Julie Mitchell is the CEO and founder of Torq Ride, which began operations in 2016. She is also the founder of Parcel Design, located in Toronto, Ontario. Parcel Design is a brand design firm which helps companies find an identity and brand for which they can grow around. Torq Ride is an indoor cycling studio with a focus on culture and rapport. The relationship with the customer is built with the same dynamic as Julie looks for in her staff.

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In this episode, you will learn:

0:52 – Will introduces his guest, Julie Mitchell
2:35 – What is corporate culture?
19:02 – Mistakes are okay if you learn
22:34 – Julie gives advice for the Culture Czars community

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1: From core values to valued culture. Here is your host Will Scott interviewing another CEO about leading culture in their company.

Will Scott: Hello and welcome everybody to another Culture Czars interview where we interview CEOs that care about their corporate culture. And remember at Culture Czars we encourage companies to not just have core values but to truly have a valued culture. We're on route to creating 2000 Culture Czars by 2020 and today we're interviewing Culture Czar, Julie Mitchell of Torq Ride. Hi Julie.

Julie Mitchell: Hi Will.

Will Scott: Julie and I both went to visit the entrepreneur's organization and we both work with the accelerator community in the area, which is pretty cool, isn't it Julie?

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely. It's a great group to work with.

Will Scott: Yeah. And you do a great job facilitating and training those guys. Julie, let's start by, just tell us a little bit about Torq Ride and how you got started with your business.

Julie Mitchell: Sure. So my background, my primary business is a brand strategy firm and I've been operating that since about 2004 and was just really interested in building a new business in the fitness community that was very local, something small that we could really apply our thinking from the brand strategy to a new opportunity. In many ways Torq has been that sandbox for me and we've been able to, just really think through a lot of the essence of what creates a great brand and make sure that we're building that from the ground up. We've been in operation now for just over two years and it's really exciting to see how you can shape that culture. I believe that you can either shape it or you can let it shape itself. And if you let it shape itself, you can get lucky depending on who's at the helm. But if you have some process in place to really shape it, then it's amazing what you can do with that.

Will Scott: Right. And you can either manage it so you get the outcome you want and be deliberate about that or just end up with some default characteristics.

Julie Mitchell: Exactly.

Will Scott: When we talk about culture, like corporate culture, Julie, what does that mean to you?

Julie Mitchell: For me, it's the intangible. We like to think of it as subtext. So it's the feeling or the experience that you have when you interact with the brand. And I don't see it as something that's limited to the employees of a company. I think the culture lives in the experience that the customers are having as well. I don't look at a culture program that just is for the staff. I really think about the culture as something that works regardless of who the audience is, whether it's the suppliers that you're working with, the staff or the customers, they're all part of that culture experience.

Will Scott: That's a great segue into something that I believe, which is, we should think of ourselves, not just have been leaders of a company, which makes you think about four walls and shareholders and profits and that sort of thing. But think about leading a culture, which I think is a much grander and enormous challenge for us all. We can have a great influence and of course bring the greater community into our culture, upstream bring our customers or rather upstream bring our vendors and downstream bring our customers. That's great to hear Julie. You lead a culture, you don't just lead a company.

Julie Mitchell: 100%.

Will Scott: How would you describe the culture at Torq Ride?

Julie Mitchell: Well, we set out, this is what we want people to experience is… it just feels good to be here. So for us, that really captures the experience. It's an indoor cycling studio, so there's the experience of the physical workout. But there's also a really nice sense of community and feeling like you're belonging somewhere. For us when we think about if there was one word that we could just use to describe our culture. What would that sub-text be? And for us it's connected. When you come to Torq it feels like you belong there.

Julie Mitchell: And that is obvious. We're open to different genders. We're open to various ages, level of fitness, activity and history. But it's also just a sense of, this place makes me feel welcome and I'm not uncomfortable stepping in here. I don't feel like an outsider. And I think in that specific industry, that's a real challenge for people. You walk into a place and it takes a little while to get comfortable, to feel like you belong. And so we wanted people to have that feeling right from the very beginning.

Will Scott: And how do you convey that feeling? Have you written these down as core values or what's your method?

Julie Mitchell: Yes. We don't have these, somewhere obvious on the website. We really live the values in the way that we behave. We certainly use the values when we're hiring. One of our core values is rapport. And to me rapport is just ease with people. You're the person that makes it comfortable for someone else to be there. What's very important to me when we're looking at hiring our front of House team is that they get that and it comes naturally to them. And you can't really teach that. That's one thing that I've learned is that, that's one of those things that is just inherently, you have it or you don't. I mean, you can teach it as a child, but as an adult, you come to the table with that. What we want is for anyone that's part of our brand, to be comfortable with other people, to be good at establishing rapport.

