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Serving the Canadian Ground Water industry for 40 years.
Is your business ready for the next step? by Laura Aiken
i ndUstry
18 n ew p rodUCts 30 B Usiness Ideas for how to manage managing people
www.groundwatercanada.com
8 staying small
D & S Water Well Service strives for a small company hands- on approach with big results.
14 Updating B.C.’s water aCt
The proposed Water Sustainability Act will regulate British Columbia’s ground water for the first time
20 making transitions
Here are some great tips to help you plan the future of your business.
26 pU mps of the f UtU re
We look at factors that will affect pump design and operation. 4 transition planning
ON THE WEB:
Freshwater found beneath seabed
A new study has found that there is around a half-million cubic kilometres of freshwater beneath the bed of the sea off North America, South Africa, Australia and China
Ground water expert wins prestigious award
Diana Allen, a professor of hydrogeology at Simon Fraser University, received the prestigious C.J. Westerman Memorial Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.
Transition planning
Has
succession planning become a dirty word?
by Laura Aiken
Being in my early 30s, I’m nowhere near retirement. However, far from having some idyllic fantasy of a life of leisure, I already fear the prospect. What will I do all day? How will I keep purpose in my life? I like to be busy and useful, and considering the industry you are in, I imagine that you do too.
Since I am in a poor position to be much of a retirement advisor (only an apprehensive oneday potential retiree), I urge you to turn to page 20 for sound advice from a really experienced professional in succession planning for small businesses. I was fortunate to hear Grant Robinson, director of the BDO SuccessCare Program, speak, and am happy to turn his tips over to you. My favourite wisdom of all that he imparts is to use the word transition instead of succession. Succession implies retirement, and retirement is a dirty word when you see it not going so well for your friends or feel that you will no longer serve a purpose. It’s a common but scary concept to think that if we stop having a purpose every day we will simply pass away. Purpose is a notion clung to like a loved one in a hurricane.
Succession implies retirement, and retirement is a dirty word when you see it not going so well for your friends or feel that you will no longer serve a purpose.
I love the word transition, because that’s what we do our whole lives. We transition from children to adults to parents to grandparents or other varieties of family roles. We transition our careers from young and a little inept to old and quite adept.
You’ve transitioned your business from empty lots to yards with fleets, to a business number to a profitable corporation, and progressed from earning your keep to offering your crew the opportunity to earn their livelihood.
Transitioning is as natural as oatmeal for breakfast. To me, it’s always meant “on to the next adventure.” A friend recently told me of a couple she knows who just retired, and as their
retirement plan, moved to Honduras to work at a mission in an orphanage. Wow! Sounds like quite the adventure. This is not necessarily an appealing notion to all, but it’s important to remember that the future is yours to plan.
Your business needs to be prepared for your next adventure, whether it’s a embarking on a Third World mission or becoming a fulltime hockey grandparent or competitive senior golfer. It needs to be able to run without you. Whether you decide to sell within your family, make an outside sale, or simply sell off the equipment and close up shop, you’ll want to devote the same energy and find the same joy in the days ahead that you did in the days behind. Planning can greatly help increase your joy and energy of the day at hand by the very nature of taking action, and we at Ground Water Canada hope you pick up some useful planning tips from Robinson.
On the note of planning, it’s a new year and it’s a CanWell year, which is an exciting time for the ground water industry. This year, the British Columbia Ground Water Association will be hosting the event in beautiful Kelowna from June 10-14. This year’s promises a winery tour and a golf tournament too! I hope to see you there.
NEXT ISSUE: The next edition of Ground Water Canada will be your guide to everything CanWell 2014. Don’t miss it!
INDUSTRY NEWS
CaNWE ll’S GEar IN G U p
CanWell, Canada’s national symposium on ground water, will be hosted in beautiful Kelowna by the British Columbia Ground Water Association (BCGWA) in 2014.
The show will be held at the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort and Conference Centre from June 10-14. The event is slated to feature a combination of well drilling and pump equipment, installation information and products, well rehabilitation demonstrations and educational seminars. Prospera Place, which is across the parking lot from the Delta Grand, will house the trade show booths, product
seminars and a rig display. The technical seminars will be held at the Delta Grand.
The convention will kick off with options to participate in a golf tournament or a wine tour on Tuesday, June 10.
The following day will be the start of the trade show, educational components and a speaker luncheon. The evening promises wine and cheese, and entertainment by magician Rod Boss. On Thursday, attendees can expect two silent auctions, product demonstrations and another speaker luncheon. Friday will wrap up the trade show event and will finish off with a banquet featuring
AlbertA floods CAnAdA’s Costliest nAturAl disAster
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reports the latest PCS-Canada estimate of the insured property damage caused by last June’s southern Alberta floods now exceeds $1.7 billion. It is the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.
“It’s a staggering number that we expect will go even higher,” said Bill Adams, IBC vicepresident of western and pacific regions, in a media release. “While the monetary cost of the floods is huge, the emotional toll on Albertans is incalculable.”
Flooding was the result of torrential rainfall between June 20 and 24. Four people died and 100,000 people were forced from their homes. The provincial government declared a state of emergency for a number of communities in southern Alberta. Immediately after the flooding, around 5,000 insurance professionals were deployed to help with the claims process.
