Empowerment also comes in the form of training. With North Country winters keeping building activity light for part of the year, Ward holds off-site management training summits in January and a corporate-wide sales training conference in February. Additionally, Ward periodically runs employees through “Legendary Customer Care,” an off-the-shelf 14-module customer service training program, and sends team members to network with other pro dealers at product knowledge and customer service seminars at the Northeastern Retail Lumber Association in Rensselaer, N.Y.
“I’ve been treated like family here for 25 years, but I come back to work every day because Ward Lumber is proactive,” says pro account manager Rolland Tromblee of the corporate investment in training. “We reach out not only within our own company, but [also] out into the industry with training and into the builder community with service, and that makes a difference to our customers.”
It makes a big difference to employees as well. “We all give 125 percent,” attests Ward CFO Debby Straight. “We all perform, because performance is fostered here.” Indeed, as part of Ward’s “Bench Building” program, each yard manager is periodically asked to identify employees who—with additional investments in training—have the right attitude to become one of five supervisor types, from sales to manufacturing to yard manager, in the course of their Ward careers. Employees are then interviewed and a strategy plan is drawn up indicating what types of training they might need before eventually assuming a management role—even if it includes a stint in the Woody Ward woodchuck costume.
For Rushia, the Bench Building program rolls all of Ward’s HR efforts at communication, team and morale building, and employee empowerment into one package. “There’s nothing more demoralizing than constantly posting jobs and seeing someone come from the outside and get the position every time,” he says. “Whether it is the VP of human resources or whatever, a company of this size needs to be self-sufficient. So the Bench Building program is something that we continue to nurture and an example of the future of this company. If we recognize our people, and give them the tools to move forward, they can step up to the plate and do anything.”
Vital Statistics
Company: Ward Lumber
Headquarters: Jay, N.Y.
Year founded: 1890
Number of locations: 3
Number of employees: 160