Will Scott: Yeah. Very cool. And so the customers get that feeling, not because it's written on the wall, but because you're genuinely living that behavior for them.

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely.

Will Scott: Yeah.

Julie Mitchell: And we think that is really key, that sentiment being genuine, being authentic. I really think that this has to feel like it's just part of your soul and it's how you behave. And if that doesn't align, then those values probably won't ring true. That I think is a really important thing to consider as you're building those values. What matters to you and what do you personally value and can that become something that's a pillar for your company or for your brand.

Will Scott: And what process did you use to arrive at your core values?

Julie Mitchell: Because I was in a position where I didn't have a team, I think it is important to develop values with your team and to make sure that they resonate for the group that's there.

Will Scott: Yeah.

Julie Mitchell: Because I was really building this from the ground up. I kind of looked at myself, I thought about what I liked in myself. What did I value in other people? What did I feel was missing in the different organizations that are in that space. And that's really how I develop those. I have a business partner in the brand strategy firm that I bounced the ideas off and we shape them together. We wanted to make sure that they were a bit dimensional and that they weren't, the motherhood statements of, we want to be trustworthy or we want to be honest. We wanted to dig a little bit deeper and find those values that could be a bit more actionable.

Will Scott: I quite agree, Julie. I'm a little tired of seeing people choosing the core value integrity.

Julie Mitchell: Yes.

Will Scott: I think, yeah, every company should have that. But I definitely encouraged my clients to go a level deeper and find something that's a bit more unique or meaningful to them and personal to them.

Julie Mitchell: And for us, we do have a value that's linked to that idea, but we don't call it integrity, we call it be fair and be fair is something that you can think about. You're in an awkward situation and you can think about it as well. What's fair. Let's take the emotion out of this and act based on what we think would be fair. And that's one way that we're able to just take that word that's not very accessible and bring it into everyday experience.

Will Scott: I love it in a couple of ways. Cause again, integrity can mean a lot of things, a lot of people and you could probably look it up in the dictionary, but when you choose something like be fair, it just means a little more. We know what that means and be, having the verb there of course also helps. I like to see that in a core value too. That's really cool.

Julie Mitchell: Yeah. Another one that we really believe in and again, this comes from me and this comes from what I really appreciated at companies or didn't like at companies, but it's this idea of self-manage. We think of that as, we don't have a lot of rules, but we have high expectations. Again, it's relying on yourself to think about what's the way to handle this. I don't want someone to say, "Let me speak to the manager or let me speak to the owner." I would like everyone to feel that they can solve a problem on their own. And that's the expectation, that they're able to do that. That's been a really important one for us as well.

Will Scott: Yeah. When you get a new employee, do you train them a little bit on the core values or how do you convey what you mean by be fair or self manage?

Julie Mitchell: We do it in a couple ways. Regular communication we have with our internal team, we've got a rhythm of meetings. I meet with the manager once a week. It's difficult for us to incorporate something daily or even weekly because it's a part time staff. But we have one email that goes out once a week where there's an opportunity for us to reinforce this. That's something that I'm really working on with the manager. One of the challenges that I've had is when you're trying to demonstrate this value of self managing, sometimes you have to let other people make the decisions and thus make the mistakes. When we're looking to bring in new people, if rapport is one of the values and that person interviews and they don't quite have that skill set and I don't believe they have that skill set, but the manager overlooks that.

Julie Mitchell: You know, we have had some people get in then they enter some fixes there. One thing that we do whenever we're interviewing is I'll say to Cheryl, it's your choice. It's your hire, but these are the things that I want you to use as filters. And one of these is, are they the type of person that can make a decision that can self manage? Is it someone who walks in here and is comfortable with you? Did they seem like they're really stiff or are they okay with the small talk? As we are doing that more and more, she's starting to understand how to use those as filters when she's doing her hiring because we can train anyone how to clean a bike, but we can't train them the same way. They have to come to us with that ability to put on a happy face and interact easily with their colleagues and the customers.

Will Scott: Yeah. They have to have the value. They have to fit with your core values, your culture. Yeah. What makes you so passionate about this Julie? Have you ever worked anywhere where you had the experience "Wow, I want to do this differently if I ever have my own company or…”

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely. I spent about two years working independently with an Ad agency and it was a time where I had just left a full time job. I worked for The Body Shop, Canada's head office and I think they probably went a little bit overboard with trying to create culture. They did all of the stereotypical things. We had dogs running around. We had a daycare on site, we had ergonomic office furniture, we had lunch served daily by a group of people that suffered from mental health issues. We had a couple of full time staff that also had other challenges. It was an unconventional office environment. It was very far to the left shall we say on the side of wanting to develop this open culture where you really could create your own hours and if you worked there for 10 years, then you got a one year sabbatical that was fully paid.

Will Scott: Wow!

