How good ‘coaches’ get the most out of a produce crew
Sometimes the best direction comes from, well, real coaches.
Produce managers are the quintessential coaches. They draw up their merchandising plans. They write the accompanying product orders and labor schedule to match. At the beginning of every shift, they give a quick but specific briefing. When the clerks are on the job it’s the coach, er, the produce manager providing additional direction and encouragement as the plan is executed.
You may recall a few years ago I spoke about such an encounter. Patrick, the produce manager of a newly opened store I supervised, was up to his eyeballs in pressure. That’s when he pulled aside Milt, who oversaw the department’s large organic section. Milt was struggling, asking one nervous question of Patrick after another — one too many.
Patrick grabbed Milt by the shoulders and said in a firm, clear voice, “Milt. This is your baby. Own it, man!”
Milt was taken aback for a moment, but he got the message. He settled down, got his act together and was (mostly) fine after that. It took a good coach, at the right moment with the right message, to right the listing ship.
I recently saw another good coaching moment.
Jared Bednar, the stoic head coach for the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche hockey team was interviewed in late March. His injury-hobbled team was struggling. The team had a winning season to date, but it was hovering around third place as it faced the last big push toward season’s end — and even in danger of not making the playoffs.
Bednar said in the interview that he noticed in recent games that the team was carrying what he called, “passengers” – players just along for the ride and not contributing to their best ability.
“That’s something this team can’t have — passengers,” he said. Words can inspire, even fire up players. The legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi was even more blunt with his team, once saying “If you’re not fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm!” Lombardi always did have a way with words.
Related: Read more insight from Armand Lobato
Bednar’s players responded. They finished strong going into the final stretch, which amounted to playoff-level intensity, giving it their all as the regular season ended. The team finished first in their division by a single point.
These observations share common ground with managing a produce department or any other organization. Many produce crews have their respective “A” veterans, “B” clerks and “C” or apprentice-level personnel.
The dynamics of every crew vary, but it also exposes how some people naturally shoulder more work than others. The job of the coach-manager is to train but also push and raise expectations for everyone to advance to their next level, to assist with the tasks at hand and help equalize the workload. This builds team camaraderie but also measurable results: increased sales and profits.
Are there “passengers” on produce crews? You bet.
The produce manager’s mission is to get as much production out of these clerks as possible. The people holding up their share notice who is, and who isn’t, contributing and can eventually ignite tension in a crew.
It’s not an easy task for the manager to correct, but it’s possible with a good coach, whether through one-on-one training, encouraging, demonstrating or some combination of everything. It can be done. Most produce people want to do a good job. Most want to learn and improve. Positive direction trumps a negative one.
But it’s the produce manager’s job to lead, to enable, to coach and to get everyone focused and on a strong and steady pace. People on a crew want to make their boss proud, however, most just want to help make a difference when the call comes for all hands on deck — for their fellow, produce shipmates.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
