalities enough now that we're, it's okay to randomly put a game and we understand that not everyone's going to play, but at least everyone has the option to.

Right.

Skyler: And maybe that, yeah, at the end of the day, I feel like that might be the solution that I've always like, the main problem I've always come across is people that just don't really want to participate. And I guess, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, that's really all you can do is say, Hey, you always have the option to join in, be a part of it totally up to

Joe: you.

Right. And we're not fun forcers. So no, yeah, they don't want to play. They don't have to play. Right. It's not a requirement. And maybe

Skyler: that's, maybe that's the problem is that it's, it's a way of thinking that like, if someone's not participating, then we're doing something wrong or. Maybe they're not having fun or something along those lines, but at the end of the day, I mean, like you said, Joe, people are different, they have different personalities, they have different preferences, so they're going to be some people that that's just not the way they like to come to work and it is what it is and that's just fine,

Joe: you know, yeah, it doesn't, that doesn't have any adverse effects on the culture.

I don't think it's just, that's just how people

Skyler: are. Right. Enforcing it would have adverse effects. Just think if you're, if you're out there, you're listening, you're like, Oh man, you know, we do this game, but we got like three people that just never really seem to want to participate. Worst thing you can do, force it on them.

Best thing you can do, let them, let them do their thing. Just offer it up.

Joe: Yeah. But don't force it. Yeah. Never

Skyler: forget to offer. Right. I think that's a key thing too. It's like the second you stop offering it to somebody, then they get mad and they're like, wow, I didn't get invited. Yeah. But I guess that's, that's tricky.

Uh, personalities for sure. Awesome. So I guess last question that I can kind of think of is when do you feel like somebody Maybe an owner of a company or boss or whatever the case looks over at everything they've done, maybe like through an entire year, when can they sit there and say, I think we did it.

I think we created a positive work culture.

Joe: I don't think there's ever a stopping point. Sure. I think it's constantly evolving. I mean, You know, PE we're changing on a, a daily basis individually, and also we're trying to grow the office so there's constantly new faces, right? So I think it's something that I would think that, uh, the owners of this company probably spend a lot of time talking about that because it's gonna be a constant need and, uh, as those things change within the company and some of the dynamics and the people that needs to remain.

So I don't think there's ever a weak got here, right? I think it just needs to have a constant attention. Okay.

Skyler: Yeah, no, I agree. If you're not moving forwards, you're moving backwards, right? That was a good

Joe: answer. Yeah, and we're growing so it's, you know, as we're One of the other things we could probably talk about for culture is, um, we're all moving our desks around and I've, so I've been, we've been in this office now for not quite four years and most of us are on our fourth desk location.

And I think Kent secretly does that for, uh, from a culture standpoint to just try to keep things fresh and keep the new people, not necessarily new people, but the people we're sitting next to is probably going to be different than it was previously. And just kind of keep things fresh. And so when we're looking at that board, now we're anticipating.

Um, two full time people and two interns starting in the next month or so. And so when you're looking at that, obviously culture is a huge importance cause you want them to have a great experience. And ultimately when we get summer interns to come in here, you know, hopefully they want to start their career and work here.

And, uh, that's why culture is so important because if they don't have a good experience, what, uh, What's the incentive.

Skyler: No, I completely agree. It's funny. You mentioned that too. Cause, uh, this morning I was actually just talking to Kylie. She's also one of our art Des Moines office, uh, employees. And she was just saying how excited she was that, you know, things were kind of moving like, Oh boy, like it's going to be new.

It's going to feel new. It's going to be, it's going to be different. And so I completely agree. I think, you know, even just little things that don't feel like. Fun or a game or whatever the case, not saying there's anything wrong with fun and games, obviously, but things that aren't necessarily like that direct can kind of promote in a sort of psychological way, the positive

Joe: work culture.

Oh, definitely. And you know, I, I remember when I was an intern and going back to college days, probably 12 years ago, and it was, it was definitely different than it is now. It was slacks and a button up. And it was quiet in the office and you felt a little more tense and that was also coming out of the recession.

So maybe things were just different, but things have definitely changed. And I think that from a culture standpoint, it's a major improvement. Yeah. And I think the experience that, you know, the interns get now is completely different. Right. Or it should be. Or it should be. Um, or maybe I just have rose colored glasses and I think it's much better, either way.

I believe it.

Skyler: I think that's a great point. I think that is definitely something that if you're somebody who's listening and you know, you're not really thinking work culture is that important or anything like that. You also have to keep in mind that like you said, Joe, when you get interns in or you get new hires in or whatever the case, like you want them to stick around.

We don't, we don't live in an economical situation where it's like, I don't really care if they leave or not. Like you put a lot of work and a lot of training and a lot of money into getting this employee in it or this intern. And if they just, if they look around and they're not happy with what they see, they can move on to a different position or a different job somewhere else, and that sucks, that would suck.

So being able to create that positive work culture from the get go and prioritizing that is what helps you keep the employees. I'm not saying obviously like how much you're paying them and the benefits aren't obviously important too, but I can hate what I do or hate the place that I'm working in and be making good money and still like I want to find something else cause I'm just not happy here.

