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. 1d ago

    Why Culture Was Never Just Culture

    In this episode of Culture Focused Practice, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explains why workplace culture problems are rarely just people problems. They are often the result of unclear roles, weak leadership systems, inconsistent expectations, and values that haven’t been built into daily operations. Tara covers four key ideas: Culture is a system output: Your culture reflects what your business consistently allows, rewards, and reinforces.Behavior follows conditions: Before correcting an employee’s behavior, examine the systems surrounding it.Values need infrastructure: Company values require clear definitions, practical examples, and consistent support.Culture reveals integrity: Healthy workplace culture depends on alignment between what leaders say and what they do.From defensive reactions to employee feedback to low ownership caused by unclear responsibilities, Tara shows how leadership behavior and business systems shape team culture. Her takeaway: choose one workplace culture problem, widen the lens, and change the condition—not just the behavior. Timestamps 00:00 Culture Isn’t Soft02:30 The Four Agenda Items02:51 Culture as a System Output03:34 Feedback and Defensiveness07:58 Behavior Follows Conditions09:56 The Root Causes of Low Ownership11:32 Values Need Infrastructure14:02 Operationalizing Your Values16:13 Culture Reveals Integrity16:40 Integrity in Practice18:24 Balancing Autonomy, Structure, and Culture20:58 Change the Condition, Not Just the Behavior21:47 Subscribe and Closing Related Episodes Episode 57: The Owner’s Room: When You Realize Your Business Is Alive (and Not a Machine) Episode 99: The V/I Table: Meetings Are Feedback Systems Episode 97: How Leadership Teams Confuse Reporting with Ownership  If this episode helped you see a workplace culture challenge differently, subscribe to Culture Focused Practice and send it to a friend who needs to hear it.

  2. Jun 25

    The V/I Table: Meetings are Feedback Systems

    In this episode of Culture Focused Practice, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper sits down with her integrator, Taylor, to unpack a simple idea that has surprisingly big implications for leadership: your meetings are feedback systems.  Sure, the agenda gives you data. Your scorecards, rocks, metrics, and issues all tell you something about your business. But Tara argues that the meeting itself is giving you just as much information. What keeps showing up? What never gets discussed? Where does the energy in the room shift? What feels surprisingly hard to solve? Together, Tara and Taylor explore why recurring issues often aren't recurring at all—they're symptoms of something deeper. They talk about how unclear ownership, broken processes, accountability gaps, and even missing seats on the accountability chart can keep the same problems resurfacing week after week. They also dive into something many leadership teams overlook: emotions. Not because meetings should become therapy sessions, but because frustration, resistance, urgency, avoidance, and even boredom are all valuable data. Sometimes the emotional tone of a meeting isn't getting in the way of solving the problem—it is the clue that helps you find the real problem. Using a staffing scenario, they walk through how visionary and integrator perspectives complement one another, how to distinguish isolated issues from organizational patterns, and why the best leadership teams don't just solve problems—they get better at diagnosing them. If you've ever walked out of a leadership meeting thinking, Didn't we already talk about this?, this episode is for you. Timestamps 00:00 Why Meetings Matter01:11 Meetings as Feedback Systems01:57 Root Causes, Not Symptoms05:05 Why Issues Keep Coming Back07:58 Ownership and Accountability10:40 What Gets Avoided12:18 Reading the Emotional Tone15:45 Why Emotions Are Data25:18 A Staffing Scenario26:33 Visionary vs. Integrator Perspectives29:11 Diagnosing the Real Problem30:14 Right People, Right Seats31:48 Taking the Pulse of Culture33:52 Ownership vs. Reporting35:15 Coming to Meetings Prepared37:25 Proactive Problem Solving39:53 The Value of Different Perspectives41:09 Key Takeaways46:20 EOS Masterclass Reflections47:39 Closing ThoughtsIf your leadership meetings feel like you're solving the same problems over and over again, it might not be because your team isn't working hard enough. It might be because your meetings are trying to tell you something. If you're ready to build stronger leadership systems, healthier team dynamics, and a culture where accountability doesn't mean blame, learn more about working with Tara here: https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

  3. Jun 18

    The Deep Dive: Financial Lies Leaders Tell Themselves (w/ Carla Titus)