The preliminary estimate of insured losses was calculated by Property Claim Services Canada (PCS-Canada), a service that tracks these losses arising from catastrophic events in Canada.
PCS-Canada also reports that well in excess of 25,000 claims have been filed in the wake of the floods.
special guest Trevor Linden.
The final day of the symposium will feature a drilling demonstration, a Kettle Valley Railroad spousal tour and an evening dinner boat cruise.
There will also be discounted prices at four hotels. Delta Grand Okanagan is offering a room rate of $215, Prestige Inn Kelowna can be booked for $169.95, Royal Anne is offering $119, and Abbott Villa on the Lake has a room rate of $99.99. These offers will end after May 9.
The early bird pricing deadline for exhibitors is March 31.
For more information, call 604530-8934 or e-mail canwell2014@ bcgwa.org.
pU r IFICS b ooSTS WaTE r r ES Ear Ch aT UN IvE r SITy
The Drinking Water Research Group at the University of Toronto recently received a Photocatalysis (Photo-Cat) System from Purifics.
The group is using the equipment for water purification and training. Photo-Cat’s wastewater pre-treatment capability is designed to provide enhanced reverse osmosis (RO) and endocrine disruptive chemical (EDC) treatment training. EDCs can interfere with hormone systems of humans and animals.
The research project is an initiative supported through the Southern Ontario Water Consortium (SOWC). SOWC brings together universities, industry and government to encourage the development of new water technologies. Purifics is a SOWC member.
Photo-Cat is a photocatalytic, ceramic membrane process that combines chemical-free advanced oxidation and ceramic ultrafiltration to safely remove and destroy chemicals and toxicity. It also helps to disinfect, sterilize, and remove colour, taste, and odour from water.
skilled trAdes tApping into AboriginAl Community
Aboriginal Peoples are well represented in the skilled trades, with participation roughly equal to representation in the Canadian population, says the Canadian Apprenticeship Journal (CAJ).
As population growth among indigenous peoples continues to outpace the Canadian average, Aboriginal Peoples will continue to be an important segment of the skilled trades workforce.
A recent issue of CAJ showcased successes and ideas about overcoming common challenges faced by indigenous peoples. Several common themes and insights emerged:
• Cultural awareness and support is the cornerstone of many successful initiatives.
• Every person and community is unique – solutions have to be customized.
• Remote location, essential skills, socio-economic circumstances and limited work/training opportunities within aboriginal communities affect individual learners to varying degrees.
“We are seeing innovative, creative solutions from every corner of the country when it comes to addressing Canada’s skills shortages. This issue of the journal addresses the issue from an Aboriginal perspective, showcasing specific examples about overcoming barriers to apprenticeship training,” said Sarah Watts-Rynard, executive director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum-Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA), in a press release. “Indigenous peoples are an important part of the skilled trades workforce and a group many employers want to tap into, underlining the importance of sharing insight into what’s working across the country.”
The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, which publishes CAJ, is a nonprofit organization working with the apprenticeship community in all regions of Canada. Participants work collaboratively to support vibrant and innovative apprenticeship systems and policies, with a view to developing a highly skilled, inclusive and mobile skilled trades workforce.
A new report reveals the way Canadian youth perceive skilled trades. In the Apprenticeship Analysis: Youth Perceptions of Careers in the Skilled Trades report, CAF-FCA documents the findings of a national survey with more than 800 students across Canada in spring 2013. CAF-FCA compares these results to findings from a parallel investigation in 2004.
Current and anticipated skills shortages, combined with a demographic crunch as baby boomers retire, have raised expectations around recruiting the next generation workforce. An important element of attracting young people to the skilled trades is to understand how their perceptions and attitudes affect career decisions.
“CAF-FCA members have placed a high priority on raising awareness among young people about apprenticeship, trade certification and career opportunities in the skilled trades. Apprenticeship remains a first-choice solution to addressing skills shortages,” said Watts-Rynard, in a media statement. “Over the last decade, the apprenticeship community has expended tremendous resources on this effort. Gauging how youth perceive the trades today tells us where we’ve seen successes and provides a roadmap to inform future initiatives.”
Survey results indicate youth are more open to considering a skilled trades career than they were in past, are more aware of career options, have better access to information and value the contribution of tradespeople.
oNTar I o h E lpI NG r U ral ar EaS SaFE GUar D D r IN k ING WaTE r
Almost 200 Ontario municipalities will receive support from the government to help carry out source water protection plans. The plans, which are developed locally, are part of Ontario’s drinking water safety net that is designed to protect existing and future sources of drinking water.
“Guarding against threats to our drinking water supplies is the purpose of source protection,” said Ontario’s minister of environment Jim Bradley, in a news release. “With the help of our many partners on local source protection committees, we are completing source-to-tap drinking water protection.”
One hundred and eighty-nine municipalities are eligible for grants ranging from $18,000 to $100,000. An additional incentive of up to $15,000 is available to municipalities that work together to implement source protection plans.
In 2000, seven died and more than 2,000 became sick after consuming contaminated drinking water in the Town of Walkerton. This prompted the town to request the government to ensure that drinking water is more protected in rural communities.
by J U lI
D & S WaTe r Well Service
a small company striving for big results
In 2007, with a leap of faith and more than 35 years of combined industry experience, Derek Kokkinen and Scott Armstrong decided to delve into the world of business ownership by starting D & S Water Well Service in Uxbridge, Ont. Six years later, the gamble is proving successful, with a bustling small business that is keeping Kokkinen and Armstrong busy year-round.
