This podcast episode features an enlightening discourse on leadership with Tevia Holst, the esteemed founder of Dakota Accounting. The crux of our conversation centers on the paramount importance of cultivating a positive corporate culture as a foundational element of effective leadership. Tevia articulates her philosophy, which emphasizes the necessity of understanding individual team members' psychological dynamics, thereby facilitating their success and overall flourishing within the organization. She posits that a leader's commitment to fostering an environment where employees feel valued and empowered is crucial for long-term organizational success. Throughout the episode, we delve into actionable strategies for enhancing workplace culture, thereby enabling leaders to cultivate teams that are not only competent but also deeply engaged in their work.

An exploration of leadership philosophy unfurls as Tevia Holst, the founder of Dakota Accounting, articulates her profound insights into cultivating a thriving workplace culture. This discourse delves deeply into the essence of effective leadership, whereby Tevia emphasizes the importance of psychology in team dynamics and the significance of placing the right individuals in positions that allow them to flourish. Her approach is characterized by a dedication to nurturing her team, ensuring they possess the requisite tools for success, and steering the collective towards overarching goals. This leadership style, rooted in the belief that a satisfied and empowered workforce ultimately enhances client satisfaction, is a testament to the transformative power of positive organizational culture. Tevia’s reflections reveal that her leadership philosophy was shaped, in part, by her observations of ineffective management practices in her previous corporate experiences, driving her determination to create an environment that fosters encouragement and empowerment rather than one that stifles creativity and morale.

Moreover, the conversation transitions into practical strategies for fostering a healthy workplace culture, highlighting the critical role of open communication and feedback mechanisms. Tevia elucidates the importance of cultivating an environment where team members feel safe to express their thoughts and contribute to the company’s ethos. This is facilitated through regular engagements, such as weekly meetings that not only celebrate team achievements but also encourage members to share instances of overcoming challenges, thereby reinforcing a culture of mutual support and collaboration. Such practices not only enhance team cohesion but also align individual aspirations with the organization's mission, demonstrating that a culture-first approach can lead to sustainable success.

In addition to discussing cultural contributions, Tevia outlines innovative practices that Dakota Accounting employs to maintain team engagement, particularly in a remote work setting. By integrating a culture manager into her team, she underscores the proactive measures taken to ensure that team morale remains high through diverse virtual activities that promote bonding and collaboration. From crafting sessions to baking classes, these initiatives exemplify her commitment to creating a vibrant and inclusive team culture, thereby reinforcing the notion that a strong organizational culture is not merely an abstract concept but a tangible asset that drives performance and satisfaction. Through this dialogue, listeners are invited to reflect on their own leadership practices and consider the profound impact of a dedicated, culture-centric approach to management.

Takeaways:

• In the realm of leadership, cultivating an effective team is paramount for success.
• Tevia Holst emphasizes the significance of a positive workplace culture in achieving excellence.
• The podcast discusses the vital role of a culture manager in a remote working environment.
• Effective leadership requires constant self-reflection and adaptation to meet future challenges.
• Building a robust culture fosters employee engagement, which ultimately enhances client satisfaction.
• Tevia shares innovative strategies for recognizing and celebrating employee achievements regularly.

Links referenced in this episode:

• LeaptoYourSuccess.com
• DakotaAccounting.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Dakota Accounting

Mentioned in this episode:

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Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight - Welcome

Welcome to the podcast

Hi everybody and welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast where we hear from influential leaders and their game changing insights.

I'm Jacqueline Strominger, your host and today I want to welcome our amazing guest, Tevia Holst.

So a little bit about Tevye is that she is actually the owner and founder of Dakota Accounting.

And under her leadership, Dakota Accounting has flourished into a thriving company renowned for its exceptional culture and unwavering commitment to client satisfaction.

Through innovative strategies and forward thinking solutions, Tevye has positioned her company at the forefront of the new generation of accounting services.

So welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.

And right there in your bio it talks about leadership.

So I am really curious, what is your philosophy on leadership?

Well, first of all, thank you for having me here.

I'm super excited.

I love the show, I love the content, so I'm grateful to be a part of it.

Leadership to me honestly is just about cultivating the best team and we focus a lot on psychology in our team and who each person is and really setting them up for success.

So for me it's getting right person, right seat and encouraging them to flourish, giving them everything they need to be their best and just kind of, you know, maneuvering the path and making sure we're in the right direction and everybody has what they need and solving big picture solutions that we need and really encouraging them and that seems to work for us.

You know, I, I love what you just said.

It, you know, you said a couple of things that I think are so important.

Number one, you said the word flourish, which is so important and encouraging your team.

So I've got a couple of questions about that, but I wanted to ask you where did your philosophy come from and, and sort of a two part question and did you have somebody in your past or under the leadership of somebody else where you're like, oh, I don't want to do that.

Yes, I, that's the perfect.

Right.

I mean, I think our best education is what we didn't like.

