Culture Focused Practice

Tara Vossenkemper, PhD
  • 5.0 (3)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The Culture Focused Practice is where business and humanity collide. Hosted by Dr. Tara Vossenkemper (group practice owner and consultant), this podcast dives deep into how practice culture drives business success. Learn actionable strategies to shape a thriving team, implement and use the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and tackle the tough leadership decisions that come with growing your group practice. Whether you’re scaling up or streamlining, this show offers real-world insights to help you build a people-powered practice that lasts. Join Tara for candid conversations, expert interviews, and no-fluff coaching that puts your culture first.

  1. 20H AGO

    The Owner's Room: Is This Actually Necessary?

    In this Owner’s Room episode, Tara Vossenkemper is thinking out loud about a shift she doesn’t fully understand yet. Not burnout. Not depression.Just a different relationship to energy, work, and what feels worth doing. She names the context — perimenopause, progesterone, sobriety, coming off Adderall — and then moves through a set of real-time questions. What emerges is a clear pull toward depth, nature, and family — and a noticeable absence of work in what feels like a yes. The practice still matters. Deeply.But parts of the day-to-day — payroll, marketing, being pulled back into things that no longer belong to her — feel heavier than they used to. This episode sits in that space: when things are stable, and urgency is no longer driving you. Timestamps 00:00 Selectivity Shift02:15 Question One Yes Noise03:08 Noise at Work Boundaries05:55 Question Two Stimulation08:45 Question Three Observe12:25 Question Four No Tolerance13:28 Work Moving Forward15:53 What Matters Heavy17:51 Closing Reflections If this resonates, send it to someone navigating a similar shift.And subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next.

    19 min

  2. APR 2

    The V/I Table: An Impromptu Grapple on Delegation, Ownership, and Roles

    In this episode, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper and Taylor explore a tension many leaders face: the difference between delegation and true ownership. What begins as an impromptu conversation becomes a deeper look at what it actually takes for accountability to live within a role—and why team members often continue to escalate decisions that should sit with them. Drawing on Tara’s transition of operational ownership to Taylor, they examine how ownership develops over time through trust, communication, and comfort with ambiguity. In contrast, the clinical side of the practice is experienced as more complex and higher-stakes, where breakdowns are less visible and harder to repair. They also explore broader questions around role clarity, the limits of EOS within a relational business, and whether ownership and coachability can be developed—or need to be present from the start. Rather than offering fixed answers, this conversation reflects the ongoing process of building a practice that continues to evolve. Timestamps: 00:00 Delegation vs. Ownership01:40 How Operational Ownership Actually Shifted08:51 Ops vs. Clinical: Different Stakes14:03 Can Ownership Be Taught?19:45 Role Clarity and Org Structure22:13 Where EOS Helps—and Where It Doesn’t24:41 Coachability and Leadership Traits31:28 Right Person, Right Seat34:42 Delegation When Roles Are Unclear35:38 Growth Pressure and System Cracks38:12 The Living Practice Feedback Loop40:29 Closing Reflections If this conversation resonated, share it with a colleague or leader navigating similar questions around delegation and ownership—and subscribe for more conversations exploring the realities of building and leading a living practice.

    41 min

  3. MAR 26

    The Owner’s Room: If I Had to Do This Again

    In this Owner’s Room episode, Tara Vossenkemper asks:If I had to build this again… what would I actually choose? Not what worked. Not what looked successful.What she’d say yes to — knowing the cost. She walks through the problems she wants to solve (higher-level, conceptual stuck points) and the ones she doesn’t (ops, logistics, being needed for maintenance). She also names a real-time shift toward wanting more space to think, read, and synthesize — not just do.  From there: what she might build without the “practice owner” identity, what no longer feels meaningful, and what she’d redesign upfront — especially around ops, marketing, pay structures, and the difference between growth and actual success. Timestamps00:00 Welcome and Setup01:21 Problems Worth Solving03:45 Energy vs Toleration07:04 Beyond Owner Identity11:59 Meaning That Shifted14:19 Costs and Redesigns16:12 Growth vs Success19:06 Wrap Up If this episode hit, pass it along to another practice owner and make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next one.

