Turn Comfort Into Conversations: Let’s Go Over the Line, With Asia Cline

Getting lineworkers to relax and share stories isn’t easy—unless you’ve got a mic and a clever idea. In this episode, Mason PUD 3’s Asia Cline shares how her award-winning staff podcast, “Over the Line,” opens conversations, builds trust and keeps internal communications fresh.

Notes: Filmed at NWPPA's Northwest Innovations in Communications conference.

Creators and Guests

Host

Megan McKoy-Noe

Brand Storyteller

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their
stories and connect with their customers.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
How to turn comfort into conversations.

Let's go over the line with Asia Cline.

Let's do it.

Let's do it. This is what we're going to be talking about. It's
internal communications,

podcasting with your staff. That's what we're talking about today
on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast.

Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe,
one of the storytellers at Pioneer Utility Resources,

and I am joined at last – I'm so excited,
y'all – I am joined by Asia Cline.

She is the communications and community relations coordinator at
Mason PUD 3 in Washington State.

More importantly, she is the voice of "Over the Line with Asia
Cline." How do you introduce your podcast?

Asia Cline:
I say, "Welcome to Over the Line.

I'm your host, Asia Cline." And the first couple episodes,
it was like,

"I know it's cheesy. Get over it."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
No, no.

Asia Cline:
"We are working on it."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I live for cheese, Asia.

Asia Cline:
I got a cheese-0-meter.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
You have a cheese-o-meter?

Asia Cline:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Me too. Yes. Anyway, some people find it grating,
but I love it,

so. All right, Asia, thank you so much for joining me today.

Asia Cline:
Yes, you're welcome.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Full awareness, Asia and I had not met before we got on a plane
together just a few days ago.

We were heading to Whitefish, Montana,
and she started talking to me.

Or maybe I was bugging you. I'm like,
oh, wait, you work at Mason PUD 3?

I love them.

Asia Cline:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We started talking, and I got hooked.

Right. We were on our way to the NWPPA NIC Conference,
Northwest Innovations and Communications.

Awesome event, if you have not attended before,
it sold out, so come.

It's amazing. And my favorite part of it is that I get to meet
people that I haven't talked to before and hear new ideas that I

haven't heard before.

Asia Cline:
Right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I will admit, initially I was hooked.

Like when you told me you had a podcast,
that was really cool.

And then you told me that you have dressed up as sparkle mix,
sparkle pants?

Asia Cline:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
A squirrel.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. So lessons learned. Don't divulge too much to strangers.

Although, full disclosure, you're not a stranger.

I have known who you are for a long time.

You're kind of. You know, you're Joel's top ten,
probably top five.

I've said that before.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We should clarify, friends.

Asia Cline:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
People that he enjoys hanging out with.

Asia Cline:
Yes. It was really fun to finally get to meet you and talk to
you.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and we've had so much fun talking,
which is why I asked you to change your role in a podcast.

Normally you are interviewing people,
and I said, "Asia, let me interview you." So this is very

exciting for me. Let's talk about your podcast.

I mean, obviously we're already having fun and being silly,
which I think is part of what I wanted to talk to you about

today. How to have comfort, making people comfortable,
be corny,

have fun, and turn those into really fun conversations.

But tell me about Over the Line with Asia Cline

Asia Cline:
Okay, well, it started out as "Asia,
Annette saw that Grant has a podcast,

an internal podcast, and guess what?

She wants to have one, and you're going to be the host."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I'm going to stop you right there.

Asia Cline:
Okay.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Annette is your CEO at Mason PUD 3.

Asia Cline:
Lovely. Mmhmm.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And Grant is Grant PUD one of your neighboring utilities.

This is a story about peer pressure and keeping up with the
Joneses.

Am I right?

Asia Cline:
Well, you know, I just think she thought it was a really good
internal communications tool.

Turns out that she was absolutely right.

And she really gave us, you know,
no real rules.

You know, she said, let it be, you know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love it when that happens. Yes!

