In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron explores the importance of starting where you are in building a thriving organizational culture. She emphasizes that leadership and culture are not “back burner” priorities—they directly impact engagement, productivity, and mission achievement. Jenni shares her guiding principle: simple and consistent—small, steady actions over time create lasting culture and leadership growth.

She breaks down her definition of culture—clarity of who we are and how we work together to achieve our mission—and explains why clarity is the foundation of a healthy culture. Jenni highlights that people, not just goals or vision, are the linchpin for organizational success. She encourages leaders to ensure every team member deeply understands the mission and values through stories, behaviors, and consistent reinforcement, so they can confidently contribute.

Finally, Jenni introduces the new LeadCulture Network, a resource for ongoing leadership and culture development, offering courses, coaching, live Q&A sessions, and a community of culture-minded leaders. The network is designed to help leaders simply and consistently invest in their team’s growth and culture, ensuring mission success.

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On this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron uncovers a critical mistake many organizations make: promoting top performers into management roles without preparing them for leadership. What seems like a reward can actually set both the employee and their team up for unnecessary struggle—and costly consequences.

Jenni walks through:

• The mindset shift from doer to leader: Why effective managers lead through others rather than just completing tasks themselves.
• Why not everyone should be promoted into people management: Sometimes the greatest impact comes from leveraging an employee’s strengths in their current role.
• The real cost of poor managers: Turnover, disengagement, and lost productivity can quickly add up to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Practical strategies for executives: How to assess, equip, and support your managers to thrive and protect your culture.

Key Takeaways:

• Prepare managers before promotion with structured training and coaching.
• Evaluate strengths to ensure employees are suited for people management roles.
• Monitor manager effectiveness through surveys, skip-level meetings, and ongoing support.
• Quantify the financial impact of disengagement and turnover to make leadership development a priority.
• Align promotions with organizational impact to maximize both employee contribution and business results.

For executives, people managers are the linchpin of culture and performance. This episode gives a clear, actionable framework to strengthen leadership, retain top talent, and protect your mission—all while avoiding preventable mistakes that cost time, money, and morale.

Build Your 2026 Leadership Development Plan with Jenni Catron

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with Randy Cochran, Senior Executive Pastor of Central Pastoral Development and Worship at Victory Church in Atlanta. Randy shares how his team has intentionally assessed and strengthened their organizational culture, especially during leadership transitions and in a multi-cultural, multi-site church environment with over 200 staff members and 140 nations represented.

They dive into the power of taking a hard look at your culture, the importance of building cross-functional culture teams, and the lessons learned from assessing staff experiences. Randy candidly discusses the surprises and insights from their culture surveys, the value of creating shared language and values, and how intentional efforts can accelerate integration and engagement across an organization.

Whether you lead a team of 5 or 500, you’ll walk away with practical strategies to assess your culture, close gaps between aspirations and reality, and empower your people to thrive.

Learn More About the LeadCulture Survey Here: https://www.get4sight.com/survey

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!