The Culture Connection: How Your Company Comes Together When You Embrace Technology

Speaker 5:

Welcome to the JMARK Business Innovation Technology Experience.

Todd:

Okay, welcome to the BITE, the Business Innovation Technology Experience. And once again, we have Thomas Douglas on. Today, another topic that is extremely interesting to all of us and should be interesting to every business leader, and that is culture. Culture is a driving force to organizations and not very many people are talking about how culture is affected by technology. So Tom, why don’t you lead us into this topic and tell us a little bit about your thoughts.

Tom Douglas:

I’ve certainly got lots of thoughts around how it weaves together. First and foremost, I’ll say, as an organization, we focus on people first, technology second, and that’s important to us because the driving force behind the business is the culture, and if you focus on taking care of people and those people take care of the clients and they focus on those things, then you’ve got the right formula. The challenge that we’re seeing that is more and more prevalent in the world of business today is that it’s technology that binds people together, that binds the culture together, that facilitates the growth and the collaboration within an organization. So when the technology breaks down, so does the culture and the feeling of productivity.

Tom Douglas:

When you have the right people inside your organization, a large part of that is because they feel like they’re helping move the business forward, they’re making a difference, they’re contributing and feeling successful. And when you have good people who are driven by that, and all of a sudden technology breaks, and they go, “What,” and it stops their productivity, then they don’t feel like they’re contributing, they don’t feel like they can get their job done, or technology is an inhibitor to get their job done. Then the things really start to break down, tensions get high, people’s tension… Their temper starts to flare up, or the answers are short or they’re relying on older forms of communication like email, which is really hard to interpret.

Tom Douglas:

And you end up with somebody saying, “Well, they told me to piss off,” and the person on the other side’s like, “That’s not what I meant. No, no.” So you end up with this chaos that can ensue inside of the culture when you don’t have the technology in place to ensure that the business is set up for success. I mean, ultimately it’s about empowering good people so that they can move the vision of the company or the organization forward, and when technology is the inhibitor instead of an accelerator, then the culture itself suffers.

Todd:

I just want to expound on that a little bit more. It’s so true that people, they want to achieve, they want to get things done. It’s part of just the way we’re wired. And this is multifaceted because there’s the aspect of technology not working in this, and how that can just bring productivity and achievement to a halt. But then there’s the aspect of technology being a driving force for velocity and making people even more successful, feeling more like they’re achieving more, feeling happier and more connected, and that is really the next level in the idea of technology driving cultures, because you’re making people happy. You’re making people feel connected. You’re making people develop natural connections to each other, no matter the distance that they are apart and you’re enabling their success and productivity, and you don’t organize the strategy.

Todd:

And you said this before, you had to have a strategy for culture, and technology plays into that strategy. If you don’t do that, then you’re constantly going to be hitting walls, because as much as we’re wired to achieve, we’re also wired to achieve more. So once we’ve achieved something, it’s like, we hit this plateau. It’s like, “Oh, I need more, I need more.” It’s like a drug. And that’s not true for everybody, but generally people want to feel successful, want to feel useful, and it just has to keep progressing and progressing and progressing. And technology plays just a massive role in making that happen.

Tom Douglas:

Well, I mean it leads to lots of things. One of our goals inside of JMARK in terms of how efficiently we run the organization is to be able to pay our team way above market simply by getting more efficient. How do we get four people to produce the outcome and the results of five people so that we can take what we would normally pay five people and pay it to the four? I mean, that’s part of our vision as an organization that I believe in wholeheartedly, and if you work in an organization that thinks that way, and you recognize that technology is the key to that efficiency, you’re talking about people’s careers, you’re talking about their income, you’re talking about the bottom line profits of the business.

Tom Douglas:

So it’s not just a pure culture thing. It’s a culture that rewards itself for being productive through the use of better technology, and that in and of itself becomes the infinity pool of success within the organization, that thrives on excess and it continues to grow, and then people start asking the questions, “Well, how can I use technology to solve this problem? How can I use technology to solve that problem?” And the business gets more and more efficient as you go along, as long as the culture embraces technology as a key to those components of moving forward. Good people, good business model, good technology, good vision of the company. You put those things together, and you’re just going to go and go and go.

Speaker 3:

And I think what you’re doing is you’re also showing people that their success matters to the company, their individual success, and you’re creating this culture of achievement where you’re showing people, “We’re going to give you the tools, and these are the things you can achieve with these tools, and that matters to us. So we’re going to invest in your success.” And I always feel that the greatest way to make people work harder to achieve more is to help them achieve the first thing. And then you get this ball rolling of success and it grows upon itself and people begin to understand, “Oh, I matter to this company. My success matters as an individual, not just my impact on the company, and they’re going to invest in me so that I can do that.” And people want to be around a company that cares for them in that way.

