Community Building

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform. [00:00:14] Speaker B: Good day everyone, and welcome to another edition of let's be diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who have supported me through this journey. One of the things I think very highly of, whether it's in business or in a workplace, is rapport building and community building. So I thought, what a great topic to talk about today and I'm so lucky to have as my guest to help us to navigate through this topic. Her name is Peyton Warren. Now, Peyton thrives in community building. After serving as a client success executive, she shifted into strategy in early 2022. In addition to helping clients stay ahead of competitors, she also is a host of the podcast industrial marketing Live. Her holistic approach to marketing is informed by her diverse background. From grassroots campaign at Hypergrowth startups to international, nonprofit and distribution networks, she's seen how focus and strategic use of resources can build brands and drive results. Prior to joining Gorilla, Peyton worked with Aptig, a fast growing ed tech startup, sourcing talent and teaching school districts how to distribute, messaging and build their brands. And in 2016, she campaigned for Senator Bernie Sanders, wrangling press from coast to coast. She later continued this work with Next gen climate, where she earned the media in the crowded swing state media market. She also applied her marketing skills to passions beyond work. As an active CSA member, she managed a large multi farm program in mid south. On the weekends, you'll find Peyton exploring her local farmers market, cappuccino in hand. With her husband John and her rescue puppies, Zulu and Charlie, Peyton graduated the top of her class from the University of Central Arkansas with a BA in journalism and a double minor in spanish and interdisciplinary studies. I can honestly say no word of a lie that after one simple conversation, I became a fan of Peyton's right away. And I would not be surprised if you became a fan of hers after you've listened to her speak on my show today. Welcome to the show, Peyton. It is so great to have you on today. [00:02:51] Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me, Andrew. And you might even hear my two rescue puppies join us on the show in the background. They've been barking just a little bit tonight, so hopefully they stay calm for us. [00:03:05] Speaker B: They might have some thoughts on the topic too, so why not, eh? Exactly how is Peyton? What's new in Peyton's world? What's going on? Tell us. [00:03:16] Speaker C: The deets biggest update for me recently is my family just relocated. We're now in Oklahoma City Oklahoma. So down here in the south, and it's been wonderful. We're so happy to be here. If you've never had a chance to visit Oklahoma City, I highly recommend it. Great restaurants. I'm just really excited. I was living in a very small town before this, so now I have targets in any direction and lots of coffee shops to go to when I'm working remotely. So it's really nice. Really enjoying that bit. How about you, Andrew? [00:03:53] Speaker B: Everything is good. We are in the midst of. At the time of this taping, we're in the midst of winter. So winter has started here. It's among us. It is not freezing cold yet, but there is snow on the ground. So no more sandals, no more shorts, which is what I truly love. It's the jackets and the mitts and soon the tukes and the scarves. Not enjoyable time for me. I call myself a bear in the winter because I pretty much hibernate. I only go out when I need to, just because I don't like the cold. And I always ask myself every year, and I ask my wife, why do we live in this climate? And let's go somewhere warm. Unfortunately, we've grown up in Canada, so we know what's coming and just have to prepare for it. [00:04:35] Speaker C: I'm sure you know exactly how to bundle up at this point, though. [00:04:38] Speaker B: Oh, yes. When you need to bundle up, it's all about layers, Peyton. I would say it's all about the layering. It's all about the jacket, but the hoodie. And you have put the hood on, even though you have your tuke, you put the hoodie over your head. And if you get the layers, you're good. But the thing that can be a detriment is if you become warm, then you start taking some stuff off, but then, because you're warm, then you start to get cold. Yeah, it's a pain in the butt. What do you do? What do you do? I'm glad to hear that things are going well with you. Congratulations on the move. As I mentioned in the intro that you're big on your cappuccinos, so I'm happy to hear that you are close so that you're able to have your cappuccinos when you're having your cravings. [00:05:23] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:05:24] Speaker B: So, before we begin, I always have a fun question to ask my guests to get things going. Peyton, are you ready for yours? [00:05:32] Speaker C: I am nervous for mine. Yeah, let's have it. [00:05:36] Speaker B: It's actually a comical one, so I think you're going to have a little bit of fun with this one here. So, my question to you is, where do you think a hamster is trying to go when he or she is running on a wheel? [00:05:49] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. I think forward. Trying to go forward. [00:05:56] Speaker B: I was not expecting any thought provoking answer. That's why I do these, to have a lot of fun. A little bit of a giggles. I accomplished my feet today. I got a giggle at a Peyton today. So that's perfect. Great answer. I would have never would have thought of forward. That's pretty good. Thank you for having so much fun with me. