[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/9922364/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/df342f/” height=”90″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”custom”]

Sarah Salbu Young is a “culture spark” at Mendix in Boston. In this episode she talks about being a people person in tech, the importance of building a strong company culture, getting buy-in, and the impact culture has on a company.

This Weeks Engaging Voice:
Sarah Salbu Young
Senior Employee Experience Manager, Mendix
https://twitter.com/sarahsalbu/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssalbu/

Show Notes:
Sarah Salbu Young is creating a better employee experience at Mendix in Boston, MA.

As a “culture spark”, she focuses on creating a great environment for everyone to build productive relationships, learn and have fun.

She makes this happen by…

• Hosting events – both internal focused events and external community events – for networking and learning.
• Focusing on effective and consistent communication across a variety of channels – from in-person stand-ups to internal newsletters and social media.

Sarah is convinced that everyone can become a culture champion within their organization, it just often takes someone to be that spark for positive change within an organization.

And that’s a role she’s very happy to play.

On this episode Stacey and Sarah talk about…

• When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up and how if at all does that play out in your work today? (1:45)
• Her move from PR to Culture and why culture is so important to her (4:25)
• The importance of communication and consistency and why she started the weekly happy hour at Mendix (7:50)
• The importance of having a centralized place to gather, share information with employees and make it accessible to all (11:20)
• Challenges/resistance to building culture at Mendix and how she got buy-in (15:00)
• Showcasing culture inside and outside the company through events and social media (19:25)
• What’s the future vision around culture? (22:50)
• Importance of perseverance (24:40)
• Taking a collaborative approach to culture across the company (25:50)
• The most fulfilling part of her job (29:30)
• Importance of contributing not only to individual role but to company well-being (36:20)
• Final insights – communication, consistent, be a positive force (37:20)