Taking the Pulse of My Team
Quarterly roundtables are for listening and talking, but mostly listening
Every quarter, I make it my business to hold roundtable discussions at MegaFood, which comprises four campuses in Manchester, NH and our virtual team. All are invited, and the turnout is usually pretty healthy. To do it right, I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and hold the first roundtable at 6 a.m., just as the third shift knocks off for the day. Then, I do five more until around 8:30 p.m., when the second shift ends. It’s a long day — we’re actually thinking of going to a two-day format — but it’s the best way I know to keep communication flowing both ways and reinforce key messages during times of change. (We have quarterly town halls as well, but these are a bit more formal.)
I don’t present anything or have an agenda or anything like that. The only ice-breaker I offer is to give them a quick little test about our mission and values, with a gift card to Starbucks or Dunkins awarded to whomever is quickest on their feet. Then, I ask an experienced member of the team to explain how the roundtables work to any newbies. That person explains how anyone can ask any question, nothing is off-limits, and I have to answer it to the best of my ability. After that, I’m perfectly content to sit, sip my coffee, and wait in silence until somebody speaks up.
Almost every group has a catalyst who gets the ball rolling. Somebody who has their finger on the pulse of those around them. I’m interested in what the first question will be, as well as the sequence of questions. They tell me a lot about where the team is at in terms of their hopes, fears, motivations, and concerns. They get to learn what’s on their CEO’s mind, and I learn a ton about how to support their efforts.
From Survive to Thrive
I’m proud to say I’ve seen real growth in my team over the years.
For example, when I first came to MegaFood seven years ago, the comments I heard most often involved health insurance and wage increases — basic survival stuff. When we were acquired by Pharmavite a few years ago, people were naturally concerned about losing their jobs. Gradually, I’ve been inspired to hear people started asking me to go deep on some of the finer points of our strategy, the marketplace, and our overall competitiveness as a company.
It tells me they’ve moved up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from that of basic physical and economic safety toward “higher” needs of being creative and personally fulfilled.
One of our overarching goals as an organization has been recognition as a company that places the highest value on its workforce. In 2018, we achieved this goal by making the Business NH Magazine “Best Companies to Work For in NH.” We also want to be counted among the few “Best Of” Certified B Corporations, which would also represent an accomplishment for us. Being transparent with employees helps us reach this goal. I can honestly say that over 16 hours of roundtables, there are rarely more than one or two questions I can’t completely answer.
Be Brave
One of the ways we attract and retain great people is by nurturing a culture they can take pride in and ownership of. We call it The MegaFood Way. In a nutshell, it goes like this:
We are brave, trustworthy, grateful & fun. We understand, act, and evolve with responsible urgency to advance our cause.
The Way ensures that staff at our four campuses and in the field share a common culture and expectations for themselves and each other, whether they’re traveling across the country working with our customers or partners, or producing and marketing our products back home. It equips our team with the proper mindset for undergoing a rapid pivot, in the space of a single year, from mostly serving brick-and-mortar retailers to functioning as an omni-channel enterprise.
Pivots such as this put lots of pressure on the team; but it can also make our work life more exciting and creative. That’s the beauty of the roundtables and the reason I begin each one with a pointed quiz about our mission and values. Roundtables create a space where somebody who puts our bottles into boxes or labels on bottles can stand up in front of her boss and her boss’s boss and set the tone for everybody there.
And it gives me the opportunity to say something I can never say too often, something I weave into my answers in one way or another: “Be brave, lean in, step outside your own spheres, and keep those questions and suggestions coming! We’re definitely in this together!”
Robert U. Craven, MegaFood CEO
PS: All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!
