The Shed The Formality Podcast has been retired.
However, you can download this podcast and all of the others from my Google Drive archive.

008: Sarah Salbu Young: Culture Spark at Mendix
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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)
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About the Shed The Formality Podcast
For leaders & entrepreneurs who are great at what they do yet lack skills or confidence to sell their OWN ideas.
Tune in to the archives as Stacey Shipman and her guests share stories and insights on getting out of your own way, promoting your work, networking, leadership, handling adversity and more.
Listen to the archives on the Dropbox folder.