Page 161 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

140 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

Tyler’s piece of the business is multimodal services, which takes
supply and demand for transportation and finds the best mode of
transportation—whatever it is, even if it’s using a competitor’s assets—
so the freight can move most efficiently. He’s a broker of transportation
services and has employees scattered across the country. At Schneider
he managed thousands of drivers, so he is well aware of the challenges
of leading people at a distance.
The performance management job of a leader supervising mobile
workers in Tyler’s organization is to provide a value proposition that
transcends the physical work structure. His leadership team continually
asks how they can be equally responsive to employees who aren’t physically
colocated, and they look at it in terms of processes. What are the issues re-
lated to giving and getting feedback? Or how about training? “What’s
the process to engage folks that are out in the field so they’re not
cheated on leadership development?” Tyler asks. Most of the answers,
he says, come through a combination of technology and process.
Employee development is an especially challenging issue for mobile
workers. Tyler has invested heavily in a Web-based curriculum. The
process starts with understanding the skills or attributes that employ-
ees need in order to succeed in a particular role. Sometimes a mobile
worker may need some different skills or attributes than someone lo-
cated in a central office. As training proceeds, feedback has to take
place. Often that happens at weekly one-on-one meetings to discuss
business results and at a monthly one-on-one meeting to give devel-
opmental feedback. Once a quarter the employee participates in a
360-degree feedback process, which benefits both the employee and
leader. Perhaps quarterly or once a year the leader meets face to face
with that employee or group of employees, as well as monthly via vid-
eoconference, and weekly via a conference call.
An important key to performance management is keeping people on
track by giving and receiving feedback, and Tyler’s organization takes ad-
vantage of technology to do that regularly with mobile workers by keep-
ing track of load status and important milestones in real time. Satellite
communication, e-mail, and mobile phones are all used to track progress.
At Con-way they are even considering using Twitter to dispatch trucks.