IAM786- CEO Helps Align Purpose, People, and Process to Maximize Success

Kristi is the CEO of Culture Works, a San Diego-based company focused on aligning purpose, people, and process to maximize success through dynamic company culture operations.

• CEO Hack: I hold a family vision board at home and also at work
• CEO Nugget: Do you listen, to your inner self and check if you align with all people who believe in you and support you
• CEO Defined: Creating a vision and aligning your energy with the direction you leading

Website: https://www.cultureworkshr.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultureworkshr/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Culture-Works-HR-100586791617128/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/culture-works-hr

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

[00:00:29.80] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Kristy Pastore from CultureWorks. Kristi, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.89] – Kristi Pastore

So nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:42.20] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Christie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Christie Pastore is of CultureWorks, and she's the CEO of CultureWorks, a San Diego-based company focused on aligning purpose, people, and process to maximize success through dynamic company, culture, operations. Christy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:05.40] – Kristi Pastore

I am. Let's do it.

[00:01:07.00] – Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to kinda rewind the clock a little bit and go through what I call your CEO story. Here, what led you to start your business?

[00:01:15.90] – Kristi Pastore

Awesome. Well, I've been in, I guess, the people business for a while now. I kinda fell into HR and worked my way into HR operations. I love, people, and then I really found my passion with people and connecting business owners. So, enjoy working with business owners and trying to find them the right team and help them build the right team, and that's it's a true passion of mine. So, I decided, you know, if I could do it and teach twenty people, and those twenty people could teach fifty people and so on, that's kind of my jam and the vision I have. And there's I mean, obviously, the need in the market is huge for what we're doing in our space right now to develop middle management and what that looks like. And I think just from an I'm a businesswoman too, so I think, there's a huge need in the market, the workforces, and I think it's something most companies need right now with where we're at in society.

[00:02:12.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It's so funny, you know, you said you're kind of in the people business. I almost feel like, and I don't know if you would definitely agree with me, that I feel like all businesses should be in the people business because when we peel back the INO businesses, we forget that it's made up of people and understanding how to communicate, connect with, get the right people on board. Those are some of the foundational bricks in these, in my opinion, to what build builds a successful business.

[00:02:34.69] – Kristi Pastore

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, the people are the people are the building blocks of our future. Right? So, if you can get that all aligned with companies, you're golden.

[00:02:45.30] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And that's, I know what exactly you guys focus on. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about how exactly you do that. Can you tell us how you serve the clients you work with?

[00:02:55.50] – Kristi Pastore

Of course. Yeah. We, we kinda meet the client in the middle where they're at. So we like to work with small to mid-sized clients that either don't have an HR department or they maybe have one person wearing an HR hat, and they need to they need some help there and support. So we partner with small to mid-sized companies, and we align purpose, people, and process. That's kind of our, you know, our main thing is understanding their purpose the same way our purpose, and then understanding how they kind of align with people, and then, you know, what processes also might be needed in their company. So we kind of look at all three different levels. We look at their their talent, their culture, and their HR, in those different facets and really try to understand where they're at as a life cycle as a company, and how we can fit in. Right? Because I think HR is always changing, people are always changing, and we really like working with companies that are evolving in that same thought process with people and building and all of that.

[00:03:59.90] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That's that's absolutely huge. And, it kinda sounds like the way you were describing it, and please, of course, correct me if I'm wrong, it kinda sounds like three rungs of a share, where all of those things are needed to be and have that successful business. And I love the fact too that, you know, it kinda sounds like somewhat of an obviously, you have the expertise, but also kinda listening to the client and understanding exactly what their purpose is, what they're the people that are there, and then making sure that you set them up for success as best as possible.

[00:04:26.89] – Kristi Pastore

Yeah. Absolutely. It's so important to me to be aligned with the right companies on our end too, because I believe you get what you attract. So if we're a company that cares about people and purpose and process, and that's kind of our jam internally, we're gonna get the same clients, and so it's really aligning that and making sure they're they wanna talk about that stuff just like we do. Because of that then we know we can make an impact.

[00:04:50.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Especially when you're you're you're you're singing the same tune, listening to the same jam, and speaking the same language is so important in terms of being successful. So it's great to see, and I love that kind of, aspect of what sometimes, what you are is what you attract, whether it be individually or as an organization. And I think that's why it's so important to kinda get those three rungs in place and, personally, then it starts to manifest itself in a lot of the work that you do.

[00:05:14.50] – Kristi Pastore

Yeah. For sure.