Julie Mitchell: And spent on Fridays at noon. Like I could go on and on. There were so many things that were so great about it.

Will Scott: But when was that? Because that might, it sounds like they were probably quite ahead of their time. I mean, a lot of places in Silicon Valley of doing that today.

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely. This was in 1997.

Will Scott: Okay.

Julie Mitchell: And The Body Shop soon after that they sold to a larger organization and they really stripped a lot of that out. They needed to take some of that color out to make them align with the larger company. And that was right around the time that I left. I went to the polar opposite experience where, this is hilarious, but one of the partners actually smoked in the office.

Will Scott: I remember those days too.

Julie Mitchell: Yeah. But this was at a time when they really shouldn't have been doing that. And this company was quite funny. They actually had a slogan that they use, which was "Cults not culture." They were truly the anti culture. And it was very top down. Depending on your level of seniority, those are the people who had the best ideas. There was a lot of hierarchy. It wasn't a healthy place, but it was a really great place to understand what not to do and to identify the kind of behavior that you just would never want in your company.

Will Scott: Yeah. When you came to be an entrepreneur and have your own business then was that part of the learning that made you committed to creating environments that had a great culture and in your culture?

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely. A long list of things not to do and one example is that this company, the way that a supplier would be paid would be depending on how angry they were about wanting their money. The policy was you didn't pay them, until they asked for it and you made them ask for their money a couple times before you actually paid them. And from my perspective, that's not really fair. That doesn't help you build healthy relationships with your suppliers. That was one of the great learnings for me was, look at what their terms are and pay them on their terms and that helps you with your future jobs. And when you need a favor from that supplier, they're going to be willing to help you because they trust you.

Will Scott: Yeah. Okay. Coming back to your current company Torq Ride? How many employees do you have there in that facility?

Julie Mitchell: We have 18 employees and they are all part time except for one. We have one full time manager.

Will Scott: Interesting. You've got to maintain this culture with a part time workforce. How aware would you say those 18 employees are of the core values and how many could recite them to you?

Julie Mitchell: I would say that they would not recite the specific values, but to me that's less important than I think that what they would talk about would be very linked to the values that we have. I believe that there's always room for us to improve that. And that's an area that I can work on. When everyone was brought on, they were given a copy of a guideline for what the brand is about. It is reinforced in the language and the way that we communicate. But could they recite what the specific values are? I'd say no, but I think if you had 18 conversations then there would be similar themes that would come up that would feel very much in line with this idea of feeling connected.

Will Scott: Okay. Yeah, absolutely. And do you feel like they are, you had mentioned earlier that you've had some mistakes like we all have. Do you feel like today, you've got a pretty homogenous group there that is a great fit with your culture. Does that feel very different from perhaps in the past when it wasn't like that?

Julie Mitchell: Yes, absolutely. And I think when you do it right, they start to say it back to you or you don't need to reinforce it as much because it's just part of the way that they're interacting.

Will Scott: Yeah. I like to say that, you want to bring your culture alive, not just have words on a page, but bring it alive and then really make it thrive in the organization. And then everything drives better. You get better performance and your clients are happier and you make more profit. You retain your employees longer. There's so many great benefits from having a great culture.

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely.

Will Scott: Where does managing culture rank for you Julie amongst the strategic priorities of a CEO? You've got to manage sales and customers and drive a profit and so on. But where does culture come in for you amongst those priorities?

Julie Mitchell: Well, I mean, as I said earlier, I feel like culture is, it encompasses the customer experience. To me it actually threads through all of those areas. When you're looking at your strategy, how you're going to bring that culture to life is really critical within the strategy. When we're talking about pricing, we're using our values to define what pricing, what packages, what would make sense for us and does that align with the values of the company. I would say that it's all connected for me and it's difficult for me to rank those areas. Certainly I would put it on par with the customer experience. Customer culture to me, that's all combined and that really was my priority when I set out to launch this business. I wasn't looking for, "Okay, what's going to be the cadence of how we build this and how many we have operating or how many customers we have." It was really about how can we make sure that we create a place that's the kind of fitness place I would love to be at in my community.

Will Scott: I get it. Yeah. It's important to you and rapport obviously speaks to that, so that people don't feel intimidated to coming into your facility, they're comfortable coming in, whatever their state of fitness might be.

Julie Mitchell: Right.

Will Scott: Yeah. Is there anything that you do, I mean obviously you've taught us how you hire for fit and then you onboard them around the core values. Is anything thing you do to remind people about them and keep them alive and thriving?

Julie Mitchell: Yes. Like any business, we sometimes have hiccups where people are in a bad mood and they just, they have a bad day. And so what's very important to me is that we kind of let people have that and it's okay for someone to come in and maybe they're a bit rude to a staff person. And I think that your response to that, and this is also one of our values, is this idea of zero conflict. If your role is to diffuse that negative situation, it's really amazing how quickly you can change that. I had an example last week that was really interesting for me. We have a no show policy. If you don't show up for your ride and you're on an unlimited membership, you get charged a $15 fine.

