Bruce Outridge

Are you leading by example?

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Bruce

Think hard about that question, are you leading by example? There is a thin line between walking the talk and walking the walk once you are in a supervisory position. Sometimes for new supervisors the position can go to their heads to the point that they manage themselves right out of a job. Now there are many schools of thought on this and they can all be right or wrong depending on the circumstances of the particular situation. In general however, you should be trying to lead by example and walking the walk. Now when I say the walk I am not talking about doing the job of your team, but doing your own job. Your job is managing your team, helping them solve performance problems, operational problems, and supporting them through training and advice. Where I see many supervisors missing the boat is in the support area. Think about it, when there is a performance issue your on top of it, when there is a problem with equipment your on it and have it fixed. What about support issues? What is happening when things are going good? How are you addressing training issues and supporting your team? Most supervisors wait until there is a problem and then start looking for training to fix the problem. At that point it is too late; you are working in emergency mode trying to put out the fires. When you should be looking for training is when things are going good and you want to improve your team. Doing it the other way is like showing up to the fire, and then having to search for a water source, by the time you find it you’re house is already burned down. By focusing on improvement you are looking for a water source at the fire station before the fire alarm goes off. Think about that scenario and now think about your team, where do you need to improve?

It may be that your team is running along fine, so it may be an issue of cross training people to make sure positions are covered should there be an illness. By cross training a person they can let go of some old habits, learns some new skills, and it makes your business more flexible should there be problems down the road. You may even find a diamond in the rough that better suits a position that you had not thought about. Entrepreneurs and quality team leaders are always looking for ways to make an operation better and not everything needs to cost an arm and a leg.

If you’re not sure of the interests of the people of your team then it’s time to have some interviews to review performance, goals, etc. To me training should be goal oriented. If you’re waiting for a problem to happen before you start training them something is wrong. Think preventative, there is a reason police and fireman are trained before they start work and not after. So how do you lead by example in this area, look to improve team performance before problems start? Suggest ways to improve the team and ask for input from the team members when no problems are apparent and you will find everyone will be more focused therefore making your business more efficient, focused, and profitable.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a leadership and business consultant specializing in the transportation industry. You can view information, programs, and services on his website at http://www.outridge.ca

Do I need customer service as an owner operator?

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Bruce

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Most drivers and owner operators forget the importance of customer service because they don’t feel that they have to deal with the clients directly. They are very wrong and in a big way. If you are an owner operator have you thought about who your clients are in reality? Doing this exercise may surprise you if you take it seriously. So let’s look at how you affect the clients while conducting deliveries and communicating with clients. If you run the open board you may not concern yourself with customer service because many drivers don’t think they will return to that client unless they are on dedicated run. The truth is that any client that ships or receives goods with the company by truck deserves the best customer service available from every driver. In the industry we hear about customer service departments, business executives, and don’t see how we are involved in the important aspects of the client but the truth is that each customer has a number of points of contact that the company will be in contact with them. So what are those points?

Usually for any large contracts the top executives or appointed sales force will be involved and that will be the first point and most important in the beginning. That will be the point where all of the negotiations will take place to secure the customer’s freight contract. Once that point is completed it will diminish in contact to a point, but is still a critical point in the process. The next point will be the transport company internal client service department, such as customer service, order management, and so on. This point of contact is also critical and may or may not be in direct contact with the client depending on the order management system. This second point may also be done by a third party such as a load broker or load board service, but is still critical to great client service. The next point is you, the driver and may be the most critical point of all for the company. You are the live person dealing with another live person and basically could be the face of the company. Whether you are dealing with a receiver on the dock, a shipper in the yard, or phoning the front office for directions you are the face of the company and should be representing them as such. How you dress, the way you talk, and the ways you act are all important to how the client views your company. Are you pleasant to be around, are you patient when waiting for the load, is your trailer organized and clean? Or are you the opposite, have a filthy trailer, you haven’t showered in a few days, and are tired and grumpy, just a picture of professionalism to be sarcastic. Everyone has a part to play and you need to do yours.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a leadership and business consultant specializing in the transportation industry. He can be reached at http://www.outridge.ca

Patience is a virtue, do you have any?

