Intentionality and Helping Brands Find Their "Why" with Lisa Blair Fratzke

Dane Groeneveld: Welcome to the Future of Teamwork Podcast. My name's Dane Groeneveld, CEO of HUDDL3 Group, and today I'm joined locally, albeit digitally by Lisa Fratzke, the founding partner of Fratzke. And Lisa does a lot of great work in communications and culture. So excited to hear her story today. Welcome, Lisa.

Lisa Fratzke: Thanks so much, Dane. I'm really excited to be here today and talk to you and just excited for this conversation.

Dane Groeneveld: It's going to be fun. So perhaps for the benefit of our listeners, we were talking about your background and time working at Disney and so many other things. What was it even going back before then that drew you into communications and culture and storytelling and all of this great stuff?

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah, so I actually started out as a screenwriter. My background was in screenwriting. That was what I studied in college. I'd always been drawn to storytelling and I wanted to learn how to do that visually. And so when I was starting my career, it was when the 2008 recession had hit and I had some roles at CBS and Newline Cinema and was looking for something full- time and regular, and it was really difficult to find. And I was living in Orange County at the time, which Disneyland is local to that. And in the entertainment industry, one of the things that you really get to understand and know is that it doesn't matter what role you take in a company or with a brand, you just need to get your foot in the door. So my idea at the time was, I love the Walt Disney Company. I'm going to try to get my foot in the door there and I'll do it with Disneyland in attractions and I'll work my way up. So I got a job at Disneyland in attractions, and pretty soon after starting that role, I saw that they had a TV station called Cast TV. And I was very drawn to TV writing at the time, and I was like, I can write for that. They had a TV show, they had different programs that they were doing for cast members internally. And so I went up to meet the manager of that station and I met him and I would come up every week to their cast TV writers meeting, just like on my own time I wasn't getting paid and just for the experience of it to contribute ideas. And over time they started to get to know me. And then in a few months I got a call from that manager and they said, there's a role and the role is in communications here at Disneyland. It's an entry level role. Is it something you'd be interested in? The answer was definitely. I was very interested.

Dane Groeneveld: Awesome.

Lisa Fratzke: So I went and interviewed. I got the role, and that was my entry point really, to communications and public affairs starting at Disneyland. I was able to get in there in the first few months. And what I found out over time as I was doing that role, a piece of it was script writing, but a larger component of it was creating communication strategies, really understanding how to use stories to connect with cast members. And I started to understand that there was so many different ways that you could use storytelling to fuel connection and beyond script writing. And you could do it through communications, you could do it through what the website, you could do it in so many different ways. And that passion wasn't narrowed to that one field I had originally started out with. And so that's where my career began in communications and public affairs. I grew through the ranks at Disney, ultimately supporting some of the highest levels of executive leadership in Burbank. And after 10 years at the company, just really saw an opportunity to help other brands through the power of storytelling, create more meaningful connections with their employees and also with consumers. So that's where Fratzke Consulting comes in. I co- founded that with my husband and brother- in- law. We've been in business for about five years now, and it's been a really amazing adventure for us.

Dane Groeneveld: That's super cool. Husband and brother- in- law too, that's a hell of a founding team. That's a true family business.

Lisa Fratzke: Yes. We all actually have a background at Disney. They also worked at Disney for a time, but the funny thing is I didn't meet my husband there. We met at a coffee shop later. It was, that's another story we can get into later, but it was just a random meeting, like a cute meet. We just recognized each other but had never met. So it's very interesting.

Dane Groeneveld: How cool. That's super cool. And you talk about, I really like that piece on fueling connection. It's really interesting to go from screenwriting and then into that communications role. And the interesting thing about connection is from what I'm hearing, that's what got you into this communications pathway because you were doing the voluntary work with cast and they were like, okay, you're good at this. We're connected to you, we want to pull you through. So it just shows the power of connection in teams and with customers, as you said. So maybe before we dig in deep onto some of those projects, you could tell me a little bit more about the way that you're driving your approach to communications and culture now you've started your own firm. Where are the brands that you're helping to support from some of these storytelling communications methods, and how are you going in and working with teams? I'd love to hear a little bit about that.