Joe: Yeah. I think that's probably one of the more common things people experience.

Skyler: Agreed. Agreed. Awesome. Awesome. Well, if there's anything else that you guys want to throw out there about a positive work culture, what about like, since you guys are architects, designers, I mean, From from that standpoint, is there some way that you can kind of use the spaces or develop spaces specifically for creating that fun, positive work culture?

Anna: I would say that one thing that we've done in the Des Moines office, like Joe had said, that we have been in this space for four years. The last office we were in, it was more of like cubicles, walls, you couldn't really see the person that was sitting next to you. Sure. Like I

Joe: think. No, no direct views outside, not a whole lot of natural light.

Anna: Yeah, that sucked. I had to stand on my tippy toes just to look out the window and I love the sun and when to be outside. So yeah, definitely natural light is always a good thing to have. Um, and then just the open, open workstations and also we have a little setup, um, around a TV that we can use to Put up drawings to talk about them, but I think just having a designated area for that collaboration to happen or that activity to happen, I think that is also like kind of encourages that positive culture.

Yeah,

Joe: well, I'm just having all the different breakout spaces around the office and flexible furniture. I mean, there's a lot of people that like to take their laptop and just work away from their desk still in the office, but just kind of mix it up with different seating and. I think that's really nice.

Yeah. And I'm biased, but I think natural light and having a view outside is

Skyler: like. Chef's kiss. Yeah, it's a

Joe: huge piece of just positive vibes. There

Anna: are studies that say it's so good for you. That's right. And that's what we're implementing in healthcare and the education projects that we do, so. Yeah. We might as well stick to them and bring them into the workplace.

That's

Skyler: right. So go bust some holes in your walls. Get some natural light coming through. I don't care where you work at. I want to see sledgehammers swinging.

Joe: Maybe talk to your local AHJ before you start breaking walls

Skyler: open. Right. Yes. That's probably for the best. Get their permission. So Anna,

Joe: what's the next, uh, what's the next, next big culture committee event?

Anna: Um, Skylar and I and the rest of the culture committee are planning, um, kind of a welcoming, Um, happy hour with our summer soiree. The summer

Skyler: soiree. I like that.

Anna: Ooh. Ooh, that's so good. Okay. That does sound pretty good. That's definitely the name. Alright. I like that. So yeah, we're trying to plan some events to welcome our summer interns and our new hires.

Um, cause I think our interns start May 22nd. That's right. And

Skyler: then. No idea when this episode comes out. It might already be after the fact, but you heard it here first. That's true. No, this is live. We're live, right? Oh man, I could switch to live. Live from Des

Anna: Moines, Iowa.

Skyler: But yeah, yeah, that's that's what we've got planned so.

Should be fun. Yeah, absolutely. Tried to do just about something every holiday. Obviously within kind of the work schedule. We're not gonna do a Christmas celebration on Christmas. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. No.

Anna: People want to be with their

Skyler: families. Yes, exactly. So yeah, doing something for every holiday, the major ones, maybe some of the side ones like we mentioned.

Jo, you mentioned May the 4th, always a fun one to kind of do something for, in my opinion as a big nerd. National Donut Day. Donut Day. Get some donuts. How hard is that?

Anna: Honestly. If someone was listening to this and they were looking for ideas on things that they can make activities out of there is a national holiday for everything.

National pizza day, national puzzle day, you could come up with anything and make a little activity about it. It's like free

Skyler: prompts. It's like just ready available for you. All sponsored by our world, our country, to some extent, I guess. I don't know how you register a holiday, but I don't know how hard that process is.

But there are plenty of them out there that have been registered. National Pirate Day, that's a fun one. Yeah. We could do something for that. That

Anna: would be so fun. Everyone has to wear an eyepatch all

Skyler: day. Yes. Work productivity might go down because of that. Well,

Anna: you can, you can put the eye patch up every once in a while.

It gives you a different perspective.

Skyler: Ah, that's a good point. That's a good point. You see the world in ways that you never thought you would. Awesome. Well, thank you both for being on the show. Really appreciate it. I think we talk about, obviously with architecture within this podcast a lot. And I think sometimes it's nice to jump out of that and look at a couple of the other aspects that we at CMBA definitely, you know, see.

And we, we talk about so positive work culture. Like I said, I think we've got it for sure. But as Joe said, we don't give up on it. We don't just say we did it. We're good. We keep going. We keep coming up with new ideas and we keep having fun. So yeah, thank you. Thank you both. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Awesome. And thank you for listening. Of course, if you want to check out more about CMBA Architects, you can check us out on our website, uh, cmbarchitects. com. You can see all kinds of the projects that we worked on as well as some of the various events and our positive work culture represented there. Um, you can also see maybe some pictures from our events and things along those lines.

If you go over to our website, which Various social media accounts, whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and of course you can head on over to any of the podcast related sites like Spotify, Apple podcasts, and Google podcasts, and anywhere else that podcasts can be streamed and check out more episodes of laying the foundation.

We'd love for you to stop by once again, this has been another episode of laying the foundation. We'll see you guys next time.