¶ Building a Collaborative Company Culture
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HRGazettecom . Lindsay , it's my pleasure to welcome you to the HR Chat Show today .
Thank you so much , Bill . It's so lovely to be here and thank you so much for having me .
So , lindsay , on this show , usually the first question is beyond my introduction . Just a moment ago , why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself ? However , in your case , I was doing my homework and I saw on your LinkedIn profile you wrote three words that describe me both personally and professionally builder , learner , partner . I love that .
So , with that in mind , please introduce yourself to our audience .
Thank , Thank you so much . Well , I appreciate you highlighting those things . And , yes , so technically my role is that I am the Director of People and Culture at Cardata , but I like to think of myself more holistically in my life , as those three things as a builder , as a learner , as a partner , because , you know , work-life integration is important to me .
So while during the day I'm at Cardata , I'm leading up our people and culture function .
So building that from the ground up back in 2021 , all the way to today , where we have a small but mighty team of three that's doing everything from recruitment compensation , all but mighty team of three that's doing everything from recruitment compensation , culture , people , operations , growth and development planning you name it , we're on it .
And that reflects , like I mentioned , the building .
I love helping companies go from sort of zero to one , so if they don't have anything in place , I love coming in having that blank slate and being scrappy and putting those foundations in place and then going from kind of one to two , so maturing those things , ensuring that we have what we need to go to the next level .
That requires a lot of learning along the way , but then in my personal life too , I love to learn . Most recently , I just redid my bathroom and I learned how to do that all from YouTube . So I do love to learn things , both for business and HR , but also outside of that . And then a partner .
I love partnering with people internally at Cardata , whether it's our growth team , our product team , our customer teams love connecting with those leaders and understanding what is your business , what is your domain and how can I and my team help you be better .
And then , of course , we are all partners in life in one way or another , whether that's we're friends or we're daughters , sons , aunts , uncles , you name it . We have relationships that we need to maintain , um , because they add joy and value to our lives I love the answer .
Congratulations on your professional success or your cool partners and , by the sounds of it , your wonderful , beautiful new bathroom . So yes , yes , thank you if you could name one thing that you love the most about your job , what would that be ?
The one thing I love about my job is the endless number of challenges that come every single day , and challenges maybe has a negative connotation , but not in my mind . There , of course , are days that are challenging , but there's just challenges that come up , especially at the stage of company that Cardata is at , especially having the unique journey that we have .
So I love having the challenges to walk into in the day Sometimes you don't know what those are going to be and having to problem solve , having to collaborate with other people to figure out how do we solve this , how do we bring in new perspectives to find the best possible route where it helps balance all of the interests of everyone .
Maybe that's affected by that particular challenge .
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Let's get into it . Then Can you share the mission of Cardata .
Absolutely of Car Data , absolutely . So our mission as a company is to be the go-to partner to build the best vehicle reimbursement programs that users love , and so that's a lot of words . How I like to describe it when we're onboarding new people is I like to break it down into three parts .
Partnership has been a core pillar of Carata since day one back in 1999 . And we'll probably get into a little bit of what exactly that looks like . But we truly partner with the companies that we work with and we recognize their expertise in their own businesses and leverage that . Then we build programs so we're not like a one size fits all .
Every organization is going to be slightly different , so we need to build the program that works best for them . And then , of course , that user's love . We want to put the customer and the user at the center of everything that we do , whether that's the program , the technology that's supporting it . And then , of course , internally too .
My users , my customers , are our people . So it's also our mission to build a great workplace for the people that are building the programs and technologies to support our users .
I love that and I particularly love the the language that you use there .
that shows that you take ownership over what you're doing , which is a great lead into my next question team sees as important to the success of the overall strategy of the organization , and that's always going to look a little bit different , but I personally strive to find companies that the values center around teamwork and team mentality , which requires collaboration
and being supportive , and one that just recognizes the value of having open lines of communication and open-mindedness . And so at Cardata , that is something that aligns with what we value and what we see as core to being able to achieve that mission that we just talked about .
And so that's what really we're striving here to do is to foster that organization that is open and open minded because that fosters that collaborative , you know kinetic energy that happens when you're bringing minds together and you're bouncing ideas off each other , and then also that just then fosters relationships where you feel compelled and want to support one another
. The thing I often say when people ask what's the thing you love the most about working at Cardata and I think it's the sense of people feeling like , no matter who you go to to ask a question , even if they're not the person to answer it or they don't know , they're going to help you find the answer .
They're going to help you find the person and point you in the direction that you need . It's not like you're going to get a door in your face .
So that is something that you know we're striving to build here , um , but that's partly because it it is important to the values um of our , of our leadership and our company okay , so that that collaboration piece , how much of that is from , uh , the the company culture , from from the ethos , from from what people can pick up when they join a company , and how
much of that actually is down to candidate selection ? You know , uh , when you guys are looking to bring on new talent , uh , it's collaboration . Is that an essential uh component of their personality , of their skill sets ? And and perhaps are you more inclined to say you're not the right fit if you're just not a collaborator ?
Well , absolutely , that is a great question , and so much of this is top of mind because every time we hire someone , new part of our onboarding is talking to them about the type of people that we look for , and I like to do that because it really shows like , hey , this is what we see in you and this is what we see in everybody that works here and here's
why , and that why ties to . Well , here are the expectations as a company , and these are the traits that we've seen are important to achieving those expectations and you being successful . And , of course , you're here because we see that in you .
And so three things , three kind of groupings of characteristics that we look for are passionate crafters , humble and courageous , and then adaptable and curious .
And I find that those are important and specifically relating to your question about collaboration , that humility and that curiosity is so fundamental to at least in my eyes , so fundamental to fostering a collaborative environment . You need those traits in people and the number one thing I always say is that there is no room for ego .