Lisa Fratzke: Definitely. So I think that there's been a few different areas that we've been doing a lot of work in lately in terms of creating and fueling that connection. One is defining purpose for brands. So this kind of overlaps a little bit into brand strategy as well, but when we look at the power of purpose for brands, it three in four millennials want to work for a company that aligns with their core values and purpose- driven companies are growing three times faster than their competitors. And so, whoa, when we think about purpose, it really helps fuel that connection because it's explaining your brand why. Your purpose should answer, why does your brand exist? And when you answer that question, it allows employees who are part of your brand to understand and find their why. So for me, one of my passions is storytelling. And so I could figure out at a company at Disney at the time, one of their things was to create magical memories that last a lifetime. Well, I can do that through storytelling. My why is storytelling, their why is create magical memories. I can find my why and their why. And so I think when brands are really clear about why, it allows their employees and consumers to connect with that and identify with that and make it their own. And it's really helpful in fueling that connection and creating a meaningful culture. So we've been doing a lot of purpose work and helping brands create their purpose. And then another area just with the labor market that we've had and how difficult it has been to attract and retain talent is helping brands develop an effective employee value proposition, which is the unique value that you're providing as a brand for your employees. And historically, when employees wanted to work for a company, they were looking for pay, stability, benefits. We used to talk a lot about Google and all the in- office perks that they had.

Dane Groeneveld: The perks, yeah.

Lisa Fratzke: The perks and people would tout that is why it was such a great place to work. But then with COVID, there was this flashpoint for everyone where we really looked at our lives and we said, well, what is really important when it comes to work? What do I want from work? And then the answer to that became much deeper than the perks and the pay. And we still want those things by the way, but we also want meaning-

Dane Groeneveld: All the other stuff.

Lisa Fratzke: And we want flexibility and work- life balance. And so a lot of brands are looking at their employee value proposition and how they're speaking to potential employees and how they're speaking to their current employees and transitioning that value proposition to encompass their value for their whole human experience beyond just work, wanting to provide flexibility, wanting to provide them an opportunity to make a difference or an impact. So we work with a lot of clients in that space and identifying, okay, here's the perks, here's the benefits, here's the pay, but what are those intangibles in your employment experience that we can pull out and say, here's what else you're going to find here, a culture of belonging, how you're going to make a difference in the world, how you can practice your passions as an employee. Those are really things that are drawing employees into companies today, and especially younger generations are looking for that.

Dane Groeneveld: That's neat. I really like the way you framed your screenwriting and the Disney purpose as, Hey, it's my why within their why, I thought that was really cool. And Dan Pink talks about purpose with a big P and a small P, which yours is a good example. When you think about that, whether it's the purpose work that you do or the employee value proposition work, how important is it with these, particularly with the millennials and the Gen Z following in, how important is it that you help companies not only say their why, but kind of ask the question, invite their team members to come in and deliver their small P purpose, their small why within that larger corporate approach?

Lisa Fratzke: It's really important and it should come in when you think about the employee experience from the beginning in the onboarding process. So there's been a lot of data and research around some of the more effective ways to onboard or introduce people to your company. And it is really effective A, when you tell your story as a brand and you share your purpose, but it's even more effective if you help employees understand how they can practice their passion and talents within your company supporting that purpose and allow them to personalize it. And so when we work with clients, we really say, okay, this needs to start from the beginning of the employee journey. How are we going to incorporate this idea into onboarding, into training, and then how are we going to sustain it throughout? You can definitely do that in communications through your messaging and how you talk about your employment experience and sharing stories of employees and how they've been able to practice passion, their passion or go above and beyond and the impact of that to the organization or to a customer that they served. But it should also be part of the one- on- one conversations with leaders, the performance check- ins, like, how are you practicing your passion within our organization? Do you need me to open doors so that you can? It should definitely be part of the beginning and then there should be touch points throughout the employee journey where you're talking to them about how they're applying other passion at work.

