The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.
Things have been moving so incredibly fast there is almost a feeling of recurring whiplash.
I spent most of the last week talking to our industry friends about the challenges they are facing right now and gathering some best practices. The conversations ranged from informal emails, to the impromptu COVID-19 Best Practice Group I put together with Fuel Transport. Here are the three biggest keys to success:
1. The biggest challenge is creating connectivity
This may not come as a surprise – technology aside, the number one challenge for teams is staying connected. Without fail, every business leader I spoke to stressed the importance of a focus on connectedness as they have moved to remote work.
Rob Piccioni of Fuel Transport, and Matt Parry of Werner Enterprises spoke with me at length about staying connected to their teams while employees are working remotely. Your employees’ normal day has changed, and you need to change how you engage them. Things as simple as restructuring your team’s routine to do “check-ins” keeps them connected.
Connect on more than business. There were plenty of creative ideas out there. At CarrierDirect we did a “virtual happy hour” complete with awards like “best backdrop.” Staying connected is also about making employees feel like you care about them (more on this later) and not just the clients.
2. Planning is never wasted
The biggest difference between companies struggling, and those making a smooth(ish) transition came down to planning. You cannot just jump into the deep end of remote work or disaster recovery.
Some companies have been working on solutions for the last few years. David Noone of RWI Logistics shared with me about how he looked at the responsibilities of each role, and made changes to create an operating model that would allow for remote teams. Bob O’Donnell of Magna Transport and I talked about how he has been contingency planning in the event of an emergency switch to remote for quite some time – which includes systems and people. He had a real-life trial before when he had an office fire a few years ago.
Every business leader talked about “proof of concept” – or how to test remote work before moving the whole team. Cindy Lee from Lync Logistics shared that her teams have been working from home once a week since January and Charley Dehoney of Manning’s Truck Brokerage laid out how he “stress-tested” their infrastructure over the last few weeks.
Work out the technical and personnel kinks. If you haven’t started already, you need to start now. The longer you wait, the more likely it could be catastrophic for your business. Even if the need does not arise, your business will be stronger for it.
3. Flexibility is king
Several leaders talked about the importance of flexibility – both for your clients and for your people.
Client demand has shifted asymmetrically – some need much more, and others need almost nothing. Leaders discussed building in flexibility by creating frameworks to describe their customers’ needs right now. That spectrum can range from “valued customer but no needs right now” for one who has stopped shipping, to “customer has critical volumes and needs” for ones like groceries or medical equipment. The need to be flexible with resourcing, and truck capacity, has allowed those businesses to meet the surge in demand while retaining some sense of normalcy for customers and employees.
This next point is the most important. There are long-term ramifications to your culture regarding how you handle this time. It is not news that this is unprecedented. Ryan Rogers from Covenant Transportation Group talked to me at length about how empathy was an incredibly important part of this time – like simply listening to their struggles outside of operating the business and helping where you can. Just as your clients need help, your people do, too. Their perception of how you supported them will have long-term impacts on your culture – both positive and negative. Is it just about business, or are you treating your employees with the care they need?
If you’re struggling with how to navigate this time, and are looking for a little guidance, feel free to reach out to me, or any of my teammates at CarrierDirect. We’re all in this together.
Dave
Good article Mr, Ryan. Most companies weren’t prepared and many are STILL NOT prepared. Remember, most of the country, especially non cities, is still running as usual with no mandated lockdowns but just recommendations for social distancing and remote working.
Taking an office of say 17 people like us, and dispersing them into the wind, takes thought and effort. For example, we struggled with something as “simple” as phones. Our old phone system is about 20 years old and plugged into some gray box on the wall. We have enough lines, a voice mail system and auto attendant. BUT BUT BUT – just try moving that into peoples homes. NOPE. Will never work. Our phone vendor laughed at me and tried to sell me a newer $15k system that would. So, we decided to go with internet phones (called “VOIP”). BUT BUT BUT Just try starting from the beginning with getting that up and running. There are hundreds of vendors. Confusing pricing. Can’t get the vendor on the phone as they are now slammed. Hard to port our phone numbers (that are 30 + years old). High learning curve. You get it. I am trying to do 3 months of work in a few days.
Software is yet another story. Our TMS was easy as we use AscendTMS which is already cloud based and our on call staff already use it easily to work from home or wherever they are when the phone rings. BUT our driver hiring and onboarding system ( called Ten Street) is old and it does not work remote unless we somehow connect to the PC we have it running on in the office using something called “RDP” (remote desktop protocol i am told). Look im a trucker / broker. The only protocol i know is getting in early and staying til the jobs are done. How the heck am i going to figure this all out with no help. So – I drive that desktop PC home. It’s now in my living room and I am now the only one that can use it unless i have house guests. lol.
This aint easy folks. figure it our NOW before the s**t hits your fan too. i have figured out i rely more on tech than i thought. even our frickin main door lock is PC based with a code for each person. I don’t even know what PC that software is on. Lord help us.
Good bless you all and GOD BLESS AMERICA. Don’t give in. THere will be a brighter day.