I was reactionary. Ten, as my staff grew, I was more of a manager than a leader. Now I see myself as more of a coach for my team.
“Being involved with TPI and watching different companies as they moved forward, inspired me to become more analytical in running my own operations. As the business got bigger and more diversified, I needed people with different skill sets. I learned that some changes were needed along the way, that I couldn’t maintain things and people for the sake of maintaining them. I needed a staff with people that totally bought into our core values and fit the way the company was growing.”
our core values
Heuver adds, “As I’ve stepped back from our day-to- day operations to devote more time to my family, our management team has accepted that challenge as an opportunity for growth and is engaged, empowered and totally accountable. I’m the coach they come to for ideas and input. If they present a problem, they already have the solution in mind; or they inform me that a problem did occur and tell me how they resolved it. And quite honestly, that’s the way it should be. A big thrill for me now is watching our management team build, grow and be successful.”
Nathan Gill, vice president of operations, heads the day-to-day management team and also serves as the LiveRoof & Engineered Soils sales manager. Tyler Walker is the Strathmore turf farm manager. Kyle Redfern is turf and store sales manager at the Calgary Sales Centre. Brian Bolger is the marketing and communications manager, which includes managing the social media accounts. Simon Ward is financial controller. Mark Janzen is sales representative.
Innovative Embrace learning,
stay ahead of the curve and think outside the box.
Proactive
Anticipate customers needs and wants
Professional
Share knowledge, be honest, thorough and respectful.
Customer Focused
Put the customer first, listen and respond positively.
Passionate
Take pride in what we do, share our enthusiasm with each other and our customers.
Balanced
Maintain a healthy balance between work life, and family life. Always put people first.
Annual Strategic Planning Eagle Lake looks at their Strategic Plan as a living thing that needs to be reviewed and modified annually. Gill, who is overseeing that process, reports they always analyze the past 12 months identifying what worked and what didn’t, and what they want to do better. He says, “Tis year, rather than one big group session, we had individual meetings both with key employees, and with key vendors and suppliers and trucking companies that we work with closely. We know our vendors work with other companies in similar markets and we wanted their open and honest feedback on what we’re like to deal with and what we could implement to improve. We received more positive feedback than actionable intelligence from those meetings, but they were positive in terms of relationship building, another way of showing that we are serious about growing and working with them and developing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships. Partnering with people is part of who we are as a company.”
Incorporating those core values into the business operations led to the adoption of a SMART Goals management program. Heuver says, “Each goal must be: Specific—not vague or general but precisely what we want to accomplish. Measurable—clearly written steps that can be measured so the we will know the outcome. Achievable—actual goals that can be accomplished, not a great-sounding, lofty idea. Realistic—fitting into our corporate plan and personnel talents and abilities. Time-bound—a well-defined timetable for action that fits the level of the goal. Specific tasks that come from our goal-setting planning sessions are developed with written descriptions that account for what, who and when they need to be done.”
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Gill reports the internal one-on-one discussions produced more details and pointed information on areas to improve. Tat was followed by a joint meeting with the year-round staff of 14 to review that feedback and the 2018 SMART Goals. “Tis allows our team members to hear from those they don’t work with every day, and Eric’s input on both operational and personnel areas is always illuminating,” says Gill. “Typically, there will be three or four people involved in a certain goal with one individual named as the lead. Te lead individual and his team need to take ownership and be accountable to their team and our entire staff for why a goal was, or was not, achieved. We analyzed each of the uncompleted goals, asking are they still relevant? Did things change so they no longer align
TPI Turf News January/February 2019
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