[00:05:16.30] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So, I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you personally or your business, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:05:25.00] – Kristi Pastore

Well, you probably won't be surprised by hearing this answer, but I think it's the people, to be honest. The people are what differentiates us. I think, you know, for us it's we really try to to find the people that are fired up about what we're doing. Right? It's not like we're doing fractional HR leadership development and recruiting in layman's terms. Right? So if you think about that, it's finding the people that are fired up about that and that they care about that cause and they wanna do it. And our differentiator is really like that hands-on piece. So I consider ourselves hands-on consultants of service. I really feel like, HR needs to be redirected to a service-oriented, type business. They need to think about it like a business. They need to think about employees like their customers. And so really having that mindset of a service approach, that's what I look for in the people that we hire, because then you know they're willing to roll up their sleeves and, like, get shit done with business owners. You know? Yeah.

[00:06:22.89] – Gresham Harkless

And at the end of the day, there's a lot of what it comes down to is being able to kinda execute and get shit done, as you said. And I love how you kinda talked about it in the beginning because I think and I imagine that everybody on your team as well kinda has that same kinda perspective, that mindset that you touched on, where a lot of times, when you have your team and you're helping out these businesses and these organizations, it creates that domino effect, where if you're helping to empower them, they're helping to empower their employees and so on and so forth. It creates this kind of cultural, kind of transition or movement towards, having a better workplace.

[00:06:54.80] – Kristi Pastore

That's it. That's our jam. That's culture operations. It's we operationalize the culture, and it's finding people on my team that enjoy working with operations and not just in HR and a silo. Right? Like, I like to hire people that come from hospitality, have worked in operations, and really wanna connect with the people that they're gonna help create processes that are connected.

[00:07:16.89] – Gresham Harkless

That's extremely powerful and, you know, even like I said, I feel like because we forget about that people part of the business so much, that being able to have people from different backgrounds, different, levels of expertise, it sounds like too, That presents these different perspectives, this different opportunity to engage and create connections and relationships, and again, creates a phenomenal environment.

[00:07:37.50] – Kristi Pastore

Yep. That's it.

[00:07:39.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:07:51.50] – Kristi Pastore

Yeah. I do something I've been doing for three years, something tangible that I wanted and that I think is an awesome exercise. We do a family vision board. Every year, we do it on New Year's Day. It's pretty rad. I have my family go through purpose exercises, like, what are their goals? How can we create self, like, self-accountability, but then hold each other as a family unit accountable to that? I'm all about creating, like, personal connection goals so we do a family vision board. We pick our bucket list of where we're going that year on vacation. We pick our family values and our accountability with personal goals. That actually translates into business. We do that at work as well. From a CEO perspective, I think, I replace TV with books and podcasts as much as possible.

Get a coach, do meditation, and do whatever you need to do to figure out your own emotional intelligence and self-awareness, because I believe that's the ticket. So whatever your jam is, find it, but keep evolving, you know. I have a lot of books I'd recommend. I think Four Agreements is one of my personal favorites. Emotional Intelligence two point o is another favorite. Good to Great, of course, it's an old-school one, but still a favorite. But, yeah, I think and the biggest thing I can tell you is your people will solve your problems. When you have issues, talk to your people. They're the closest to the solution usually, and leveraging your team, you know, and people outside of you.

[00:09:23.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think what they're kinda saying is if you're the quote-unquote smartest person in the room, you need to find a different room because I think that's why you lean on your teammates. You lean on the people because they have that expertise. They are closer maybe to being able to solve the problem. And I think, as leaders, especially, if we aren't kind of aware of those things that the teammates can provide and make sure we're having the right people in place that can be to our detriment.

And I absolutely love kind of having that done, you know, through the family, and understanding exactly, like, what success even is. Because I think so many times, we can start out the year or go through life or can go through every day and not even sure where we're trying to go. And it's hard to reach success or even be, I think, happier or fulfilled if we don't understand what success is, what our goals are gonna be. So I love that from the family and organization and all around.

[00:10:10.10] – Kristi Pastore

I love yeah. It's true because it's I I truly believe that every person has a different idea of success, and I don't think that needs to be monetary. I don't think that I think that could be anything. And so I think it's like aligning that for the individual and then and then that translates exactly what you said to role alignment with the company and value alignment with the company. And when you have that synergy, you're like golden after that, you know. Like, I'm on my I'm on my, you know, third fractional HR company because role and value alignment didn't mesh up. So, like, it's the ticket. It's the key, you know?

