Tag: Kim Richardson

Winning and Leadership

Recently the fine folks at Giant Tiger (GT) included me in to their fall meeting in Johnstown, Ontario at their state of the art distribution centre. The meeting was with some management and some of their professional drivers.
When a company asks me to come and speak to the audience they have choices of a number of topics or they may ask for a customized message to be delivered. GT requested a customized message, Winning and Leadership.
I have had the pleasure of being involved with GT meetings in the past and very rewarding and satisfying to be invited back. This team is best in class, an “elite fleet”. GT has some serious passionate people in their transportation division (who also like to have fun) combined with a team of “major league” professional drivers who remind me of the Labatt’s team back in the day when we working with them and they were the cream of the crop.
At GT the CVOR is incredibly low, the turnover rate is 2ish% and the entire team just gets it. Notably in 2024 they won the PMTC/Aviva Safest Fleet in Canada Award in large fleet category in Canada.
Winning and leadership is what they wanted me to talk about a long with the importance of embracing technology as well as my opinion of where we are in the industry and where we are heading. Such fun! I love winning (who doesn’t) and I love being a leader so it was easy to talk about.
One of the fun exercises I enjoy to do with the audience if it is not to big is to go around the room and ask how many years each person has been in the transportation industry. Typically I hear everything from 6 months to 40 plus years and I have someone calculate the number as we go along. The goal is to share with the group how much knowledge is in the room by experience – I like to call it the IC (Intellectual Capital) and how we can share and all benefit from. It really gets the audiences juices flowing.
The reasons GT wanted me talk about winning and leadership is GT and their people are winners, the team are winners. Winners of many awards in many different areas. With winning and with being in “best in class” it comes with expectations. When you win, you and your company are viewed by others in the industry as an elite fleet and with this comes expectation of being a leader, setting examples of professionalism on a daily basis.
The challenge is what next? How to continuously raise the bar. I will not share with you the goals and expectations GT has in the future but I can assure you they are not going to sit around patting themselves on the back and resting on their past accomplishments.
It is not what winners do, it’s not what leaders do.
We are so fortunate to work with so many of the elite fleets, for-hire fleets and private fleets across the country. Thank you to all of you, from my team to yours – keep being incredible.
I want to leave you with this golden nugget that was shared with me by two of my industry friends and business colleagues on the east coast about recruiting and retaining people in our industry. Thank you Kelly and Katrina for sharing this.
“We need to earn people into this industry and then retain them”.
My friends had heard this from a speaker at a conference they had attended. What a profound statement.

Building a Competitive Workforce

Is there a different approach to labor demand?

Recently I read, “Currently labor market pressures are easing, but we need to keep supporting the sector with targeted resources and programs to respond to anticipated long-term laborr challenges,” says Craig Faucette, Chief Program Officer, Trucking HR Canada. “Our labor market forecast for the road ahead to 2030 confirms that labor demand will continue to significantly outpace supply and we could see 40,400 vacancies in our sector.”

There needs to be a different approach and depending on who you talk to there are many opinions and recommendations.

The Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada (PTTAC) believes there has never been a better time for the industry to embrace Red Seal apprenticeship for the Commercial Truck Operators in Canada. The Alberta government feels the same way announcing their plan to move forward. The last few months the PTTAC have invested time and energy meeting with industry and government. Round tables on Red Seal have all led to the same results in principle who were all in to support the movement for Red Seal. Round tables have been held in Manitoba, Regina and Saskatoon with more to be held in Ontario and Nova Scotia in the next couple months. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the benefits and willingness of industry to embrace Red Seal along with the hurdles and potential negatives, if any, for the transportation industry. There are so many positives as to why we should be embracing this initiative.

Here are a few:

  • Attracting better talent
  • Retention will increase
  • Tailored training
  • Future proofing our workforce

In the end apprenticeship will provide your companies with the skilled workers for the much needed talent we need.

Back to the Trucking HR market forecast for a need for 40,000 vacancies in our sector. If we ensure employees have all the right education and are equipped with the skills they need, they will thrive in our industry long term.

Building a competitive workforce is no one’s responsibility but ours.

Pay Attention To Your Talent

The transportation industry is a tough go even in the best of times, but I do not know other businesses as well as I know transportation. Specifically recruiting, retention and HR.

Spending a lifetime in one spot allows you to see many things. Providing our services to over 500 companies in the transportation industry for over nearly 4 decades I can safely say we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly and in some cases the great. What makes an organization great? Regardless of size it really does not matter. We have seen and dealt with companies who employ from 1 -5000 across the globe. The one thing all great companies do is pay attention to their talent.

