Michael Weinberger - "How to Stop Reverting to the Old Company Culture"
Michael Weinberger explores how personal passions, like baking, can positively impact workplace relationships. He underscores the benefits of sharing unique skills to boost team morale. Michael also reflects on transitioning from operations into HR, drawing on real-world challenges. Through this lens, he reveals how empathy and practical insights help foster stronger employee connections.
EPISODE: Michael Weinberger Vice President of Human Resources @ Challenge Dairy How to Stop Reverting to the Old Company Culture A Conversation Michael Weinberger 27
Michael Weinberger, Vice President of Human Resources at Challenge Dairy, discusses merging diverse teams and forging a cohesive company culture. He highlights the vital link between culture and sustainable growth, urging leadership to champion collaboration. Michael also shares strategies to address employee fears around change. He offers insights for maintaining momentum and driving results. Episode Description
Introduction to Michael Weinberger (1:07) Full Episode (28:08) Highlights Video (03:05) Understanding and Defining Company Culture to Empower Your Workforce (1:05) Fueling Growth With a Well-Defined Company Culture (1:48) Securing Employee Engagement by Aligning HR and Executives (2:04) 1-10 Rating: The Importance of Culture in Long-Term Business Growth (1:38) Why Leaders Often Neglect Culture Under Pressure (3:28) How Neglected Culture Could Lead to Company Decline (2:16) Merging Company Cultures for Unified Team Growth (4:31) Expert Strategies and Tips for Guiding a Seamless Culture Change (4:47) Continuous Commitment to Sustaining a Company’s Culture (2:06) Culture Requires a Unified Leadership-HR Alliance (0:34) Short - Merging Company Cultures for Unified Team Growth (0:56) Short - Expert Strategies and Tips for Guiding a Seamless Culture Change (0:59) Table of Contents
(1:07) Introduction to Michael Weinberger “I learned a great deal about operations, store management, and handling P&L and loss, as well as managing day-to-day situations in the field. This experience gives me valuable perspective when talking to our managers. Now that I’m in HR, I understand the daily challenges they face—whether it's related to profit and loss, sales, or employees not showing up to work.”
5 Full Episode “People miss the old ways especially when you're going through an acquisition or merger. You need to talk to your employees about how this change works for them, and what you need to do if you need to make some adjustments.”
(03:05) Highlights Video
(1:05) Understanding and Defining Company Culture to Empower Your Workforce “It's the day-to-day of what people think about you as an organization that defines where your culture lies.”
8 (1:48) Fueling Growth With a Well-Defined Company Culture “Culture isn't just actions that are out there. Culture is really what people think about your organization. And with that thought process, they put their care into it because if you don't have a strong, positive culture, they're not there to grow within the organization and help the organization grow itself.”
“Culture is a partnership between HR and leadership. If leadership is not focused on culture—if they're only concerned with improving the bottom line and nothing else—then as an HR professional, you won't be able to make inroads. Everyone must speak the same language, and we have to remind each other often about culture.” (2:04) Securing Employee Engagement by Aligning HR and Executives
(1:38) 1-10 Rating: The Importance of Culture in Long-Term Business Growth “I'll rate culture's importance as a 10 because culture is so important. It’s that care factor. It’s what drives people to put in extra effort, take a step back, and think about what’s best for the business.”
(3:28) Why Leaders Often Neglect Culture Under Pressure “We're trying to find things at the end of the year and wrap things up, but we have to remember that it's all about the people. Without the people, we won't be able to produce any of that profit because they won't really care about it or try to get there.”
12 (2:16) How Neglected Culture Could Lead to Company Decline “I'm not saying culture was Kmart's downfall—many other factors played a role. But as things changed, culture was abandoned. It was no longer important, and it showed. People were very upset about what was happening to the organization they knew and loved—at some point, it was no longer there.”
(4:31) Merging Company Cultures for Unified Team Growth “Part of what we had to do was talk about some of the best parts of the Challenge Dairy that we liked and wanted to maintain. Then, we had to see how to incorporate them with California Dairies. So, it's not all just about coming in and making changes but also about how we merge the two. Some of that is through employee surveys, but also feedback and discussions, and just letting people know what we're doing.”
14 (4:47) Expert Strategies and Tips for Guiding a Seamless Culture Change “People fear change because they don't know what it will bring. The important part is to make sure people know what you're trying to achieve with the change.”
“You launched culture in case of a change or if you're a new organization, but then you constantly have to work on it. It is a constant thing. It isn't something that's one and done.” (2:06) Continuous Commitment to Sustaining a Company’s Culture
(0:34) Culture Requires a Unified Leadership-HR Alliance “Culture is a partnership—it's not HR driven or CEO driven; it’s everyone working together.”
YOUTUBE SHORT: “Part of what we had to do was talk about some of the best parts of the Challenge Dairy that we liked and wanted to maintain. Then, we had to see how to incorporate them with California Dairies. So, it's not all just about coming in and making changes but also about how we merge the two. Some of that is through employee surveys, but also feedback and discussions, and just letting people know what we're doing.” - Michael Weinberger
YOUTUBE SHORT: “People fear change because they don't know what it will bring. The important part is to make sure people know what you're trying to achieve with the change.” - Michael Weinberger
Michael Weinberger Michael Weinberger explores how personal passions, like baking, can positively impact workplace relationships. He underscores the benefits of sharing unique skills to boost team morale. Michael also reflects on transitioning from operations into HR, drawing on real-world challenges. Through this lens, he reveals how empathy and practical insights help foster stronger employee connections.
About Eastridge Established in 1972, Eastridge Workforce Solutions is an employee-owned provider of full-service talent acquisition and management solutions for companies globally. Eastridge provides a full range of solutions including professional / technical and industrial staffing. We also provide workforce management solutions such as employer of record, recruitment process outsourcing, as well as managed service provider programs. Our services are backed with Talient, a proprietary workforce technology that streamlines every step of managing your extended workforce.
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