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Training & Business Systems

Behind the Scenes : Inducting Staff Members into the Zingerman’s Partners Group Consensus

The Zingerman’s Community of Businesses recently made the decision to induct 3 staff members into the Partners Group. Join us for a behind the scenes look at this decision from the very epicenter of it – Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s and Mara Ferguson, member of the Governance Committee that came up with the actual […]

Training & Business Systems

Copy That! – Our Tips and Techniques for Writing Great Product Copy

If you use words to sell your wares, this is the webinar for you! Whether you put them on your website or print catalog, or on a product sign in a deli case, the words you use to describe your products and services are often your first (and sometimes only) opportunity to sell to your […]

Training & Business Systems

Creating a Community of Businesses

I want to start a Community of Businesses! How does Zingerman’s do it? Ari says he gets this question, or some version of it, once or twice a week. The Zingerman’s Community has 9 businesses? Why 9 businesses? What’s the partnership set up? What percentages are owned by whom? What about profit distribution? Who makes […]

Training & Business Systems

Key Elements of Really Effective Training

At Zingerman’s we believe that the employee life cycle has three stages : Stage 1 : Finding and Hiring the Right People Stage 2 : Helping Staff Succeed Stage 3 : Assisting Departing Staff Way back when, we did a webinar that covered a key part of Stage 1. We called it Intentional Interviewing. It […]

Training & Business Systems

Effective Performance Reviews

Let’s admit it. It is rare to find someone who loves performance reviews – no matter whether they are on the giving or receiving end. And consistently giving effective andtimely performance reviews has probably been in the top 5 of universal management frustrations for as long as there have been managers! We thought this article […]

Training & Business Systems

Priceless Little Training Gems

As you may know, we’ve been focusing on the employee life cycle in our last few webinars. Stage 2 of the Employee Life Cycle is all about Helping Staff Succeed. And Training is a key part of that. Our March webinar was all about training : The Key Components of Really Effective Training, and we’ve […]

Business Visioning

Ari’s Secret Source of Progressive Business Ideas

In this webinar, Ari will reveal his “secret” source of progressive business ideas – the Anarchists! Anarchism and business might seem like strange bedfellows but Ari’s in-depth studies of the Anarchists, first as a Russian history student in the 1970’s and then again as he did research for his Guide to Good Leading series, reveal […]

Business Visioning

An Introduction to Zingerman’s Approach to Visioning

Many of you know that here at Zingerman’s, we’re big believers in the power of Visioning. We use it for projects of every size – from getting a new office printer to opening a new business. We teach it at every level of our organization. We write business visions, team visions, project visions, shift visions […]

Training & Business Systems

So You’ve Identified a Performance Problem, Now What?

If you manage people, you’ve most likely faced the dilemma of what to do with that employee who is not meeting performance expectations. And if you’re human, you most likely don’t particularly enjoy being in that situation. Reactions to performance problems can range from squirming to sorrow to frustration to anger. And no matter where […]

Leadership Development

8 Terrific Tips to Tune Up Your Team

For some of us, the upcoming holidays are a time when our teams will be tested. More customers. More product. More sales. More stress. For others, the holidays mean doldrums and slowing down. And then there is the challenge of that post-holiday re-entry, which can be a testy time for all of us as we […]

Business Visioning

Our Beliefs on Visioning

If we go by Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule, Ari is an expert on Visioning. He’s studied visioning for countless hours. He’s written (and executed) scores of visions. He’s written about Visioning in his book Guide to Good Leading Series, Part 1 : A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business. He’s taught visioning […]