Dane Groeneveld: I like that. And it's interesting that you used onboarding as a lens for that, Lisa, because when you said employee value proposition, it took me back to 2004, five, six when I was in Australia as a recruiter, and there was a huge boom in construction projects and there was a huge talent shortage. And so everyone's employee brands and employee value propositions were a whole bunch of people in hard hats and high- vis vests. And it was like, come work on the best projects in Australia. It wasn't really very exciting. And when we would onboard employees, it was all about safety, which is important. But they weren't saying, Hey, you are here to be a part of our purpose. They were like, here's the safety protocols, here's where you need to go. Here's how we operate. These are the standards that we set. Okay, you're good. You're good. Go do your work. So they weren't really thinking about the people's why, the people's purpose. They weren't really even thinking a lot about that sense of belonging or meaning. And there certainly wasn't much flexibility when you got to be on site every day at 6:00 AM.

Lisa Fratzke: A hundred percent. But I think that tends to be the default because you go to the, well, what do we need them to know so that they can do their job, which is very important and that's the foundation to build on. But then the why and the what and the context of why their job matters la adding that layer adds a lot of value.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, no, that's cool. And so when you are working with, some of these brands actually come in not only with the value proposition, but you'll come in and help build some communication materials to help with the onboarding inductions check in.

Lisa Fratzke: Yes. So the full strategy from soup to nuts is how is this going to apply to the organization and how is it going to be sustained, not just, and partner with their HR team, partner with operations, just to make sure it's not something that we're saying and not doing. That's really important to us. And to also help everyone feel, we're really big on collaborating. So it feels like something that our clients have created with us and they're really the source of inspiration. We're pulling it out of them because we don't want to craft something that they feel like is not-

Dane Groeneveld: It's off the shelf.

Lisa Fratzke: It's off the shelf, it came from someone else externally. We want it to feel like it was something that we worked on together and really built together. And that's one of the things that we really enjoy doing is just bringing out the best in the people we work with.

Dane Groeneveld: I like that. Pull it out of them construct too, Lisa, because I know we've made some mistakes in our business or businesses in the past when we come in and say, okay, let's get a couple of people together, we'll design this and we'll roll it out. But if you're not really surveying and asking key leaders to be part of the process, they just see it as more work, more problems to be dealing with, and they're not excited about reinforcing the whole emphasis of that program and the check- ins and everything else that comes with it.

Lisa Fratzke: Yes, there's no buy- in, and buy- in is so important. And so that's where if people are involved from the process in the beginning who are key leaders and influencers in the organization and they're aware of it and they've surveyed them and they're contributing or they're part of focus groups and participating, then they're going to know that they were part of building that and there's going to be a better opportunity for them to be champions of it.

Dane Groeneveld: Nice. I know when we were catching up last week, just thinking about this discussion you shared and you mentioned impact here, you shared the impact that storytelling can have in a business, in an organization for its employees and for its customers. I think that was a pro program you'd run at Disney. Was that something that might be worth jumping into to really kind of share with our listeners the way that this plays out in a real life example?

Lisa Fratzke: Yes. Yes. And since we last talked, I thought of another example that came up from my background that I really wanted to share if we got to it. So let me start with this one.

Dane Groeneveld: Let's do it.

Lisa Fratzke: Which was a real world example of using storytelling, I'm going to use it from my time at Disney, but one of the initiatives that we were working on was updating and re- imagining a resource that cast members used that was called the cast Member reference guide. And I believe they still use it today, but it's something that they would use to answer guest questions. The expectation was that they would get it at the beginning of every day, carry it around with them, pull it out to answer guest questions whenever they needed to. It had all the information you needed for to answer pretty much any question from around the resort. And we wanted to reimagine it and make it even more helpful and just see how helpful it was being for the cast members. And so we came up with a campaign that actually humanized the cast member reference guide and made it a human, which was a person who was wearing a cast member reference guide shirt and did a number of videos and commercials where the cast member reference guide was approaching cast members and asking the question, do you like me? Take the survey.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah.