F Itz-G erAlD
The pair had been working locally for Wilson’s Water Wells for 20 years when they decided to take a shot at their own business that would specialize in new well pump system installations, water treatment solutions, yearly system maintenance and emergency pump repairs.
“It was pretty scary for a while. There was no paycheque for a couple of months and we had to put a lot of money out there initially. We were trying to get in with some suppliers and make sure they were still going to deal with us. The first couple of months were slow and then by the end of the year we were steady,” Armstrong says. “But we did a lot of canvassing, a lot of flyers, and a lot of advertising and driving around those first six to eight months.”
“Once word got out and people figured
out where we were, word of mouth started working for us; now about 80 to 90 per cent of our business is word of mouth,” said Kokkinen.
While Armstrong’s start in the ground water industry occurred by chance in 1987, Kokkinen was raised in the business. His grandfather started an agricultural water filtration company in the 1970s, but Kokkinen wasn’t in a position to take over the family business when his grandfather was set to retire.
At the time, Kokkinen had two small children at home and he recognized that farms were quickly being replaced by subdivisions in the area. “The farms as you can see are mostly houses around here now, so there really wasn’t an upside to it unless I wanted to move way.” Nevertheless, he knew the water business and he had a hunch about what direction to take. Servicing an area bordered by Beaverton
Derek Kokkinen (left) and Scott Armstrong are based in the rural town of Uxbridge, Ont.
“Cotey
Eddie G. - West Texas Farmer
to the north, Toronto to the south, Newmarket to the west and Port Perry to the east, the business partners says D & S Water Well Service is becoming a customer favourite for one obvious reason: “It’s our hands-on approach. There’s always one or both of us on site,” says Armstrong.
Kokkinen agrees. “Customers like to see the owner/operators on site. Some of the bigger companies will send in someone else, but the way we get treated by customers now is a lot different than working for someone else. There’s a lot more respect and they trust what we say.”
The pair also credits their on-call approach to emergency well service with boosting business, especially when they first started out. Their business phone is always forwarded to one of their cellphones, meaning that if a customer is in trouble either Kokkinen or Armstrong is always reachable.
“People like to talk to someone when they’re in trouble and they need help. We’re around seven days a week; we do half-days on Saturday and Sunday,” said Kokkinen.
“When we first started, it was the emergency service that kept us going. That’s all we did. If someone has no water, it usually happens between 6 p.m., and 8 a.m. When we first started we were getting calls at three in the afternoon because people were trying to find anyone who would answer their phones on the weekend, but now it’s gotten more comfortable and our name’s out there so people do find us sooner than three o’clock in the afternoon on a Saturday. But definitely the emergency service kept us afloat when we first started,” says Armstrong.
Today, the business also consists of well decommissions, well upgrades, real estate well inspections and water treatment solutions, including water softeners, water filters and ultraviolet lights. It’s this diversity that Armstrong says he appreciates. “We like this business because there’s something new every day, which gives us a bit of variety.”
“We do annual maintenance where we go back in and change the ultraviolet light bulbs, clean out the filters and screens, and check the pumping system. Most people don’t want to worry about
this stuff so we come in once a year and go over the whole system,” says Kokkinen.
With new pump installations making up a healthy portion of the business, Kokkinen and Armstrong rely on the constant pressure system known as the Pentek Intellidrive Water Pressure Control Center. While the idea has been around for decades, the duo says these types of systems are now becoming more popular. “On all our new installations that’s what we put in. It simulates city pressure. If the well is to run dry, it shuts the pump off,” says Kokkinen.
“It also senses things like a broken wire or a broken pipe and will shut everything down, whereas conventional systems don’t do any of that and would just fill your basement with water,” adds Armstrong. “We’ve even had customers who are interested in the pump but aren’t sold, so we put it in for the weekend and then they can decide if they want to keep it. I don’t think we’ve ever had someone who wants it taken out after trying it. It sells itself once they see it.”
D & S Water Well Service seems to have found its niche in remaining small. Remaining small, however, may end up being the biggest challenge for these co-owners.
“We’re trying to stay small for as long as we can. Everyone we’ve talked to who’s been in business always says to do the same. It’s hard, but it would be nice to stay like this,” says Armstrong.
Kokkinen is of the same mind as his business partner. “It’s also the headache of employees. I watched my grandfather do it for a lot of years. If we’re slow, I don’t have to worry about taking on jobs just to keep employees busy. I’ve seen more and more guys do that and they end up losing money in the long run.”
“I think that if we had started five years sooner, our egos may have gotten in the way and we might have wanted to grow quickly, but we’re down to earth and older now and we have a better idea of what we want,” says Armstrong.
“Not to say we might not have to [grow] if something changes, but as of right now we’re doing well. Although some days we could use five more guys!” adds Kokkinen, laughing.
Julie Fitz-Gerald is a freelance writer based in Uxbridge, Ont., and a regular contributor to Ground Water Canada.
Derek Kokkinen (left) and Scott Armstrong started their own venture after 20 years in the ground water industry.
