RUNNING HEAD: MASTERING THE CARRIERS

Project: Transportation Agents Mastering the art of the Carriers Toni Cunningham INF338: Leadership & Comm Skills for Project Managers (CMM1225A) Instructor: Richard Reilly July 19, 2012

MASTERING THE CARRIERS Project: Transportation Agents Mastering the art of the Carrier As of April 1, 2012 we are officially open, my new company is called OurQuest, Inc, it is a small freight management company. I chose the name OurQuest because I

wanted all the Manufacturers/Shippers and the Carriers to understand that when they accept us as their Broker keeping their freight moving and their trucks loaded becomes Our Quest. After the first month in business I realized that my agents were becoming overwhelmed having to search for new shippers and at the same time find carriers so I have decided that it is time to re-evaluate and start them from scratch and this is what I will cover in this paper. Step One: Mastering the art of the carriers. What do I need to establish the guidelines for the mastering of the carriers within the freight management business? I need to call a meeting, build a quality team, write the P&Ps, prepare a workbook that includes instructions on how to search for a carrier, how to lockdown a carrier, all the paperwork needed for the last two steps including all the formulas for pricing the loads and cover all the dos and donts that need to be known about when conversing with a carrier. All of this and so much more is needed but I am going to begin very slowly so that we do not end up back here, Overwhelmed (Coyle, Novack, Gibson, Bardi, 2011) I will write the P&Ps prior to selecting the team and prepare the workbook and include all the instructions, all the formulas and all dos and donts. The team will include my whole staff since we are a start-up I would like us all to start together learning all new processes that may affect what we do. I already have the phone script which we will go over and make any changes that the agents think need to be changed, I would like to set-up mocked phone calls and we will practice using the script until we all master it.

MASTERING THE CARRIERS Recently I discovered that everything that we use is engineered everything except the environment so in order for this project to be successful there must be a little creativity applied I do not want this freshly built team to lose interest and drift off (Smith & Imbrie, 2007).

Learning my team is very important, recognizing their talents and their weaknesses is what it is going to take for us to go the distance, how do I do this? Do I watch from afar or do I personally sit with them and monitor what they do? Well according to Smith & Imbrie if I want to know I am going to have to listen and communicate if I want them to do the same, if I want a team that is competent in reading, writing and able to handle all the computation needed to be a success during this training I am going to have to be patient and really make sure they are understanding what I expect (Smith & Imbrie, 2007). Now because we all are new to the transportation arena taking the time to take training classes together is of utmost importance, it would give me the opportunity to see what type of questions they ask, what team working skills that my staff already have and it will really make it clear if they have what it takes to be on a start-up team. See not that this is a negative but it is very important to know because during start-up changes are going to come, daily maybe even hourly so they must be able to deal with change effectively and not become overly agitated (Smith & Imbrie, 2007). Practice makes perfect is a very old saying but still so important and I know that it starts with me being a real leader. Start-ups open daily and so many do not make it and this I know so I have solidify my training program, my training documents, my understanding, my curiosity and somehow put away all my doubts and become a real Project Manager and apply all that I have learned and remove all that is not needed which is most definitely

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important using all that I have learned is not necessary and that is were I need to be careful and not overdo things and at the same time not to leave out what is ultimately necessary to become a success. What I have learned is that what is often left out during the development of the training program is the explicit instructions on how and when to apply the scientific and engineering knowledge that was taught to me during the lean six sigma training and I must not forget it (Rich, 2012). It is not necessary to use all the information that I have learned but is important to know what is crucial and can not be left out which is where I have to take the time to hone my own skills and follow all of phases taught to me regarding the practice approach. Selecting between the scientific method and the engineering practices is clearly a challenge but very important, so in order not to miss anything I will begin by using them both and work my way back by removing what is not really necessary to use. Notice the attached chart which takes you from start to finish if used correctly, starting with defining the objective all the way through to last step where the process will be reviewed (Rich, 2012). Now that all my pre-work is done I can move into the team and start to establish our working arrangement and the show the team where we go from here. Sending my invites I feel is very important adding to the design and making it very exciting yet still showing where we are and where I want us go. I want to state this on the invitation very clearly but very creatively, because no one has a real option as to if they are going to participate it is all mandatory but I do not want to state it that way. I want my staff to know

MASTERING THE CARRIERS that even though I am a Certified Master Broker, I am still learning day to day and that I am working on becoming a pro at it with their help. You have to make the team feel important at all times (Smith & Imbrie, 2007). It takes everyone on the team make the team work the leadership can not do alone, in chapter three of the Smith & Imbries text Teamwork and project management it encourages teams to really be a team, they created what has came to be known as the Ten Commandments: An Effective Code of Cooperation which starts with the first commandment of helping each other be right, not wrong, I had never heard of that before

but it is very promising. Then there was another commandment stating help each other win, and take pride in each others victories and the last commandment Have Fun! A really good fine I am definitely looking forward to sharing this with the team (Smith & Imbrie, 2007). Looking at the carriers position in the business brought a lot challenges to the Broker and Agent so the commandments were definitely encouraging not allowing for the competition to begin within the office. Because the broker and the carrier are looking at the shipper for the same thing we are really each others enemy that the broker has to flip into a relationship how do I really explain this to the team without discouraging them? All these challenges and I have not even scheduled the first meeting. Lets do that, write the agenda for our first meeting. What will be discussed?

