Davey Tree Flipbooks

Managers Learn Skills to Take Care of Their Own Supervisors, general foremen and department managers from Kent utility, Wolf Tree and Western Canada utility operations met for a three-day Utility Services Management Development Program Jan. 13 to 15 at the Davey Institute. Consultant Rex Houze led attendees through a series of skills seminars with topics ranging from productivity improvement, authority and motivating people, to communicating effectively, coaching and training techniques. The program's 17 participants included Kevin Allison, Fred Awad, Clay Carlson, Roy Croka, Harold Danielson, Brian Edwards, Mike Epley, John Evans, Scott Grinnell, Jason Henry, Audie Jones, Lon Lechthaler, Keli Moiruik, Dwight Murry, Blake Neufeld, Beth Reibold (not pictured) and Andrew Steel. In Training Differentiating Davey in the Field I n light of creating a new, enhanced Davey training program, Bill Whitmire posed the question: "What is the 'Davey Difference' in terms of our field employees' knowledge and skills?" As he "kicked around" the creation of an enhanced training program, Whitmire, vice president of north central operations, kept the best interests of field employees in mind. Monthly managers' safety meetings are standard in Davey's north central operations region, but Whitmire wanted to enhance management and performance skills in the field as well. To better establish the "Davey Difference" among field employees in the Chicago region, the Chicago territories, in conjunction with safety and recruiting and development, hosted a series of five, one-day instructional workshops for the area's top field employees. They called it the Crew Leader Development Program (CLDP). The goal was to combine the elements from the Davey Advanced Arborist Program and the fundamentals of Davey Performance Excellence into one training curriculum. "This program was unique and the first of its kind in the company," Whitmire says. "We committed a significant amount of time and funding to add valuable training and skill sets to the best field employees in the region." Participants had the opportunity to learn and practice new techniques for rigging and tree felling during outdoor sessions in addition to guidelines for safe practices they learned inside—all of which they will share with crew- members for the benefit of safe production. Manager of Safety Program Support Joe Engberg, Regional Safety Specialist Nathan Hadley and Recruiter/Trainers Don Roppolo and Eduardo Medina were the instructors. They received a lot of positive feedback from CLDP participants. "CLDP is a very good training tool," Whitmire points out. "The program went well. If there's a need for further training, we will certainly do it again." Trainees completed their fifth and final workshop in December 2013, when they received graduation awards for participating in the program. The 22 CLDP trainees included Erick Ahumada, Roberto Chico, Matt Dodge, Jose Dominguez, Luis Guaman, Andrew Krause, Jose Luna, Osmar Mejia, Steve Norwick, Ernesto Patino, Al Perez, Jesus Ramirez, Luis Rivas, Charles Shonts, Mike Stilin, Victor Torres, Roberto Vargas, Bryan Westphal, Collin Whitmire and Tim Wimmer. March/April 2014 | 19

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