Nate Eklund, president and founder, Eklund Consulting; J. Forrest, owner, principal consultant, Employee Strategies

Nate Eklund and J. Forrest aim to help leaders and organizations tame workplace chaos with their Goat Rodeo series conversations with leaders about their challenges and breakthroughs.

The conversations will feature interviews with leaders from various sectors and audience questions.

The Goat Rodeo stems from two years of leadership team development Forrest and Eklund did with Surly Brewing Co. beginning in 2015 as Surly expanded from 20 to nearly 400 employees after opening its Minneapolis brewery.

The 21 "goat ropers" who took part have become Surly's management team, leading based on values defined with Eklund and Forrest. One result is employee turnover dropped to 31 percent, below the 73 percent industry average.

The Goat Rodeo embraces a "fun, silly and rigorous" approach and uses employee interviews to identify company values. Eklund and Forrest, however, also stick to core principles about managing people, making decisions, and communicating.

"We want companies and organizations to be successful and profitable but we want to do that via militant adherence to employee engagement and satisfaction," Eklund said.

Eklund, a former high school English and humanities teacher who wrote a book on educator burnout, has worked with more than 300 schools nationally since launching Eklund Consulting in 2010.

Forrest founded Employee Strategies in 2006, focusing on creating great workplaces.

The two consultants, who met as freshmen at St. Olaf College, had collaborated before, but to a much greater extent with Surly and founder Omar Ansari, Eklund's neighbor.

Future Goat Rodeo sessions will take place Jan. 16, March 7 and April 30 at Surly's destination brewery. More information: www.goatrodeoleader.com

Q: How can companies improve employee engagement?

A: The only companies that thrive in terms of employee engagement are ones that do it as a standard operating procedure. You can't buy someone's happiness and you can't use "Taco Tuesday" as a proxy for leading people.

Q: What can others learn from Surly's effort?

A: Most organizations deal with the questions that Surly has embraced after periods of crisis or change. What they're saying is, "Let's let this thing bottom out and then we'll save it." I applaud Surly saying during this time of tremendous change and growth that we're going to manage ourselves and others thoughtfully.

Q: What can people expect at Goat Rodeo conversations?

A: Each session will have an opportunity for folks to meet one another. We'll do an interview with a guest of honor, trying to draw out how they've gotten through difficult periods. Then there's time for audience questions.

Todd Nelson