TRADE SHOWS
NGWa e xpo hi G hl i G hTS
america’s annual ground water symposium
the 65th n ational g round water a ssociation’s ( ngwa ) expo touched down in n ashville from d ec. 3-6. o ver 3,6 80 attendees and nearly 300 exhibitors turned out for this year’s event.
by KArlY O’B r I e N
“The 2013 NGWA Groundwater Expo and Annual Meeting ranks fifth all-time among our non-Las Vegas venues in our 65-year history,” said NGWA CEO Kevin McCray, CAE, in a prepared statement.
“Fresh ideas promised a memorable experience and it looks like folks found that to be true. We hope all of our guests left happy and renewed, and ready for a new and prosperous year.”
There were attendees from Canada, the U.S. and across the globe spanning all industry professions, including water well drillers, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, engineers, as well as 32 first-time exhibitors. Ground Water Canada was an official media partner of this year’s convention.
Boshart Industries, CanWell 2014, Cadman Power Equipment, Di-Corp, Foremost Industries, GéoRocFor, GP Fiberglass, Maxidrill, Solinst Canada and International Pipe were some of the Canadian exhibitors that Ed Cosman, Ground Water Canada’s national sales manager, bumped into at the show.
The opening session on water by Michael E. Campana and Thomas M. Hanna was well received, reported the NGWA Expo in a press release. There was also a dedicated section on the show floor for hourly mini-seminars on topics such as drilling methods, water well maintenance and ground water supply. Attendees could partake in skill-testing activities and take in the NGWA award
presentations. The association presented awards of excellence, outstanding ground water projects awards and divisional awards. Longtime NGWA member Ronald B. Peterson received the association’s top honour as the 2013 recipient of the Ross L. Oliver Award for outstanding contributions to the ground water industry. Peterson is an employee of Baroid Industrial Drilling Products, which is located in Utah.
The National Ground Water Research and Education Foundation’s (NGWREF) charity auction raised $29,075 to help educate the public and conduct research on ground water. Founded in 1994, NGWREF recently launched a campaign to raise more than $1,500,000 for educational initiatives through the Len Assante Scholarship Fund.
Ground Water Canada also spotted a number of Canadian delegates at the Dec. 3 hockey match between the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators, with a final score of 3-1, respectively.
On the final afternoon of the show, attendees were treated to concerts by Sweethearts of the Rodeo and The Bellamy Brothers.
Next year’s NGWA show is set to take place from Dec. 9-12 in Las Vegas.
Frank Elder Well Supply depends on the reliability of a carefully engineered GEFCO drilling rig to meet the demands of the agriculture industry. That is why the GEFCO 22RC is a drilling rig that Frank can trust to fulfill his drilling demands.
The GEFCO 22 is powered and geared toward large Mud drilling projects, yet is compact enough to get into tight locations. The GEFCO 22 has an optional reverse drilling Package making it an excellent 300-500 ft. large-diameter drill.
www.gefco.com
Up D aTi NG B.c.’S WaTe r acT
B.C.’s proposed water sust ainability act
British Columbia’s ground water industry will need to learn some new rules as the proposed water s ust ainability a ct is set to regulate ground water for the first time.
by KArlY O’B r I e N
In the Oct. 18 draft of the Water Sustainability Act, it states that there will be area-based regulations outlining how a well needs to be built if it is in an area where ground water may not be sustainable or sustainably accessed.
“The strongest reason behind [regulating ground water] is that the people in B.C. were telling us that we can’t let ground water get taken for granted,” says Ted White, manager of water strategies and conservation at the Ministry of the Environment. “We realized that with water being under pressure with increasing demand, population, and a changing climate, it would be challenging to sustain that resource over a long period of time and for the future.”
One quarter of the province’s populations depends on water wells, and many wells provide water for commercial and industrial uses. There are an estimated 100,000 water wells in British Columbia.
A detailed proposal regarding changes to
B.C.’s water act was introduced on Oct. 18, outlining the areas that will be regulated. Public feedback was welcomed until Nov. 15, and legislators are currently implementing the relevant changes for a final draft. The information below is based on the information released on Oct. 18 and does not include any changes.
All in all, there were 2,250 submissions. Eighty-five per cent were from citizens; 13 per cent comprised stakeholders such as water, oil, gas and mining groups; and one per cent of the total feedback came from First Nations.
The act will be submitted to the legislative assembly as a bill for debate and approval in early 2014.
There are new rules that will affect the ground water industry if the act is passed as it stands in areas such as drilling requirements, area-based regulation and mandatory reports.
Water well, environmental, geotechnical and geothermal drillers would be required to submit reports on new wells that are drilled, as well as on any well maintenance or closures.
Currently, submission of water well reports is voluntary. The requirements for these reports are still being defined.
The voluntary submission of reports resulted in patchy well records across the province, says White. The consistent submission of well records will allow the provincial government to better understand the resource itself as well as where the resource is being accessed and how much water is being used.
The introduction of area-based drilling requirements is another change for the industry. The new act will instruct drillers to apply for drilling authorization before proceeding to develop a well if it is in an area of concern. An area of concern would be defined as a region where there is an indication that the ground water resource may not be sustainable or sustainably accessed.
The authorization could result in three different outcomes, explains White. In some cases, the authorization will be granted with no stipulations. In the majority of cases, there will be requirements for the way the drilling is done. In other cases, the ministry may go as far as closing the area off to new wells. The areas that will be subject to authorization will be defined and mapped out.