Julie Mitchell: I put the charge through, I woke up in the morning, I looked at the no shows and I was a little bit irritated. I could see there were eight people who no showed that day.

Will Scott: Ouch!

Julie Mitchell: I went through. Yes. And I put the charges through on the accounts and I had someone later in the day send me a note saying, "I didn't authorize you to put that charge through. I want it reversed. I want it reversed for my girlfriend and let me know when you've done it." And so my initial reaction I have to admit was, Urgh! But I didn't do that.

Julie Mitchell: I went back and I said, "No, this is why we have the policy. This is what it is. I hope you understand. If you haven't asked for this before, I will definitely, I'll reverse the charge, but we need to do this because it's just, there's other people on wait lists. It's not just about trying to get as much money as we can. It's about being fair to people who are on a list, who want to ride and who don't get to get it in because all the bikes are taken up." I sent that note back thinking this was going to be fine. He sent a note back saying, "I'm going to take this up with the credit card company. I'm never coming to your business again."

Will Scott: Ouch!

Julie Mitchell: And yes, unfreeze my charges or give me a refund immediately. Then I wrote him back and I said, "I looked at the terms of this and maybe it's hidden in our policy and you didn't see it when you purchased it. We've always had this, this is why we have it. I've never had an email exchange with the customer before like this. I know this is a big part of your life. I can see you've come 84 times in the last seven months. I don't want you to not come here because of that. Can you accept my apology? Can we move on?" And it took a couple of days then he sent a note back saying, "I can see the passion you have for your business. And I'm sorry this happened. I understand why it happened. I look forward to see you next week." He's back. It was a really great experience to apply value of the diffused, zero conflict.

Will Scott: Yeah.

Julie Mitchell: It worked. And that's one that I've been sharing selectively with, with a couple of my staff to show them these actually work.

Will Scott: Yeah. That's great. You kind of listened to your own core value and acted that way. And it's probably a very important value in your business where you're working direct with consumers coming to your facility.

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely.

Will Scott: Well, thanks for that story. I was definitely going to ask you for a story, but you've given me one now. Do you have any advice that you would share with the coaches in our community from your experience managing culture in your company?

Julie Mitchell: Sure. One thing that we talk about with culture is that we say once you get it right, you don't really need to change the values. And I would say as you go through that process, it takes some time. It's not an exercise that you can do in a couple of hours. You need to test this stuff out. I think that it's fair that when you get it right, you don't need to change it, but it's okay to get it wrong. It's okay to identify what the values are and then revisit it and shape until you get into a place where it just feels like it's really real and that it's authentic and it's actionable and that everyone can embrace it. To me it does take a little bit of time to get it right.

Will Scott: I agree. I like to say, you can't create all your core values on day one when you opened the company because you haven't really got any enough experience or anything going yet or enough of a team perhaps to really start understanding what the culture is because they shouldn't be aspirational. We need to sort of go within to find out what the values are and even when you come up with them six months later, let's say, then sit with those for a little bit because you do have to work with them and maybe modify them, but at some point you feel really good about them and you can solidify them.

Julie Mitchell: Absolutely.

Will Scott: Yeah. Okay. Great. Well, thank you for that. Any final thoughts, Julie? Thank you very much for this interview. Any final thoughts or anything about, what are you going to do going forward, I guess to keep doing what you're doing, keep succeeding with them?

Julie Mitchell: Well, I think this call is a good reminder to me that although I'm not a ‘put them up in the reception area’ type of person, I think that there are ways that you can make sure that they're being integrated and that they're being understood. I think I need to find some ways that I can do more of that and make sure that I'm really living the values as well and find some ways that I can make that more deliberate or be able to measure that in a way that I haven't yet.

Julie Mitchell: I was looking at one of my goals for the company. I had identified that I wanted minimal turnover and if the values were right then I'd have minimal turnover in the company. And when I looked back on it, I haven't had anyone leave. I have the exact same instructors that I had in the beginning. I think that it's fair for us to say that the metric is actually zero. Zero departure. If we do that, then we're doing something right.

Will Scott: Great and of course, I'm sure that your customers love to see a familiar face too when they're coming in. And so that's probably a real strength for your business. Yeah. Okay well great. I appreciate that very much. Well, thanks Julie for going through the Culture Czars CEO interview and I look forward to seeing you at the next EO event.

Julie Mitchell: Okay, sounds good Will, thank you very much.

Will Scott: Thanks a lot, bye.

Julie Mitchell: Okay bye.

Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Be sure to click subscribe or check us out on the web at cultureczars.com and we'll see you next time.