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, Peyton, and your story? [00:06:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I appreciate the question and helping me relax at the start of a podcast recording. I am a marketing strategist now by day, and I found my way into marketing by way of journalism. And as you said in my bio, I dipped my toe into us politics during the 2016 election. And I think during that time, I found that one journalism wasn't going to pay very well. So right after I graduated college, I was like, okay, what am I going to do with my career so that I can support myself, support my future family, things like that. And I found that politics was a little bit more lucrative, and it was also just very fun, especially in the beginning when I was doing, like, the grassroots style politics, where I was getting to know folks on a very personal level. And we were setting up events together and spending a lot of time together in these little communities. And then we were connecting out further through phone banking activities, the typical organizing stuff that you would do in a grassroots campaign. Obviously, if you're familiar with us politics and the 2016 election, my candidate did not win. And so I found myself laid off in California, and I ended up getting an opportunity to join a super PAC, which was surprising to me. But I joined as a press secretary. And during that time, when I was working in Nevada, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am really good at reciting talking points, but it's a lot of pressure to say something that you might not necessarily agree with on a very deep level, and it takes an emotional toll, as well. And then beyond that, it just made me realize how much my family meant to me, too, because that time in the United States was just so divisive, and we're still in a recovery from it. I feel like I'm still on the mend with some of my aunts and uncles and things like that, too. And it was all for things that I was saying that maybe I didn't even necessarily 100% agree with. They were just talking points and I was the talking head that had to say it. So after that I was like, okay, I need to zoom out and really focus on what is important and what I feel comfortable like backing up with my own character. And that's how I got into community driven agriculture. And then eventually where I'm at now, where I work at an industrial marketing agency, but I run a community called industrial marketing Live and I am able to connect with people who are in a similar situation as me, or maybe they're just a couple years behind where I'm at and I'm able to say, hey, when I was in your shoes, this is what I wish I would have known and offer advice. Or even if I don't have that advice to give, I'm able to use the platform to pull people in who have that advice to share and build a space where folks are able to learn from each other, feel okay asking questions and just connect. So I think that's been the biggest thing for me over just the last ten years or so has just been finding a way to continue to connect with people in a really authentic way. And yeah, so I'm really excited to talk about community building with you today. [00:09:59] Speaker B: I love when you're talking about connecting. I mentioned in my opening one of the things that I am huge on is rapport building. And I feel as a leader, a lot of leaders have forgotten how important rapport building truly is and they're thinking of the dollar, which we're all in it to make money. But I think if you build rapport with people and you build a connection with them, then means that you're likable to them. And the chances are very good that they're going to do business with you because they've built a bond with you where if you don't build that bond, you mentioned the word traction before. There's so much traction that's needed to get to where you want to go with that client or as a leader, your team. So it's very important for me to build rapports. I just loved when you mentioned connecting. I think it's so important. [00:10:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. I think you've got to build social capital with folks and it's not you're trying to be deceitful or manipulative, but if you actually do connect with someone in a meaningful way, there's so much value that builds from that emotionally. But also, yeah, maybe there's business opportunity that comes from it, but it's from a real connection, not just from selfish things. [00:11:21] Speaker B: For sure. If you're building rapport with somebody means that you're yourself, you're your genuine self. So when you're your genuine self, that means that people are liking that person. If you are pretending to be somebody else, then they're not getting to know you and there's not that personal connection. So I really feel that's being missed by a lot of people lately. And I really feel like we need to get back to that. And that myself is something that I strive to. In all the stuff that I'm trying to do, I strive to build rapport with people as much as I can. Peyton, explain to us what community building really means. [00:12:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I feel like this is a simple answer, but community building means creating a space for people to connect. You are just purely trying to, whether that's a physical space or a digital space or just mental space for people to build bridges between others. So that could be just one on one, that can be larger scale conferences or hey, it could be what we do with industrial marketing live where we're building a digital space and folks show up every two weeks, 50 or so people come on and just see each other on zoom. So there's no right kind of space. It just depends on the type of people you're trying to connect and the best environment for that. [00:12:47] Speaker B: Yeah, and I think public comfort as well too. I think if you're somebody who doesn't like to be around or in front of a lot of people, then maybe you prefer to more to one on one or one on one is for you. If you don't think that one on one is enough and you want to be around a lot of people, you're very sociable person, then the conferences are going to be ideal for you. So I think figuring out what fits you