“If you look at it, it allows us to add incremental regulations based on the risk to the resource. This way it gives us the flexibility in areas of the province that don’t need extra regulation, but we can focus our time on areas of concern and apply the appropriate tools to protect the long-term outcome of the resource.”
British Columbia’s Gulf Islands is an example provided by White that will most likely be an area of concern because drilling new wells presents the risk of saltwater intrusion.
There will also be new well drilling requirements, but these have yet to be outlined and are in the works. If a company or driller is believed to be
operating in bad faith, the new act will have an enforcement mechanism for penalties that are yet to be determined.
Ground Water Canada spoke with Bruce Ingimundson, managing director of the British Columbia Ground Water Association (BCGWA), about the proposed legislation. The association has worked closely with the government to make sure that the act benefits the ground water industry as well as protects ground water resources for the long term. These were some problems that the association found with the proposed act.
It is not yet known if the Ministry of Environment has addressed these challenges by implementing changes, as the final document will be released after the publishing date of this article.
Firstly, the act defines water up to 600 metres deep in the aquifer as being fresh water. After that, the water is assumed to be saline ground water. The association did not suggest a qualifier, but noted that it should be deeper. Ingimundson believes the government adopted this definition from Alberta’s water act.
At a public consultation, Diana Allen, a professor of hydrogeology in the department of earth sciences at Simon Fraser University, also disputed the 600metre qualifier.
“I don’t know that B.C. knows at what depth saline water takes place. There are no specific studies that indicate when saline water appears.”
Based on this, she says that the province should refrain from putting a limitation on where saline water starts in the legislation. Instead, she suggests there should be no qualifier and the regulation should stipulate that there be an investigation defining the concentration and depth of saline ground water on a case-by-case basis.
A second concern is that the act has not sufficiently addressed the ground water disposal of waste water and storm water, which is poorly managed and results in the occasional contamination of aquifers, says Ingimundson.
Thirdly, the association would like to see the regulations sufficiently funded. “The government needs to have the staff in order to police the industry and make sure that the regulations are being followed,” says Ingimundson.
The last recommendation was to set aside some funding for well owner
education. Ingimundson says that people who own wells, particularly farm and domestic wells, want to know how to better manage them. “Public education, in our opinion, is a high priority.”
o ther ground water regu lations
The proposed act will also regulate ground water use and extraction. These regulations will not directly impact the well drilling industry, but will affect those who wish to withdraw and use large quantities of British Columbia’s ground water.
Under the new act, ground water would be regulated in the same way as surface water by requiring some users to obtain licences and pay fees.
“I’m glad the province is regulating ground and surface water the same way since it’s one resource, [and] there should be no separation. It makes no sense to regulate one aspect of the resource and not the other,” says Allen.
Domestic users would be excluded from the permit process, unless the area in question has a scarce water supply and is of concern.
There would be mandatory reporting for those who extract more than 250,000 litres per day. Industries that don’t currently pay fees for withdrawing ground water will be required to pay at least 85 cents for every million litres of water that they take.
“The idea of charging somebody like Nestlé $300 per year is really more embarrassing than charging them nothing,” says David Slade, a senior water well driller at Drillwell in Duncan, B.C. “It’s such a paltry amount based on the amount of water that they are using and of course the revenue that they are generating by selling that liquid.”
The government will be able to limit industrial uses of ground water during times of drought.
The new legislation will also give industries that rely on heavy water usage, such as hydraulic fracturing, a fee exemption if they use non-potable water during production.
In addition, the proposed act would regulate ground water with a “first in time, first in right” (FITFIR) policy that is currently being used for surface water. This doctrine prioritizes users based on when they first tapped into the ground water resource. During periods of scarcity, that rule would be superseded
by new policies that give priority to the protection of fish habitats and provision of water for human and livestock consumption.
The process
Updating British Columbia’s century-old Water Act officially began in 2009 when the Ministry of the Environment launched the Living Water Smart blog.
To create a well-researched act, the provincial government examined how countries around the world manage water problems that are similar to the ones occurring in British Columbia.
“We were looking at how water is managed and regulated in other jurisdictions,” says White. “We looked across literature in leading water research and took the input from that to consider how those lessons in other jurisdictions could be applied to the act.” This research is ongoing.
The government planned to implement the proposed legislation in 2012. However, the process took longer than expected. From 2005 to 2009, Ingimundson and Allen were members of the provincial ground water advisory board. This board was disbanded to embark on a full modernization of the act; however, the research and suggested regulations that the board put together are slated for implementation in future regulations.
Some stakeholders were wondering why it was taking a few years to finalize the act, says White. The extra time was needed to get through all of the feedback and to determine how to put the suggestions into legislation or regulation.
The BCGWA has been lobbying for an updated act since 1990. If Ingimundson could put his finger on what motivated the government to pick up the pace, he says, it would be the public finding out that commercial ground water extractors like Nestlé don’t pay fees to use the resource.
“This really hit the people of B.C. [The] government tends to respond to public outcry or public concern. If the public starts grumbling about something then they listen.”
But, Ingimundson says he has to give the government credit because it was working on updating the act before the Nestlé outcry began.
In mid-August, environmental groups discovered that Nestlé wasn’t paying fees to the provincial government in B.C. for extracting ground water after the
company was put under the spotlight for fighting drought restrictions in Ontario.