Asia Cline:
You know, and yeah, it was the,
you know, if people want to talk about their life,

people want to talk about their families.

People want to talk about work. I mean,
she's like kind of there's no,

sky's the limit kind of a thing. It was really cool.

And in about, I think within about a three year period,
we hired about 60 new employees.

So that was a really good time to,
you know, do this.

And, I was not comfortable with it at all.

Lynn Eaton was my manager at the time.

And I said, what? And she said.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I'm supposed to do what now?

Asia Cline:
Yeah. And it was out of my comfort zone.

I don't like to be the center of attention,
and I just, I really I think I want,

I wanted everybody to have a good experience.

So there's a lot of pressure, you know,
you put on yourself.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We put too much pressure on ourselves I feel,
Asia.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. So that was the start of it.

And yeah, that was how it started.

And that was, I guess maybe we're in our third year.

Maybe. Maybe second or third year.

Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I mean, you're going to have a legacy.

Asia Cline:
I could, I'll try to do the math,
but it's too early.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Don't do math in the morning.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. Ever.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Ever. Ever. Unless that's your CliftonStrength.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. I don't think it is.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's another one. All right, well,
when I heard the name Over the Line,

I thought that was fun. And you even explained it to me in an
interesting way.

I think yesterday or the day before,
you were like. It was intentional.

Asia Cline:
Kind of. I mean, it was, I joked.

I said, "It's not on the line. It's not hanging.

You know, it's not walking the line."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Under the line or walking.

Asia Cline:
No, no, it's over the line. So we've joked several times about,
hey,

hey, it's over the line. I mean,
we can, you know, there's no – one of our our support tech,

Joel Moore, he deserves a shout out.

He's amazing.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We love you, Joel. All Joel's at Mason PUD 3.

I've learned amazing individuals.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. So he does have a little bit of a whoopsie,
don't want to say that kind of thing,

but there is a slight delay.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
He has a buzzer for you?.

Asia Cline:
Yeah, because I should note our podcast is live.

100%. Oh, we do no editing at all.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That okay. I'm going to ask you about how all of that works out.

But that changes things because I should say we've already had to
restart our podcast because we started joking,

and it's early, and we were silly.

And this is why I now love you. So.

Yes. Okay. So, what have you talked about that had to get bleeped
out or that felt a little over the

line? And talk to me about the tone that you've built over the
last 2 or 3 years and how your staff have

reacted to it.

Asia Cline:
Okay. Yeah. When we first started out because I was so nervous,
it was very scripted.

It felt really scripted. I had,
you know, I had very detailed notes.

I would meet with our speaker for half an hour or something.

We would talk, and I would actually go through and be like,
answer this question for me.

And then I'd know the answer, you know? And so our very first one
was really,

actually really funny. His name was Salem,
and we're good friends at work,

you know? And he's so funny. He's just a funny guy.

And we were just joking back and forth with each other,
and we had to spend, like, three hours together because it was

the first one. So we were doing all the sound check stuff,
and we're doing all the stuff.

We're trying to figure out. And so we are just jockeying back and
forth.

I mean, I'm just digging at him.

He's digging at me all fun.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And not all live at this point.

Asia Cline:
No, nothing. We're no. It's nothing's on.

And then, we go to, and we kind of I had actually things,
like actually like jokes,

digs at Salem actually because I wanted it to be fun,
you know.

Yeah. And so, so then.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Plant the corn.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. So then camera roll. Salem went so serious.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay, folks who are listening and not watching us on YouTube.

The face, it was the hand going straight over the face,
and it's completely different demeanor.

Asia Cline:
Oh, totally. Yeah. He went from –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Where was your friend?

Asia Cline:
He went from –.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Her friend was gone.

Asia Cline:
Yeah, yeah. So and so, and I was trying to,
you know, he was talking about his wife,

who she's beautiful. Her name is Erin.

And I was like, you really outkicked your coverage on that one,
didn't you, Salem?