Todd:

Yeah, I’m reminded of recently someone in our organization shared a video and it had to do with innovations in the technology industry or in the transportation industry. And one of the points that stood out to me in that video was a former truck driver that was working for this company that was developing artificial intelligence for driverless vehicle, for driverless shipping and semis and things like that. And his job was to work with truckers and to evaluate the trucks and their ability to operate effectively. And he said that when he talks to truckers they’re always looking at him going, “You’re taking my job away.” And his response is, “I’m not taking your job away. You have to look at this differently. This is a way of innovating your job and you potentially doing things that you didn’t do before.”

Todd:

And Tom, when you talk about this concept of four people doing the work of five, or pick any number you want, I want to make sure people don’t hear, “Technology will allow you to fire people. Technology will allow you to operate smaller.” While that may be true, the idea is that technology allows you to be more agile. It allows you to increase your velocity. And the one thing that’s true with velocity is that when you increase your velocity, there is never a shortage of work. There is realignment of that work, and the faster you move and the faster you move, yes, you’ll have four people doing the work of five, but you all of a sudden have six people’s work for the four and on and on. And it just keeps going and going and on.

Tom Douglas:

Well, it’s like physics. The faster you go, the more resistance you have, and that’s true in all kinds of business, so the goal of the technology coming to the table is to remove as much of that resistance as possible so that the company can continue to speed up. I think one of the important parts though, that when we’re talking about velocity, we’re talking about hard work and we’re talking about productivity. The flip side of that I think is also just as important, and what I mean by that is empowering people to be able to go to the soccer games and still stay connected. And if I’m available to respond to some chat messages and be there, I’m still at the game, but during a break or whatever it is, I can check in, I can make sure a project is done, I can answer a quick question for someone, so I can still be there, but yet separate as well.

Tom Douglas:

So when you’ve got a good technology solution and strategy in place, it doesn’t just empower more productivity, it empowers more flexibility and more freedom for people, which is a big part of what the culture strategy needs to include. So what is the life balance that we want for our team so that they can be successful, so that they can be great fathers, great husbands, and mothers and wives. So when you start to break all of those things down, it’s how do we want to leverage the technology to create lifestyles within a productive environment, within an income stream, within a personal lifestyle that drive the outcomes that aligns with the core values and the mission of the company? So I think oftentimes in business we focus on productivity, but sometimes productivity means having time off.

Speaker 3:

I was going to piggyback on that and add the fact that it’s not always just about the connectivity either. It’s not about just being able to connect where you’re somewhere else, but the technology that apps and software and tools that lets you respond to a work matter in a much easier way, where now we have chat, where a few years ago you might’ve been able to go to the soccer game, but you’d have to look at an email and trying to solve a quick problem on an email is not as quick as a chat that you just have to respond to a quick message and allows you to, yes, be away and be connected, but still be more fully in the moment that you really need to be in and want to be in [inaudible 00:11:42]-

Tom Douglas:

Yeah, and even share a video. I’ve been in circumstances more than once where somebody is sharing a video to demonstrate an error, to demonstrate… We’re getting ready for a presentation and they’re bringing up and showing me the presentation, we’re tweaking on the fly as we’re doing things from a phone, because it’s clear enough for us to do it. So sure it’s jam, but it’s the full video capabilities and the integrations of these platforms that help drive that capability.

Todd:

Yeah, and the core of what we’re talking about here, we started out this conversation about culture and we keep talking about technology and it’s important that people listening or watching understand that they’re one and the same, they’re connected. I mean, there’s just so many different areas, especially now, with people dealing with the stress of working from home, the stress of kids going to school, the uncertainty that’s going on in the world, you want people to be happy. You want people to feel successful. You want people to be able to get up at the end of their day and feel like they had a good day or able to get a lot of things done. And that’s the beauty of technology, is that it’s just… It’s just so entangled with everything we do at JMARK.

Todd:

If I have to go to the doctor, I can keep in contact with multiple ways with somebody, and it’s not that it’s an inconvenience, it’s that it’s there it’s needed. If there is an emergency, there are these multiple communication methods that we have that can be done. You talked about working on a document. There’s times when Dax and I, or Michelle and I and others have worked on documents at the same exact time, separated by hundreds of miles, and we can see each other’s work in the same document, and that’s essentially allowing us to multiply our effort and get things done quicker. And that contributes to that feeling of completeness, and feeling of getting things done, and that feeling of productivity. And that’s essentially what it’s all about.