[00:10:47.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It definitely creates that win-win, and that's where awesome things and awesomeness start to happen. And, I think too that, I love how you mentioned emotional intelligence because I think so many times we say, oh, so and so has the goal of doing, you know, x, y, and z. So I need to have the goal of doing x, y, and z. But really drilling down into yourself because I think a lot of times, even coaches will say, hey. The answers you're looking for are sometimes within. So a lot of times you have to do the work within yourself, and then you start to put it on the whiteboard or the bulletin board and start to go towards those goals.

[00:11:16.29] – Kristi Pastore

Totally. Yeah. That's it.

[00:11:18.70] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:32.20] – Kristi Pastore

Do you stop all the noise around you and really just, like, listen to your emotions and your self-awareness of making sure you're aligned with all the people who believe in you and support and surround yourself with the people who support you? If I did that five years ago you know, like, it's hard because everything that's that's flowed in my journey has been an opportunity for learning and involvement and all of that. So there's honestly, there's not much I regret. But if I look back at my younger self and what I could have done better, it's surrounding myself with the right people, and and walking away when it was time. Right?

[00:12:10.10] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And let me ask you this because I know I always think there's a book by Seth Godin and I can't remember the name of it, but how do you know or how have you found that you know when is the right time? Like, when you're trying to make those decisions, when it's time to pivot or maybe things have evolved and changed and you're trying to get clarity on, yes, I should do this. Is this something that you just find internally?

[00:12:28.79] – Kristi Pastore

I think it goes back to emotions and knowing if there's value alignment that exists. And for me, it's looking at, like, when I when there's emotions that are not good. Right? Understanding the root cause of where those are coming from and then drilling down to, like, alright. Do I have value alignment with this person that I'm surrounding myself with? Like, I'm all about honesty. Is this person one of their top values, right, or is there misalignment going on? So that's how I do it. It's really I'm I'm very emotionally driven. It's taken me a long time in life to figure out how to, like, manage that, but with that comes awareness of, like, really knowing where it comes from and if you're aligned with the right people. And so, that's Yeah. I think that's it.

[00:13:09.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And it's extremely powerful, and I love too, like, again, kinda the exercise you had, you know, that you mentioned with the family at the beginning of the year. Because I think, so many times, we don't realize that we evolve as well too as much as the people around us evolve if we're not always checking in and seeing, like, where we are emotionally, goals wise, we can easily, you know, be running the wrong race, so to speak. And it's important to kinda check in on that on a regular basis, and I love that you're able to do that and remind us of how important it is as well.

[00:13:37.20] – Kristi Pastore

Yeah. And it's all about the law of attraction and focus for me, you know, like, I believe that wholeheartedly.

[00:13:44.29] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. You get what you sometimes put out or attract or look for. So you gotta be very, aware of what you're putting into your mind and your body and every aspect of yourself. So I wanted to, ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Christy, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:14:08.39] – Kristi Pastore

One of my favorite coaches told me it was like a chief energy officer. Right? And to me, that's a great analogy. I didn't really think of this question before right now, but I love it because, to me, it's energy. Right? It's like if you're leading a team, to me, the biggest job of the CEO is, like, connecting the vision with the people and the team and making sure that that happens. Right? So for me, it's creating the vision that's aligned with the energy of the direction that you're making that you're leading with the people.

[00:14:41.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And that's so powerful. And I think, I'm not even sure if this, is a science thing or or what, but I've heard, you know, everything is energy. So understanding that and being aware of that and harnessing that or at least directing it, I think, might be a better way to say it, is a great way that you can do it within our clients, our team, and even our family as we kinda touch on as well.

[00:15:00.70] – Kristi Pastore

Yeah.

[00:15:02.50] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Kristi, truly appreciate that perspective, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

[00:15:17.10] – Kristi Pastore

Of course. Thank you so no other tips. I think just do you and talk to your people. They're the they're the ones with the answers. I'd love to talk to anyone about, what we do and kind of what my passions are. You can find me at w w w dot culture works h r dot com. Christy at Culture works h r dot com. And, yeah, I think the more we can really infuse culture in the operations of the company and leadership, our world will be a better place.

[00:15:50.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And we will have those links and information in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you. But I love, you know, everything that you're doing. Of course, the things that we talked about today, like, we all need to be in the people business. And I think that being able to kinda glean and learn so much from you and be able to bring you into our organization so that we can be successful and understand how to maximize and get the most energy, I guess, out of our I think our most valuable resources is so important. So I love everything that you're doing. Again, I appreciate your time, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:23.10] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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