Tackling Driver Turnover - Part 5: Recognition (or Esteem Needs)

Recapping what we have learned so far would have us remember step one, which was creating a firm foundation for change, starting with a commitment from the senior leadership. Part 2 was determining where you are in the marketplace for driver compensation and matching your position to your company’s growth strategy. Part 3 focused on safety's critical role in the retention and recruiting of any trucking company. Part 4 was creating a communication strategy that includes all our stakeholders: drivers, their families, owner-operators, their families, customers, suppliers, people inside the walls, and the communities in which we operate.?

Part five aims to recognize people doing the right things and to reward that behavior by shining a light on the individual or individuals involved. Do you believe that people want to be winners? Does being with winners inspire you to win and to try harder for a better result? The life of a truck driver is stacked against such an atmosphere if you dig into it. Fighting traffic daily, attempting to stick to a predetermined schedule of pickups and deliveries, understanding the basics of the machine you are in charge of daily, and, on top of all this, the basic human need coming from operations to find bad guys when things go wrong.

Think of all the moving parts that go into moving a load of freight; first, a salesman finds the load and starts making sure the potential customer's needs can be fulfilled. They will need to know the weight of the shipment, the value of the load, traffic lanes, and pick-up and delivery schedules, to name but a few pieces of information they need to get accurate. Then, the quote is assembled and given to the customer. If successful, that information is typically provided to a customer service representative who contacts the customer and gathers all the details needed to initiate the freight pick-up. Up to five people from various departments could have some role in setting up the first movement. Then, this accumulated information is sent to the driver to execute precisely to ensure customer service is spot-on so that the company can enjoy additional volumes from this shipper well into the future.

As we all know, with this many moving parts, it is not unreasonable for something to go wrong. When, and if it does, the first question that is usually asked in your typical trucking company is, “Who was the driver on that load?” In our misbegotten quest to see who screwed up, we typically start with the driver, and that’s just the world they live in. A favorite driver saying is you’re as good as your last load. One way to fight this tendency is to analyze what happened by disassembling each part of the process to see where things broke down. We're not looking for bad guys here, never looking for bad guys; we're looking for errors or omissions from our documented process or SOP (Standard Operating Process). Was it written wrong, or is it stale-dated? If none of these things are apparent, then and only then might we have a performance issue.

Recognition can come in many forms; it could be company-wide Industry recognition, national fleet safety awards, recognition of the individual driver for safe miles, longevity with the company, and on-road acts of bravery, to name a few possibilities. No matter what form you decide on, I guarantee that even the biggest, most hardened truck driver in your fleet will walk a little taller when you sincerely thank them for what they do. I have seen it time and time again. The scenario of “Who was the driver on that load?” is what they're used to, so thanking them will catch them off guard. To begin with, in fact, most of them will be shocked and a little wary as to the company’s motivation.

Pick your way of doing it, but ensure it is genuine and significant. Thanking people for just showing up and being average is not what this is about. We're looking for above-and-beyond acts. These things happen in your business daily—all you have to do is keep looking for them. The funny thing is that once you start the process, the " above-and-beyond” will happen more and more often.

In my company, we started each day with a huddle of our operations folks: six dispatch boards with a planner and a dispatcher for each. Each person had three questions: what is your biggest challenge for the day ahead? Which driver went above and beyond yesterday (ensure they are appropriately thanked), and which driver needs to be brought in for a coaching opportunity? What we were doing was to raise the bar not only by recognizing the star on the day but also by coaching a future star. Again, I must stress that we are not looking for bad guys; we're looking for ways to improve our service by identifying and encouraging behavior that contributes to our winning culture.

I often quote coach Jimmy Johnson, whom I heard at a general session during a TCA event some years back. During the Q&A portion of the meeting, he was asked how he managed the young new millionaires that came to the Miami Dolphins each year. His answer was striking to me, which was, as a leader, if you talk to people the way they are, they will remain that way. Speak to them how you want them to be, and they will become that.” Robust systems supported by dedicated individuals who recognize and reward high performance create a winning team and all that comes with it.?

Take Good Care & Safe Trucking

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