Winds Of Change

Winds of Change

I recently returned from a supplier sales meeting at the Hotel W in Barcelona, Spain, which I attended with a few of my colleagues.  From there I went on to meetings in Switzerland and Germany with another key supplier.

At both meetings, I was reminded of the tremendous opportunities and resources that we have to solve industrial application problems with the excellent product lines that we represent and I was especially impressed by the passion, professionalism and product knowledge of the people representing those products.  Good products and good people are an unbeatable combination.  The recurring one-word message at both meetings was ‘Passion’, and the importance of this one essential attribute was reinforced by every contact I made during my meetings.

I find my periodic visits to progressive and innovative supplier facilities and industry association meetings to be energising and inspirational, mainly because of the people I meet.  I get to see how others are organized to succeed and to draw some comparisons to how we are managing similar challenges.  I usually come away with good ideas for things that we might do to improve.  One constant that never changes is the team building challenge of finding and keeping good people.

Unleashing and amplifying human creativity, passion and resourcefulness must be one of our primary corporate obsessions.  If we are to grow, we must win more than we lose.  To do this, we must be defined by our commitment to a set of ideas, resources and strategies that have the power to reshape our sense of what’s possible; and we must reinforce the notion that work is personal, values rule and nobody wins unless everybody wins; Supplier / Davis / Customer and Employee. 

Everyone on our staff has an important job to do, and it is essential that every one of us is held accountable and that we have no weak links.  With this in mind, we held internal meetings recently to highlight our intention and determination to develop and/or upgrade our ability to provide application services whenever we see an opportunity to improve.  We have ambitious goals and in order to realize these objectives, we must depend on enthusiastic, experienced and inspired team players. 

As a footnote, we had a very serious windstorm in our neighbourhood on May 04, 2018 that took down one of the 30 foot tall Blue Spruce trees in our backyard.  The tree came out, roots and all as if it were a twig and left a 5’ hole in the ground.

I planted this tree and the one beside it in 2003 to commemorate our 2^nd generation management team of Paul Grenfell and Bill Montgomery and at the time, I fully expected these trees to stand for 100 years.  After all, they were in an ideal location with lots of room to grow.

Before the storm, the trees appeared to be strong and stable and I was proud of them.  They made a good impression and by all indications, were making a useful contribution to our outward appearance.  When the sun was shining and the winds were calm, there was no indication of a weak and shallow foundation.  Now that I know differently, it’s time to plant a new tree with the hope and expectation that it will take root, blossom and grow.

But I digress.  Change is in the wind on several fronts.  During the last three months, we have systematically intensified our efforts to increase the level of support we provide Customers and Partners by expanding and strengthening our field sales coverage across the country.  Our new team members bring new energy and enthusiasm along with years of industry and application experience, and their addition to an already strong nucleus of seasoned professionals is producing   impressive results.  We are still eight months away from our fiscal year-end but so far, all indications are that Davis Controls Ltd. is on track to have our best year ever.