best is important as well. [00:13:11] Speaker C: Yeah, and I like to. In the communities that I've been a part of and that I've helped organize, I like to give people options because not everybody wants to show up to a Zoom meeting at ten in the morning and turn their camera on and see people or verbalize anything. So just in that example, you can turn your camera on or not, both are acceptable. And we say that at the outset. That way no one feels awkward or like they're not doing the right thing. We name what's okay, you verbalize the ground rules of the space. That way everyone knows that you're accepted however you're coming. And maybe you want to turn your camera on. Maybe you don't. Maybe you want to send a question privately to the host or to someone and ask anonymously because you're maybe a little shy. Maybe you want to post it in the chat and just communicate via text. But giving people ways to plug in, I think, is really important. That way you can meet them where. [00:14:10] Speaker B: They are for sure. So I think we dug into it, but I want to go in a little bit more in depth in this because I think it's so important. Why is it so important for organizations to engage in community building? [00:14:23] Speaker C: Gosh, there's a lot of reasons. I think the big one is that you're going to learn a lot depending on who you're trying to build community with. But you can learn a lot about the space that you're working in, the people that you're working with, the people you want to help, the people you want to serve or learn from. If you create a space where a group is able to come together and communicate, share openly, just spend time together, you're going to be able to learn ways to better serve that community and create more value for that community, which is just like this wonderful circle of feeling good. So it's okay. I learned a little something about you. Like, we were talking right before the session started, Andrew, and you're saying, we were just talking about your hat, and you're saying, you're a hat guy. That's cool. And now I know something about you, and that's just a little nugget that I can hold on to. And then I'll see a hat someday and think, oh, Andrew would like this. And it's just a connection point. And so if you do that with people at scale in a community space, then you're just amplifying the number of connections that are being made, which feels really nice. [00:15:37] Speaker B: It makes me think of being in a work scenario where it's a Friday afternoon and your leader comes over to you and says, hey, what are you doing this weekend? And you say, oh, I got this to do. And that doing. My son's got a soccer game on Friday night and Saturday he's playing in a tournament or whatever. You say, okay, I'll have a good weekend. And then you come in on Monday, and the leader comes over to you, says, hey, how was the weekend? And, oh, you said your son was playing in that tournament this weekend. Soccer tournament. How did it go? How did they do? Did they win? Did they lose? It might be a little thing to some people, but to a lot of people, it means a lot that someone asks what they're up to and then goes further into it a few days later to find out, hey, how did it go? It just means the world to people, for sure. [00:16:26] Speaker C: Yeah. Because you listened and you remembered and it shows that you care. So I think, yeah, that's really important. And especially if folks are trying to get into community building at scale, that's where you have to be very intentional about it, because maybe you're a manager and you've got a team of two or three people that report to you. Okay, two or three people. I can remember what they did this weekend or have a little notebook or whatever, but if all of a sudden maybe you're trying to manage an entire department and connect with an entire department, or maybe you're trying to build connections across companies, an entire industry, like a manufacturing association or something like that. To be able to remember what's going on and help people feel important or just what's happening to them, it matters to you, is really special. It's a skill you've got to hone, though, for sure, to be able to keep track of all of those things. [00:17:18] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. Would you say that organizations have trouble with community building? And if so, why? [00:17:25] Speaker C: I think sometimes they get into community building for maybe the wrong reasons. You really have to go at it with the same reason that you would want to create content is you want it to be helpful. And if you're going in to just build a space where all of a sudden you have these fish in a barrel that you can easily spear, that doesn't feel good, and it's just going to be a detriment. So if folks feel like you're just corralling them to mine them for information or milk them for your own personal gain, then your community is going to fizzle out. So it's really important. I'd say if you're an organization and you're wanting to get into community building, that you not only set boundaries within the people who are joining the community, but within yourself and within your own organization, what sort of asks are you allowed to make in that community that you're creating? What asks should you not be making of that community? What is the goal that's like the root of everything. What is your goal with this space, and how are you marching towards that at every turn? I think that's the biggest thing that folks would probably have trouble with, is maybe they just don't set the goal at the outset. And so then you unknowingly are undermining yourself and making the group who joined originally feel uncomfortable with where they're at now. [00:18:58] Speaker B: And I would imagine, Peyton, that they would have trouble as far as maybe they haven't done their research. So, for example, if you are having a bunch of team members, well, trying to do your research to get to know a little