While there is so much for us as a company to celebrate these last couple of years with the Northeast expansion, reduction in claims, and service and corresponding yield improvements, that also means the opportunities for further success will become less obvious and more challenging to execute on going forward. Layer on some uncertainty about how much longer this economic expansion can be sustained and the path to continued success becomes even more complicated. The size and complexity of Saia today demands another level of leadership that can chart a path forward and ensure we are disciplined in the execution of that plan.

At our leadership and sales conference earlier this month, we heard a lot about the opportunities we have as an organization to improve leadership at all levels and how that ties into redefining the tenets of our culture so we can be better prepared for the future.

How we achieve this next level of success will require stronger leadership throughout the organization to both become the best-in-class LTL company and to ensure we are disciplined in our processes to achieve that goal. Management will be responsible for identifying goals that are obtainable but stretch us, that are measurable and time-based to ensure we attain our desired yearend results. Evaluating performance against these measures throughout the year will be key to understanding when opportunities change and priorities may need to be reset to ensure we don’t get overly focused on something that provides little return.

At the management level, there also needs to be a meaningful effort to build great teams through recruitment and creating a culture that provides a constructive work environment that leads to better retention. Enhanced leadership also requires that managers identify high performing employees in order to incubate tomorrow’s leaders through succession planning.  

Leadership is not just something for the management team, but is required from all of us at varying levels.  It could be a dockworker properly securing a load, an account executive sharing tools they use to better sell our business, or a driver demonstrating safe operation of our equipment through his or her daily activity. So much of our opportunity is related to how we perform various processes each day at our terminals and offices and to what degree we can become more disciplined with those processes.  Whether you are a dockworker, technician, or driver, there are things you do each and every day that become more valuable if done with discipline to the process. And, doing those things with a sense of appreciation to the process and pride in your work can be contagious to others. When one employee looks at another and emulates their good performance, that is inspirational leadership and it pays dividends for the company and its employees.

It will be the responsibility of everyone in the organization to communicate and support the culture, particularly as Saia grows and adds new employees. The benefits of focusing on quality, safety, community, respect and integrity will not only have positive effects on our bottom line, but give us an identify we can all rally around for the future sustainability of the company. The redefining of the culture can also be contagious and will have to be communicated by the executive and management teams and supported as an important aspect of how we want to operate and grow in the future. For our management personnel, will we set the vision and corresponding goals to allow our teams to be successful and then respectfully demand superior performance? Will you communicate effectively the importance of the goals and how they can positively affect not only each employee personally, but ensure longevity for Saia?

For those employees not in formal management roles, are you committed to performing in such a manner that your work product is emulated throughout your team? Are you willing to look for opportunities to improve service, save costs, operate more safely and bring those ideas to management for implementation?    

John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are leader.”  Let’s all take that to heart and lead by example and make Saia that much better in the process.