    In this episode of Culture Focused Practice, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper sits down with fractional CFO Carla Titus to unpack the stories leaders tell themselves about money—and why those stories can quietly keep businesses stuck. They explore why growth doesn't always mean financial health, how leaders mistake hope for strategy, and why so many business decisions are driven by anxiety instead of actual data. Carla shares some of the most common financial blind spots she sees, including misunderstanding profitability, scaling businesses before the underlying financial model is healthy, and bringing personal money beliefs into business decisions. Together, they talk about forecasting instead of reacting, using financial data to guide decisions instead of justify them, and why financial decisions never exist in isolation—they're connected to hiring, operations, marketing, leadership, and every other part of running a business. They also discuss when it makes sense to bring in fractional CFO support and how the right financial partner helps leaders make better decisions without taking ownership away from them. If you've ever found yourself saying, "Next month will be better," without a clear plan, this episode is for you. Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:35 Money Stories and Anxiety 02:18 Profitability Reality Check 03:32 Data-Driven Change Decisions 05:37 Why Profit Feels Off 08:17 When Finance Gets Complex 13:36 CFO Value and Benchmarks 15:37 Cutting Costs vs. Growing 19:51 Forecasting Over Reacting 21:36 From Reactive to Proactive 22:11 Using Past Data 23:03 Turning Goals into Milestones 26:24 Reality-Check Planning 27:12 Planning as Feedback 28:56 When to Hire a CFO 33:22 Don't Scale Broken Models 34:31 Separating Personal and Business Money Mindsets 37:50 Staying Involved in Your Numbers 38:37 Resources and Wrap Up If you've been making financial decisions from stress, hope, or gut instinct instead of clear data, this is your invitation to pause—not panic. If you're looking for support with the financial side of your business, connect with Carla Titus and learn more about her work:https://www.wealthworthwithin.com/ Listen to Carla's podcast:CEO Financial Clarity Corner And if you're ready to build healthier leadership systems where your financial decisions actually support your vision instead of constantly reacting to it, learn more about working with Tara here:https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

  4. Jun 11

    How Leadership Teams Confuse Reporting with Ownership

    In this episode of Culture Focused Practice, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper tackles a leadership team dynamic that quietly creates a whole lot of frustration: confusing reporting with ownership. Tara breaks down why leadership teams can get really good at talking about problems, sharing updates, and making sure everyone feels informed—while somehow ending up in the exact same conversation week after week. She explores the difference between visibility and movement, why awareness alone doesn't create change, and how leadership teams accidentally reward feeling informed instead of creating accountability. Tara also discusses what ownership actually requires: decision-making power, prioritization, a willingness to act before certainty exists, and the ability to learn from mistakes when things don't go according to plan. Using a therapist retention example, she walks through how to identify where ownership actually belongs on an accountability chart and why getting the right metric attached to the right seat can dramatically reduce frustration across the leadership team. If your meetings sometimes feel productive but nothing seems to change afterward, this episode is for you. Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and Topic 01:28 Reporting Versus Ownership 02:33 Visibility Without Change 05:57 Meetings That Feel Like Groundhog Day 09:07 Teamwide Ownership Trap 12:29 Who Owns Which Metric 16:05 What Ownership Requires 20:22 Scenario: Retention Stalls 22:10 Assigning the Right Seat 26:13 Wrap Up If your leadership team keeps having the same conversation over and over again, there's a good chance the issue isn't communication—it's ownership. Send this episode to a leadership team member who needs to hear it, then take a look at one recurring issue in your organization and ask a simple question: Who actually owns creating movement here? And if you're ready to build healthier leadership systems, clearer accountability, and a culture that doesn't rely on overfunctioning and guesswork, learn more about working with Tara here: https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

  5. Jun 4

    [Encore!] The Owner's Room: When You Realize Your Business Is Alive (and Not a Machine)

    Encore Episode (Originally released In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper steps into the Owner’s Room — her unfiltered space for talking about the real, raw side of leadership. No polished playbooks. No bulletproof strategies. Just the messy truth of what it feels like to lead when your business isn’t a machine but a living, breathing organism. Through five self-reflective questions and two honest scenarios, Tara explores what happens when you feel bogged down, disconnected, or stagnant in your leadership role. She digs into identity shifts, decision-making, team dynamics, and that gut-punch moment of wondering if the practice you built still feels like yours. This episode is for every leader who’s ever thought, “What the hell am I even doing?” and needed a reminder that leadership isn’t about fixing all the time — sometimes it’s about listening, stepping back, and remembering your practice is alive. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome00:08 Owner's Room Special: Unfiltered Leadership Talk01:06 The Two-Part Structure of Owner's Room01:53 Question 1: Decisions That Feel Alive05:31 Question 2: Team Behavior Reflection11:04 Question 3: Leadership Frustrations13:41 Question 4: Business as a Living Organism16:08 Question 5: Fixing vs. Listening to Your Business23:21 Scenario 1: Disconnected Tasks and Vision31:24 Scenario 2: Leadership and Culture Alignment41:15 Conclusion and Final Thoughts 👉 Don’t miss future episodes that go deep into leadership, culture, and the messy middle of practice ownership. Subscribe to the podcast now