MASTERING THE CARRIERS Meeting Agenda At the first meeting I want to discuss the reason behind me wanting my staff to not look for new shippers but to become focused on finding trucks for the current loads that we have, I want them to understand the amount of loads that we receive daily that are not being attended to because they are constantly taking Introductions Why are we having this meeting? What are we trying to fix/change? Why this change/fix? What will it change/fix? Who is needed on the? Why are the needed?

calls regarding lanes that we do not cover, routes that we do not have which takes their attention off of the money we do have that we are not collecting. It is very important to make sure everyone involved understands the reason for this meeting, the reason for this change or fix and to understand what is needed to make these changes effective. The meeting process by far can become very redundant so you have to make sure that your meetings do not fall into that pattern. Speaking up and speaking out is so important especially early in the process the way you start most definitely will be the way you end so make sure you start strong and make sure everyone on the team is really apart of the team. That is what these early meeting are really all about (Spragins, 2001). Everyone on the team must also understand why this team was established, in order to write a clear mission and vision statement it is going to take everyone on the team. In order to make this a success the team must understand that we do have several accounts already established with a few shippers that send us at least $100k a month that we can work on, if they begin focusing on these loads and putting them on the trucks we will make a lot of money and at the same time we can master the art of assigning freight to a carrier,

MASTERING THE CARRIERS and then we will move into the mastering the shipper but not until the carrier has been covered (Coyle, Novack, Gibson, Bardi, 2011).

I do understand that we are risking our relationship with the other shippers but I am willing to do that in order to be good at what we do. I attended logistic school and receive my Master Broker Certificate but my agent did not do that they are all new to the freight business and that is fine they all have customer service experience and telemarketing experience so being on the phone and helping others is not my worry, I just hope that they do not become bored with handling on carriers and move on to another agency (Spragins, 2001). Establishing this business was a big step for me coming from the healthcare arena but for many years I book loads for my husband, my brothers and many of their friends so I felt I was experienced enough to try it and within these last couple of months I have seen the business grow really fast. Now that I have decided to add a staff I have to use some of the learning that I have received in my project management classes and also use some of the tools that I received when I was working healthcare. I do understand that I will have to be a good communicator, a good listener, persuading, creative, able to delegate, patient, persistent, able to show empathy not sympathy, be able to motivate, be flexible and always show that I am experienced and willing to share my knowledge of the business. I know that I have to listen to the input of the team, and be able to accept any criticism that the team may have, I have to be quick to solve any issues that may come up and make sure I keep my sense of humor (Coyle, Novack, Gibson, Bardi, 2011).

MASTERING THE CARRIERS This first meeting I will try to cover everything needed to move right into the team

movement and start to show the team what it is going to take for them to master the carriers and I do want everyone to understand clearly why I have decided to do this, I want the understanding to be so clear that there are no questions inside them that they may be afraid to ask. I want them to know how important they are to the success of OurQuest and to reassure everyone that their opinion does matter. I want everyone to voice what they think of this project but ultimately against it or not it must occur (Coyle, Novack, Gibson, Bardi, 2011). As we go forward within the transportation industry I want to always use these steps and stages to introduce all changes that must be done, I know that there is a long road ahead of us but I know we will make it and once I get the team to a profitable level I know they will be happy that I took these steps and as OurQuest moves forward I have no doubt we will grow very fast because we all have a vision of what were going to be and what we are going to do and I am really glad I selected this group of people as co-workers because in a short time together we are already a team.

MASTERING THE CARRIERS References Coyle J, Novack R, Gibson B, Bardi E (2011) Transportation: A Supply Chain Perspective. (7th ed) ISBN-10: 0-324-78919-X. Production Service: Pre-PressPMG Goodwill, Dan (2007, June). What's happening in the freight brokerage

business? Canadian Transportation Logistics, 110(6), 46. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 1308411741). Rich, D. (2012). Practice Makes PERFECT. Quality Progress, 45(1), 24-29. Retrieved July 22, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2587740781). Smith, K.A., & Imbrie, P.K. (2007). Teamwork and project management. (3rd ed.) Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-310367-9. Spragins, Ellyn (2001). So long, meeting-it is FSB: Fortune Small Business, 11(8), 26. Retrieved July 17, 2012 from Entrepreneurship. (Document ID: 83693798).