bit about your team members, same thing for organizations. If you're trying to do some community building, well, you want to do some research about that community, so you're not doing something that they'd be like, oh, my God, I can't believe you did that, or, I can't believe you said that or type thing. So, just doing your research to know what is right to do in certain situations. [00:19:32] Speaker C: And I think we've been talking about it already, but it's a lot of work to keep these things humming. And so I think you've seen more and more companies and organizations look to this as a unique role that someone fills, whether it's just a component of someone's job, but someone owns it. And then whenever you need to maybe push or ask a question, like, is this okay, you have that one person you can go to and say, as a litmus test, hey, community manager, what do you think about this? Does this pass the smell test, or am I out of line here? And I think if you have that sort of person or that sort of sounding board, even if it has to be multiple people, you will prevent yourself from getting into maybe a situation where you've undone some of the hard work that you did to build the community in the first place. [00:20:25] Speaker B: What do you think the future looks like for community building in the workplace? [00:20:29] Speaker C: I think it's very trendy right now. I was actually just reading an email newsletter that one of my colleagues sent. Apparently, even Louis Vuitton just started a discord channel. So they're creating this space where they can talk specifically to the folks who are buying their products, and they're trying to create an environment where, oh, you are a Louis Vuitton customer. Well, now you're surrounded with Louis Vuitton customers, this whole space. So I see it happening more and more common across businesses who are trying to connect with their customers. But I also see it happening just because of the shift of our workplace. We are so much more remote than we used to be, pre COVID. So since the pandemic and everything like that, it's like a lot more of us have gone into these hybrid work environments where we're not around people all the time. Like, I'm calling in from my home office where I've been by myself all day with my dogs. So getting on this podcast and just seeing you and talking with you, I'm like, yeah, it's like we're craving it. We're craving that little bit of social interaction, especially if you don't have a workplace that you physically go into. So I think the future of community building is going to be a vibrant one as long as folks figure out how to create spaces that are truly helpful and inclusive and positive. Folks don't want more negativity. So that's not something that folks are going to just choose to surround themselves with. I say most folks wouldn't choose to surround themselves with that. So I think that there's a lot of growth potential, especially in the digital space. And then as we roll out of this pandemic is like we all have these little satellite offices all over the place, and you meet someone on LinkedIn, or you meet someone through a community, and all of a sudden you find out they live in the town next door, and there's opportunities to have deeper, more in person connections as well that will come from that. I don't know. I see it being very digital, but then I see it connecting in a much more physical way. [00:22:43] Speaker B: I agree with you 100%. I think connection is huge. I know that there's a lot of people who were working from home, and at first they thought, oh, great, I'm going to get to work from home. And then six months in, they're like, oh, my God, I'm working from home. And then when they actually, like you said, you and I are in front of the camera today, they had that opportunity, oh, my God, I get to talk to somebody. Really? It's almost like you go to the store to get something, and even though you have your mask on. When I noticed the lineups, when I went to stores, I found that they were a little bit longer wait. And I noticed, especially if the cashier was talkative, then the customer was talkative as well. So I found some people would be, like, annoyed. In the past, I noticed that people were a little bit more understanding because they're like, oh, okay, they're talking with them. They probably don't get to talk to people often. So then they went and then they started doing the same things. I did notice that, too. And I have, as far as a workspace goes, as far as community building, so I have a friend of mine who, her company, what they do is they're all remote and they have coffee chats at break time, so someone will we work at the same company, so I would send you a team's message. Peyton, say, hey, Peyton, are you free on Wednesday morning at ten? Yeah, I'm free. Okay, let's do a 15 minutes during our break. Let's do a coffee chat. We'll have a coffee and we'll just chat about whatever. And they just talk about whatever. And most of the time, it's not about work. It's about what's going on or what they're dealing with or stuff that they're going through, what have you. So I loved when I heard that because it built a community, even though they're so far away from each other that they still feel like they're part of a. Yeah, yeah. [00:24:32] Speaker C: A few other ways that I've seen that manifest in the workplaces that I've been part of is one. When I was at aptigy, we had a slack channel, right? And in that slack channel, there was an integration with this thing called Donut. And Donut would schedule those almost random meetups with people. The company was growing very fast, and it still is growing very fast, but it was nice because you would all of a sudden get paired up with people who were outside of your department, someone maybe you'd never met before, and you would just go out and have lunch that week or meet in the break room that week. It was just like, whatever you want to do. But it was a little bit more, I