    20 min

  4. MAR 19

    Designing a Hiring System (Instead of Trusting Your Gut)

    In this episode of the Culture Focus Practice podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores why hiring is too high-impact to rely on intuition alone. She explains that your gut can absolutely be useful, but it is only one stream of data. When leaders treat intuition as the hiring strategy, they can end up mistaking familiarity, likability, or confidence for actual alignment with the role and the culture. Tara walks through the core components of a real hiring system: identifying logistical and structural fit early, using a multi-layer assessment process, evaluating skills in action instead of relying too heavily on resumes, and gathering clear team feedback that turns impressions into usable data. She also breaks down how culture is better protected when discernment is distributed across process, data, and trusted team input rather than centralized in one leader’s instinct. From leadership-excluded meet-and-greets to structured feedback and post-interview recommendation surveys, this episode offers a more intentional way to hire with less bias and less regret. Timestamps 00:00 Why Gut Isn’t Enough01:08 Gut as Data Point02:22 Familiarity vs Alignment04:57 Hiring Impacts Everyone06:53 Core Hiring System08:05 Logistics and Dealbreakers10:25 Multi Layer Assessment14:14 Skills Over Resumes18:03 Feedback Reveals Fit23:28 Quantify Team Recommendations25:11 Distributed Discernment25:47 Meet and Greet Without Leaders26:52 Skills Tests Beat Charm29:55 Systems Reduce Regret32:38 Takeaways and Closing If hiring has started to feel overly subjective, inconsistent, or like something your team just has to “hope goes well,” this episode will help you think more clearly about what a culture-protective hiring process can actually look like. To share your hiring stuck points or submit a scenario Tara can address in a future episode, go to taravossenkemper.com and use the contact form.

    35 min

  5. MAR 12

    Where Teams Get Stuck with EOS

    In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice Podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores why EOS can start to feel frustrating, stuck, or ineffective — even when teams believe they’re implementing it correctly. She looks at three common breakdown points: accountability charts that lack clarity, IDS conversations that skip real grappling, and L10 meetings that slowly turn into status updates. When these pieces drift from their intended purpose, EOS stops creating traction and starts creating frustration. Tara explains what tends to go wrong inside each area and how leaders can recalibrate their use of the framework so it actually supports decision-making, ownership, and forward movement. Timestamps 00:00 Why EOS Feels Stuck01:12 Accountability Chart Fixes04:01 Person vs Seat Clarity07:44 Use Chart to Decide10:54 IDS Needs Grappling15:22 Dig to Root Cause17:36 Don’t Avoid Tension20:47 L10s Aren’t Status Updates23:14 Scorecard and Issues List24:21 Rocks and To-Dos Done Right28:44 Recap and Next Steps If EOS has started to feel more frustrating than helpful inside your organization, this episode will help you think about where the process may be breaking down. To get first access to Tara’s next EOS Mastermind, join the list at taravossenkemper.com/eos-mastermind.

    31 min

  6. MAR 5

    The V/I Table: When Culture Rights Itself Through Turnover

    In this episode, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper and Taylor examine a moment that can feel destabilizing for many leaders: clustered resignations. Rather than treating multiple departures as an automatic signal that something is wrong, they explore how turnover can function as a form of organizational clarification. When a culture becomes more defined—through values, expectations, and structure—people often self-select in or out. What can initially feel like instability may actually be the system recalibrating. Throughout the conversation, Tara and Taylor distinguish the emotional experience of panic from what clustered turnover may actually be communicating. They discuss radical accountability in leadership—how exits invite reflection on hiring processes, onboarding, role clarity, and leadership systems—while avoiding reductive narratives about people simply “not being a fit.” Using EOS concepts such as Right People, Right Seats and GWC (Gets it, Wants it, Capacity to do it), they explore how growing practices require seats to evolve over time. Rather than responding with reactive overhauls, leaders are invited to treat their organizations as living systems that refine themselves through iteration. The conversation also looks at informal influence, the tension between autonomy and micromanagement, and how clear structures can strengthen belonging while naturally filtering alignment. When leadership resists fear-based control and instead trusts the system it is building, turnover becomes less about loss and more about the ongoing calibration of a living practice. Timestamps 00:00 Turnover as Clarification01:01 Question One: Clustered Exits07:49 Hiring Process Reflection15:09 Dynamic Systems, Not Overhaul17:09 Question Two: Instability vs. Calibration21:08 EOS as Baseline Structure27:13 Question Three: Right People, Right Seats30:31 Seats Evolve, People Change36:42 Question Four: Informal Influence43:53 Belongingness and Filtration48:50 Autonomy Over Micromanaging49:43 Shared Ownership Culture50:23 Avoiding Fear-Based Control53:29 Reflect, Then Make Tweaks55:38 Trust Systems and Team01:02:37 Scenario: Clustered Resignations01:03:30 Self-Selection and Clarity01:07:14 The Liminal Space Before Leaving01:11:45 Due Diligence and Support01:18:25 Takeaways: Clarity Is Healthy01:20:29 Metaphors: Gravity and Shedding01:25:40 Wrap Up and Subscribe Stay connected with Tara:If this conversation resonated with you, share the episode with a colleague or leader navigating a similar moment of transition. These kinds of leadership seasons are rarely discussed openly, and conversations like this help bring more clarity to the work of building living systems together.