You know, we all had good and bad parts of work, of home life, of all the things, and it's much easier to, I do not want to replicate that.

So what's the opposite of that?

And that's exactly my background.

I came from a corporate environment after college and overall the company was a great company, but my individual management was really struggling in my department and my North Star about that, that it wasn't just a me.

Problem is the entire department was completely miserable and nobody wanted to be there.

So not A me problem.

It was a management issue.

And I just watched there for five years and watched it, tried to vocalize, you know, change, and they just weren't really open to it.

And so I just learned from there, really, how to treat people, how to encourage people, how to empower them and let them show up and, and make room for that.

And, you know, it really was from the opposing of what, what I went through in that scenario.

Yeah.

And I think so many of us, as you said, do have that experience where there's something in our past that we didn't like or that we wish that we could change.

And if we could kind of like wave the magic wand and do it ourselves, we, we would do it.

Yeah.

So do, you know, so in this journey and like, and flourishing and helping people, you know, what is, what is one thing that you, if as people are listening to the podcast, if there's one tip that you could say to anybody as a leader, if you could do X with your team, it's going to pay off.

Like, it's something that maybe you instituted or a philosophy or like some process or procedure.

Yeah.

I think it's actually a glaring, like, singular answer to, in my opinion, which is the culture, I think generally in the workplace, across industries, companies.

Companies are so worried about the bottom line.

Right.

There's so much private equity stockholders in companies that they're having to just squeeze everything they can out of the company, out of the staff, and, you know, to like satisfy the stockholder and make all the profit they can.

That has become a culture where people are just like miserable in the workplace.

The data supports that people, you know, don't want to be in their workplace.

And so being a company that focuses on culture and that our people show up because they want to be, because they're taken care of.

I own culture in the company.

I own the vision for that.

I own the accountability for that.

And it's really our basis.

I believe if we take care of our people and they're happy, they will above and beyond take care of our clientele.

And so if you're not focusing on that, you're really missing everything for long term success in, in your company.

In, in my opinion, you know, I.

And you, and I are.

You're like, you're speaking my language, you know, because, you know, first of all, something that you said is first and foremost that you own it.

Like, you, you're.

That you're the leader, you own it.

And that I think is like, so, like pat yourself on the back.

I Mean, like kudos, because I think so many people, a lot of leaders or CEOs, and even, you know, a leader of a team.

Because I always think a team is just like a little mini company within a company.

You know, they need to own that and own that culture.

But you also said, so sharing that, you know, that comes down to also, you know, your, as I call it, your achievement code, the values, your vision and mission for the company, obviously, is when you're bringing people in, it also helps create that culture.

So how do you share your vision and mission with people on your team and also with prospective employees?

A couple of ways.

So we're.

We're real loud and proud about who we are and we vocalize it a lot.

So obviously, obviously it's all over the website, it's all over our social.

We strictly only do branding on our social, which is literally to say, here's who we are.

If you like that, you can not only work with us, but you can work for us.

Because it's also for, you know, engagement of potential employees is the way we see it.

So the way that we put that out there is we're very unusual in our job posting.

We purposely make it really loud about who we are.

It's not cookie cutter, it's not boring.

We put our values in there.

You know, we really try to be transparent so that we're attracting people that are in alignment with that.

The other thing we do internally with the team, you know, we're constantly posting.

We're fully remote, so we have a office space that's virtual and also like a chat scenario.

And we're constantly posting about the values and examples of the values.

But I would say the number one thing that we do is we have a weekly meeting where the team is all together.

And our mission is obliterating the status quo.

So in every single Monday morning meeting, we have a section where the team knows they are expected to look for the week prior examples of obliterations.

And it can be that they did and maybe they didn't have recognition for, because how many of us do things all day long that nobody sees?

Or it can be something that they experience that someone else obliterated for them or someone.

And so the expectation is they bring those examples and we talk about them every single week.

And my message is, you focus on what is in front of you.

You focus on what's on the agenda, what you talk about.

And I want them very easily finding those examples so that each other and our clients benefit from a mindset where like, it's the norm to go above and beyond.

So that would be the main thing that we do is we focus on it heavily.

I absolutely love that.

So listeners take that action seriously.

That is, you know, I.

I'm part of a networking group that actually, we started a whole new company about networking, and it's a whole different topic.

But one of the things that we do is every one of our.

Every weekly meeting, we highlight amazing things that have happened within our hub and the people in the hub and wins.

You know, it could be that you had a conversation with somebody, it could, you know, whatever it is.

So celebrating those wins and bringing out the things and sharing.

And I think one of the things that, that you.

What you're doing is having your team share those good stories.

And, you know, we always hear facts tell stories sell.

Right?

So that's.

Those stories are so great.

And having people share those are.

That's absolutely fantastic.

And I would bet that your employees not only feel heard, they feel valued.

Oh, yes, I would.

I.

I don't just hope so.

I know so, because we.

We're constantly checking in with them.

One of our values is respectful candor, not radical candor.

