Be a coach. We build incentives in jobs, so they get paid for performance. So they can do quite well in their jobs, and there is performance accountability at all levels. So they know they can get paid well.
You have the mechanics of evaluating productivity and measuring that kind of thing, so we can judge performance that way. It’s just accountability and management. If they’re not performing, the numbers show it.
If we have an employee who is stuck, who isn’t performing, we help them. We coach them. Most people want to do a good job, and they want to be associated with people who do a good job. At the same time, you want to be compassionate and understanding.
You find yourself with employees who don’t know what to do, so they avoid the doing. In that case, you just sit down with them. You don’t reprimand them; you coach them. You treat everybody like they want to do a good job, because people do want to do a good job.
You have to coach them privately. Give them a hand, then ask them what they may be having a problem with. Say they don’t know how to buy a truck. So you sit down and work with them and say, ‘Well, you get bids and make sure they’re the same. You check the references,’ and things like that. And they learn.
If people who get a new job don’t do well, then we coach them. If that coaching doesn’t work, we replace them.
Create an enjoyable workplace. Employees should be treated nicely. If there is a problem at GreenLeaf, they will get an airing and a decision will be made. If, indeed, something has been done unfairly, it will be undone and done fairly.
I used to walk around and know all employees on a regular basis. I don’t know them as well as I used to. But they understand they’re going to be treated fairly, and they expect it. If not, they are going to say something about it and we’re going to get it sorted out. You bring in their supervisor and you’ve got to take them aside and say, ‘Listen, I don’t know how you worked at the last place you worked, but here we don’t treat people that way.’
When you start in the produce business, you’re working on a cold loading dock or in a refrigerator in the middle of the night. It’s not glamorous work. Even the employees who are working in the refrigerator, they’re treated very well. It makes it a positive, cheerful place to work.
How to reach: GreenLeaf, (415) 647-2991 or www.greenleafsf.com