In the Water Sustainability Act’s proposal, British Columbia’s minister of the environment, Mary Polak, describes the 100-year-old act as something that is “no longer adequate to address the growing population, expanding development and changing climate.”
“It’s never too late to update the act,” says Slade. “It reminds me of an old Chinese proverb: the best time to plant a fruit tree was 10 years ago, but the
second best time is today.”
The passing of the act will make British Columbia the last province in Canada to regulate ground water. If all goes according to plan, the act will be passed in spring 2014 with regulations to be phased in over a designated period of time beginning in 2015. For more waTer
Water Level Accuracy
Water Level Meters
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• Accurately laser marked every 1/100 ft or each mm
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Laser Marked Oil/Water Interface Meters
• Certified Intrinsically Safe for explosive environments
• Model 122 Oil/Water Interface Meters provide clear, accurate measurements of depth and thickness of LNAPL and DNAPL product layers in water.
• Laser marked PVDF flat tape is easy to decon.
NEW P RODU cTS
Flomatic rolls out stainless steel pump valve
photos and GPS co-ordinates, calibrate sensors and log data to their smartphones. The smartphone technology is designed to save professionals money on their overall cost of ownership.
and humidity range of 10 per cent to 95 per cent RH.
www.tandd.com
eFF iciency in stainless steel pumps
www.in-situ.com
Flomatic introduced the 316 Stainless Steel submersible pump check valve for use with variable-frequency drive (VFD) controlled pumps.
The poppet assembly is designed for minimum flow loss. Flomatic’s VFD valve turns the popper upside down and moves the popper away from the seat bore after opening under flow. An exclusive precision-guided 316-poppet system adjusts from high to low flow rates. A special radius seat gives the valve a self-cleaning one point swiping action by the radius edged custom moulded rubber seat disc. All internal parts are made from corrosion resistant materials.
www.flomatic.com
h andheld probes with s martphone inter Fac e
In-Situ introduced two water quality handheld probes for the environmental market that feature a smartphone interface.
Environmental professionals can use the smarTROLL Handheld Instruments to spot check natural surface waters and effluent waters, and to conduct ground water quality sampling.
The In-Situ app, designed to run on Apple products, allows users to e-mail data to their contacts, tag sites with
n ew automatic ‘push’ temp, humidity data loggers
TandD Corp. has released two versions of the new TR-702 te mperature an d hu midity data loggers.
The TR-702NW features integrated Ethernet and the TR-702AW has wireless in tegration ca pabilities of 802.11b/g WiFi.
The new units are designed to automatically “push” current readings and recorded data via FTP to a server of the user’s choosing, or through e-mail at a set interval or fixed time of day. The 700W Series has an internal web server for directly viewing current readings. These devices are compatible with TandD’s free cloud-based WebStorage Service and use the RTR500 Series data file format for integration with TandD’s wireless networks.
The devices incorporate an e-mail client for directly sending warning e-mails. In addition, the latest version of 700W Series has a contact closure for triggering an external device in the event of an alarm condition. Both of these units have a temperature range of 0 to 55 C
Xylem launched the Goulds Water Technology brand e-HM series stainless-steel horizontal multistage pump. The e-HM pump offers a broad hydraulic range and a variety of configuration options that enable the user to customize the pump to meet specific needs while improving performance and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
The e-HM pump comes in two designs. It can be customconfigured for a wide range of applications, including chillers, heating, air conditioning and vehicle washing.
www.goulds.com
Xylem’s pump controller
Xylem Inc. recently released the CentriPro brand Aquavar intelligent pump controller that is designed for submersible and aboveground applications. Using a modular platform, the Aquavar is designed to provide variable frequency pumping control of level, flow, speed and pressure. The controller is compatible with a variety of building management system protocols, and offers op en, in door an d ou tdoor enclosures. Aquavar also helps to protect
against overvoltage, under voltage, phase loss, overload, cavitation, dead head, blocked suction and circuit shortage over an application range of 1.5 to 125 horsepower.
www.xyleminc.com
u pdates to g eo p ro be’s sdt4 5 s on ic to ol system
GeoProbe Systems’ Sonic Dual Tube 45 tooling is now available in a 10 ft. version. Using 2.25 inch centre rods, the SDT45 trips the sampler in and out of 4.5 inch casing. In addition, the centre rods can be winched in and out of 10 to 15 ft. sections. The new version works in 10 ft sampling intervals, which company literature reports makes quick work out of most sampling projects when combined with the fast trip times.
www.geoprobe.com
Do you have a new product that you would like to tell the readers of Ground Water Canada about? Send your press releases or product information to laura Aiken, the editor, at laiken@annexweb.com.
For regular new product updates, visit groundwatercanada.com
b USINESS
Maki NG Tra NS iTio NS
tips for leading your business into the future
to put into scale how big of an issue succession planning is in Canada right now, consider that in the next five to 10 years, 70 per cent of today’s businesses will change hands. o r, as g rant r obinson, director of the B do s uccessCare p rogram likes to phrase it, “ three out of four businesses will have reached retirement age in the next one to two car leases.”
Robinson addressed an audience of food processors at a recent State of the Industry event hosted by the Guelph Food Technology Centre (GFTC). A follow-up call to him confirmed that while his presentation was directed to people in the food industry, the facts, figures and advice provided were pertinent across the board for businesses, and definitely the ground water industry. He works closely with family businesses across Canada and has a compassionate view of why succession planning is at the bottom of many people’s priority lists.
