A Community Approach to Building a Company, Culture & Employee Experience with Damon Klotz
Release Date: 08/14/2023
Work Life by Design
Season 7 has been one of the most personal yet—an honest reflection of a year filled with growth, insight, and powerful conversations. In this wrap-up episode, I’m sharing the key themes and lessons that emerged across the season: How personal transformation fuels professional fulfilment Why mastery isn’t perfection, but a commitment to growth The connection between workspaces, well-being, and culture The impact of neurodiversity and designing for inclusion The wisdom of nature, rest, and healing From solo reflections to rich guest conversations, this season was about designing a work...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
When was the last time you let yourself be swept away by the sheer beauty of the world around you? Maybe it’s the sun sinking into a golden horizon or the way light dances through trees. These moments remind us of the profound joy that’s available — if we pause long enough to notice. In this special conversation, Dr. Meg Hooper and I explore the concept of awe, inspired by Julia Baird’s remarkable book Phosphorescence — a guide to finding light and wonder even in life’s darkest times. In this episode, we explore: 🌿 How reconnecting with nature can heal and ground us...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
In a world where distractions rule and our attention is constantly hijacked—how do we reclaim our focus and find clarity? In this powerful and practical episode, I sit down with Angela Lockwood, occupational therapist, author, speaker, and the brilliant mind behind The Focus Formula. With a career dedicated to helping people tune out the noise and tune into what truly matters, Angela shares the tools, mindset shifts, and daily habits that can help you own your attention and thrive—especially in leadership and business. From a life-altering accident that changed the course of her...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
What if your next office move wasn’t just about real estate, but a radical reset for your entire business culture? In this episode, I sit down with my client Stephen Fryer, Greater Sydney Leader at Northrop Consulting Engineers, to explore how a lease expiry sparked a workplace transformation that redefined leadership, engagement, and innovation. From flexible work models to culture-led design, discover how Northrop turned relocation into reinvention, and how the team at COMUNiTI supported him to make it happen. 🎧 We talk: Turning a lease expiry into a growth opportunity Building a...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
In today’s episode, we explore something deeply human yet often overlooked in business: community. When we shift focus from the bottom line to the broader picture—our people, our values, and our environment—we open the door to more meaningful success. I’ve welcomed Amber Hawken, a thought leader in this space, to explore how leadership, mindfulness, and nature can help reshape workplace culture. What You’ll Learn: ✔ The first steps businesses can take to foster a deeper connection with their communities. ✔ Why leadership must drive the change from the top down. ✔ How small...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
Burnout isn’t just feeling tired—it’s your body waving a red flag. I know because I’ve been there, pushing through exhaustion until my body forced me to stop. That’s when I found Filipa Bellette, and everything changed. As co-founder of Chris and Filipa Functional Medicine, she’s helped thousands heal beyond just “managing” burnout. In this episode, we uncover: 💡 What body burnout really is—and why it’s often overlooked 💡 Why traditional medicine misses the root cause 💡 How deep-seated beliefs and stress patterns keep us...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
The past year could be described as the ultimate paradox. A year that was both deeply challenging and incredibly transformative. It reminded me that there cannot be light without darkness. In this episode, I’m sharing 7 key lessons I’ve learned in business and leadership—insights that have shaped not only my work but also how I show up in life. From redefining success and trusting my own intuition to embracing rhythm over hustle, these lessons have shifted everything. 🎯 Bigger Isn’t Always Better – A lean, high-performing team can drive more impact than a...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
Creating a workplace that celebrates neurodiversity isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smartest business move you can make. In my latest episode, I sit down with Mariane Power, a clinical psychologist and neurodiversity specialist, to discuss how businesses can better support neurodivergent employees, and why fostering an inclusive environment benefits the entire organisation. We explore: What is Neurodiversity? Understanding the natural diversity in human brains and why it’s so important for businesses to embrace it. Universal Design Principles: How simple, inclusive...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
I’m pulling back the curtain on something deeply personal in this week’s podcast episode - my journey through burnout, adrenal fatigue, and the hard-won lessons that led me back to myself. For too long, I ignored the exhaustion, the brain fog, the emotional overwhelm, until my body finally said, ENOUGH! What followed was a wake-up call that changed everything: a deep dive into my health, my beliefs, and the way I was living my life. In this episode, I share: 🔥 The warning signs of burnout (that I continued to ignore!) 🧠 How my body was screaming for change (even when doctors said I...
info_outlineWork Life by Design
This season of Work Life by Design is deeply personal. Inspired by Brené Brown’s reflections on "what’s on my heart and mind," I’m bringing you honest, unfiltered conversations about the challenges, insights, and lessons that have shaped both me and the work we’re doing at COMUNiTI over the past year. Over the last 12 months, I’ve faced my own health challenges—burnout, adrenal fatigue, and gut issues that left me completely exhausted. This experience has reshaped how I approach 2025, and this season is all about sharing that journey with you....
info_outlineEstablishing a strong and purposeful employee experience in your organisation can take an incredible amount of time, dedication, and invested energy.
So, if you could find all the People tools and resources that you needed packaged up in one platform, backed by science and data, how much easier would that make your life as a leader and give you the confidence to know that you were giving your organisation the best possible advantage?
Well, today’s guest is here to tell us that this is possible. Damon Klotz, who has what could be described as one of the coolest titles, is a Work Culture Evangelist at Culture Amp, a market-leading employee experience platform.
I first discovered Damon and his podcast Culture First, in the midst of the pandemic tuning into his episode with Jen Sauer-Klein, an experience designer in the States. This singular episode gave me a new perspective on the role of our environments in how we influence experiences consciously through design, adding another tool to my tool kit.
Jen is among a number of incredible guests that Damon has had the opportunity to engage in conversation on his podcast, so I was incredibly happy when he agreed to join me here to learn more on what have been some of the most impactful conversations that he has had.
What I also learnt through this episode is the diverse career that Damon has had that led him to his current role as Work Culture Evangelist. As you’ll hear Damon is quite the overachiever, prior to Culture Amp he was leading community HR groups, through to being the Global Manager of Digital Strategy for Ramsay Health Care, a keynote speaker on the future of work, and the Co-Founder of Spur Projects, a social enterprise dedicated to reducing the suicide rate of men in Australia.
And he shares how a desire to be a sports manager and leverage the community of teams has found its way through to the work he and the team at Culture Amp do.
You’ll also learn more about
- Culture Amp and the wealth of data that they have accumulated from supporting the employee experience across numerous countries since launching in 2009,
- How the platform supports organisations to leverage this “data lake” to continue to enhance the employee, manager and team experience
- And how taking a community focused approach to building Culture Amp has been a key foundation in its success, growing the company from 100 to 6500 customers, and the role that Damon played in establishing it
- Plus what Damon has learned about communication, transparency and trust from his conversations about People & Culture throughout the pandemic
So many interesting highlights in this episode, along with some great additional listening recommendations over on the Culture First podcast.
Damon also leaves us with some insights into how he has consciously continued to grow with the organisation from start up to now and its various iterations, all great self-reflection points for us to consider in our own growth mindset and experience of comfort.
LINKS
Get your copy of Mel’s new Book “The Next Workplace; Designing Dynamic Environments that Inspire Human Potential”
Connect with Damon;
Connect with Mel;
Email | Insta | LinkedIn | Website | Website | Whitepaper - The Road Map to Employee Experience