Since joining the human resources team of Columinate in 2013, Melanie Reid has built and maintained supportive relationships with many long-term co-op clients. Notably, some of these relationships span ten years or more. I spoke with Reid recently to discuss her HR services and current priorities—including a new role as Columinate Consultant Support Manager. 

Reid lives in Minneapolis and is extending a co-op career that included HR manager and general manager (GM) duties, and she believes that background greatly strengthened her understanding of the different levels of cooperative business. In our conversation, we agreed on a description of the overall aim of her work: building co-op capacity and culture. 

Reid loves the people-centered nature of her work, and her enthusiasm for making connections is evident. The years-long working relationships with her client co-ops are a great help, she says. The shared history and ongoing conversations build trust among the GM, staff, and consultant. 

Knowing the GM, the HR manager, and the management team makes it easier to have necessary but sometimes difficult conversations. 

The consulting work that Reid offers includes measuring employee satisfaction through employee surveys, conducting HR system reviews, and providing training and mentoring for managers and management teams. Reid also provides support for boards of directors when they are conducting a search and hiring process for a new GM or CEO, ensuring that the process is thorough and thoughtful. Boards are typically grateful for help with this key responsibility, since the process of finding and hiring a new leader can be daunting. 

"I love workplace culture. Workplace culture is really the reason that I do the work that I do."

—Melanie Reid

HR systems review  

HR systems review is a service that provides outside assessment of organizational systems—including the employee handbook, job descriptions, performance evaluations, disciplinary or corrective processes, and wage scales. A major focus of assessing a co-op's HR systems is a thorough and periodic review of the employee handbook, which should accurately and consistently spell out all HR policies and remain up to date with state laws. Employee handbooks are a valuable resource for everyone in the organization—and like organizational culture, the handbook is always evolving. 

Parts of the HR review can be carried out at a distance, but it always includes an on-site visit. Being in the office together and reviewing systems and procedures allows for relationship building, hands-on learning and questions, and sometimes even immediate actions being taken. Reid says she has organized many an employee file or I-9 binder while on site and conducting HR reviews! 

She says, "I love doing that work. It opens the door for so many deeper conversations, especially with newer HR managers or general managers who are also wearing the HR hat." People management is a big part of the work of running a grocery store, and it's important to have the right systems in place and the right support to call upon. 

Consultant Support Manager 

Reid is energized about her new position as Columinate Consultant Support Manager, and she wants to contribute to Columinate in a meaningful way. She describes it as a "very relationship-driven position." Reid has been hired by Manager Vernon Oakes to help Columinate consultant members be more strongly supported—to "connect the dots" between Columinate and our member consultants, to build community, and to ensure our consultants are supported by the services that Columinate offers and are successful in their endeavors. Since the new position is part-time, Reid will be able to maintain her existing consulting work. 

"We're truly in community together and in business together. We have enormous potential within our organization." Reid swears by the Columinate purpose statement: "We make a difference in the world." Reflecting on her human resources work with co-ops across the country and her work for Columinate, she says she is lucky to have her career path and honored to have this mission. 

Look for Reid and more than a dozen other Columinate consultants at the Columinate "fun table" at the upcoming CCMA conference in Tacoma, Washington. Stop by to say hello, enter a raffle, get in on a fun photo op, and more. Columinate members will join a few hundred other attendees in sharing the inspiration and celebration that the conference brings, while also spreading the good word about Columinate services. 

[In a second part to this report, we'll look in more depth at employee satisfaction surveys.]