SPONSORED BY<strong>Chalet</strong>By Carol MillerEmployee newsletterPage 42How an ordinary desire to boost the 90-year-oldfirm’s public profiledramatically changed both management and staffgroups spurred the changes that occurred.Customers had an overall positiveimpression of <strong>Chalet</strong>, as Thalmann hadassumed. But they did not care for howdifferently its divisions were run and howthey received conflicting information,depending on which department wasapproached. In short, if <strong>Chalet</strong> wanted aneven stronger public image, it needed totake a hard look at its management andstaff practices.The truly difficult messages camefrom the staff.Overall, Yastrow reported, the stafflove working at <strong>Chalet</strong>. It was a strongcompany that was popular with thecommunity. Co-workers enjoyed oneanother. And they felt comfortable enoughto be frank with the problems they saw.One employee said, “You shouldn’tever bring up bad comments, it is discouraged.”Another said “[Management]listens, but then nothing happens.”Tough words, but this type of thing issaid about most companies. The differenceis that <strong>Chalet</strong> not only listened, but acted.<strong>Chalet</strong> analyzed the results and begantackling the key problems, with employees’input.It held several staff brainstorming sessionson how to deal with the problemsrevealed, communications directorMaggie Zielinski said. A major issueraised by the focus groups was a lack ofinternal communications.“Communication was our biggest[area that needed improvement],”Thalmann said. “That led to the subsets:hiring Maggie as director of communications;the drive to have an under-standing among our employees of all thethings we do and of the broader vision; tounifying the company; to improvinginternal marketing to understanding ourcompany better before we started onexternal marketing.”Zielinski echoed Thalmann’s assessment.“A brand isn’t just a logo. We began to getthe sense that improving our brand wasgoing to take an internal sea change.”Most of the issues have beenaddressed, Zielinski said. “How were thesetaken care of? By so many efforts by manypeople: by providing manager training, byempowering staff to make decisions andhitting that point over and over. Byresponding to staff needs, by involvingthem in problem-solving or ‘biggerpicture’committees,” Zielinski said.Welcome to <strong>Chalet</strong> CollegeOne of the first steps <strong>Chalet</strong> took toimprove internal communication was tooverhaul its training program. <strong>Chalet</strong> hadbeen doing a pretty good job of trainingemployees on how to do their jobs. Butfew knew how other departments anddivisions really worked. So <strong>Chalet</strong> Collegewas born.“I get input from each department headas to what they would like covered,” saidJennifer Brennan, who heads up <strong>Chalet</strong>’seducation programs for consumers andstaff. “Each department is given a time slotto present new procedures or services. Ialso ask other managers to present topics.”<strong>Chalet</strong> College is held for five weeks inthe off-season. All staff members, includingseasonal workers, are required to attend. It’sheld before store hours for an hour and aHow <strong>Chalet</strong>hires staffSince human resources director Sandy Vanden Avont joined <strong>Chalet</strong>, retail manager TonyFulmer has noticed a difference in hiring practices.“We’re hiring better people,” he said. “We neededSandy for that. The owner or another key personisn’t trained on the intricacies of extracting theinformation you need to draw out. It has made anunbelievable difference.”Van den Avont conducts prescreening phoneinterviews and said that there are many ways toglean what you need during these initial calls.“I’ll call them on the cell phone. If they tell me, “Ican’t take the call, I’m at work,” that tells me somethingabout their work ethic. I also pay attention tohow they return my phone calls,” Van den Avont said.If a candidate passes the prescreening phoneinterview, Van den Avont will contact whomeverthe new hire would report to and any other managementthat needs to be part of the process.At that point, skills that Van den Avont taughtmanagers help them select the best candidate.“I’ve trained the staff to have interview questionsthat will draw out what they need,” Van den Avontsaid, then gave a list of example questions. “Whatgives them satisfaction? What makes it a goodday? What makes them want to get out of bed?The goal is to glean from them what inspires themand if they fit with our culture.”Van den Avont has developed a good systemof getting the best seasonal staff to return.“The process is that at the end of every season,we evaluate the staff,” Van den Avont said.“Those we want to invite back, we make an offer tothem before they leave. I’ll tell you this: Just thewarm body doesn’t fly here. Others would have totake the additional burden.”June 2007 garden center 39