And still, I couldn't get it.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
You couldn't him.

Asia Cline:
I couldn't get him. I was trying to reel him in. And we are audio
and video.

Yeah. So, you know, I mean, and he just – I have to note.

He had such good answers. He talked a lot about his position at
work and you know,

he did amazing. But it was just so,
the contrast was so funny when we got –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
People get nervous.

Asia Cline:
Yes. And when we got done, we just immediately burst into
laughter,

and we're like, "What happened,
Salem?" And so that was always been a funny thing,

but I always take a picture with my guest,
and we were like, you know,

"He's like, wait a minute." And he takes his cup,
and he goes to take a drink and on the bottom.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Like a coffee cup.

Asia Cline:
On the bottom, he had wrote, like,
I'm with dummy or something with an arrow.

And I had done like loser with an arrow.

Neither one of us knew. But so then that's our picture for,
you know,

because we post them on our intranet.

Yeah. So anyway, it was just funny.

And, you know, that was my first one.

But I don't remember your original question.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
No. I love where we went, and that's the thing.

Some of these conversations, if you're just getting comfortable
with folks, and you're just enjoying each other, it's fun.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. And so, I'm way less scripted at this point.

I like the organic tone of just me finding out the answer when
everyone else does,

because it just leads to really organic follow-up questions.

And it's just more personal, and yeah,
it's good.

And I've learned so much about people.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I did the same thing. And I know before we started recording,
I had a couple of sample questions and stuff that you and I went

over. But I love it when it's just,
that's my backup plan.

I'm a planner. I've learned I have a stash of kids activities in
case there's another pandemic because I don't

want to go through that again.

Asia Cline:
Yeah, I hear you.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So it's like that for me with questions where I have them set
aside,

and it's kind of gives me an idea,
but I love it when we're just talking.

And that's kind of what we're talking about today is how to make
people comfortable.

Asia Cline:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I do like the sitting down, just getting them kind of,
help them breathe.

Yeah. because it's a little nerve wracking if you're going live.

Asia Cline:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, even my palms start to sweat,
like, one minute before,

you know, we go live. And I tell them it's like,
"It's fine.

You don't need to be nervous." And then I look at them,
I go, "It's okay.

I'm nervous too."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So if you're going live, is it a certain day that you're doing
this?

Asia Cline:
Yeah, we do it Thursdays at 2:00.

We try to do every other Thursday.

And we don't really stick to, you know,
every second Thursday or fourth Thursday or anything.

It's just everybody knows that if there's going to be a podcast,
it's going to be on Thursday, it's going to be at 2:00. And then

it's live, but we also have a link they can watch it later.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. And go into the nuts and bolts of that for me.

What do you use for your platform?

How do you make sure that when you're going Over the Line with
Asia Cline,

that nobody else can see that outside of Mason PUD 3,
unless you want to,

like, be like Grant. "Hey, PUD. Look at what we're doing over
here."

Asia Cline:
Actually, Grant was awesome, and I don't know how Annette found
out.

Idon't, because I really, honestly don't know if theirs is like,
if anybody can see it,

but I think it's internal as well.

But they allowed us to come in and like,
watch one of their episodes with them.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. And they answered a bunch of questions. They were awesome.
And so that's kind of how we based ours.

And so it's just Joel Moore, he's our IT guy.

And then we have sometimes most of the time,
we try to have another person who well,

we have a, we put together a like a PowerPoint slideshow so
people can send in photos.

And we've gotten a lot of feedback that people like photos of
people,

you know, because we asked for,
you know, the little you know, Megan,

and you know what I mean? That kind of stuff. So we get all these
photos, and then of their family and like, if they have any

extracurricular activities and Ali Burgess,
she'll usually be that person who's like,

you know, she just kind of as the conversation flows,
she flips the photos in every once in a while.

So that works out. Yeah. So it's just the three of us.

And, you know, we have a policy that what happens in the podcast
stays in the podcast room.