One of things your top talent wants besides a good pay cheque and be treated properly is education. Great people make great companies and great people are educated in their field and always want to learn. Regardless if your company is in a time when your margins are good or bad you should always be paying attention to your talent, your team, the ones in the trenches every day making a difference to your companies. If you don’t they will be moving on. Most have heard this; what is worse than paying and investing in educating and upgrading your people and having them leave? Not investing for any education or upgrading and they stay – True Story!

Educating your team and raising the bar for them if they are in recruiting, retention, HR or really any part of the industry means considering sending them to the National Recruiting & Retention Symposium on May 2nd in Burlington, Ontario. Those who attend will have the opportunity to hear from leaders in our industry who will be sharing valuable information to make your company better and improve your bottom line.

In the late afternoon on May 1st we will have our first presenter, Glenn Caldwell, Vice President of NAL Insurance. Glenn is a networking wizard who has spent a lifetime building his personal and company brand. Have a few refreshments and appetizers as you hear from one of the most liked individuals in our industry and learn how to network like a champ.

The day of the Symposium, May 2nd, there will be a full day of education starting with our keynote speaker, Hamza Khan. His message is extraordinary and he will share with the audience how you can help your company by reinventing leadership and the people first playbook for managing tomorrow’s workforce. This will be worth the price of admission itself. The rest of the day the focus will be on education including recruiting, retention and HR and making you better at what they do. More efficient, more effective, more knowledgeable, – just better!

Other agenda items include a panel discussion with industry association leaders, Mike Millian, President (Private Motor Trucking Council of Canada, PMTC), James Stead, Chairperson (Ontario Trucking Association, OTA) and John Elliott, Past Chairperson (Truckload Carrier Association, TCA) as they talk about all things trucking.

Other industry leaders, panelists and presenters include:

Kara Kett, Contrans Group

Kaitlynn Parker, Armour Transportation

Jason Libralesso, Home Hardware

Patricia Burke, Canadian Blood Services

Tracy Clark, Bison Transport

Jim Dimech, Linde

Matt Richardson, KRTS Transportation Specialists Inc.

Michael Thompson, ISB Global

JB, Hahn, Insurance Specialist

Matt Carr, CPC Logistics

Awards will be presented as well, one being the National Recruiter of Year sponsored by Tenstreet. This award goes to one deserving person who has been nominated by their company for their efforts and contribution in recruiting, retention and HR.

In closing this event is not possible and we would not be able to offer this to the industry at the price we do without the tremendous financial support of the many sponsors who have been with us for many years who at the time of print include;

Revolution Staffing, Tenstreet, Serco, Northbridge Insurance, BFL Canada, Aviva, Purves Redmond Limited, NAL Insurance, Economical Insurance, Wellington Group, Private Motor Trucking Council of Canada, Trucking Human Resource Council Atlantic, Concrete Ontario,  Safety Dawg, Lead Pedal Podcast.

Sponsorship comes with many advantages including registrations and discounts.

Learn more about sponsorship and get registered at www.transrep.ca/symposium/

We look forward to seeing you there!

Toxic Colleagues and Teammates

Last week I was talking with an industry friend who has someone working in their company who was creating a toxic environment.

I cannot take credit for this list but I can tell you I have seen it, lived it and I bet you have as well. There is nothing worse than a toxic colleague or teammate. When you’re in the company of toxic people and if you cannot change their behavior you and your company will NEVER win or be successful surrounded by these types of people. They must go. Here is what to watch for:

10 of the most common and destructive behaviors:

  1. Backstabbing, criticizing, and blaming everyone else.
  2. Stealing credit for ideas.
  3. Gossiping and spreading rumors.
  4. Agreeing in meetings, but not following through afterward.
  5. Undermining and it’s never their fault.
  6. Hoarding information.
  7. Caring only about personal agendas (over team and company goals.)
  8. Quick to gain glory.
  9. Gaslighting – causing you to question the validity of your own thoughts.
  10. Creating unnecessary drama and distraction.

Toxic colleagues are costly to company morale AND their affect can be highly contagious. That is why good people QUIT. Good people do not want to be part of a toxic team.

I have never been part of a successful team where people put themselves ahead of the team.

Commercial Accidents are up in Ontario

There is no doubt there are more commercial trucks than ever operating on Ontario highways, one would suggest the increase is on all highways and roads in Canada and the USA.

