The Gelderman team gathered Wednesday morning to kickoff into another new year of business.
The morning began with a State of the Union address from Nathan (President) where he shared an overview of the 2018 season and the changes coming in 2019. A couple of new items were the launching of Arizona Outdoor Solutions as the new Irrigation brand, and the enhancements team combining with our Landscape Construction division. Gelderman’s focus going forward is to continue to balance working on all 5 Business Pillars (Staff, Clients, Safety, Sales & Profit) steering into the future.
After introducing the Support Centre staff, Nathan reviewed our Core Values (Passion, Caring, Respect & Integrity) and then he asked the question, Why is Gelderman in business?. The answer is not the bottom line; the answer is our tagline: Caring is in Our Nature.
Launching into a Strategic Planning Workshop, we worked together as a team to look at which way our strategic compass was pointing Gelderman Landscape Services. Each table was given the opportunity to brainstorm the different purchasing experiences we encounter and what makes them great. Many of the employees emphasized the importance of efficiency, convenience, and a great customer experience as reasons they are return customers. Looking at our services through the lens of customer experience allowed us as a team to have a different outlook on our daily work.
The workshop continued into a discussion of how we can work better as a team, be ambassadors for the company (and each other’s great work!), and how to improve our relationships outside the doors of Gelderman with our various partners (suppliers, vendors, schools). Working on these items will help us provide continued excellent customer experiences to our clients.
Excited for the new year, Doug (H&S Manager) led us through the safety roadmap that we are on to reach our goal of becoming Canada’s Safest Company. Gelderman has many things working in our favor to achieve this goal. We have a full-time H&S Manager, 300+ years of industry experience, well-maintained equipment & fleet, and a company-wide focus on training. Keeping us from this goal are things like not following through and fixing items promptly that are brought to light by the JHSC, becoming complacent, not making the time, and beginning to think that safety is just common sense. To bridge this gap, Gelderman is going to focus on an era of Personal Responsibility in Health & Safety where every employee is involved in working toward this goal.
Deborah (HR Manager) took a few minutes to review the results of our Employee Survey with the group. This was the second year the survey was given, with an increase in participation from 55%-73%! Thank you to everyone for completing the survey. The results showed a need to better communicate with and train Gelderman’s employees. Deborah shared the plan to focus on these areas, including performance evaluation discussions, town hall meetings, cross-departmental training, and options for continuing education.
Before lunch, time was given to purchase uniforms, Nathan shared details of Gelderman’s community involvement in 2018 including charitable donations, and hours of volunteering provided by individuals in the company. He also reviewed the incentive plan that applies to the whole company (keep it simple!) and opened up the Safe Zone as an opportunity for any questions to be asked (no repercussions).
This event was a kick off into the new season, and we are excited as a company to stay motivated to work together to make your experience with Gelderman the best it can be.
##Happy Spring All!