  6. May 28

    [Encore!] The Living Practice Framework™ (How I Actually Lead a Group Practice)

    Encore Episode (Originally released in August 2025) In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice Podcast, we’re talking about why your group practice is not a machine (no matter how “well-oiled” you think it is) — it’s a living, breathing organism. I introduce the Living Practice Framework™ — my way of blending the structure of EOS with the cultural, leadership, and people pieces EOS doesn’t fully capture. I walk you through the origin story, the five main elements, a real-life scenario of what it looks like in action, and the ridiculously small, doable steps to start implementing it without burning your practice down in the process. Whether you’re running on EOS, winging it, or somewhere in between, this is about nurturing your practice’s ecosystem so you’ve got more clarity, trust, and alignment — and way less “what’s missing?” energy. 00:00 Introduction to the Culture Focused Practice Podcast00:08 The Concept of a Living Practice01:08 Agenda Overview01:33 Origin of the Living Practice Framework04:51 Five Elements of the Living Practice Framework10:58 Scenario: Applying the Living Practice Framework14:28 Steps to Implement the Living Practice Framework17:34 Recap and Membership Invitation ➡️ Want to actually build a living practice — not just think about it? Join me inside the Inside the Living Practice Membership at www.taravossenkemper.com/the-membership. Twice-monthly live trainings + Q&As, on-demand resources, and a community of group practice leaders doing business with humanity at the center.

  7. May 21

    You Know You're Avoiding It – Here's What to Do Next

    In this episode of Culture Focused Practice, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores the hard conversations leaders keep avoiding — and why insight alone doesn’t magically make those conversations easier to have. Tara breaks down the gap between awareness and behavior, the way self-protection lives in both the nervous system and leadership identity, and the stories many leaders unconsciously tell themselves to justify silence. Things like: “I’m the kind of leader who supports my people.”“I don’t want to make this about me.”“I don’t know if I’m reading this right yet.”She also talks about how avoidance slowly shifts standards over time, why insight without action often turns into shame, and what it actually looks like to approach difficult conversations with more honesty, clarity, and care — without making the conversation mean something catastrophic about who you are as a leader. Timestamps: 00:00 Avoided Conversations Intro01:14 Awareness Isn’t Enough01:42 Knowing vs. Doing02:42 When Insight Turns Into Shame04:47 Nervous System Protection06:35 Identity Threats and Leadership Stories08:35 “I Support My People”11:07 “I Don’t Want to Make It About Me”13:02 “I Don’t Know If I’m Reading This Right”17:37 What To Do Differently17:48 Name The Story Early18:34 Separate Identity From Outcome20:59 Lower The Bar For Certainty22:11 Recap If this episode hit a little too close to home, there’s probably a conversation you already know you need to have. Send this episode to another leader who’s been circling the same hard conversation for weeks (or months). And if you want support building a healthier culture, stronger systems, and leadership practices that don’t rely on avoidance and overfunctioning, learn more about working with Tara here: https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

  8. May 14

    What Happens When Survival Mode Ends

    What happens when the business finally gets quiet enough for you to hear yourself think again? In this episode, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper explores the emotional space that opens up after survival mode starts to loosen its grip. Not the chaotic version of survival mode — the competent version. The nonstop producing, solving, carrying, and maintaining that slowly becomes normal. Tara reflects on:why the first thing that surfaces in quiet is often guilt, worry, or discomforthow maintenance work drains creativity, joy, and connectionwhat starts re-emerging once the right people are in the right seatsand the existential questions that only appear once the fires stop demanding constant attention She also talks about the relief of finally having real support in key leadership seats — and why having time back can feel strangely untethering before it feels freeing. Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and Setup00:18 Beyond Survival Mode02:05 Hearing Yourself Again05:21 Maintenance Buries Desire10:58 Reemerging Self and Support14:08 Questions After Stability17:37 Admitting New Wants22:12 Scenario Feeling Untethered24:57 Sacred Time and Clarity27:15 Wrap Up and Next Steps If this episode resonated, share it with another leader who might need the reminder that stability can feel uncomfortable before it feels freeing. And if you want support building healthier systems, stronger leadership, and a business that doesn’t depend on you carrying everything, learn more about working with Tara here: https://www.taravossenkemper.com/work-with-tara

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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
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Vossenkemper Consulting, LLC
  • Show Website
    Culture Focused Practice