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Bruce

12 Steps of Professionalism

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Bruce

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A professional driver is more than someone who can just drive a big rig down the highway, there are regulations, hours of service and more to worry about. That’s not to mention the the load your carrying etc. Below are my 12 steps to being a professional driver. These are not in the order of importance, but there is a reason for outlining them this way, see if you can find out why:

Patience
Respect
Ownership
Friendly
Equipment
Safety
Strategic
Integrity
Orderly
Negotiable
Accountable
Licensed

I’ll go into the specific steps in future posts, but if you are professional driver see how many of these steps you need to improve on to make you the true professional that you are.

About the Author

Bruce outridge is a motivational speaker on leadership for the transportation industry. More information can be found at http://www.outridge.ca

Time is Money – How Much Have You Spent?

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Bruce

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In the business world time is money or so it is said. If you are wasting time you are wasting productivity therefore you are wasting money. That holds true for many of us in business or not. It’s all around us as well, just watch people as they rush around all day trying to catch up with this or trying to complete that. If you really want to tick them off ask them to complete a task for you by a certain time, and watch the fireworks go. Now some people don’t feel that time management can work for them. The excuses I get are that, “too many outside factors affect my time frame”, or “I am paid to work here for eight hours anyway”. Those situations may be true but that doesn’t mean you can’t be productive within that time frame. The group that probably needs time management the most but refuses to use it is the truck drivers of world. As I speak with owner operators across the country through seminars and workshops I hear the same thing, “Dispatch doesn’t give us the time we need” or “we can’t make any money!” That may be true but are you doing the things that are important for your business to be successful by using time wisely? As an entrepreneur working on and in my business I have to make sure I am working productively to not only grow my business, but completing the projects I receive from my clients. I also have to watch the outside factors don’t eat away my time, so I have to remain very scheduled to be productive. So how do you do that without losing sight of your lifestyle?

If you’re an entrepreneur then the best time management technique that I enjoy is through using colour to manage your time. To learn how to do that read my past article on how to “Colour Manage Your Time” which is posted on my blog. However we are talking about the professional driver here and there is certain situations that you will come across that will affect your time. Those outside forces are necessarily under anyone’s control as they may be weather or traffic related. You also have hours of service which tell you how much work you can put in during the day and so on. But as an owner operator you need to keep your eye on the profit and loss of your business and also future stability of the business through productivity. Many owner operators feel they don’t have to work hard or can schedule time off whenever they want, but that isn’t true as those wheels need to keep moving. So how do you plan for all of the unknown factors that affect your schedule?

The first part is to know your breakeven point for the business on a monthly basis. This will be based on the budget you created when starting your operation as an owner operator. How much work do you need? The next step is to make sure you know how much profit you want to make above your costs, is it 5%, 10%, or 20%. Now break your mileage in to the days you have available to work. So let’s say you need to complete 500 miles per day to create the income you want for your business. Your going to lose a certain amount of time unloading, loading, clearing customs, etc so that needs to be factored in to your calculations. If you are waiting to be unloaded for an hour that should be replacing the income for that driving time being lost. So as you factor in all of those situations you will be evaluating your operation to make sure each day you are making the money you have set out to make. Now let’s assume you are working in Canada and have 13 hours of driving time available to put in the miles. Five hundred miles will take approximately 10 hours of driving time. Factor in your breaks and inspections and you should require around 12 hours a day without any major delays. So set your daily limit at 12 hours and you have a safety net of an hour. Just because you can run 13 hours a day doesn’t mean you should. If you are trip planning effectively and managing your time, while watching your business you will find you are more productive with less time. You can also increase your profits by keeping your finger on the pulse of your business. Manage your time effectively on and off duty and you will succeed at time management. Remember time is money!

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a leadership consultant for the transportation industry and entrpeneurs. To view more information on programs and services available visit http://www.outridge.ca