Lisa Fratzke: And it's a very simple question, but I mean, it's an inherently human question of do you like me? We all want validation. And so we humanized the reference guide. It wanted validation from cast members as the cast members could connect with that because this guide, sometimes they would be out in the resort walking, they may not be with another cast member. They really depended on this guide. And so they had a very personal relationship with the guide. So I think it captured a true idea that they had a relationship with this resource. And then it captured another really human idea, which is we all want validation. And we really had record turn out with that survey in asking cast members to answer how helpful this guide was. Some people would write in, some of the surveys were digital, some were paper. So people would write in, I do like you, you're great. That created such a connection for them that they want, they wrote in their feelings on the survey that weren't even part of the survey.

Dane Groeneveld: That's hilarious.

Lisa Fratzke: I think that's a really simple, straightforward way of like, okay, we have a message. We could have just said, Hey, take this survey. We want this resource to be more helpful for you. But what's the deeper message here in identifying a story to convey that which motivated action because it connected more deeply with the cast members. So I think that's a really good instance of using storytelling to connect and then also motivate action.

Dane Groeneveld: I like that. And it's fascinating that you turn a guide into a human with the t- shirt on because the time that we're living in now with Chat GPT and all of this other hype that's going on out there, which is dehumanizing, I think, the way we're doing work and the way we're leveraging technology, that's fascinating. So is that a technique that you adopt in some of your ongoing customer projects? Is that a technique that you would suggest to listeners, Hey, if you've got a really boring but important or misunderstood or whatever it might be, project within your business, think about casting it as a human. Think about it having a story and engaging with your employees so that they can have a different level of engagement in their feedback and what they think of it. That's really interesting.

Lisa Fratzke: I think a hundred percent. It applies to lots of different situations. You can humanize many different resources or many different messages that you have as a brand. But also I think the bigger piece is to say, here's the message that we have to communicate. What is the deeper question behind this message? What's the deeper why that's actually going to connect with the audience? And that's where our human- centered approach to communications comes in talking about humans. We take a human- centered approach where it's fueled by data and understanding the audience and empathy and what matters to them, what they care about, what's going to connect with them. And so I think a lot of brands just do the data piece and say, okay, we understand what's important to them and we're just going to talk to that. And without the empathy piece, which I think is where storytelling can often come in, is creating, finding a more creative or effective way to communicate because you're actually putting yourself in your audience's shoes instead of not putting yourself in their shoes and crafting a message that feels sometimes aloof or disconnected from them.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, it actually makes me think we've, our group of companies has emerged through some acquisitions. We're actually working on an acquisition now. You and I were talking about it before the show. And when you think about an acquisition, you have two companies that come together and integrate and start working together. And a lot of people are scared on both sides, on the buy and the sell side because it's like a lot of change. It's a lot of work. Is my role going to change? Are my customers going to experience this differently? And I'm just picturing your example in, Hey, how can I have this brand and that brand be created into real characters that have these interactions and allow people to think, oh, it's normal for them to feel scared or afraid or confused and look at how they're working together to tell that story. I think that's a really good approach. You talked on human centered approach, and when we were walking through that and I asked you be human centered is one of our values, but I'd never heard a human centered approach. I guess I'm ashamed to say, but you talked about three layers. So interpersonal, operational, culture building. Could you walk through that for the benefit of our listeners to see how you tackle human- centered approach?

