Interview – Page 7 – Inspired and Intentional Business

Episode 11 Matthew Bodary Meaningful Workplace Measurements

This week Matthew we’ll cover topics like improving the customer experience, finding meaningful success measurements, and measuring things like workplace energy.

Matthew Bodary shares an employee's perspective on Zingermans — Todd Reed and Matthew Bodary at ZingTrain

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Questions for this week:

1. Are your people looking for ways to delight/improve the experience of customers, especially those everyday customers? Do you have a system to encourage this? What could you do to change this?

2. “I think it’s important, in some way, to see measurable affects of your work.” Matthew uses the analogy of putting and being able to see immediate results of your putting. And how important that is in improving your game. Things to check if they are impacting the bottom line in a positive way.

Things to measure:

Sales
Coffee Quality –
Effects of new systems implemented
Waste generated – compost (There is an example given in something I read where a dishwasher commented on how many fries he threw away. The Roadhouse lowered the portions, while offering free refills. There was a marked lowering of costs.)

He then talks about tying some of the gainsharing monetary reward to both profit and hitting some of these other measures.

What are some other areas you could measure within your business to improve your bottom line, profits, and employee engagement?

3. He spoke about the Department Operating Report with measures like

How can you include your team to determine meaningful measurements? What way can you get them involved in the tracking and reporting of the results?

4. Another measure, energy. “You’re either contributing or detracting from the workplace energy.”

3 Types of energy

Physical
Mental/Emotional
Vibrational (How you’re appearing to others.)

What could you measure that would improve the overall vibe of your workplace?

I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets, including the comments below.

While here you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.

I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.

You can get hold of Matthew by emailing him at mbodary@zingermans.com.

One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher.

Thank you for listening and join us next week as we wrap our conversation with Matthew. Until next week, be inspired and intentional.

Episode 10 Matthew Bodary Pt 1 Zingerman’s Employee Perspective

Gallup says 70% of US employees are disengaged from their work. This causes, what Ari Weinzweig calls an energy crisis in the workplace. Lost innovation, productivity and profits. Not to mention the tolls on the communities.

There are companies and organizations working to improve this. they are creating more open and collaborative work environments. They are realizing that treating people with dignity and providing meaningful work can be done while also running a financially solid organization.

My hope with this podcast is to inspired leaders to make intentional choices to balance profit and social impact.

Welcome to the inspired and intentional podcast, I’m your host, Todd Reed. I would like to thank all those who have reviewed the podcast.

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Today will be the first part of our series with Matthew Bodary, Zingerman’s Coffee Company Account Manager. This first part is a slight departure from the other episodes in that this is more of a personal story of a young man at the beginning of his career journey. He is an employee of a Zingerman’s company and not a managing partner like the previous episodes.

After recording this episode, I thought I would cut most of this first part and give you a brief synopsis. However, upon further listening I was convinced that I wanted to share his telling and version of the story because it gives insight into him and his view of Zingerman’s more clearly than I could. I also felt a tad like this episode channels a little of Studs Terkel.

Here are the questions for this week’s episode:

1. When new employees start working at working at your company, do they believe they’ve stumbled upon something special?

2. Great Food. Great Service. Great Finance. The 3 Bottom Lines of Zingermans. Is the “main focus” of your business this clear to your employees?

3. Do you have an opportunity for your people to grow within your current organization or by creating a new opportunity that supports your current business?

I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:

You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode10. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.

I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.

You can get hold of Matthew by emailing him at mbodary@zingermans.com.

One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher.

Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.

Episode 8 Amy Emberling Dissenting Opinions, Training Systems, and Vision

Join me for the 2nd part of my conversation with Amy Emberling, Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Bakehouse and Candy Manufactory. This week we’ll talk about:

Training systems
Culture and pulling dissenting opinions to make the team stronger.
Having the difficult conversations.
Keeping excitement and focus for a long term vision.

