A View From the Driver’s Seat: The Importance of Crew Connections

After sitting in on two days of general sessions at the IDDBA 2022 Show, it was retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. who really struck a chord—in sharing why, as a broadcaster now for NBC, he makes a point to still race once a year despite getting his “butt kicked out there.”

“I like to do it because it reminds me of everything a driver goes through, everything a driver experiences inside the car,” Earnhardt said. “It keeps all of those memories and all of those thoughts fresh in mind, so when I’m working in the booth, when I’m seeing something happen on the track, I know exactly what the driver is thinking and why he chose to do what he did. That’s my job as analyst.

“The further you get removed from that experience … the harder it is to retain those nuances and those particular experiences those drivers go through,” he continued.

In an industry in which so many executives got their start as a bagger or clerk at their local grocery store, Earnhardt’s point of remembering your roots is what can set grocery apart in a labor market where there are more jobs than applicants. Grocery executives know better than anyone else what it takes to show up every day, connect with the customer and build a career in this essential field.

Earnhardt's comments reminded me of a conversation I had earlier this year with Bashas’ President Edward “Trey” Basha about how the grocer fosters employee growth.

“We work very hard to promote from within—we invite, induce and mentor individuals to grow,” Basha said. “A number of our upper management today started out as courtesy clerks in the store, and they grew with the company. So as we opened new stores, we provided opportunities for them to grow. We have in-house training programs for management. We … provide scholarship dollars, not only to our members but also to their children as well, to their dependents. And we encourage education, and we encourage growth, and truthfully, there are no limits to where you can be.”

Bashas’ also makes a point to connect with its employees on a personal level. “I can remember my dad visiting [employees] in the hospital, reaching out to them after a tragedy,” Basha said. “I can tell you that even today we celebrate five, 10, 15—five-year increments—years of service. And I personally sign all of the cards. And, if they're above 20 years, write a little special message.”

These connections ultimately drive motivation—a point Earnhardt drove home when talking about his crew when he was a driver.

"The crew, to be quite honest, does a lot of the work," he said. "The pit crew, the crew chief, the people that build the cars, the people that put them together and send them to racetrack ... For me, it was important to try my best to connect to all the crew members and try to know them personally, try to know what they have going on at home, what’s happening in their lives. … I always looked at it like I was putting my life in their hands because they were in control of building the car … and I also needed all of them to perform their best when it counted on race day.

"If they don’t believe in you, and if they don’t feel like you believe in them and they don’t feel like there’s some love there and some real genuine passion, they’re not going to battle and they’re not going to put their best into it."

In grocery, the clerks, baggers, slicers, stockers and more are your crew—give them something to believe in and something to work toward, and they’ll surely "put their best into it."