For HR pros, CEOs, and anyone interested in viewing the world of work through my lens - a career-long HR leader focusing on Distribution, Manufacturing and other Frontline companies. If you are interested in diving into actionable insights and stories that inspire organizational change and foster a thriving workplace culture, you are in the right place. Oh, and there will be some coffee too!
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Tracie Sponenberg's Work. Community. Coffee - December 9, 2025
Published about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Tracie Sponenberg LLC
December 9, 2025
Welcome!
As I write, I'm at home and it is BEAUTIFUL outside. Bright blue skies, snow on the ground.
But it's like -2 degrees. Deceiving.
Read on to find out what I'm thinking about this week.
WORK
The Leadership Practice That Costs Nothing
When I was in graduate school, I studied all kinds of business theories. And while as I gained more experience in my career I started to focus less on theory and more on creating my own recommendations and practices, a version of one stuck with me.
Management by Walking Around.
The practice became famous through Tom Peters and Robert Waterman's 1982 book In Search of Excellence, where they highlighted it as a hallmark of Hewlett-Packard's culture. Bill Hewlett and David Packard built their company on this hands-on philosophy. Leaders showed up where the work happens, staying connected to the people doing it. (Quick note: This approach takes time and trust. Both time and trust rely on each other to grow, and this doesn't happen overnight!)
And yet, in nearly 30 years of HR work, I’ve watched this practice become increasingly rare. Something leaders nod at but rarely do.
I once met a CEO who had never set foot on his own factory floor. Not once. He could tell you every metric, every efficiency ratio, every production number. But he couldn’t tell you the names of the people making those numbers happen. He didn’t know that the third shift felt invisible, that the break room needed basic repairs, or that his frontline supervisors were working long hours covering gaps he didn’t know existed.
His people knew, though. They knew he’d never shown up. And that absence spoke louder than any town hall or company-wide email ever could.
If you are a company leader, I want you to never be able to be on the show "Undercover Boss." I want your people to know you, eve a little bit. They don’t need you to have all the answers. They just need to know you see them. That you’re curious about their work. That you understand what it takes to do their job. That you care.
This is something I work on with every client I partner with. Whether you’re leading 50 people or 500 or 5000, presence is a leadership multiplier.
Read on for a few tips for HR Pros and CEOs!
For HR Leaders: How to Get Your CEO Out There
Start small and scheduled. Don’t pitch a grand tour. Suggest a 20-minute walk-through once a week, same time, same day. Routine builds habit.
Go with them the first few times. Your presence can ease the awkwardness and help facilitate introductions. You know who the informal leaders are and can make those connections happen.
Prep them with names, not numbers. Before each walk, share a few names and something personal: “Ask Maria about her daughter’s soccer tournament” is better than “Maria runs the second packaging line.”
Debrief afterward. Ask what they noticed. What surprised them? What questions came up? Help them process what they’re learning.
For CEOs: How to Make it Matter
Leave your phone in your office. Nothing says “I don’t really want to be here” like checking emails while someone is talking to you.
Ask questions, then actually listen. “What’s the hardest part of your job?” and “What would make your day easier?” will teach you more than any dashboard.
Go to the unglamorous places. The warehouse. The night shift. The loading dock. The places leaders rarely visit are often where the most important work happens.
Follow up on what you hear. If someone mentions a broken tool or a frustrating process, do something about it. Action builds trust. Showing up once and changing nothing is worse than not showing up at all.
Be consistent. One visit is a photo op. Regular presence is leadership.
The best leaders I’ve worked with understand that culture isn’t built in conference rooms. It’s built in the moments when people feel seen, heard, and valued.
This section is going to be a bit different this week. I wanted to shine a light on a group of people that are so important to everything we do, yet they often get overlooked when we design processes, communication and yes, communities.
When we talk about workplace community, I hear about things like Slack channels, team-building offsites, maybe a company happy hour.
But for the 80% of the global workforce who don't sit at desks, community looks completely different.
