The ReLeaf Center Finds Its 'Why'

Matt Shansky, CEO and general manager of vertically integrated, Arkansas-based medical cannabis operator The ReLeaf Center, says the company seeks passionate employees that not only understand their “why,” but also help the company maintain its culture and commitment to patients.

“‘Why’ is a big piece of us,” Shansky says. “We really want to establish why we do what we do first and then focus on who and what that may be. We try to embody that overall cultural component, really display our values and our foundational core philosophies, not just through words, but through actions, day in and day out.”

Here, Shansky describes this concept in more detail, as well as what makes the company a great place to work.

On hiring and most important and telling interview questions:

Matt Shansky: We’re very adamant about ensuring that we understand, "Why are you passionate?" We want passionate people, so we want to understand why they’re passionate, why they want to work in this industry, but then even more specifically, why they want to work for The ReLeaf Center and why they’re interested in joining our team.

"How do you influence the world?" That’s a pretty broad stroke but again, [we’re] just trying to get an idea of what they feel their role and purpose is, not just from a cannabis industry standpoint, but bigger than that so we can really understand more of what their long-term aspirations may be.

On onboarding and training:

Shansky: Onboarding has been a huge area of focus for us. Early on, it was very basic—it was just: bring them in and get them on the floor and then work closely with someone that's been here and knows what they're doing, since we were all kind of figuring out what we were doing in those early days.

Since then, now that we're almost five years into it, it's definitely been refined. We have more structure in place. We've developed an actual onboarding handbook, in which there's a set agenda, set criteria, [and] we have PowerPoint presentations [and] a schedule that's been more of a standard process with our onboarding. There are shadowing components to it, hands-on training versus reading and digital training requirements. All of those things have been a result of feedback.

On mentorship:

Shansky: We want to put that onus on the individual to express that desire. If you're interested in learning new things, don't wait for someone to ask you—seek it out, be hungry for it, be ambitious. We never want to hinder that hunger. If somebody expresses a desire to learn and wants to grow, we want to support that and try to understand what that support looks like.

On professional growth:

Shansky: We have a shadowing policy. If somebody is in front of house and wants to learn what goes on in compliance, great—reach out to the compliance team, set up time, and they get paid for that, as well. We still have half a dozen employees that started here with us from day one—they were here opening day and they're still here today. [The] majority of, if not all, [of them] have worked their way to management-level positions from entry level. We love to promote internally.

On work-life balance:

Shansky: If you're having a day where you're just not feeling it and just need some time, great, take the day off. We have a point system with excused absences versus unexcused. We allow, within a quarter, up to three unexcused absences before there's even a verbal warning or conversation had, and that's no questions asked. We tried to develop that very objectively, whether you are calling out sick and it's legitimately an illness or the sun's shining outside and you just want to go for a walk. It’s been helpful because our team knows that, and they don't feel that pressure to have to divulge everything or reveal confidential things. Over the course of the year, I think we allow for a total of nine unexcused absences before they get to some point of more serious consequences in terms of discipline, which would be a final warning or probationary period.

Since the implementation of our revised attendance policy, we have seen a significant boost in morale. Our employees really appreciate the fact that they know they have the flexibility to allow for life occurrences to be prioritized as needed. Aside from sick days, we have not seen a significant rise in call-outs or personal days since implementing the revised attendance policy. It has led to a boost in morale and embodies our culture. As part of our core values, we embrace a team mentality, so supporting your fellow team members in times of need has been a fundamental component of our culture, which has allowed this policy to be met with great enthusiasm and support.

On reviews and assessment:

Shansky: Each quarter, we do a review. We have a standard format that we work through—it's essentially just a metric of one through five, [a] scoring system, five being the best. At the end of that year, for an annual overview, typically the department manager will meet with the team member or myself, if it's more of a manager level. We do a comprehensive performance review, and that's typically more focused around the whole body of work throughout the course of the year. That's also an opportunity to review the compensation piece. Everyone entitled to that review now has the opportunity to at least be considered for a raise annually.

On leadership inspiration:

Shansky: I've worked for some really good leaders and I've worked for some not-so-great leaders, and I've tried to learn from both what I can adopt or implement. We tend to have a mantra around here: Be better today than you were yesterday. In terms of specific resources, I love "Extreme Ownership," a book by Jocko Willink [and Leif Babin]. And Brené Brown, [I’m a] big fan of hers.

On industry challenges:

Shansky: There's always a delicate balance there, where you don't want to incite panic and create this [sense of] doom and gloom and everything's dire right now, and you better start updating your resumes. Obviously, if things were getting to that stage, we would try to be very open with our team and treat them like adults. We're not in that position, thankfully, but it's been a challenging year compared to the last few. We've seen gradual declines in most aspects of our business right now in terms of measurables. [The team is] aware of it anyway. They're standing around more. They see the empty parking lots on a more frequent basis now, so it's not a secret. We don't try to hide anything or shy away from it.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.