First, let’s applaud all those great fleets out there, the ownership and management for having a focus on road safety. More importantly let’s recognize all those amazing professional drivers who do such a great job every single day as they perform their craft with all road users of our highways. It is no easy task for sure. A recent OPP report released says that they responded to 9,110 transport truck related crashes in 2022, this is the highest rate in more than a decade. These crashes resulted in 71 fatalities and the majority of them were deemed preventable. The OPP reported improper lane changes, following too closely, speed and distracted driving as the primary causes of the collisions. Speeding and driving to fast accounted for 25.3% of all fatal roadway crashes in Canada in 2020.

How do we lower crashes and increase safety on our roads? There are so many great safety organizations in North America with plenty of educational material and information to be shared. Enforcement is doing their best.

When it comes to education I wonder if we could do more. All of these accidents, are there other trends we could be looking at possibly? Is it possible for the enforcement during the accident to capture the data of the driver as to how long they have had their licence? How about where did they get certified and trained? Potential patterns could be identified.

What can we do as “four wheelers” out there with the big rigs? Number one, give those rigs more room, let them see you, don’t cut them off, don’t rush to merge in front of them, make sure they can see you if you are behind them. We all play a part in road safety, we all want to get home to our families and loves ones at the end of the day, being a safe and responsible road user is everyone’s responsibility.

What is the Future of Recruiting Truck Drivers?

The driver shortage continues to be the number one concern in our industry for most. With our business ventures we get to talk to all types of companies who have driver issues. We attend many events annually and as a buddy says “you can’t swing a cat around a room by the tail without hitting someone who is talking about the driver shortage.” He is a funny guy and smart too.
Here are a couple of my thoughts about recruitment;
  • For most companies there are mixed messages about their driving opportunities. Every team member should be delivering the same message. Keep it short, write it down, be sure everyone understands the message.
  • Tighter hiring criteria leads to higher retention. The insurance industry is tightening things up but I think it goes further than that. Once you identify your companies ideal driver set the criteria and shoot for it every day.
  • 20% of the driver turnover is the same drivers moving from company to company. This is their DNA and stay away from them. There probably not going to change.
  • In some cases I think recruiters are mislead with how their paid. Many are compensated for putting people in the seats. I don’t disagree with this but I think they need to be compensated on the backend as well for the drivers that they recruit and stay for a year.
  • More attention needs to be paid to the drivers and their recruiting efforts. Satisfied drivers who are looked after and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve can be one of your companies best recruitment tools. Remember, referrals don’t drive your business, drivers do.
  • Be innovative, innovation needs to be a habit not a goal.
Some of the brightest minds in the transportation industry will gather April 27th at the National Recruiting and Retention Symposium in Brampton Ontario at the Lionhead Golf and Conference Centre. The entire event will be chocked with information to better recruit and retain for the transportation Industry and not just the driver. You will take away ideas to improve your company.
Last year we had a terrific event in Truro, Nova Scotia partnering with the Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic. The majority of those attending were people from recruiting, retention, Human Resources and management. Associations representatives, government and service providers made up the rest of those who attended.
For more information about registration or sponsorship opportunities go to https://transrep.ca/symposium/
I hope to see you there.

Using a Third party to Obtain your Driver Abstracts

For most trucking companies, asking for a drivers abstract is one of the first steps in the hiring process. This is for a number of reasons, for one your insurance company requires this be done, two it is part of the National Safety Code requirement in Canada. It is one of the first documents asked for during an audit from government or a safety specialists. You should have an updated driver abstract in your DQF every 6 months.
Using a third party to access all of your abstracts is really a good business decision, I sum it up in three words; affordable, timely and authentic. All three are important so let’s break them down.
Affordable: Third party services complete so many abstracts and this gives them big buying power, in most cases they can perform this task for the same price or slightly more then you would pay allowing you to perform other daily tasks which in the long run saves your company money.
Timely: Let face it with the war on talent happening in our industry with drivers, the faster you can give a yes to a potential hire the better. A third party gets the abstract completed very quickly, in most cases in 24 hours. If you tell your third party you need it ASAP they can spin it around even quicker for you.
Authenticity: This should be the number one reason you farm out all your abstracts to a third party. With todays technology and the ability for a driver to fudge the documents so easy using a third party is good business sense. Some insurance companies actually recommend using a third party for this one reason alone.
At KRTS and Transrep we encourage all of our corporate clients and anyone we do business with to use a third party. For us and many others in the industry it has always been MEE, (Making Eligibility Easy). They are a division of ISB Global Services, one the largest document sourcing companies in the world used by many corporate giants which give them major league buying power.
Not only do many of our customers use MEE for driver abstracts but for other services as well. They are one stop shop for ordering, storing and managing your Driver Qualification Files (DQF). The MEE single web portal streamlines the recruiting process and makes eligibility easy, dramatically reducing the hiring cycle so that you can hire better drivers quicker.
Companies in the transportation and insurance business call MEE their “hiring Jeannie” bringing the necessary driver documents to the HR and recruiting team in a click of a button allowing them to work on recruiting other drivers or other tasks streamlining the hiring process. Insurance companies, government authorities like the Ministry of Transportation and others love the platform for ease during audits and inspections.
Learn more about the the MEE services by going to www.isbglobalservices.com