Todd Reed, Inspired and Intentional Podcast host with Amy Emberling, Managing Partner Zingerman's Bakehouse — Todd Reed and Amy Emberling, Managing Partner Zingerman’s Bakehouse

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Here are the questions for this week’s episode:

She talked about a training compact and setting clear expectations for the new hires. Also, that training is a two-way street and both parties are responsible. Do you have a system for new hires to take responsibility for their own training. More importantly, are you able to adapt to the various ways people learn.
Amy presented a couple ways to get dissent to bubble up in the company. Either a “working, not working” set of questions during meetings. Or, to hold an open forum where ideas are presented and then teams share their likes and dislikes, thus allowing anonymity. What have you done that has helped bring up a diversity of viewpoints in order to get to the most unique and strongest ideas?
In regards to your process for discipline/performance reviews – do you consider the following:

The dignity of the person?
How would you like to leave?
What would like the story to be?
Do you want to tell people or have us do it?

4. Keeping the momentum up for a long term vision. How can you break down your vision into smaller bite size pieces to keep the momentum and focus on the long-term goals?

I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:

Be sure to sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.

I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.

https://twitter.com/ToddAReed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed

https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/

You can get hold of Amy by emailing her at aemberling@zingermans.com.

One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.

Next week we’ll continue our talk with Amy Emberling. She’ll cover entrepreneurship vs innovation, a process for organizational change and introduce me to Pavlova.

Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.

Episode 006 Maggie Bayless, Business Systems, and Staying Inspired

In the last episode Maggie talked about Zingerman’s managing partner program and the role of Zingtrain. This week we’ll talk about business systems, staying motivated as an owner and the future of Zingtrain.

Maggie Bayless, Managing Parnter ZingTrain, and Todd Reed — Todd Reed (me) and Maggie Bayless, Managing Partner ZingTrain.

When the interview begins, she’s telling us one of the reasons why someone decides to take a ZingTrain class, which very quickly moves into the conversation about systems.

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This week’s questions:

Maggie begins with systems – do you have any in your business? More importantly, are they focused on helping you achieve your mission? Do they allow your people to be creatively do things that will differentiate your business?
What energized you most when you started your business? Have you lost touch with that energy? What would it take for you to get back in touch with it? How could this help your employees be more excited about the work they’re doing?
Do you want your business to go beyond you? What would it take to make this happen in your business? If you have potential leaders in your business, could you sit with them to create a vision of succession that would get them and you excited about the future of your business?

I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:

On the comments below, on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.

You can get hold of Maggie by emailing her at mbayless@zingermans.com.

https://twitter.com/ToddAReed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed

https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/

One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.

Next week we’ll talk with Amy Emberling of Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.

Episode 005 Maggie Bayless and Zingerman’s Managing Partner Program

Listen as I talk with Maggie about Zingerman’s managing partner program:

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Todd Reed and Maggie Bayless at ZingTrain, Ann Arbor, MI — Todd Reed and Maggie Bayless at ZingTrain in Ann Arbor MI

Questions for the episode:

Do you have aspiring leaders in your organization, yet you are limited to the number of positions available to them simply because of the size of your company? Consider creating a system that allows them to create new businesses that support your main venture. What are some other companies that you could grow from your existing talent pool? Most of your ideas will come from your people, are you ready to hear and support them?
What is your vision do you have for your business. Take step back and pretend you’re coming in as a potential new partner to your business. What kind of vision would you have for your business?
What could you get from taking a class like those offered from ZingTrain? If you’re not in food service you might benefit from getting a completely different perspective.

You can post your answers to the questions in the comments below or on one of the following channels.

You can get hold of Maggie by emailing her at mbayless@zingermans.com.

Inc’s story – The Coolest Small Company in America

Sample vision to get you started thinking about visioning, from ZingTrain’s site.

Thank you to Jay, Kristy, and Anthony Witt, creator of The Champion Entrepreneur podcast.

Next week Maggie will discuss in more detail how they create systems without becoming too bureaucratic.

Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.