It's the team that shows up at 5am and knows whose kid is sick. It's the break room conversation that keeps someone from quitting. It's the group text that has nothing to do with work and everything to do with getting through the day together.
This is real community. But most companies have no idea it's happening, or how much it's quietly holding their team together.
When someone stays because of their team, not their compensation, that's community. But we're not measuring it. We're not nurturing it. And we're definitely not building our people strategies around it.
So how do you actually build community with a deskless workforce?
Show up where they are. Literally. Community doesn't happen when it's dictated by corporate. It happens on the floor, in the warehouse, on the job site. If leaders aren't physically present, they're invisible. And so is any sense of belonging to something bigger.
Make space for the informal. That break room matters. Those ten minutes before shift matters. Stop trying to optimize every moment and let people just be people together. Connection isn't efficient, and that's okay.
Elevate the connectors. Every team has someone who holds the group together. They remember birthdays, check in when someone's struggling, train the new person patience. Find that person or those people. Recognize them. That's real culture building.
Communicate. If your frontline hears news last, through the grapevine, after corporate already celebrated on LinkedIn you've told them exactly where they rank. Flip the script. Tell them first. At The Granite Group, we had something called The Truck Driver Test, coined by our CEO, Bill Condron. When we had a new initiative, we knew if it was successfully communicated if our truck drivers, those folks with the least amount of time near a Granite Group building, knew what was going on. Any communication failed if our drivers didn't know.
The companies that figure this out will have something most organizations are desperate for but can't seem to manufacture. People who actually care about each other!
And that? That's where you want to be.
COFFEE
Many years ago, when Dave and I first got married, we went to the Florida Everglades with my parents and son for an airboat ride. We had to go to this lunch place that my Mom loved. And I remember her wanting to go for the experience, not the food. (I ordered fried shrimp, a bold choice for that restaurant!)
I've always chosen (for the most part) the food over the experience in restaurants, as much as I love a fun experience! Same for coffee.
But I broke that rule when Dave and I lucked into a reservation at the Cake Bake Shop at Disney's Boardwalk.
Was the coffee good? Not really. (Though it made a great picture, below!) The food? Also no. It was all ok. Not great, but not bad.
But the decor in the restaurant? The overall experience? The pixie glitter we magically scattered as we blew out our anniversary candle? That was an experience.
And something my Mom would have loved!
ETC....
Here are a few random things....
On December 10, I'll be joining my friend Dr. Matt Poepsel for a Predictive Index webinar - you can register here!
Also on December 10, I'll be joining my friends Alex Seiler, Rita Ramakrishnan and Amanda Halle on a special Transform session on Content Strategy for HR Consultants. Register below!
In the meantime if you are in Distribution or Manufacturing or similar industries and want to chat, grab some time on my Calendly! And if you aren't on my Distribution and Manufacturing list, you missed my latest exclusive drop. If you want to know more about that, reach out!
And one more thing - in future issues I'm going to regularly highlight people you should know. Not just HR. Not just CEOs. People doing great work, making a difference in the world of work. I do this from time to time, but I want to make this a regular thing. I have some people in mind but if there is anyone I should know, reach out and let me know!
Until next time....... thanks for reading!
Tracie
My Partner Spotlight
WorkStory makes the review process easy - and while maybe not fun, much more human - through using AI.
Dave and I had the chance to catch up with founder Matt Meadows in West Palm FL this week - over coffee of course!
I've been thrilled to work with WorkStory for the past several months, and I love every time I hear from some of you about your interest in it! It's a great platform and the company is made up of wonderful people. Definitely check it out if you are interested in doing performance management differently.
And, stay tuned for the final installment of the History of Performance Management (soon, I promise!)
For HR pros, CEOs, and anyone interested in viewing the world of work through my lens - a career-long HR leader focusing on Distribution, Manufacturing and other Frontline companies. If you are interested in diving into actionable insights and stories that inspire organizational change and foster a thriving workplace culture, you are in the right place. Oh, and there will be some coffee too!
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