Lisa Fratzke: Yes. So in any organization, we really see there being three layers of communication. The first layer is interpersonal communication. So that's any communication that's taking place between employees and leadership or employee to employee. And when we think about the importance of interpersonal communication, there was a recent survey done with thousands of employees and 70% said that their interactions with their manager impacted their mental health more than anyone else in their life, including their therapist and just as much as their partner. And so effectively communicating between leader and employee is so important in providing them the tools that they need to do that. Not all leaders have gone through that training to know how to communicate or to check in on their employees wellbeing or to handle crisis or conflict. So that's really important. The next layer is what we would consider to be operational. So operational communication is anything that's business oriented that employees need to understand to do their jobs or even benefits communication, anything that HR needs to share with employees from a benefits or policy standpoint. That's the operational bucket. And then the third bucket is where a lot of the storytelling and the human- centered approach can come in. And that's the culture building bucket, which is how you're communicating your purpose to employees, how you're communicating your core values, how you're building your culture through storytelling. That's the third layer. And it's really important. And I think a lot of times, especially when we work with brands, they're focusing on a lot on the operational and maybe some on the interpersonal and not very much on the culture building or they're over emphasizing one bucket versus another, but they really all work together to create that environment and fabric of your organization. And those are really the layers that we focus on.

Dane Groeneveld: I like that. And it takes a lot of work to weave those layers together because often people that are running your policy and procedures aren't talking about communications or brand. And so everyone's working in silos, as you said earlier about bringing the HR team in. And there's always this concept of culture initiatives fail because they're culture initiatives. But from what I'm hearing you say is, Hey, this is how we look after people and communicate, here are our policies and processes, and then here are our culture initiatives that tie it all together. So they're not just culture initiative. It sounds like it's operating ritual, operating rhythm that you're building through that process.

Lisa Fratzke: Yes, a hundred percent. The culture building, it's a layer, but it's also informs everything else. It informs how you're communicating your operational updates. It informs how you're doing your interpersonal communications and the mindset that you're coming at through that. And so it is really important. And to your point, a lot of times the teams that are responsible for each facet of that can feel siloed because they're not working really well together, whether that's HR versus operations and people who have boots on the ground, making things happen, versus the communications team. So it's really important for all three teams to understand the importance of communication and the three layers and the importance of culture building and continuously, whether it's task force that you meet together or a synergy meeting or just regular times to connect and to use empathy again, but have empathy for each other's roles and what you're important to you so that you can continue to build that culture building messaging throughout your organization.

Dane Groeneveld: The operational updates one is interesting because once upon a time, I think back to a company I used to work for that did it well, we used to have a Tuesday night meeting and it was great. Everyone had finished work at four o'clock on a Tuesday, you'd all get in the boardroom, they'd put out a whole lot of candy on the table just to make sure you turned up and you'd just talk through some highlights, a few key things going on in the business. You'd see we were all competitive, like A type salespeople. So you'd do some league tabling, Hey, so- and- so's booked more meetings this week. This was before all the gamification TV screens, and it was a fun time. And then often because we lived in a city where people caught public transport, you could go for a beer afterwards, but it worked. But now with COVID, people don't all end up in the same office. And also here in the US, outside of some large cities, people aren't often in a position where they go out for happy hour afterwards either. We live in a pretty suburban world now where people get in a car at the end of the day and drive home. So with all of that change through COVID, are there any themes, approaches, methods that you are seeing work well with things as functional as operational updates within your culture building approach?