guess, forced because of the doughnut integration with slack. What we're doing at Gorilla 76 right now, that I really love as far as creating and nurturing the culture of the workplace, of the community, of just like our team internally is. We started with these lunch and learns, and now we call them eat and meets, and we just rotate around the team. And it used to be like, tell us about you. But now we just let someone have the floor for 30 minutes and they can talk about anything they want. It's been really fun. Like, someone has done a tour of their home, which was really interesting. They had a lot of unique art and animals and garden, different things like that. And then the last one we had was just hilarious. It was one of our younger employees, and she did a whole presentation on Gen Z slang, and I learned a lot. I need to go back and watch her presentation again. But just, like, cool ways to let people know a little bit more about you and again, make those connections. Whatever someone's passionate about, they can talk about. And just giving them the floor and creating that space is really special. [00:26:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it truly is. And it's nice to have somebody listening to you. I believe in two things. As a leader, we need to listen, to give a response and we need to listen. What I call with pause. So when it's with pause, that means that you are not looking to give a response. It just means that you're just listening and taking it all in. So that just reminds me of that, that you guys are getting together for half hour and you guys are listening with pause. You're not commenting or, oh, I can't believe that, or whatever. You are attentive to that. Coworkers what they have to say and that's amazing. I really like that. [00:27:04] Speaker C: Yeah, it's been fun. Definitely recommend it for others. [00:27:08] Speaker B: I definitely would recommend that for sure. I'm definitely going to pass it on to some of my HR friends to give them ideas. So I think that's a great idea. If you could choose one word, peyton, to describe yourself, what word would that be? [00:27:23] Speaker C: I think the word I would use would be determined. I feel like I always want to figure it. Yeah, I just. I think that determination is a really big thing in my life because there's been so many changes, but you always have to get to the other side and that's just the only options. Yeah, determination is important. I would say that word also describes you too, Andrew, because the last couple months of us going back and forth to schedule this podcast, I appreciate your determination and everything to get this on the books as I was moving and doing all these crazy things on my side of the world. [00:28:03] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I appreciate you being able to do it, for sure. Determined is definitely a word that I would use for you. I definitely would probably say adaptable would be another word for you as well. From your story and all the stuff that you've been through and going through the different types of jobs that you went through and trying to figure out and navigate what is the best fit for you. You never seem to be distraught like, you always seem to be like, okay, I'm going to figure it out. Okay, this is not it. We're going to move on to the next thing. We're going to figure out what it is. And once I get there, I'm going to be happy. And I could definitely see from our conversations there's a passion for what you do for sure. So I definitely use passionate as well because I believe that in order to have clarity in your career, you have to have passion for what you're doing and you definitely have passion for what you do for sure. [00:28:59] Speaker C: Thank you. It's really kind of you to say. [00:29:01] Speaker B: You're very welcome. Any final thoughts today? [00:29:05] Speaker C: I really do love talking about community building. I appreciate the opportunity to chat more with you about it today, and I'm still learning a lot about it. So I think the one final thought I would share with folks is that it's an ever changing space, especially because you're working with people. So there's a lot of psychology there. So just be patient with yourself and empathetic if this is something that you want to take a step towards, empathetic with others is going to be very important to you. [00:29:38] Speaker B: I definitely agree with you, Peyton. I want to take the time to thank you for coming on today. You joked about before about me being determined to get you scheduled in for this podcast. There was a reason why I wanted to have you on today. And one of the reasons why is because I think you're one of the most engaging people that I've met in a very long time. You speak so clearly, and when you speak, everybody understands what you're saying. I saw that right away, right from the beginning. And I said to myself, starting off in my podcast, my dreams have changed and my ideas have changed as time has gone in a very short amount of time. But the one thing that's never wavered is the type of guest that I wanted to have on. And you fit the bill right from the get go. And I was going to be very patient with you. We joked a little bit about it at the beginning where I said I would wait a year or whatever, however long I had to wait. And I wasn't kidding. I just saw something spectacular in you and I was excited of what you could bring to an episode of my podcast as a guest. And today came and I'm thrilled to death to have you on. So thank you so much. [00:30:54] Speaker C: Really appreciate it, Andrew, so kind. [00:30:56] Speaker B: You're very welcome. So, on behalf of myself and my guest, Peyton, I'd like to thank you all for listening today. And until next time, remember, be safe. And if we all work together, we can accomplish anything. [00:31:12] Speaker A: You have been listening to. Let's be diverse with Andrew Stout. To stay up to date with future content, hit subscribe.