Speaker 3:

I’d add, Todd, that that contributes to teamwork and collaboration in a way that’s easy to overlook, because when we work on something together and literally together, at the same time, you see how your teammates work, how they think. You see where the contributions that they are putting into something come from. And that’s a different process than just seeing the end result, and that brings people together to get everybody more in sync. And that phrase can be overused, getting people in sync, but it’s really true where you have people actually literally working as a team, not simply working together.

Tom Douglas:

I think it breaks down to empowerment. Technology done intentionally empowers a culture to achieve what the culture strategy lays forth. Excuse me. And if that’s productivity, if that’s working together as a team more effectively, if that’s… In some ways, one of the byproducts that has happened as a result of COVID, is we’re seeing some teams come together more tightly today than ever before, even though they’re not in the same building, and that’s happening more and more. There’s more stories of how teams are coming together and they’re having virtual happy hours and they’re having collaboration times and they’re having the virtual meetings.

Tom Douglas:

We’ve even had some people comment within JMARK that the virtual meetings that we’ve had, where everybody is on a giant Zoom call, are better than the face-to-face meetings because they can see everybody’s face at once, and they enjoy some of that experience. So I think that when you break everything down that we’ve described, it really comes down to empowering people to achieve a whole ‘nother level of success, whatever that is. And that’s why technology was originally invented, and it continues to accelerate that today, and as the new generations come in, we’re going to see much more of that as a minimum right to play, it’s the expectation that you’ve got a culture strategy, that you’ve got a technology strategy, and you’ve got the capability and are willing to make the investments to keep those things moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I will 100% co-sign on that idea of the rallies that we’re doing over Zoom being better as a remote worker. And I’ve worked remote for a long, long time, and I will 100% say that the technologies that JMARK has in place, we use Workplace from Facebook, and that to me, has made all the difference in me feeling connected and feeling a part of the culture of JMARK. I’m thousands away from everybody else, but having that tool to simply be a part of conversations and friendships and those connections that get made through those tools are something that never happened before in other parts of my career when I still worked remote, but that technology wasn’t there.

Speaker 3:

And another perfect example for me, I think I’ve shared this before, but a few months back, I’m in Utah, we had an earthquake, and you, Tom, sent me a chat real quick and just said, “Hey, heard you had an earthquake, hope you and all your loved ones are fine.” And I think that was a moment where to feel that connection from the CEO and to have the technology that made that possible, I think in a different world where maybe you would have had to send an email, pick up the phone and call, you still would’ve cared, but there might’ve been more of a burden to do that and not the time, and yet, because we have the technology, you could reach out and make that connection and show me that I mattered to you and that I was on your mind, even just as a single individual. And I think that type of connection is… You can’t place a value on how that brings a company together.

Todd:

Absolutely agree. And I think that this is a good point to transition a little bit into the future of work, because the future of work is going to be… Strategy is going to be even more important to bring the culture together, to increase the connectedness as people become separated, and as people want to work remotely or in a hybrid environment. You talk about the rallies, and it is true that the rallies before that we had at our company, for us remote workers, they were harder to hear, and it’s a way better experience, but that kicked us in the butt and made us develop a product that we called connects us, and that’s the experience now for this hybrid workforce is amazing.

Todd:

It’s weird to say you can have an amazing meeting, but when you compare a meeting where you’re interrupting people, but you don’t realize it because there’s slowness in video transmission, where you’re not being able to hear people, where people in the office can’t hear the remote people, when the people in the office are looking at a tiny little picture of you and can’t even see your face, that’s where technology is so vital to bring together this hybrid workforce and continue with those connections and continue with that collaboration and essentially the employee experience of what it means to work for your organization and all that contributes to the culture, to the enjoyment, and the betterhood of the organization.

Tom Douglas:

And I think that one of the key points there that you talk about Todd that’s critical to how a business operates moving forward is talent management. When you can create that amazing remote experience for an organization, it gives you permission to recruit outside of the normal geographic boundaries. So you can get the top talent that may be hundreds of miles away as JMARK does, specifically for the reason that we want that individual with those skillsets and talents to come work at JMARK. And we don’t give a shit where they are in the United States, we just want them working for our team because of who they are and what they bring to the table. And I think that when you have power of business to do that, you create new capabilities, new scalability, but you better have a plan for it.

Tom Douglas:

We’ve talked in the past about stories and circumstances where people have left one business to go to another business, because in the first business the technology was so bad that they couldn’t get their job done, and they went to work for an entire organization because they had a technology strategy, they had made those investments. And even more so, in recent times, we’ve heard a story of a senior leader in an organization who was not embracing technology, who was being resistant to change, and the executive leadership of that company was like, “Sorry, you’re out. I’m bringing in somebody who is going to embrace and really create that technology strategy to empower the culture and the people to move forward.” And that is going to be the norm for people who are resistant to it. So more and more it’s a big part of it.