You know, it's just so fun. I have gotten so much out of it.

Way more than I ever thought I would.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that.

Asia Cline:
I was terrified at the beginning.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, but you found ways not just to put them at ease,
but to put yourself at ease.

It feels like what helps you, because I know a lot of folks are
scared to do a podcast,

whether internal or external because they're like,
I'm not that person.

I don't have a name made for broadcast like Asia Cline.

you know, so how did you get more comfortable with it?

Asia Cline:
Well, 39 episodes helps.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure, sure. I've heard.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. But also, I genuinely am enjoying talking with the people
that I'm talking to,

and so. And I always have like a little short monologue,
you know,

like a dialog with them like, "Hey,
is there anything that you do not want to talk about?

Because if my questions lead to something,
I don't want to ask something and have you." And

then I also, "Is there something that you really do want to talk
about?" You know, so I have that,

you know, in my pocket, but also I just,
I think I can see how

beneficial it is for people.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
In what way?

Asia Cline:
Just that, you know, when I was hired at the PUD 20 years ago,
we were like 117,

something, you know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
A number of employees.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. I'm sorry. Yes. Number of employees.

And, you know, throughout the years it fluctuated 1 or 2 maybe
here or there.

We have 173 employees now.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's a lot of people.

Asia Cline:
And we have a, you know, we have a Belfair office. We have our
operations center at Johns Prairie.

We do have a telecom data center that's not open to the public,
that's downtown. So there's three different locations. And,

you know, when you hire that many people,
one of my coworkers, one time at a Christmas party,

like the first Christmas party after Covid,
he's like, "Asia, I'm playing a game. It's called coworker or

spouse." When people would walk in the door because he did not
know.

Yeah, because there was all these new faces. And I fortunately
enough,

I kind of handle the intranet. So I'm seeing these people's faces
when they get hired,

and I'm putting their picture on the directory,
so I get that little bit.

And so I make a point to try to say hi to them when I see them in
the hallways and stuff like that.

But, you know, some people don't.

They're so disconnected from so much that they don't have an
opportunity.

So they really like to, you know,
just get to watch them, and it sparked conversations.

It's only half an hour, so it goes by really fast.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I was going to ask like, how long is it?

Asia Cline:
Yes, it's 30 minutes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
How do you choose? Because you have 173 employees,
you said.

Asia Cline:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
How do you choose who to profile?

Because you've only had. You're so young.

You've only had 39 episodes. I know there's a whole lifetime of
episodes before you.

How do you choose who to interview?

Who to push over the line?

Asia Cline:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
With Asia Cline.

Asia Cline:
We just, I'm good at peer pressure.

That was.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Me too.

Asia Cline:
something at the NIC at night. I didn't get on the mic,
but we were like,

Asia's really good peer pressure. She's very effective. So no,
but there's actually people that are,

they look at me, and they say "Never,
ever will I..."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So, you have a list.

Asia Cline:
Yes. So, a mental list, I say, okay,
I got you.

And I get it. Other people, you know,
they think that their life is so boring.

Pretty much every one of my guests is I don't really have,
like,

it's not going to be exciting, and it's there totally. It's not
true. That's not true.

So and then I just kind of sometimes,
I scroll through the directory and I'm like,

"Hmm, who do I want?" You know,
because, to be honest, and you probably know this too,

by having a podcast, is that sometimes,
depending on who your guest is,

it is a little bit more work for you.

You know, like if you have somebody that you're like,
"Okay, I'm gonna have to like, dig that information out of," you

know. Or, "I'm going to really have to,
like, really have some notes so I can keep that going," you know,

because they are more quiet or shy or,
you know, so.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
People are a little more shy than others.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. But I've actually had people tell me that they will be on
the podcast,

so that's cool.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Isn't that the best?

Asia Cline:
Yeah, yeah. So I do have the people that are like,
never, ever.

