Ask the right questions
Every week, Weisman asks team members if they ate or cooked anything interesting. “To get the best ideas, you have to talk to them about their life outside of work,” he says.
After receiving a shipment of plantains by mistake, Weisman realized the value in gathering input from his diverse workforce. He asked the team if anyone knew a preparation that didn’t include frying the fruit. An employee from the Dominican Republic offered to prepare a mashed plantain side dish called mangu. She taught the recipe to the rest of the department, and the dish sparked engagement and excitement, he says.