Longtime staff are your sourdough starters
In my magazine publishing days, I used to give discounts to new subscribers — until a longtime customer asked, “Why are you rewarding the new guy and not me?”
I began to understand how often we fail to reward loyalty in our search for something new and sparkly.
There are many examples of loyalty in Extension:
Grabbing supplies on our own dime (usually because reimbursement procedures are too darn complex).
Staying past closing time to finish up with a client or hang out with a kiddo whose parent is late.
Missing family events for meetings and conferences we had no part is setting.
Roping in family members to help with large events.
Staying with the organization through zero-raise years and overlooked promotions, while covering vacant positions for no additional pay.
Longtime loyalty is the sourdough starter of Extension.
Just so we’re on the same page: Sourdough starter is a fermented yeast and bacteria mixture brewed from flour and water. The starter sits in a jar on your countertop, working day and night without much fuss from you.
Its needs are small: a warm environment, a tad bit of daily feeding, and time.
With time, the starter is the key ingredient you need to leaven and flavor a new loaf of bread, giving sourdough its unique taste.
“It’s the absolute heart and soul of sourdough baking.” The Clever Carrot
And so are your loyal, longtime Extension staff.
They believe in the mission.
They know the processes and can work them efficiently without prompting or oversight.
They’ve been through the best and worst and keep showing up.
They inspire and encourage and, when needed, challenge the organization to do better, to be better.
Smart leaders understand the value legacy staff have for Extension. Smart leaders find new ways to engage legacy staff, allowing their passion and knowledge and values to rise through the organization.
Smart leaders incorporate that sourdough starter that’s been “brewing on the counter” for years in new ways that uniquely flavor the organization.
In Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara discussed the importance of cultural knowledge when he transferred veteran staff from one restaurant to his new restaurant.
“I thought of those transplants [longtime staff] … as sourdough starter. They’d communicate, through words and their actions, everything that we stood for and believed in.”
“Their passion and knowledge and all the values they’d accrued … would infect everyone else we hired. As you grow, you can’t lose the very thing that gave you the opportunity to grow.” — Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality
Wonder what legacy staff need from you?
Don’t assume we have nothing new to offer. We invented experiential learning, after all.
Involve us on strategic planning sessions, even if we won’t be here 10 years from now to see it through. Some of our past lessons will be important to avoiding pitfalls for your future.
Don’t criticize us when we offer our opinions on the organization we helped build.
Pay us for our experience. Don’t hire beginning staff at a higher rate than you’re paying us. We can forgive a lot, but that feels like a stab in the back.
Don’t pass on us for a promotion, then expect us to train the person you hired instead of us. If you’re counting on our expertise for their success, you should have hired us.
Train us when technology changes instead of assuming we’ll never learn. Remember, we were there since the beginning of dial-up internet and the launch of the personal computer. We’ve figured out harder things. We’ve got this.
You need your legacy staff. You need their historical knowledge, their stick-to-it-iveness, their insight, and their dedication to do the next right thing.
Not so fast, Judy. What about us new staff?
You are bright stars. We see us in you.
Some of the best stuff I ever learned was from new hires who added spark and spunk to dusty programming that desperately needed a refresh. New staff are vital to any organization’s long-term sustainability, relevance, and impact. New staff were the reason I stayed long after I could have walked out. They’ve become my family in retirement.
I believe we are better together: learning together, mentoring together, building together, working together, listening together. There’s room at the table for everyone.
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About the book: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara would never have been on my radar if I hadn’t heard him speak. Now, I think it should be required reading for every manager.
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