Dale Parsons started his freight brokerage company in 2002. As a former truck driver and dispatcher who headed back to business school, the 41-year-old knew a thing or two about getting goods across North American borders.
But his growing company was temporarily tripped up in 2009 when Parsons realized he needed to fire several of his managers who had been creating a negative atmosphere for other employees.
“There was a mentality in management where it was fear-based,” said Parsons, “and nobody would bring anything forward, especially to me.”
The internal turmoil occurred at the wrong time for the business, which was in the midst of the recession and had just lost a major client.
Parsons traced the human resources problem back to the company’s lack of a clear culture. He decided to change that: he got more involved with its day-to-day operations, developed a mission statement and values and started asking for feedback from all of his staff about the direction of the company.
“We started doing more off-site strategies with the team and building a culture around everybody’s involved, everybody has a say,” he said.
The company is now growing and recently opened an office in Winnipeg.
Parsons credits business mentors he has worked with through a CEO forum he regularly attends for helping him strategize through the rough patch in his business.
“I started to understand the importance of having a culture in your company in order to attract team members and longevity for your staff,” he said.
On competing with big multinational freight brokers: “It’s all relationship-based for me. I’ve been in the business now going on 25 years … You meet clients and do your stuff, but once you build your relationship with your clients, they just never leave. I’ve had clients now who’ve been with me now for 12 years.”