It sucks the air out of the room and does the opposite of creating that collaborative environment . So we have absolutely been okay with turning someone away that maybe is very skilled in their craft but has a little bit of an ego , because we know that's not going to work here .
Are traits ? Are they more important to you guys than historical career experience ? Do you feel like a lot of things can be learned in the company environment if folks have got the matching characteristics ?
That's a really good question . It's not an either or , to be honest , because we , especially for certain roles , it depends the type of level you're talking about . You know there are fundamental you know just fundamental things that experience gives you that is going to allow you to maybe be successful , based on the type of role , the scope that you're taking .
So I wouldn't necessarily say it's more important , but they're very much on par and , yes , in some cases it may be that those traits are a little bit more important . That's when you'd be looking at hey , can this person maybe stretch into this ? They have those fundamental characteristics , could they stretch into this role ?
And in some cases we've seen that happen and this is a great environment for those people that are looking to stretch themselves . However , this can be a tough environment too . That kind of startup , scrappy mentality . It's not for everyone .
Some need more structure , and so even in those cases , you may have someone that has a ton of experience , but if it's in a very structured , very rigid environment , they may not be successful here because they don't have that same scrappiness , that same adaptable , pivoting mentality , and therefore someone that maybe has more of those traits might be more successful
okay , very
¶ Optimizing Vehicle Reimbursement Programs
good , thank you very much .
Let's get back to car data and some of the problems that it tries to solve , if that's okay . Uh , so problems with many current vehicle programs include significant and unnecessary tax waste , misunderstood program rules , lack of alignment with employee needs and irs audit risks . Can you tell us more ?
yes . So these are , of course , problems that are specifically challenging for organizations that are working with some sort of vehicle program or need to do some sort of reimbursement for their organizations .
But if we were to zoom out a little bit , you'll see that there's themes that relate to each of those points you just talked about that relate to other areas of HR challenges . Right Talked about compliance . We talked about , you know , compensation . Confusion with benefits is a huge thing . We were just talking about it internally the other day .
You know , benefits is just an inherently confusing thing . And then there's always the conversation of cost when it comes to any program in an organization , but especially around HR .
So I would say those aren't unique to any organization , but we definitely are specifically positioned to help with those challenges when it comes to reimbursement , and what we do is leverage our long you know 25-year expertise in this area to help organizations solve some of those challenges .
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Thanks , and now back to the HRr chat show okay , love it .
Thank you very much . Can we dive into how a vehicle reimbursement partner can can help set up a successful and fair reimbursement program ? Then how can a partner like car data bring best practices to an organization that's launching a new program ? Perhaps ?
That's a great question and the way I like to look at it , as any partner that an HR professional is choosing to connect with and bring into their organization needs to be an expert in their area , but they also need to be willing to listen to you and understand your challenges and be willing to partner with you to actually solve that .
That's again where the partnership comes in . Every organization is going to be slightly different . There's variables that are just naturally in place .
When it comes to vehicle reimbursement specifically , organizations differ in the number of people they have on their reimbursement program , the number of miles those people drive , how often they're driving , where are they driving , the type of car they need to drive . There's so many variables just for this one specific program that you need to think through .
So a great vehicle reimbursement provider is going to understand what are all your variables and challenges with each of those . Then they're going to work with you to take the guesswork out of it . They're going to say , hey , here are the different parameters we need to work with . Let's build this program together .
What are your goals , what are your challenges , what are the options ? Let's bring this all together and then a phenomenal reimbursement partner is going to give you world-class technology to help streamline the implementation and administration of that program Because , as with a lot of HR programs , there's a lot of manual work that could be there .
We want to free up our time , we want to free up the time of the administrators for these vehicle reimbursement programs , so we want to provide the technology that'll help them do that .
Very good . So if you're looking for a phenomenal that's a good word a phenomenal partner , check out Card Data . In fact , Lindsay , how can folks learn more about Card Data ? There will , of course , be links in the show notes that will help , but how can folks learn more about Card Data ? And will help . But how can folks learn more about car data ?
And , as importantly , how can folks connect with you ? Is that email address linkedin ? I bet you're super cool and all over tiktok and instagram I think I'm a little past the tiktok generation .
I think I go on the youtube shorts . You know I think that's probably really uncool of me to say , but you know what I'll own it regardless . Um , so , to connect with Cardata , cardataco is our website . That is a great landing spot . You can find so many amazing resources .
Whether you're just curious to learn more about vehicle reimbursement , if you're an administrator and you have specific questions around the type of programs that exist , or you want to see what technology might actually exist out there to help you with this type of thing exist , or you want to see what technology might actually exist out there to help you with this
type of thing , that's a great place to go to learn more about that . You can also check out our LinkedIn . My LinkedIn is Lindsay-Claybourne Very easy to find . Not sure if there's any other Lindsay-Claybournes out there , but if there are , I'd love to connect .
I'm not sure if there's any other Lindsay Claiborne's out there , but if there are , I'd love to connect . So can connect with me with me there as well , and for anyone that is looking to take some courses , I also instruct at a couple of the local colleges and universities , so we could also connect through one of those as well .
Excellent . Well , until I'm next in Toronto and we get to have that coffee that we're talking about before we hit record today . Until I'm next in Toronto and we get to have that coffee that we're talking about before we hit record today .
That just leads me to say for today , lindsay Claiborne , thank you very much for being my guest on this episode of the HR Chat Show .
Thank you so much , bill .
It was lovely to chat with you and I can't wait for our coffee , and hopefully during a Jays winning season . Oh gosh , that might be a while .
Okay .
That just leads me to say , as always , listeners , until next time , happy working .
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