That sounds crazy....but it's true, we don't cut wood for a living. If you were to bump into a logger at a sports event and ask him (or her) what they did 99.9% of the time the answer would be "I cut wood for a living".

The truth of the matter is that wood is just a byproduct of the things that we do. We manage people who work with our landowners to supply them with the best possible experience when harvesting their timber. I believe that when you focus on what you do, and how you do it, your business will grow.

Tom said that he never has had this much business lined up in all the years that he has been working in the woods. I believe it is a direct result of a strong focus on systems, accountability, motivation and improved communication, not just within the company, but between the landowner and Maine Custom Woodlands.

One of the things that I have been really trying to point out to the guys is that they are professionals. We have tallied up combined years of experience that our company has and the guys were surprised at the total.

In my previous jobs, if I were to make a presentation, or conduct a workshop I had to supply the company, organization or school with a bio. This makes sense doesn't it? People want to know what they are getting, that I am qualified to speak on the topic, that I have the experience to back it up.

That's when I got the idea to create bios on all the guys in the crew. We have operators who have years and years of valuable experience, and the landowner would never even know. By nature of what they do, and the fact that they are a very humble group, they would never brag or seek unwanted attention. So I am going to gather information on all the guys and create a more informative landowner packet. Now if I have to supply a bio when I speak, to validate my experience, why wouldn't we share the valuable history of the guys who are working with dangerous machinery around landowner's homes and in their woods?

No matter what business you’re in, the more informed your client or customer is, the more comfortable they will be with your company. Transparency is the key to making any business more successful.

We are comfortable in the woods, we know what a good job is, and we know what our huge machinery will do. Most landowners do not have a frame of reference for what a mechanical timber harvest is.

We are working on a job right now that, because of the terrain we had to create a smaller than usual landing. There is a beautiful stone wall that runs right along the old tote road where the landing had to be created. We basically told these lovely landowners that the stone wall would have to be compromised, that they may possibly sacrifice the stone wall in order to harvest the timber. Even though we only had to create an opening for the trucks to get in, I was very clear when I said that the whole wall could be lost. The reason I did this is I didn't want to let anyone down, should a log or a skidder bump it. The tight quarters added a touch of concern on my part, for processing the wood, swinging the crane, turning the skidders and loading the trucks all had to take place in this not so normal landing. I wanted to make sure that the landowners weren't upset should anything happen.

I really have faith that they guys will keep the stone wall in good shape, and our excavation crew will place the rocks back into their old location to gather moss for another hundred years, and our landowners will value the fact that their wall was saved, instead of feeling let down if it was disturbed.

I also told them that I have a person who just loves to buy stone walls. So I put in a call to my good friend Chuck up the coast to put him on standby should they want to sell the stone wall.

So that's what we do, we educate, create opportunities for landowners that they may not have known existed, form relationships with a lot of very nice people and communicate, communicate, communicate. We take a lot of pride in our crew and the job that they do to keep everyone safe and our landowners happy. Oh yeah, by the way, we cut wood too!

The sun hadn’t quite pierced the day yet and I was turning onto the woods road for our weekly staff meeting. These meetings take place before the start of production and right on the landing of our current job. We can’t meet during or at the end of the day, for once things are set in motion, everyone is moving in different directions until quitting time. Our four tractor trailer drivers are back and forth to the mills all day long delivering round wood, biochips or pine chips. Our skidders travel back and forth from the woods delivering their hitches to the landing. Our feller buncher operator is deep in the woods cutting trails and laying out the hitches. Our excavation crew is always busy, and sometimes they are working on a totally different job.

So every Thursday morning at 6:30 everyone is expected on the current job for our weekly staff meeting. In the beginning everyone hated the meetings. Some refused to speak, and some went so far as to say things like “meeting schmeeting, why do we have to have a meeting?”

So the meetings were a struggle at first, but now I know that the guys see the power in the regular meetings. Our crew supervisor begins the meetings talking about the previous week, what production was, and any ways that we can do better. Then Tom talks about some bigger picture things regarding the previous week and what’s on the horizon as far as weather and new business. Then we have communication from the office, which has really proven to eliminate a lot of miscommunications with regards to paper work. I will also offer a little educational piece regarding one of our Master Logger Goals or how to improve communication or teamwork.

A couple of weeks ago, I added the MCW Forum. I explained to the crew that this portion at the end of the meeting was set aside for them to share. They may have something to share from the woods, or something to point out about another crew member, or news to share, for instance, like when one of our operators landed in the hospital. The one caveat was that it had to be in a positive vain. I made up slips that I included in with their weekly paperwork so if they wanted to add something and did not want speak up in front of the group, they could write it down and I would share it for them.

A couple of weeks went by, and not a peep from anyone. I started to worry that the MCW Forum might die a slow death. Then two meetings back as the end of the meeting approached, I made the announcement that this was the time to speak up if any of them had something to share, they could do it now. SILENCE. Then, out of the morning mist, our youngest operator spoke up. He pointed out that there were quite a few trees that had barbed wire inside and cautioned the rest of the crew to be careful. I was so thrilled that inside I was doing the “happy, happy, joy dance”. The guys had a healthy discussion regarding the location of barbed wire and feedback on dealing with it.

I want the guys to see that they each have their own powerful perspective, one that can add to our productivity, safety, or improved communication. We are all in this together and we all play a major roll in the success of Maine Custom Woodlands.

Unfortunately we are about to say good-bye to a key person in our office. Our book keeper is leaving the life of logging and taking a job in the real world. I say real world because she is leaving behind the crazy roller coaster ride that we live with every day. She soon will be pushing the numbers in an office where things are more predictable, where I am sure cash flow is never an issue, where the numbers just need to be moved here and there to accomplish things with a huge organization behind her to back them up.

