38 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM
CHEESE FOCUS
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Communicate early and often. Employees
want frequent feedback. They love
praise—who doesn't?—but they also deserve to
know quickly when they're not meeting your
expectations. Zingerman's managers are trained to
aim for a four-to-one ratio of positive to negative
comments, which keeps leaders on the alert for
behaviors to praise. To structure feedback, the
Michigan retailer uses a "Liked Best/Next Time"
system, says Singleton. A
manager might sit down
with an employee after a
tough shift and ask what
the employee liked best
about the day and what they
think they should do better
next time, followed by the
manager's perspective on the
same questions. "These are
coaching moments," says
Singleton.
Bi-Rite encourages staffers to nominate
colleagues for a "Big Cheese" award for going
above-and-beyond in customer service or another
realm. Honorees get a small store gift card and,
perhaps more important, recognition throughout
the company. Frieze gives her managers a monthly
budget to reward superstars or to use on an
employee bonding experience, like a pizza party.
"Nothing is more fulfilling than catching
people doing great things and praising them for
it," says Steven Rosenberg of Liberty Heights Fresh
in Salt Lake City. "And there's nothing better than
watching an employee blush from getting praised
in front of their peers."
Asking employees for feedback is another
practice among leading retailers. Bi-Rite surveys its
300-person staff annually. Employees can fill out
the survey anonymously on company time, using
company computers. The results help the human
resources team know what benefits people most
value and provides insights that might not emerge
otherwise.
"Employees want to be heard," says Liberty
Heights' Rosenberg, who has been in business for
27 years. "They have great ideas and it's important
to listen. You think you know it all and have done
it all, but a day doesn't go by that a new person
doesn't teach me things."
Janet Fletcher writes the email newsletter Planet Cheese
and is the author of Cheese & Wine and Cheese & Beer.