“Succession to most entrepreneurs sounds like dying or neutering,” he says. “But most businesses transition hands many times.”
Succession feels negative because it implies retirement, which is defined as taking something out of use, said Robinson. People see their friends disliking retirement, and the view permeates. There will come a time when your business will be sold, voluntarily or involuntarily. You have two options for that sale: inside our outside. At its bare bones, this decision seems straightforward, but Robinson noted it could take 10 years to make the choice.
“There’s no downside to getting ready to make an inside sale because you can always make the outside sale,” he says.
Here are some statistics from Robinson on the state of succession planning in Canada. Less than 50 per cent of businesses have a succession plan. Around 80 per cent want to keep it in the family, but only half think it’s a reality. Currently, around 30 per cent of businesses successfully transition through the second generation, and less than 10 per cent survive the third generation. In dollar values, demographics suggest that $1 trillion will change hands in Canada in the next decade. Seventy per cent of wealth transitions in families are unsuccessful and 60 per cent of families failed to consider the effect of a communication breakdown. Starting with this last point, let’s look
Eighty
by lAU rA AI
at some strategies that can prevent a communication breakdown during the transition of your business to the next generation and focus on preparing for an inside sale.
per cent of transition planning is communication on subjects like policies for family promotion, accountability, responsibility and authority.
The positive mental approach is to treat the future of your ground water business as a transition rather than a succession, said Robinson, adding that most entrepreneurs have transitioned their business many time times without realizing it. Most importantly, this is an initiative that you need to lead. Robinson’s GFTC talk outlined several tips and objectives helpful to the transitioning entrepreneur.
There are several different considerations you will need to take into account when planning for the next generation, such as the wellbeing of family members, continuing a profitable and successful enterprise,
K e N
and establishing a cohesive ownership and vision. It is helpful to develop a plan to transition all types of capital: physical (equipment), social (staff) and intellectual (the business environment of competition, consolidation or decline). For you to make a smooth transition to the next adventure in your life, you need to ensure their business can thrive without you.
In preparing for an inside sale, don a “we” focus and take into account the dichotomy of business and family life. On one hand, there are the principles, values, history, relationships, moods and personalities of those involved. On the other hand, there are the structural realities of common interests and facts (which Robinson noted are negotiable because perception is reality). Bear in mind, 96 per cent of family business transition plans fail to find a positive outcome by focusing on the past, and 70 per cent succeed by focusing on the concrete side of common interests and facts.
Getting everyone on the same page is critical, Robinson stressed. Eighty per cent of transition planning is communication on subjects like policies for family promotion, accountability, responsibility and authority (the latter being the one that is typically not addressed). You need rules about how people will exit the business. It is advisable to create documents that support paying for people coming and going in ways that don’t harm the business and provide direction on things like compensation. Basically the components of a shareholders agreement should be addressed.
Conduct meetings with an agenda and be prepared for an open conversation about areas of concern. If you fail to find the structure on your own, bring in family council or an advisory board.
However unpleasant to think about, this is a good time to be transparent about what is in your will.
“Avoid the golden handcuffs. Don’t force kids to be in the business or to partner with each other,” says Robinson, also noting: “Don’t let your kids find out what you’ve done through the will unless a Ouija board works because there’s going to be questions.”
In preparing for an inside sale, the purchaser may or may not be family. In Effective Succession Planning/Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Building Talent from Within, author William J. Rothwell outlines a 10-step plan for developing internal candidates for promotion:
• step 1: Identify the key position(s) for which the individual is being trained and ensure the person is aware and interested.
• step 2: Determine how much time is available to develop the person for their new role.
• step 3: Figure out which skills he or she still needs to learn. One way to create this list is by thinking about it as a performance appraisal, but from the vantage point of the position he or she is being groomed for. How well would he or she currently be performing?
• step 4: Be specific about the learning objectives you determined
in step 3. Decide what equipment, information, education or whatever else will be needed to close the gap. How will you measure the learning objectives and under what conditions must the person perform?
• step 5: Lay out the learning strategies needed to achieve step 4. There may be things needed such as time away from work for further training, mentoring, or experience with specific equipment.
• step 6: Develop clear measurements and provide feedback on progress as concrete evidence of accomplishment
• step 7: Determine how performance evidence will be validated: Through passing training? Oral testing?
• step 8: Review the plan with others. These people could be a spouse, peers or colleagues.
• step 9: Carry out the plan. People have the best intentions but this step can be toughest to carry out.
You need to keep an eye on time span and consider the consequences of failing to implement the plan.
• step 10: Evaluate! Where does the person stand on the outcomes when you look at the goals?
staying positive, using resources
There are many reasons why exiting your business is a terrifying prospect. Firstgeneration entrepreneurs put everything into the business, said Robinson, and then can end up 60 years old and on allowances. He’s seen many cases of typical entrepreneurs having this postbusiness ownership experience: 90 days after the business is sold, the phone stops ringing and they start to go nuts. Eighteen months later they start investing in things they know nothing about. If you know someone doing these things, rest assured they are not alone.