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah. I think that you can't underestimate the importance of intentionality. And so you may not have that regular time to meet in person each week. And so we're seeing a lot of our clients have digital or virtual check- ins once or twice a week with the full team. And I think in the past where culture building moments happened by accident, the candy was on the table, you had these conversations in person that you wouldn't have had any other way. Now they need to happen because they were more intentionally planned. And I don't think that makes them any less organic because the output of that planning is organic. But we have to intentionally plan culture building moments. And so for our clients, when they're doing these virtual check- ins, depending on their culture, we have one client, I'll actually use us as an example for this. For us, with our team, we'll meet once a week virtually, and we'll share during our meeting trends that we're seeing in the communications marketing and brand space, and we'll get people's insights on them and where they found them. And this is really important to us because we want to be up to date on the latest trends. It's part of our culture to do so. And the partners will share things that we're seeing everyone's sharing, and it creates this culture and space that we're always bringing new ideas to the table or things that we're seeing and we're on a lookout for them. And it's really important. One of the clients we're working for safety is really important because they are in the manufacturing space. And so they'll begin their meetings with a safety story or something that they noticed within their operation and bring it to everyone's attention so that everyone's always on the lookout for it. And then you can do fun things like sharing things about your personal lives, your high and low for the week. And so I think you just need to really plan those culture building moments within each meeting that would've happened accidentally if you were meeting in person. They need to now happen because you intentionally planned them, but I think that they're still just as valuable and organic.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, that's neat. And you're right, not just running straight into a meeting and jumping into an agenda is important. If you open up with some ideation or some conversation, it just gets people warmed up. They're not walking in with their guards up. So I like that. And I've always loved safety moments. We've worked a lot in the oil and gas industry, so that's a big part of a lot of meetings. And I think, again, it's a good way to be thinking human. It's a good way to be remembering, Hey, we're here to work, but we've got to go home safely and we owe it to each other, look after each other. I think that helps reinforce values and behaviors and culture too.

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah, it definitely does. It just keeps it top of mind for you.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So what are your views then on how companies, particularly with your background of screenwriting and TV, how companies are starting to use video more and more in business, whether it's training, business updates, where do you see the value and perhaps the dangers of videos for teams?

Lisa Fratzke: I think video is very valuable, especially it's become very valuable in how we consume as consumers. TikTok is one of the most popular platforms. Instagram is very visual and has been emphasizing their video functionality to compete with TikTok. Short form video is one of the most popular ways that we're consuming social media content and content in general. And so a video is really important. They say that the story is worth a thousand words, and if that's the case, a video is worth millions of words. The power of the visual storytelling within a video, you can convey a concept in a very short period of time that would've taken much longer to convey in writing. So yeah, video is really important. And when we think about this for our clients, especially internally, there's been a lot of focus on short form video and creating more videos to communicate ideas to employees that they're used to receiving that type of content externally. They also want to receive that type of content internally. The barrier to entry, I think, often is that a lot of these brands may not have the training historically to create these videos, the equipment and things like that, but also at the same time, there's so many, you can create the video on the iPhone today. You can use a tool like Canva that's very easy to use to edit the video and put it out there. Our bar for how polished the content looks-

Dane Groeneveld: It came down.

Lisa Fratzke: It came way down. People don't always even enjoy the super polished content. They want something that looks more organic and authentic, and that doesn't always mean it looks super polished, which could be associated with feeling more corporate. So I think there's a ton of opportunity for brands in the video space to just go out there, shoot their employees with video, with a film, with cameras, and doing their job and getting these testimonials, having these reactions in real time, posting them on their intranet and really helping use that fuel culture and not letting the idea that the video needs to look super professional. They need to have very expensive equipment or anything like that, stop them from creating that video. There's a space for those types of videos that are polished and are more professional. But for the day- to- day employee and culture building, you don't need to have that type of video that those videos that are more polished and professional, use them externally where makes sense, use them in executive communications. But if you want to create more culture of connection and belonging, sharing some of those short videos can be really helpful.

Dane Groeneveld: And I think I like your point that sometimes there's an authenticity that employees or customers find that comes from something that you shot in the real work environment, not in a studio or in a real conversation with somebody not off a script. I think there's a lot that ties into that authenticity around purpose around even if it's more operational in nature around safety policy for example. So that does seem to connect, I guess, on the downsides. Do you see any downsides of this deployment of content through video? Are we letting perhaps employees, employers scroll through rather than really take time to pause and have meaningful conversations? Is there any risk of that?

