As most of you know we make a living in the education business at Kim Richardson Transportation Specialists Inc. and our team has been doing a really good job at it for nearly three decades.  From a leadership perspective for most of those years our philosophy has been to hire the right people, give them the tools to do the job, pay them well and then get out of their way. When I use the term tools I mean Education.

I hear quite often in our industry, and I’m sure it is the same with other industries, when talking about investing in people’s education leadership saying, “I get disappointed when we invest in training and education, pay for it and then people leave for other opportunities”.  That’s ok but the alternative question is what if you don’t invest in training and education in your people and they stay? What’s that do for your business?

With today’s competitive market for great people and you wanting good people working in your businesses you had better invest in training and education.  Yes, some of them will leave, some of them will stay but I would suggest to you that we in the trucking industry are in the relationship business.  It’s a pretty tight fraternity so once people are in our industry they tend to stay, so treat them well when they are with your company and if they leave, unless they go to work for a direct competitor, they will send you business. They will remember how you treated them. Believe me, I have been on both sides of the fence on this one.

So, let’s look at the Driven to Lead Program presented by Eagles Flight, the investment and the return of committing to sending one of your people.  If you’re a PMTC member it’s $1800.00 for the four courses which are one day in length per course so that’s $450.00 per day or as I do the math that is $50.00 per hour to be involved. Factor in what your paying your employee and time away from the office and the investment is minimal even for small businesses. Remember what happens if you don’t educate them and they stay.  If you’re not a member of PMTC it’s $2300.00 so why not just join this incredible organization and take advantage of all their savings and benefits they offer you as a member.

Now that we have the investment figured out let’s break down each session and list all the reasons you shouldn’t have your employees attend after you decide if any of these topics does not create return to your bottom line;

1) creating a culture of credibility

2) building and leading teams

3) communicating for impact

4) coaching for results

That didn’t take long did it? Do you want to go deeper on the investment? Let me share with you how much this investment costs when we look at investing in your people over a year in the Driven to Lead Program. If there are 252 work days in the year your investment is just above $7.00 per day or $35.00 per week to send someone to the Driven to Lead program. The other thing you need to consider is the confidence building this will have for the employees you send. Surrounding themselves with like minded people will show them they belong, they can become better and they will commit to becoming better because of the investment you have made in them.

At the end of the day it’s your call, the Driven to Lead Program may be just what your future leaders needs.  Looking to register someone contact the PMTC at info@pmtc.ca or call 905 827 0587.

Have you heard, there is a driver’s shortage in our industry. I have been in the industry for 35 years and this has been talked about as long as I have been around. We have all heard the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  We all know recruiting quality professional drivers is very competitive, so if your going to recruit and retain the best of the best you need to be the best of the best.

Very clear defined processes are needed with strong and measurable hiring criteria.  Let’s not forgot we need to be efficient and accurate in the process as well. Your marketing and message must be one that attracts the candidates your looking for and will have them reach out to your company.  It’s very noisy out there in the industry and the market place for hiring is very crowded, your message with any of your recruiting and retention efforts needs to offer a very strong value proposition. This may take a little time but it is worth every minute and the best place to start is with your most important and valuable asset, your current drivers.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses by creating a standard set of questions and ask every driver in your company to participate. Here is a sample of questions to get you rolling;

• What does our company do good?
• What does our company do bad?
• Where can we improve operations?
• Where can we improve in safety?
• What do you like about your career here?
• What don’t you like about your career here?
• What is the number one thing that satisfies you about your job?
• How can we make your job easier?
• If you were talking to a fellow driver what would be the #1 reason you would encourage him/her to come and drive for us?
• If you could fix one thing that is fixable in your mind about our company what would be?

10 questions that’s it.  Depending on how you communicate with your drivers it can be done face to face, over the phone, by email, what ever works but put a time line on it and come up with way to get everyone involved.  Offer up a $75.00 gift certificate to a restaurant or store for the driver’s participation. The number one reason your doing this is to create valued marketing and deliver a message to the world as to why drivers should consider your company to come to work for.  Create a message that can delivered by anyone in your company to recruit drivers.

In North America the Trucking industry is spending over a million dollars a day recruiting drivers. Drivers are flooded with opportunities everywhere they go and the pool needs to be expanded, the message needs to get their attention, excite them and get them to contact your company.  Once they have called the next step is to have a buttoned-down process to get them in the door. Recruitment and retention is an art and science. The science is becoming more popular and more and more companies are using advanced hiring technology that is quick, accurate and affordable.

There are many companies out there and more entering the space daily so be sure if your looking at this that you do your homework.  We have plenty of experience in this area, if your looking to learn about best in class companies who offer these services give me a call, I will point you in the right direction.

Have a great summer and be safe out there.