Transitioning from Oil Fields to Tech Fields: Leadership Growth with Kyle Wallgren

Get ready to embark on a journey of cultural leadership growth with our guest, Kyle Wallgren, CEO of Edsoma.

Kyle shares his transition from the traditional oil field culture to the technology and education sectors, and the valuable lessons he's gleaned from his own management mistakes. He offers an unfiltered perspective on building a culture where every team member feels valued — an essential ingredient for any organization's success.

The second part of the culture conversation is how leaders navigate the tricky terrain of balancing remote and in-office work. With a unique blend of old school belief in in-person work and a realistic understanding of the current remote work trend, Kyle shares how considering individual roles and collaboration needs can determine the best work arrangement. Most importantly, he emphasizes the need for leaders to practice what they preach.

Don’t miss out on his message to leaders to embrace societal re-connection and emotional engagement in the workplace.

Connect with Kyle Wallgren on LinkedIn

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Transcript

William Gladhart: 0:00

Welcome to the Leadership Levers Podcast. I'm your host, Will Gladhart, ceo of Connect2Metrics. At Connect2Metrics, we help organizations strengthen their culture, one action at a time. We're here today to learn about the actions leaders have taken to address cultural change. Our guest today is Kyle Walgren, the CEO of EdSoma. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us today. I thought we would start by having you share a bit about yourself and your background.

Kyle Walgren: 0:29

Sure, I'm Canadian by trade. I was born in a little town Didsbury , alberta, which is about 45 minutes north of Calgary, just to put it into reference. I lived there for the majority of my life. I moved to the US about seven years ago on an E2 Investment Visa. I've been spending my time ultimately making sure that I can pay as much taxes as humanly possible, so I'm allowed to stay here. I came down prior to COVID and all the chaos. I was lucky and got to sell a business before COVID built a business through COVID, I was lucky enough to sell that business and now I'm on to my third venture from being in the US. That's the last seven years and in 30 seconds, kind of thing Awesome.

William Gladhart: 1:16

Thanks so much for sharing that. We will be discussing three questions today as a warm-up to start our conversation. Would you share why you believe that a healthy culture is c?

Kyle Walgren: 1:25

critica. Yeah, this is a weight on me. You sent the questions a little bit so I could look at them and I really put a lot of thought in this. I grew up in the oil field. That culture is about getting stuff done and it's hurry up and get it done. Your feelings aren't really thought about . Coming over to the technology side.

Kyle Walgren: 1:49

Culture is different. It's 100% expected to be different and it took a lot of growing for me. Some of the most valuable people that I had in my organization I lost because of the way that I managed things early on. So losing those people early on with small things that I could change to make a better culture for my staff really made me wake up and focus on the importance of building a culture where everybody can be comfortable and feel important, where their needs are met as well as the company's needs. So building a culture from the ground up is probably something that I would recommend early founders to learn about about about . The story is about Steve Jobs and those guys. Isn't the way society runs anymore. Nobody wants an asshole for a boss. Culture is something that I think any early founder should learn how to build.

William Gladhart: 2:43

That's really cool. Well, thank you for sharing that past experience and also being transparent about your growth as a leader from having a different frame of reference into now a different field and in the technology space and education, and making that transition into thinking about employees, thinking about the different pieces that are critical in your business. So, with that thought in mind, what do you see as the biggest challenge leadership faces for cultural change within any organization, or maybe specifically y r u undefined?

Kyle Walgren: 3:12

So big changes that are going on right now, I feel like, is everybody's trying to put people back into the office. For myself, I'm old school. I really like looking and working with the people that I'm working with. I think that that's super important to be able to look somebody in the eyes and read their body language on how they're really actually responding to what you're having a conversation about. The challenge is that everybody got used to working from home. Making that transition, putting people back into the office, selling something to a younger generation that they really haven't had to experience much with, and showing them why that's important, is one of the challenges, and it's really hard to build a culture around online participation, so you don't go out for coffee at lunch or grab a snack or a beer after work. So I just think that getting people back in the mindset that going to work and spending time in the office is really important is probably the biggest challenge.

William Gladhart: 4:15

Yeah, I think you very well highlighted that challenge of the hybrid versus remote, versus the in-person and, as a leader, having to juggle those expectations with staff and then those requirements of finding talent for your organization too. So what do you think leaders can do to address this particular challenge that many are facing?

Kyle Walgren: 4:37

I think that the picture of it it really depends on the role or the responsibilities of the individual.

Kyle Walgren: 4:44

If you're a developer, sometimes being off campus gives you a more quieter space to be able to focus, so your production levels could be up.

Kyle Walgren: 4:56

But when you're talking with, like marketing and a marketing team and putting it things that need multiple people's input, the ability to sit down in a conference room or a co-working space is valuable. So I think it's just the way you sell that and the people that are filling those roles within the company. If you feel like when you're doing your interviews, if that person is telling you that they want to only work from home and they're going to be a marketing position, you really need to think about if that person is the right fit. So I think identifying what you want early on before you hire somebody is a major way you could focus on that and then really decide is this that important if this person works from home or is this role that important to have somebody come in? But most importantly, all of that is being a good leader yourself. If it's important for certain people to be in the office, then you better make sure that you're in the office.

William Gladhart: 5:57

You highlighted the value of being in the same room, the value of people working together, collaborating, the technical end versus the customer end versus the client side. Those are nd a t collaborating collaborating really critical components that require discussion. So is there anything else you'd like to share or add, or our audience today?

Kyle Walgren: 6:15

I just think that it's important, especially for young entrepreneurs, to understand that the last six years aren't real. This isn't a real way to measure what the future looks like, and when I say they're not real, it's just a covered idea of what society really operates like. There's a lot of emotion behind how people do things, and understanding that emotion is important, and it's really really hard to identify what that emotion is behind a screen. So don't be scared to get back into society and make connections emotionally, physically, mentally with your co-workers and just trust that everything's going to go back to the way it needs to be.

William Gladhart: 6:55

Kyle, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your insights. Thank you for joining the Leadership Levers podcast. You may find all our Leadership Levers episodes on our website at connectthenumber2metricscom. Tune in weekly as we invite leaders to share their experiences in strengthening culture, one action at a time.