Speaker 4:

It’s pretty amazing that JMARK was able to maintain the culture when COVID hit and so many of us had to pick up and move home. I think it’s something that’s easy to take for granted when you’re inside of it, but I know that a lot of people are not as lucky. And I mean, to me, culture is everything. It’s so important. I come from a marketing background, but I remember telling Pete in training, “I feel like this is such a good culture fit for me.” I would work in a different department, different position just to be a part of that. So it’s huge, and I think that a huge part of it is our tools, our technology, because it allows us to communicate.

Tom Douglas:

100%. I mean, when you think about how much time we end up spending at work, and we want to be surrounded with like-minded people, which is kind of the core values of the company who believe in the same things, the vision of the company, and the core values help us determine the ways in which we will operate, what we’ll tolerate, what we won’t tolerate. You have those borders, and when you get that alignment and you develop real kinships, friendships at work, where you really deeply care about the people that are around you, sometimes to the point that they become your best friends in the world because you’re working with them and surrounded by them all day long.

Tom Douglas:

And the technology component is what ties that together, especially when you think about being really good friends with somebody that they really, you only see them on Zoom, and having meaningful conversations and helping people through tough times or patting people on the back and celebrating the great work that they’re doing. All of those things take on new meaning when people can see your face and your expressions rather than, “Hey, Todd, you’re just killing man, great job.” I mean, that is not the same as seeing somebody’s face and celebrating something. And I think that that’s a really big component. So when we talk about that hybrid work environment, it’s the culture that benefits from the investments in technology that supports the people who are in the office, cohabitating, if you will, via technology with people that are not in the office, with the experience for everyone being amazing. And that’s going to be the expectation for business as we move forward.

Speaker 3:

I think there’s also an idea of moving beyond just the remote workers, but in the office, the technology that you have in your offices and this pride that people feel working for a company that is technology forward, that does have the technology lined up and really is moving forward with technology because that’s what the world is. And people tell their friends. “I love the place I work for. These are the things we’re doing.” And that creates this aura around these companies who are technology forward, and that gets people excited to work for them and to hear about the events that are happening at those companies.

Todd:

Yeah, it really is amazing, and it goes into a little bit of what we were talking about in another episode, this idea of… I can see business leaders going, “I don’t really see it. I get Zoom. I get we have email.” They may be saying they like email, but they… You don’t know what you don’t know. There are so many technologies, so many strategies that, when employed, they have these byproducts and the byproducts are betterment of the culture. They improve collaboration, but that improves the culture. It improves connectedness, but it improves the culture. It improves the ability to get things done, but it helps people feel connected and more successful.

Todd:

And we were talking about this with email. I mean, I get tons of emails. I know you do too, Tom. But imagine what it was like before we’ve implemented some of the technology we have. We’ve taken out roughly 10,000 emails a day out of our system. That has enabled us us to speed up. It’s improved the culture. It’s allowed us to feel more successful. We’re getting more done. And it’s hard for people to imagine that, but imagine getting more done, imagine feeling more connected to your people, imagine feeling more in tune with everything that’s going on, more collaborative and [crosstalk 00:26:35]-

Tom Douglas:

With less energy. With less energy, it’s more done with less energy. I mean, the job from a leadership perspective… I mean, there’s the obvious things, the vision and leading the culture and all of those things, but oftentimes it’s making decisions and solving problems. What frustrates people who work for a company is like, “I’ve got this problem. I need somebody to help me solve it and make a decision. And oh by the way it’s going to take a month before we can solve this damn problem.” That is horrible. If we can solve problems fast, it helps the whole culture move forward and people feel like, “Well, they get me. They’re listening. He took this, she took this, they went out and they solved the problem and now I can continue to get done when I need to get done to serve the client.” So there’s a lot of situations where having that capability in place drives the business forward.

Todd:

Absolutely. Well, really enjoyed this conversation. Culture plays such a big part in every organization. It’s the primary method to improve organizations, but it’s technology that nowadays drives culture and it will be in technology that is more entangled and integrated through every aspect of culture in an organization. To learn more about how JMARK operates and how we can help your organization to improve their culture while at the same time improving technology, come visit us at jmark.com, send us an email, give us a call, and we’ll get together and strategize on the future. Till next time.

Speaker 5:

Thank you for attending this podcast. We hope it has been informative and helped convey that at JMARK we are people first and technology second. To learn more and discover additional content relevant to your business, please visit us online at jmark.com or at LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You may also call us at 844-44-JMARK. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing you again.