And then I have the people that,
you know, they're like, if, you know,

if you ever need, you know, someone to be on the podcast,
I'd do it.

And yeah, and we've had a lot everybody that's been on it when
the,

you know, the camera's off, and we're done.

They're like, that was fun.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Isn't that the best?

Asia Cline:
Yeah, and that's what I want. I want people to have fun.

I want people to learn about people and get as much out of it as
I've gotten out of it.

And so we try to mix it up, though.

We don't just sit in the same. We try to mix it up.

We try to. One time we golfed, we went out and chipped some,
you know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
While broadcasting.

Asia Cline:
Yes, yes. And actually he's a very,
very good golfer.

I won't shame him with saying his name because I did chip better
than he did.

And he was he looked at me like,
what is happening?

I'm embarrassed. I was like, I think it's just luck,
I don't know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Also, he was nervous.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. Yeah, probably.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. So you're also moving it around.

It doesn't have to be in one place.

So you're kind of sometimes going to where they are,
which is fun.

I was going to ask was all those locations,
do they just come in to you?

Do you have a podcast room? But it sounds like –

Asia Cline:
Yeah, we're low budget podcast. So we have a laptop and a little
sound board,

a couple mics that you have to talk directly into.

You cannot, you know, turn your head at all.

And then our little camera and our little light,
and we do have a little,

we bought a foam. It actually is pretty cool.

It's called Felt Right, I think is the company.

And it is a mountain and shaped like a mountain.

It's all these different pieces.

And it's supposed to be like, sound proof,
you know, board kind of stuff.

And so, we have that as our background in an office that's now
not in,

it's Ali's office, actually. So she graciously lets us keep all
of it in there.

And so, yeah, we do have that room,
but we've gone up, we went up just recently went up to Belfair

because there's a couple ladies up there. And so we just did
them,

we interviewed them both at the same time,
which that was new.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, so two peeps. So you had to get an extra mic?

Asia Cline:
We did.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Or did they share?

Asia Cline:
No, we had an extra mic. And, you know,
we just, it went really well.

It went really well. They're both great.

And they've been up in Belfair for quite some time.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
They're a package deal.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. And so it was fun.

And, but most of the time, we're in our podcast room,
I would say.

Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. I like that. I like that.

Asia Cline:
And every time I ask Joel to, like,
move locations, he's kind of like a "okay."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
As you can see, connections, and as you can hear,
connections are happening.

Asia Cline:
They're happening.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
At the NIC. So getting staff to open up isn't always easy.

I love the idea of going to a place that they love,
like a golf,

you know, what do they call it? I don't play,
so.

Asia Cline:
A golf course. We were just out on our campus.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay, so you weren't in a putting green or anything.

Asia Cline:
No, no, he brought actually a couple little things that he had.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
He brought golf with him.

Asia Cline:
Yes. And I brought my clubs, and he had his.

And it worked out great. It was fun.

Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So you did that for him. And then I heard you have another trick
up your sleeve that you have tried.

And this is when I was like, "Asia,
you have to come talk to me." Because I don't know.

You don't know this about me, but one of my job titles when I was
at my electric co-op was Lineman Liaison.

It was in my job description, and I spent a lot of time on the
docks with the guys and girls now,

but then guys. And it was all about building relationships with
them and getting them to talk,

because that group of folks is notorious for being quiet and
reserved

when they're in front of anybody other than their peers.

Asia Cline:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And you have something interesting that you do to get them to
open up.

Please tell us about the beer.

Asia Cline:
Okay. Yes. So one time, I had –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
This was one time on the podcast.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. I had a lineman come on, and I just I had a cooler.

He didn't see it. It was kind of.

I just tried to because I wanted to get his reaction.

And so I kind of just built it up to where he was going to be,
you know,

talking for a minute, like, hey,
tell us about how you know, you, you know,

came in to be a lineman or. I don't even know what I asked him.
And as he's talking,

I reach down, and I grabbed a nonalcoholic beer.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I should have clarified that, but it's more fun to say that she
serves people beer on the podcast, but it's nonalcoholic.