I think it's a very different thing, but respectful candor, because I always want it coming from a positive, healthy place and, you know, it needs to be positive words of encouragement.

But because of our respectful candor value, they.

We constantly are empowering them to use their voice and to be heard.

And because of that, we get really good feedback from them because they feel safe that, you know, that feedback, good or bad, is going to be taken in a healthy way and utilized.

So they do let us know that they enjoy the culture and, you know, what they want to see more or less of.

And we actively work to make sure we're, you know, doing that.

So, yeah, that's actually.

So one thing I wanted to ask you, because you said that you guys are all virtual and you have these weekly meetings as you all went virtual or you.

You became virtual.

What is.

What is like?

I mean, I.

The weekly meeting, I would have to say, is absolutely pointed, but is there any other tip that you can share from a leadership standpoint with somebody, you know, with another company, as they're listening to the podcast, you know, how to.

How to continue that culture remote.

So one thing that we committed to from day one, it was actually my first employee is she was an admin assistant, and then we transferred her because of who she is and what she's good at, and her position is actually our Culture manager.

And to put emphasis on that, you know, we have a team of 15, so we're not a massive company.

You know, we're constantly growing and hiring for our growth.

But she was employee number one, and that was me putting my money behind.

We will always be a culture company, first and foremost, and so that helps a lot.

And, you know, not everybody has the bandwidth or the commitment, you know, to have a culture manager, but you can sprinkle in things where her entire job is to not only be checking in with the team regularly, she doesn't even do accounting work.

She checks in with them, but she plans stuff for us.

So we regularly get together virtually, and we will mail the team.

Like, a couple weeks ago, we did a craft together, and.

But we also engage the team.

We'll either bring in a speaker.

Like, we all love animals, so sometimes we'll do, like, a virtual tour of a little zoo and the personal, like, walk us around and we'll, you know, meet the animals.

Other times we'll lean on our team skills.

So the couple of weeks ago, one of the gals on the team is really good at macrame, which I didn't even really know what that was.

And we shipped the whole team a macrame kit, and we sat together for an hour, and she taught us how to do macrame.

And now we have, like, a little takeaway.

And, you know, a couple of weeks from now, we're doing Christmas cookies.

One of the gals is, like, a phenomenal baker, and this is the second time we've done this with her.

And she teaches us all how to make these yummy cookies.

And we all go on zoom, and we set our computers, you know, out, and we bake, and we do that.

And it's just a great time.

And we make that commitment.

We'll get together and stream.

Not required, but we'll stream movies, and we'll have, like, a movie night together or a game night.

We love games.

So game night is well attended, and I love it.

So we just, you know, give opportunity, and they don't.

They don't have to come.

And we do it in varying times.

We don't always do evening stuff.

Sometimes we'll do it during the work day because that way people that, you know, want to have dinner with their families have a different time to engage with us.

So that's.

I absolutely love that.

It is such a great idea.

And I love that idea of having somebody on your team being like, you know, they're the culture creator.

Yeah.

And that's you know, and, and, and, and helping with that.

So as you think about your leadership, what, what aspect do you feel that you're.

That you want to work on and how are you challenging yourself?

I love this question because I think about it all the time.

I, I'm constantly aware of where the vision is and where we want to go and that acknowledging I am not the leader today that I need to be for the company tomorrow.

And I am constantly engaging in that conversation.

And what rooms do I need to be in, what education do I need to have, what thought process do I need to be aware to be prepared for the next stage of the company?

And because I think it's a big thing in the entrepreneurial community, you know, it's really talked about, about how, you know, at different stages, the same entrepreneur is not necessarily prepared.

Some are made for real small business and not, not beyond that.

And some are made for running huge companies, but they would not be successful, you know, starting from scratch of their own small business.

And I've always run the company in my mind, it was never small, it was never one person, it was never two people.

I always planned for what decision do I need to make?

What software do we need?

What processes do we need so that when we're, you know, hundreds of people, this will work, or we at least have the mindset to shift to something that will work.

So I've just always had my eye on the long term and who do I need to be?

What do I need to be doing?

And I think that's helped keep us on a growth path.

That's, that's absolutely fantastic.

So, all right, so tell us how our listeners can find you, connect with you, because everybody you're going to want to connect with.

Tevia.

She's awesome.

So how can we find you?

Yeah, we've got, you know, all the regular socials.

Our website is all Dakota Accounting, so real easy to find.

We're out there, we're rocking and rolling.

You know, we're not hiding.

So if you want us, we're there.

No, that is absolutely fantastic.

So listeners, seriously connect with her.

I love everything that you have said.

We're a lot of on the same mindset.

So this is the unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.

And thank you guys all for listening.

If you want to be a guest, please go to my website, LeaptoYourSuccess.com and click on podcast and apply.

And we will be helping every leader be the best that they can be.

And as I always like to say, be unstoppable so thank you guys all for listening and thank you for being on as a guest.

Yes, thanks, Jacqueline.