People and Leadership

I have said this many times, I cheated myself in my early years with my formal education, you can’t change the past so as I got into the business world there was so much I had to learn. Much of that was through reading books and then putting what I read into practice, some things worked and stuck and some things did not. Here are a few tips for you to consider;

  • Train and educate the people in your business well enough so they can leave and be successful. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.
  • Leadership is the very heart and soul of business management. What you manage in business is people.
  • The manager administers, the leader innovates.
  • Leadership is the ability to inspire other people to work together as a team, following your lead, in order to obtain common goals and objectives. No one can do it alone.
  • When hiring people seek capable, experienced people, who are motivated, who want to achieve and make something of their lives and are not afraid to work hard for what they want. Look for people who are intelligent, knowledgeable, and experienced and have enthusiasm for work.
  • No one wants to follow a weak leader. Leadership is practiced not so much in words but in attitude and actions.
  • One of the essential attributes of a good leader is having enough self confidence to admit their own mistakes and know that it will not ruin them. There is nothing lost and much to be gained by admitting you are you human.
  • The person who heads up a company should realize that his people are really not working for him or her, they are working with for themselves. They have their own dreams, their own need for self – fulfilment.
  • A great leader pays attention to the 100’s of little things. Done every day that reveals their character. There is a delicate balance that exists in hierarchy of every company and that balance swings upon all the little things a leader does instinctively, intuitively, spontaneously, out of experiences good or bad. Leadership, like life, can only be learned as you go along.
  • Leaders are individuals who make ordinary people do extraordinary things in the face of adversity.
  • When you are a leader and seeking power or influence, do not expect to be universally loved and supported.
  • Endurance is no substitute for effort, we should try to minimize hostilities and promote a climate in which communications will be easier and real conflicts can be worked out.
  • As leaders we all need to find more candor. The first step is to define one’s operating standards and develop a better way of policing oneself. The second is to inject more candor into all communications, explain things better and acknowledge mistakes.
  • Regarding your credibility – don’t think about it. Focus on honesty, perspective and performance and credibility will look after itself.

I want to summarize by saying I am not the greatest leader or person BUT I work at things everyday to be the best I can be. Practicing some of the things I have shared with you will help professionally and personally.

If I got my license on a Cessna would you be comfortable with me as your Pilot on a Jet?

I’m not a betting man but I would bet that no one would even give a second thought about getting in a jet with someone licensed on a cessna.  The general public would not even think about the issues of someone being licensed on an automatic transmission tractor than jumping into a manual transmission driving down our highways.

Have a listen to my recent interview on Global Radio The Morning Show to understand more.

https://omny.fm/shows/am640-the-morning-show/delay-in-tougher-licensing-requirements-for-trucke

Insurance Hikes Hard on Everyone

Nuclear Verdicts are costing our industry big time and its not going away anytime soon. An accurate definition of a nuclear verdict is any financial award (generally over 10 million) that is significantly disproportionate to what would be expected given the economic damages in the case.

In many cases the defence must battle the plaintiffs counsel “reptile theory” which means the the plaintiffs appeal to the jurors emotions rather than the acts and data.

Here are some staggering facts:

  • In the USA the average verdict size for lawsuit above 1 million involving a truck crash has increased nearly 1000% from 2010-2018 rising from 2.3 million to 22.3 million. Remember if your trucking in the USA you play by their rules. If you think your insulated because you only truck in Canada – think again. Many experts are saying the claims are hitting nuclear verdict status here in Canada as well.
  • Insurance rates continue to go up forcing carriers to leave the business or scale back on excess insurance putting them at greater risk if a crash happens.

Some in the industry blame corporate mistrust, litigation financing and social pessimism leading to sense that the system is broken for excessive jury awards.

Currently there is to much heavily lifting to defend yourself; very time consuming for lawyers and consultants to review files and put together a solid defence. There are plenty of inefficiencies and it is costly.

Is there an answer?

Technology needs to be embraced to compile data and information quickly. It needs to be timely, affordable and effective. That is where Bluewire comes in. This new technology is going to be game changer and is going to be an important ingredient to them success of trucking company and will be welcomed by the insurance industry. Check www.Bluewire.ia out – they could save you millions.

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