Leading an independent grocery store has never been as difficult as it is now.

Now the popular GM Development Program is more flexible than ever, to help your store adapt and thrive!

Leading an independent grocery store has never been as difficult as it is now. And leading a multi-stakeholder organization like a cooperative brings additional complexities to an already challenging role. To be successful in leading a food co-op, a leader must have an array of technical expertise as well as strong leadership skills. This is where we come in to provide things like:

Training and Mentorship

Remote Courses

Onsite/Instore Training

Facilitated Store Audits

Leadership Assessment

Key benefits

  • Columinate’s consultants/instructors are experts and leaders in their subject matter.

  • We help your GM develop a network of expert resources that will be in place long after the classes are over.

  • We work with your independent grocery store’s actual documents and situations, as much as possible.

  • Our instructors will refer your GM to additional educational opportunities, many of which are available at a low or no cost.

The purpose of this GM Development Program is to create an initial framework/curriculum for an incoming General Manager, and the GM Trainee, to be fully oriented, trained, and supported in their new position so that the GM and the co-op are both poised for success. We work with each individual co-op to co-create the best plan to match their needs.

The Complete GM Development Program is designed to leverage best practices in other food co-ops and expertise but is also designed to recognize and support the unique offerings and opportunities that each co-op will have that may be different than some existing food co-ops.

Netse Lytle, GM Wild Oats Market

What Our Participants Say

Build the right STACK for you!

It is great to be able to promote from within a co-op or organization. Individuals who have worked their way up through the ranks to become the GM can possess a high degree of understanding about that specific organization, staff and business. But they may not have the experience overseeing strategic development and management of the business goals, the full picture of asset management and cash flow, or be fluent in their understanding of the board and GM relationship. The GM Development program for these individuals might typically include:

  • Leadership Module: Assessing and building a plan to become the leader that they will need to be. A deep analysis followed by work with an executive coach will help them become a strong strategic thinker and master executive communication strategies.
  • Selected Coursework in the Oversight Module: GMs promoted into first time GM roles often need directed studies in higher level oversight responsibilities. Their coursework might include:
    • Accounting and Financial Document Literacy:
    • Achieving Financial Metrics:
    • Board Relations and Governance:
    • Building and Managing Your Image and Marketing:
    • Building and Managing your HR Practices:
  • Selected Hands-On Training

Sometimes if a GM’s experience lies mostly in one department, they would need some augmentation to learn effective oversight of the other key areas of the store. This can be at their store with trainers coming on site or can be done through off-site host store training opportunities.

This is another common path for many GMs. These are individuals who may have a lot of grocery retail oversight expertise and so may not need as much store training. They may have been expert implementers in their previous roles but may have not ever been responsible for creating the plan. A typical development stack for these GMs may be:

  • Leadership Module: Assessing and building a plan to become the leader that they will need to be. A deep analysis followed by work with an executive coach will help them become a strong strategic thinker and master executive communication strategies.
  • Selected Coursework in the Oversight Module: GMs promoted into first time GM roles often need directed studies in higher level oversight responsibilities. Their coursework might include:
    • Accounting and Financial Document Literacy
    • Board Relations and Governance
    • Building and Managing Your Image and Marketing
    • Co-op Culture, Diversity and Engaging Stakeholders
  • Store Visits, Operational Audits & Building Peer Network Module:

Participating in some guided store visits can help a new GM from outside the co-op or independent grocery world, build a broader perspective of the new retail environment, and see live examples of how other stores in their size or category, are building engaging shopping experiences. In addition to practicing quick store audit and assessment skills, these guided tours offer the chance to speed up that networking timeline by directly introducing them to their new peers.

Sometimes a veteran GM or those aspiring to become GMs just want to sharpen their skills and perspective in a specific area like Financial management, co-op culture, or board & GM relationship, for example. We can work with GMs and aspring GMs to build a targeted stack of coursework or store audits to build the expertise in whatever specific area they seek.

  • Accounting and Financial Document Literacy: Audrey Griffin
  • Achieving Financial Metrics: Jeanie Wells
  • Board Relations and Governance: Leslie Watson and Jeanie Wells
  • Leveraging Data and Strong Category Management: Scot DeStasio and Jen Christopher
  • Building and Managing Your Image and Marketing: Rebecca Torpie
  • Building and Managing your HR Practices: Sarah Dahl
  • Co-op Culture, Diversity and Engaging Stakeholders: Thane Joyal and James Morrell

Ready to get started?

Potential Program Modules

We will conduct an initial skills assessment to determine which classes would offer the greatest return on investment for both the grocery store and the GM. A grocery store may select and combine as many different modules and courses as needed to achieve the desired individualized development goals.

Hands-on and in-person operations training at a host training store

  • The purpose of this method is to provide real-life training in all key departments to enhance leadership perspective for all areas of operations prior to the new co-op opening.
  • Typical in-person operations training engagements are 4+ weeks on location with a skilled training store. We try to place the GM trainee in a host training store that is in the region.

Guided Coursework

We offer a potential of 7 remote one-on-one live courses designed to enhance and improve executive oversight skills in essential areas of grocery management. These topic-focused courses are delivered through live sessions via Zoom and include guided study by a seasoned expert in each of these areas:

The purpose of the remote sessions and coaching is to leverage sustained learning opportunities in certain key areas while offering flexibility in scheduling and minimizing the need for travel, but matching the new GM or GM Trainee with an expert in that field.

Building Real Leadership Capacity

While some aspects of running a successful grocery store can be taught, being an effective and intentional leader requires commitment and continual work. If working on your leadership effectiveness is one of your critical issues, we can help. We offer a robust leadership assessment process and regular coaching sessions on a mutually agreeable schedule for the incoming GM and the coach, to provide specific leadership development curriculum to the incoming GM.

  • Assessing individual leadership style and capacity, leadership enrichment plan. The new GM or GM Trainee will be guided through “CPI 260” assessment tool to assist with full insight into natural leadership tendencies and development opportunities.
  • Using the results of the full assessment, the new GM is matched with a leadership mentor that will work with the GM to provide steady on-going leadership coaching throughout a mutually agreed-upon period, to build capacity in areas identified in the assessment process.

Facilitated Store Readiness Training through Guided Store Audit Tours

This module includes training opportunities to visit stores in the region in a structured manner.

An experienced Columinate retail trainer will be in-person as a store audit partner with the GM Trainee and will facilitate a structured tour and visit with a group of stores in a designated area that may share a common format, scale, or goals with the GM.

The purpose of these guided store audit tours is to practice critical evaluation of store conditions and readiness in a variety of conditions to help the new GM or GM Trainee think critically about their own store’s readiness and shopping experience.

The strong secondary purpose of these guided store audits is to introduce and foster in-person peer connections in the region by facilitating introductions and connections with peers—the incoming GM.

Contact Us for more info!

Build the plan that's right for you!

This program is designed to allow each incoming GM to choose the learning modules based on their specific experiences and needs. Ready to jump in? Schedule a free consultation to help you create your own customized development plan to be successful. By helping facilitate this mixing and matching of development modules into a General Manager’s own unique customized development plan, you can truly help a GM can build strength just where they need it and ready them for the road ahead.

Let’s get started!

Fill out our form and a GM Development Program Specialist will reach out to you to schedule an introductory call.

Our specialist will describe each component and build a custom plan to suit your individual needs.

Indicate the modules you are interested in:
Select any of the available components to start building your custom plan!

What Our Participants Say

For More Information

Download Informational Flyers: GM Development, GM Search Support, and Management on Contract Services.

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Related Resources

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