What are Your Stories? Share Them.
A couple of months ago, Dale Collins, the fleet services supervisor at Fairfax Water in Virginia, emailed me about four new crew trucks he had ordered. He and his team were proud of the final product – and of the nearly three-year process they went through to get the spec right.
Collins thought there might be a story to tell to UFP readers, but he wasn’t sure what that story would be or look like. He reached out to me anyway. And I’m glad he did.
That’s because I’m always on the hunt for real-world fleet stories that can inform, educate and inspire you to do more, be more and achieve more in your career.
When I received Collins’ email, I didn’t know what value his story would bring to our audience, but I wanted to explore it further.
We scheduled an initial 10-minute phone call. During the conversation, I was looking for lessons learned, new ideas and new strategies that would be applicable and useful to utility fleet professionals beyond Fairfax Water.
As Collins delved deeper into the three-year process to garner management support, get input on spec changes and make critical decisions, I stopped him. “We’ve got a story here,” I said.
Then we scheduled a full interview. The result is the fleet profile in this issue of UFP: “Fairfax Water: Overhauling Crew Truck Specs to Improve Safety and Productivity.”
I tell you this story because you’re most likely doing interesting things in your own fleet right now that you’re really proud of. But perhaps you haven’t thought about sharing your experiences beyond your organization.
If that’s the case, I want to encourage you to reach out to me, just as Collins did, and let me know what cool things you’re doing in your fleet.
You might not know if you really have a story, but that’s OK. Collins didn’t know either and contacted me anyway.
If you’ve been in fleet for any amount of time, you’ve amassed a wealth of stories that could bring value to your peers and position you as a leader in the industry.
So, what are your stories? Let’s talk.
Sean M. Lyden
Editor