At Radius, we recognize that our success comes from the performance of our team, and a team is only as good as their leader. We have used this insight to recruit and build one of the best third party logistics teams in our industry. This has not been an easy task, there are no shortcuts when it comes to building a dynamic service-focused team. Here are the principles that we at Radius Logistics hold true for building a high performance team for our business:
1. Hire the right people
We hire for attitude, aptitude and cultural fit. The culture of our organization is the most important factor in Radius’s success, and we prioritize that employees not only understand but are engaged in our culture. A bad hire can pull an entire team off track, but a good hire can push us to the next level of excellence. We can train an employee to any task required, but we can’t change their attitude or approach.
2. Train, train, train
At Radius, new employees are trained for a minimum of 4-6 weeks before they do any customer work in supply chain solutions. Too many candidates have come through our door, unsatisfied by their current position because they didn’t feel they received the proper training and support needed to be successful. This is an important lesson, well learned. In our early days we experienced an employee turnover rate that hurt our growth. Implementing comprehensive training programs has reduced our turnover significantly and allowed us to achieve our yearly growth goals.
3. Make your leaders accountable
It’s easy for leaders to get caught in the trap of being so busy with their responsibilities that they don’t have time to manage. If our leaders aren’t properly delegating and motivating their teams, the common goal can get lost. We have learned to ensure our Supervisors and Managers are constantly looking more efficient ways to organize their team, streamline process and elevate our customer’s experience.
We require our leaders to spend time doing front line work in order to personally understand their teams’ roles, however our goal is always to have them spend the bulk of their time directly leading the success of their team.
4. Reporting and visibility
Your team needs to know if their work is valued, and providing daily / weekly / monthly feedback on their numbers gives them a sense of accomplishment and encourages buy in. We strongly believe that to engage our employees, they need to understand the business and what makes us successful. We share data on daily results and key performance indicators with our team to keep them informed on our financials so that they can see how their production affects us as a group.
5. Reward success
Reward is defined differently by everyone, a simple thank you, a note, a gift or financial recognition. All of these are crucial to building a high performance team. Saying thank you is a gesture that gets lost in the day to day of doing business, but the value of acknowledging a team members’ contribution cannot be understated. It reminds both the employee that they are valued, and the entire team that all job roles are key to making the team a success as a whole.
Money isn’t everything, but it’s an important thing. Compensating employees fairly makes them feel acknowledged for their hard work, and keeps them less likely to look elsewhere. Our team enjoys a share of the profits for every month that we achieve our fiscal goals. This encourages our team members to help us provide excellence in transportation management service and make sure we are aggressively managing our clients businesses by avoiding costly mistakes.
6. Have fun!
We spend more time at work than we do with our own families, so make it fun for the team. Have a lunch time barbecue or play music at the office, if something meaningful is happening share it with the group. For two weeks this August we will have the TV’s on in the office to allow our team to cheer on our Olympic athletes. Encouraging your team to bond helps to keep them work together when times are tough and pull through to achieve results!
Need our high performance team to handle your shipping and transportation needs? Contact us today!