Tom and I have been working to find a replacement for her, which has been no easy task.
We needed to find someone willing to hop on the roller coaster and stay on. Even if they get a little nauseous from the big dips in the tracks, even if the weather is foul, and even if the barkers on the sidelines are trying to lure this person from the crazy ride. We needed a new member for the team that was up for the challenge.

As I interviewed each of the candidates I would explain how we need to care for our crew just as if they were a band of rock stars. I am not kidding! Finding a good skidder operator or feller buncher operator is like finding a replacement for one of the members of Aerosmith! Not only do they have to be very good at what they do, but they have to mesh well with the other members of the crew, because if the replacement doesn't fit, or doesn't work hard enough, "The Boys" will chew him up and spit him or her out!

With such a specialized group of professionals, it's not easy to replace them. Skidder, feller buncher, and crane operators are not a dime a dozen. So we care for them like members of a rock band. I was telling one of our truck drivers this story and he screamed "where are my green M&M's!"

So besides taking care of all our accounting needs the new person has to care for "The Boys". Remember all their birthdays, keep track of reviews, order supplies, keep creditors and venders happy and enjoy the thrill of the ride.

So everyone that we have talked to has heard the drill, “this job isn’t easy, it’s full of stress, you need to let things roll off your shoulders, you need to be up for the challenge, eager to learn and support an industry trying to survive.” We need someone to ride the roller coaster into the future with us, as we hold on for dear life!

I have seen the inside of many businesses and organizations, and I love to use the analogy that every business is like a family….they all have issues. One of the secrets to running a great company is making the conscious choice to tackle those issues. Other companies will just keep their heads under the covers hoping that whatever it is that’s disrupting will just go away. I am talking about issues with regards to teamwork, communication and motivation.

I’ve had Presidents, CEO’s, and Managers lament to me “I can’t believe this is happening”, or “I have done everything for this employee and still he doesn’t get it”. Unfortunately, just because we want them to “get it”, doesn’t mean they will. Challenges with employees exist in every business. Motivation is a complex thing, as is teamwork and communication.

You just can’t make someone do something, plain and simple. One amazing book that underscores the complexity of human nature is “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. In this book Frankl is stripped of everything and placed in a concentration camp. Here, the Nazis tried to break his spirit, rob him of his desire to live. You would think that would be easy, after all, what did he have to live for? His whole family had been killed, his home gone, and he was robbed of the simple comforts of life. He showed the Nazis, and the world, that when someone has the fortitude to hold onto something, make up their mind to do something, another human being will be hard pressed to interfere. Viktor survived, flourished and founded a very well known type of psychotherapy known as logotherapy.

The power of the human spirit is amazing, and to harness it to accomplish something, to get a job done, can be one of the most rewarding things to an employer. No you can't just tell them to do it. So how do we deal with the age old dilemma of motivating employees to get the job done and reach their potential?

In logging we face all the same challenges with motivation, communication, and teamwork as any business except add the fact that everyone is in separate machines, yelling over loud engines, and working under high stress. We don’t have a spare conference room where we can hold a quick meeting. Our meetings have to happen on the site, in the freezing cold temps with all the pressures of the moment. We are in the business of the urgent. Wood is flowing smoothly, then a hose blows, get everything going again, then the chipper starts choking, quick run and get an alternator, and when the wood is not moving, money starts flowing in the opposite direction. So when you think about finding time to work on motivation, when you need it the most, it’s really not there, no really it’s not. Or is it?

Moving the wood is urgent, but without engaged and motivated employees to move the wood where would we be? Somehow we have to make these things important, we need to peek out from under the covers and face whatever we need to in order to keep our businesses strong. So how do we do it?

One way is to share with others in our industry. I know when we get together we have huge issues to face and work out, but if you have a successful plan that you feel is working with your employees, share it. If you don’t, just start by taking the first step in the direction of giving these issues more attention when you can. Realize that they are a priority, and work at making them so. There are many resources out there. You can start by attending workshops when you have the opportunity, and reading books that will help you focus on how to help your employees reach their maximum potential. There is a great new release that I have just started reading called, 12 The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner & James K. Harter, PH.D. The book starts by emphasizing the importance of employee engagement, and how a disengaged employee has a substantially higher chance of being involved in an accident on the job. When it comes to our industry, this is something we can’t afford to ignore.

Dale Carnegie Training of Maine holds programs around the state that can help tackle some of the issues we face. Check out what they have to offer at www.maine.dalecarnegie.com , or sign up for their newsletter that offers timely management and employee motivation tips.

Be the type of leader that sees that potential in your employees, talk to them and find out what their dreams are. After spending some time with our crew, I knew immediately that there was someone who wanted more. He is a very loyal employee, and he wants more opportunities to grow. The first step I took to help him to prepare for his future promotion was to have him read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. As he steps up to the plate, he will need to accomplish things through the people around him. This book, originally published in 1936, still remains on the business bestsellers list, and is the key to successful human relations.

What makes a great business is the fabric that holds it together, and how strong you want to keep that fabric falls into the hands of the leaders in your organization. Some of the threads that hold the fabric together are motivation, communication and teamwork. If we don’t pay attention to strengthening those individual threads, the fabric that holds our businesses together will weaken.

Timber harvesting is a very high stress, dangerous industry and there are times when we feel like we can’t afford the time to focus on these issues, I say we can’t afford not to. I agree, we have plenty of urgent work that we need to get done now, but take the initiative and move your crews towards a more engaging future with your company. Make sure that as a leader in this industry, you don’t keep your head under the covers. Peek out, stare the issues in the face, and work at moving in the right direction. Just that shift in perspective can have great power, and you will see changes in your employees.