Asia Cline:
He called it a work beer. So I'm not really sure.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I kind of love that. But yeah.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. And but when he first, he looked at me with this look like,

"We can drink in here?" Like, you know,
I mean, I think you're gonna get a lot more.

Yeah, I know, so anyway, so he looked at it.

He had, he just took a couple takes,
and then he kind of chuckled,

and I said, "Shh. Go ahead man. You know,
it's not an alcoholic.

Let's just have, let's just have a beer and chat." And he I think
he had to gave him the rest.

You know, it was a six pack. And then the lineman that I had on
before that that I didn't serve beer to,

was not really that happy. He was like,
"Hey, I'm coming back on.

I kind of want the beer."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. And you're gonna have to make it a 12 pack to make it up to
him.

Asia Cline:
But, you know, it was fun, and I think,
you know, it was fun.

And I've had, I think I've had like three linemen on my podcast.

And then I've also had, you know,
like everybody from I've had the operations manager on my podcast

and some other operations folks.

So yeah, it's kind of, it's like been and then office,
of course,

office staff. And, I've had a lot of.

I did have wine once.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Nonalcoholic wine?

Asia Cline:
Well yeah, I think.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Work wine?

Asia Cline:
Yes. Because it was one of our managers.

She was a customer service manager at the time,
and she was out of her comfort zone.

So just to kind of loosen the mood,
you know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, yeah. Well, find little things whether it's golf or work
beer,

which again, new favorite phrase.

Asia Cline:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Or something to help set them at ease to help them be
comfortable.

And also I love that you're talking to them beforehand,
the jokes that you build in and are thinking of just to make it

fun. And it's all about knowing your audience. This is for your
staff,

so it's not the pressure that you have of putting something out
for everyone in the community.

What do you use, I think we were skirting around this earlier.

What platform do you use to host this?

Asia Cline:
Teams.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Teams. So it's in teams. That's good to know. A lot of folks use
Teams.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. So we have it on teams. Unfortunately,
teams kind of dropped some of the past episodes.

But now we download the link, save it in SharePoint,
and then upload that link.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
For posterity.

Asia Cline:
Yeah. Yeah. So it kind of a bummer we had some really good.

I actually think the beer one isn't,
maybe I did save that one because I think we submitted that

episode once for one of our awards.

And so that might be, that one might be saved.

But it was kind of sad because there was a lot of good content,
a lot of fun,

you know, like that first episode,
not around.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
No. I'm sorry.

Asia Cline:
No, it's fine. It's fine. We all remember it very well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So. I mean, I feel like I could talk to you forever about this
because I just love the idea

of reaching out and building relationships one step at a time
with all of your staff.

But a lot of folks might be wondering,
how do I get started?

What is the you know, this is the last question I'm going to have
for you. And then maybe we'll have part two where Sparkle Mix,

Sparkle Pants comes on.

Asia Cline:
Sparkle Mix, Sparkle Pants doesn't speak,
so she might not be a very fun.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I could speak for her. I'm sure we could squeak her way through.

I speak squirrel, and I live in Georgia.

I speak squirrel fluently. So if somebody wants to start,
like, how much time

does this take? Do I need to be worried about that?

And where should they get started for this?

Asia Cline:
Well, I think that you don't. You can take as much time or as
little time as actually as you want.

Ours is live, so there's no editing.

It's like we usually now that we have it down.

We used to have people come in at like 11:00,
go through sound check,

kind of, you know, talk to him for a little bit,
and then be like, okay, just come back at like 1:45. We go live

at 2:00. But now, because we've just done it so much and our
setup is pretty seamless.

We have them come in about 1:30.

Do the sound check and then, you know,
if we have a few minutes,

we're like, hey, I don't think you have to sit here and stare at,
you know, all of us or whatever.

And then just come back and so then,
yeah, we just we go live, and it's over at 2:30,

and we take a photo. Thank you. And you're done,
and we're done.