Lisa Fratzke: I don't think there's necessarily a risk, I would say in that way. I would say that if the video is the only thing that you're using to communicate a message that could be a problem, but a video should really be part of a holistic strategy in bringing that message to life. A video is paired with communication that's going out through email or the internet, and it's a layer on top of that that is helping to tell the story in a more effective and visual way, in addition to the other ways that you're sharing it via email or intranet or leader talking points or however you're conveying that message. I think video is more of a yes and. I think where you could get into trouble with video is from a public affairs perspective, if something is said in a video and you haven't vetted it from a public affairs lens in terms of how maybe someone said something that is out of line with your core values or could be taken poorly by your audience or a specific group in your audience and you haven't caught that and the video went out and you don't have a good approval process, then that video could very much hurt, could hurt your brand. An example of this is, I don't know if you've seen, but there was a lot of news coverage around Miller Knoll, I think I'm saying the name of that brand correctly, or I think it's called Miller Knoll, it's a furniture office company. They did an internal town hall and the CEO was speaking to employees about their bonuses and the fact that they may not get them this year, and that she received a lot of questions about that. And though she started off talking about it pretty well, but then it took a turn and it got her tone became more negative, employees felt like they were being scolded, and the video went viral. Someone filmed it and the video went viral and their brand reputation took a huge hit. And so yeah, you do need to be careful because video can be very impactful in hurting your reputation as much as it can be in building it. So yeah, that's could be the downside.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, that point that you make, well, first of all, the yes and, I totally agree with, you can't just rely on the video because you miss out on so much of the fabric of the culture, but the point you make on maybe the safety net, reviewing what goes out, reviewing what you even choose to record, because certain meetings aren't for recording and redistribution. I think that's a really important message to leaders. I also wonder whether behaviors, going back to values and behaviors, behaviors are critical because if you've got a company or a team that really knows its behaviors, we will not speak ill of colleagues or customers because they're all important to us, even when we have tough times, something, if that's a behavior, there's a great company called Culture- Wise that do all of this codification of behaviors in a business so that people have these little cards, maybe a little bit like the resource guide you shared at the beginning of the show, but if those behaviors are there clearly, maybe that does create more safety, more appropriate control and direction over how employees are creating video in their daily roles or with customers because we're seeing more and more of it. And as you said, if you're on an iPhone, if you've got Teams or Slack, it's amazing what you can distribute really quickly now.

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah, I agree. I think the behaviors and understanding what we do, what we do and what we don't do and what we want to be and how we want to act in your culture is really important because you're more likely to understand when you're creating that video, if it's going to be received well, if it's appropriate, and also if you're allowed to create that video in terms of the rules of the workplace, if that filming in that location is allowed or not and what the rules are. But if you are going to film what the behaviors that you're filming are, I think having really clear ones can be really helpful.

Dane Groeneveld: Maybe that's where Chat GPT can help. We can get some kind of, or other generative AI that just looks at all of our videos and flags it if it's a problem.

Lisa Fratzke: I think that we have a huge opportunity in that space, especially when it comes to social media. There's been a lot of discussion about the content that's on social media and how that's moderated. I'm sure they're probably utilizing AI already in one way or another, but to use that as a moderator internally and externally, at least as a first flag can be very helpful.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, definitely. So we've covered a lot of ground. There's been some really great highlights in terms of how you approach communications and culture. I really feel that intentionality is a very common theme through this, bringing the right teams together, setting out the right messaging, making sure it's part of the operating rhythm as well as the behaviors of at an interpersonal level. I thought that was great. I really like this whole concept of humanizing tasks, processes, projects as a way of getting more human interaction. I think that's really powerful there too. And this concept of how you play with video, how you create some authentic engagement with people's huge as well. With all of those things in mind think's missing if you start to project forwards next five years, next 10 years, some of the companies that you are working with, the work that you do to help them build their communications and culture, what do you think the future of teams, if it goes really well will be bringing in? What do you think may be new or novel that allows these teams to really be very clearly engaging with purpose and driving that belonging and impact on all those important things that we talk about with employee value proposition?