    1h 26m

  7. FEB 26

    The Owner's Room: Designing for Emergence, Not Control

    In this Owner’s Room episode, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores what happens when EOS meets complexity theory. Through five questions and a scenario, she examines the difference between building for control versus building for emergence, how feedback loops actually operate inside leadership teams, and why traction is about predictability and adaptability. She also unpacks what vision means inside a constantly evolving system, and why unintended consequences aren’t a failure of structure, but a feature of growth. In the scenario, Tara addresses a common surprise: after implementing EOS, the organization can feel more dynamic, not less. Tensions surface faster. Cultural friction becomes visible. Her argument? EOS didn’t create instability. It created the conditions for emergence — and the solution isn’t to clamp it down, but to lean back into the structure and solve for root causes. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction01:46 Building for control vs emergence08:45 How feedback loops operate in leadership15:27 Is traction predictability or adaptability?18:10 Vision inside an evolving system22:34 Unintended consequences in well-structured orgs27:04 Scenario: When EOS makes things feel volatile32:06 Leading inside emergence without clamping it down34:22 Closing reflections + subscribe If EOS has made your practice feel louder instead of calmer, this episode is for you. Share it with a fellow owner, and join Tara’s email list at taravossenkemper.com to stay in the loop.

    37 min

  8. FEB 19

    [Encore!] Systems Fatigue: When EOS Stops Feeling Helpful (And What to Do About It)

    In this encore episode of the Culture Focused Podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores systems fatigue inside EOS and how to distinguish burnout from breakdown: Let’s talk about system fatigue—because yes, even with something as powerful as EOS, there comes a point where it feels heavy, clunky, or downright annoying. In this episode, I dig into what causes that burnout feeling around your systems, especially if you've been implementing EOS and suddenly feel like, “Wait… why is this not working anymore?” We cover how to tell the difference between fatigue and actual failure, what to check first (clarity? leadership? cadence?), and how to course-correct before you throw the whole system out the damn window. From performative meetings to structure that feels more like red tape than support, we’re unpacking the real reasons your practice might feel stuck and how to shift. And yeah—sometimes the answer is slowing down. (I hate it too.) Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Systems Fatigue01:19 Why Systems Fatigue Happens10:00 Diagnosing Systems Fatigue: Clarity, Leadership, and Cadence15:13 What to Do When You're Ready to Give Up on EOS21:12 Final Thoughts and Call to Action Everything I’m doing runs through my email list. If you want to stay in the loop, you can sign up here: https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

    22 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The Culture Focused Practice is where business and humanity collide. Hosted by Dr. Tara Vossenkemper (group practice owner and consultant), this podcast dives deep into how practice culture drives business success. Learn actionable strategies to shape a thriving team, implement and use the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and tackle the tough leadership decisions that come with growing your group practice. Whether you’re scaling up or streamlining, this show offers real-world insights to help you build a people-powered practice that lasts. Join Tara for candid conversations, expert interviews, and no-fluff coaching that puts your culture first.

Information

  • Creator
    Tara Vossenkemper, PhD
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Vossenkemper Consulting, LLC
  • Show Website
    Culture Focused Practice

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