And then we just. And then I'll do,
you know, the copy and downloading,

whatever adding the photo to the intranet and stuff.

But, I think that if you're starting out,
and you're feeling like you want to do this,

it is a very good internal communications tool.

We've won national and regional awards.

And it's –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Kind of a big deal.

Asia Cline:
It's all my guests. I mean, there are so many

stories and things. I mean, I had one girl.

She started getting teary eyed. I said,
"There's no crying on the podcast." You know, and I was like,

you know, but people, I've been there for 20 years,
so I do know a lot of people,

but like those 60 or so, you know,
people have just been hired in the last three years.

I don't know them all that well.

And I've had people that have been at the edge of like,
ready to retire.

They've been there for 30 years. They're like,
Asia, I don't know, like people. It's like half the people know

everything about me, and the other half don't know anything. I
said, it's perfect. And then I, it's been fun to,

you know, kind of go back in time with them and share their
stories.

And I know that it sparked new conversations with people,
and I think so,

and I don't take myself too seriously.

So, I mean, I'll be the brunt of the joke.

I'll be the, you know, the one that takes it.

But, I genuinely love to talk to the guests I have on my show.

And so I think if you know, you have that,
you know, that piece of that,

then I can't really go wrong.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
If you love the stories of the people you work with,
and everyone has a story.

We forget that sometimes,

Asia Cline:
Right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
But recognizing their stories, honoring their stories and sharing
them with other people and making them comfortable enough to have

those conversations, it is a beautiful gift.

And thank you so much for sharing your story.

A small part of your story, Asia.

We'll have you back on.

Asia Cline:
At 8:00 a.m. in the morning.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
At 8:00 a.m. in the morning,

Asia Cline:
Actually, yeah. Mountain time.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Mountain time. Yes. But thank you for taking the time to share
what you're doing with other utility pioneers.

I know that I have learned a lot.

Asia Cline:
Have you?

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I have.

Asia Cline:
Okay, good. I don't know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Again. Work wine. Work beer. I didn't know these words existed.

No, I just I love the ideas, and that it's all just focused on
storytelling to build your staff story together,

to help weave those stories together and help people recognize
each other and see more than the job title.

And I think it sounds like that's what it is.

Asia Cline:
It is.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I wish, I wish I could listen.

Asia Cline:
It's coworker to coworker podcast.

Yeah. So.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, that's so special.

Asia Cline:
You have it too, obviously. I mean,
I was up late last night, and I said,

I gotta go to bed. I gotta talk to Megan in the morning,
and they're like,

Megan's so great. And I said, and she's the only reason why that
I said yes to being on this because I,

it's like I said, I don't like to be the one that's,
you know, on the hot seat,

a center of attention. And so but you have a gift,
and you are always waving people's flags.

I can, I've known you for, what,
two days, three days, three days,

36 hours?

Megan McKoy-Noe:
The plane was three days ago. It's good times,
Asia.

Asia Cline:
I can tell that from you. You're always bringing,
you know, you're building people up,

and, it's just so, you make it really easy.

I knew you weren't going to like,
you know, wasn't like, feeling like a sacrificial lamb or

anything on this podcast.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We really try not to have too much.

It's not that kind of podcast. It's not a murder in the building
or on the podcast.

Asia Cline:
So thank you for that. It is a gift,
and you're doing well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and I would love to hear snippets from your award winning
podcast yourself Over the Line with Asia

Cline. I'm just going to keep channeling that voice in my head
because it makes me giggle.

Asia Cline:
I know.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So thank you for taking time to share your story with utility
pioneers.

Asia Cline:
Thank you for asking.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Of course, repeatedly. I know, I just chased you through the
conference.

She is the delightful Asia Cline at Mason PUD 3,
and I'm your host,

Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Asia Cline:
Thanks.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Thank you. Asia.

Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources,
a communications cooperative that is built to share your story.