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah, that's a great question. I think that there has been this transition from seeing the employee as an employee and seeing them as a full human and meeting them in that moment, especially from a communications perspective. We're seeing that shift in language with a lot of top brands. If you go to the career pages for Disney or Apple or Airbnb or Pinterest, you see a lot of language around, we want you to come here and be you. We have a culture of belonging. We have a culture of connection. And so I think that a lot of brands and the clients we work with are acknowledging the importance of that transition from employee to human and treating every employee as a human first and an employee second. And I think where one gap that we really need to be mindful of is saying it, but then not operationalizing it internally. And when we think about the importance of the conversations between employees and leaders and that the leader could impact an employee's mental health as much as their partner or anyone else in their life, it takes one poor leader or one leader that hadn't bought into the idea of taking that human- centered approach with their employees to impact the employee experience significantly. So I think we still have a lot of work to do in organizations in terms of getting buy- in at all levels and operationalizing that concept beyond the communications. And that's why we really like to get integrated with our clients in terms of, okay, here's the message, but how are you, you going to operationalize it? Let's help you define that. Yeah, how are we going to get buy- in from executives and frontline leadership? Let's help you operationalize that and create talking points or programs because that's going to be the biggest gap. I think one example of this is after the pandemic, there was a lot of organizations who were offering flexibility in terms of scheduling or Fridays off or different things like that, but they didn't change anything about their operation. And so I spoke to someone in an organization that was offering Fridays off during summer, but no one could take the Fridays off because they still had clients or they still had the partners scheduling meetings or they had too much work. And so although the Fridays were something that was promised or that day off was something that was said that they wanted to provide operationally, nothing was done to allow that day to actually be taken off. I like to call that fake flexibility. So saying that you want to be flexible, but not doing anything operationally to make sure that flexibility can happen. And so I think that's where the gap is going to be. I think brands know where they want to go in terms of the employee experience, but it's going to take a while for every level of the organization to get there.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, I think that's a great point. I think, again, I love that you bring back this concept of 70% of employees have so much impact, good or bad, from their manager relationships. And let's be honest, managers right now are more so than ever before we talk about this, a lot of guests, they're probably the most squeezed they've ever been with what the employees are going through at home and what they expect in an employment organization, and then what executive teams are trying to get done in businesses often. Yeah. Often they're not thinking about the, they're not intentional about culture when they're saying, well, we've got to shift sales or open that new market or bring this new product through R and D. So I think that's interesting. My hope it is really that we can get away from that reliance on managers and hopefully teams start to become more empowered, have more agency to be sitting there and looking at, well, here are the goals that the business has set for us. And rather than the manager cascading this down in most organizations we are now as a team going to be responsible for saying how we're going to execute on that and how we're going to support each other through this in a more holistic way.

Lisa Fratzke: I love that. Let's have that be the future, dare I say, the future of teamwork.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, I would certainly, eager to build that. I like it.

Lisa Fratzke: I love that.

Dane Groeneveld: You should do some. Yeah, no, we should do some work on that together because yes, there's a lot to be said for it, and I think you can, particularly family business DNA that we both share, there's a lot of opportunity to be innovative in smaller teams than you can in larger organizations that have a lot more complexity. So that would be a fun project to circle back up on.

Lisa Fratzke: Yes, a hundred percent.

Dane Groeneveld: Cool. Well, Lisa, it's been a blast today. I'm sure our listeners have learned a lot. I want to ask a ton more questions about your early screenwriting days too, but for our listeners that want to connect with you or the Fratzke business and perhaps do some of this work around communications and culture and culture building, how do they best find you?

Lisa Fratzke: Yeah, I think the best way would be two ways. One, to visit our website, fratzkemedia. com or to email me directly and my email's, Lisa @ Fratzkemedia. com. The third way would be to find me on LinkedIn, and I'd love to connect, love to talk.

Dane Groeneveld: Excellent. Well, thanks again for making the time, Lisa. It's been a pleasure.

Lisa Fratzke: Thank you, Dane. I've loved our conversation. You've given me a lot to think about as well. So thank you for today.

Dane Groeneveld: You bet.