There is an entire genre of films and TV shows dedicated to pointing out the soullessness and drone of American workplaces, with 1999’s Office Space perhaps the most famous example.

Columinate consultant Mark Mulcahy has the prescription for both the workers at Office Space’s fictional Initech, and for the real workers at co-ops and independent grocers across the country.

“I’m working on bringing joy and balance back to the workplace.  That’s gotten lost.  That’s what makes people want to come to work: to find joy and purpose in their work.  Everyone carries the same products and margin pressures will continue.  Businesses who build a culture of doing real work through joy will thrive.”

Mulcahy’s joy in this industry began at a co-op in Walnut Creek, California.  It was just a part-time job in the produce department, but the work and the mission sunk its teeth into him.

“I wanted to see more organic food in the co-op. I felt a connection with the cooperative principals and learned a lot about food.  I later went to work for another natural food store and became a produce buyer.

 I truly believe we can change the world through food, by providing good food and supporting farmers.  The work tied in with my environmental activism, it tied into my values.”

The joy appears to have started even in his early days.

“I also got to sing while I worked,” Mulcahy chuckled.

Don’t confuse his joy however, for a lack of hard work.  After building the first organic produce department in the Bay Area, a process which included creating growing practice affidavits in the times before USDA certification, he began to look at retail food management across the industry.

Rising stars and more

“I didn’t see the basic foundation for operations at various stores.  I met Carolee Colter, who introduced me to Allen Seidner. We were all doing consulting work and saw similar challenges at different stores.”

So together they created the Rising Stars leadership development training program and put it out there to the industry. There was nothing like it at the time for managers of co-op or independent grocers to learn to be leaders. Decades later, the program has graduated over 2500 managers. Retail managers across a variety of job types have used it as a defining moment to be able to thrive in their roles.

Mulcahy explained that he has always sought out people who knew what they were doing and asked to collaborate on bringing that knowledge to others. He has worked for over 35 years in independent and co-op stores to help educate the industry. Once he learned how to put together a strong local grower program, he made it a point to work with stores across the country to build their programs. He even won a prestigious Sustie award in 2002 for his work with organic produce.

Stability during turbulent times

The pandemic brought Mulcahy another opportunity wrapped in a challenge.

“People weren’t hiring consultants early in the pandemic,” he explained.  “Mark Goehring [Manager of Columinate] asked if I would do Interim General Manager (IGM) work.  It’s no small thing to leave your house, stay somewhere else and work to transform an organization that needs a lot of assistance.”

He had never been a General Manager (GM), but Mulcahy believed in his abilities to build strong systems and work to make a strong vibrant culture in stores. He hopped in his truck and drove cross country in 2020 and wound up working the IGM role at three different stores.

Mulcahy described the work as trying to settle the waters during a turbulent time. He helped stores reorganize and chart a new course to financial stability and staff engagement. At smaller stores an IGM could also be the Store Manager, Finance Manager and Human Resources.

“Even though I’ve worked with GMs my entire career, I didn’t fully appreciate how difficult the job is until IGM work.  I really understood what it’s like to hold an entire staff’s livelihoods in your hands.”

Collaborating for stronger support services

This work not only led to a greater respect for the GM role it also led to a collaboration with Jeanie Wells to teach a session at this summers CCMA conference called Investing in your greatest asset! Supporting your GM during challenging times.

Mulcahy has recently been working on projects to support GMs, partially born out of his IGM experience. His consulting work has focused on helping with reorganizations, supporting operations, and the Board-GM dynamic. He and Carolee Colter created seminars on how to deal with Burnout during the pandemic for both INFRA and NCG. This summer Mark will be joining forces with James Morrell to lead a seminar at the national INFRA conference entitled Moving From Burnout To Balance; How Effective Operations and Staff Engagement Support the Practice of Wellbeing

Over the past two years he joined with Todd Wallace and Colter to build seminars around navigating conflict and building trust in their relationship with their Board.

Future expectations

Collaborating with other Columinate consultants and industry partners to support clients is very important to Mulcahy.

“I started working with and supporting partnerships with all the different consultants at Columinate to make our work with clients better.  We all have our own individual businesses, and even though we’re a part of something together we don’t necessarily know what we’re each up to.  The more we know each other’s work, the more we can help our clients and recommend resources.”

Mulcahy even described attending trainings put on by fellow Columinate consultants such as Laura King’s Leadership Circle or Facilitation Fundamentals led by Thane Joyal.

As for what’s next as grocery retailers continue to navigate the new normal, Mulcahy has thoughts.

“I’m telling all my clients it’s time to get back to retail.  Retail will not be the same as they ever imagined it.  AI will affect retail.  Staff have different expectations of leadership than they did before the pandemic, and they’re less tolerant of poor leadership.  Organizations have the opportunity to reimagine themselves, to be operationally stronger, and to create a more accountable and transparent workplace.”

Mulcahy believes that training will be key to these reimaginations, especially since training went by the wayside during Covid. Staff want to work for good managers. One of the key reasons people leave their job is poor management.

The protagonist of Office Space, Peter Gibbons, says to a consultant at one point ‘The thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.’

Mulcahy summed up his transformational approach to retail consulting in a way that may just bring the disillusioned Peter back into the fold.

“When organizations don’t run well, people may love where they are because of what their co-op stands for but they don’t find joy in their work, creating staff disengagement and low morale. I work hard with my clients to slow down, build accountability, and clear expectations. By doing these things as well as listening and encouraging curiosity I have been able to accomplish bringing joy back to the workplace.”

If you are going to CCMA this year be sure to drop by the Bringing Joy and Balance to Your Work session Mark is leading with Samuel Vandegrift.