Although small business owners may be reluctant to admit it, their identity is wrapped up in their business and this is one of the biggest exiting issues, said Robinson. If it’s a lifestyle business, you essentially have nothing to sell but your equipment. If you professionalize your business and put in place a team that can run it without you, then you have an entire business to sell. Your decision may be to sell off the equipment and close up shop, and that’s perfectly OK. It seems fair to say it’s best when that happens voluntarily. Remember, the transition of your business rests on your leadership.
“If left to the spouse and kids to sort it out, that’s where people spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on accountants and lawyers,” said Robinson. There are resources to help you along the way. The BDO website (www.bdo. ca) has the Discovery Questionnaire intended for family/stakeholders to answer and then discuss the results. You can also turn to the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (www.cafecanada.ca). Remember, you are far from alone on this journey!
“Because everybody is unique, we are very much the same,” says Robinson. For more on succession planning, eXplore
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STa UB er Drilli NG
a Q and a with stauber drilling’s lorne and fred glass
stauber Drilling is a Saskatchewan-based drilling company with a long history. Harold Stauber formed the company in 1959, drilling wells in the area for local farmers and the commercial hog industry. In 2002, brothers l orne and Fred Glass bought the company and began growing it into a full-service business that can meet all of its clients’ drilling needs. With l orne out in the field as production manager and Fred manning the office as general manager, these co-owners seem to have found the perfect balance in running Stauber Drilling.
by J U lI e F Itz-G erAlD
What circumstances led you to buy stauber drilling back in 2002?
Lorne: I’d been in the business for 10 years before that and then when I saw the opportunity to go out on our own, that’s what we did. I’d been working in an identical business, so it was a good fit.
Fred: I was in a different industry, but Lorne couldn’t come up with the money by himself. He had put a plan together with some other partners, but they still couldn’t make it a go, so he approached me. I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it with you, but I don’t want these other partners.’ So he and I ended up buying this business in 2002 from Harold Stauber. Harold had a
very good reputation and was very successful putting in water wells for the hog industry in Saskatchewan, so he was doing really well drilling farm wells and bigger commercial wells. How did you ensure a smooth transition when taking over the company?
Lorne: When we bought the business there was a lot of work that went with it. The previous owner’s health wasn’t very good and he was looking for somebody that could take over and just walk in and go. He didn’t want to have to sit with them and bring them up to speed; he was looking for someone who already knew the business and he gave us a pile of work that came with it, so it worked out pretty good.
Harold Stauber formed the company in 1959, drilling wells in the area for local farmers and the commercial hog industry in Saskatchewan.
Fred: It was actually very easy because Lorne had been in the drilling industry already and he made the needed improvements.
How were you able to reach out to stauber’s existing clientele?
Lorne: We stayed in touch, we stayed in the area and we kept all the signs up to let people know that we’re not leaving; the company’s not going away.
Fred: We kept the phone number and we kept Harold’s advertising campaign. We’d get calls from older farmers saying, ‘You put this well in in 1972.’ So we were able to keep all of those contacts and service their wells.
What direction have you taken the company in since purchasing it?
Lorne: We’ve gone with a lot more commercial work than what Stauber used to do. I did more commercial work with the previous company that I worked at and we had a good working relationship, so when I went out on my own, I kept a lot of the customers that I had.
Fred: We’ve added a lot of equipment to become more of a fullservice shop. With some new equipment and becoming more of a full-service shop, if somebody calls in the middle of winter and says, ‘Hey, we have this winter drilling project, but have to find some other contractor to do snow removal,’ we can look after all of that. They just have to make one call. Safety’s much bigger now than it was; safety’s gotten huge. So we have a full-time safety manager to help with all of our policies and procedures. That’s been one of the biggest changes we’ve made.
How much has the company grown in the last decade?
Fred: I’d say it’s at least quadrupled in size. When Harold Stauber had the business he would serve central Saskatchewan. We’re now servicing the entire province, as well as into Alberta and Manitoba, so we definitely are covering more area. We do a lot of work with engineering firms now as well, because we’re doing quite a bit of environmental work in the mining industry, such as core sampling, geotechnical sampling, monitoring well installations, that kind of thing. That’s been another area of growth for us.
What are you the most proud of when it comes to stauber drilling?
Fred: Our newest tag line right now is, ‘Where Drilling is Just the Beginning,’ so we’ve really been pushing that. And the other thing that we’ve been promoting, which is a cultural change actually, is that the drilling industry is known for being a bunch of rough-and-tumble guys that aren’t very pleasant to be around, but we’ve taken that and done a complete 180. We’re getting a lot of customer feedback about how wonderful it is to work with our guys. We put stickers on all of our trucks and hard hats that say, ‘We’re easy to do business with,’ and our guys have really taken that to heart. And it sure makes my life easier in the office, getting positive phone calls instead of negative ones, so the guys are pretty proud of the way we’re changing the culture. I mean, we have the knowledge, the skills, the safety and the latest technology, and you can have all of that, but you also have to have the right attitude amongst your workers. That’s what I’m most proud of.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed.
Julie Fitz-Gerald is a freelance writer based in Uxbridge, Ont., and a regular contributor to Ground Water Canada.
Gilles Leclaire
David Lalande
Jean Côté
pUM p S of Th e f UTU re
the factors that will affect pump design and operation
what is in store for the future? i t’s a question that everyone is interested in and those in the ground water sector are no exception.
by tree NA He IN
Stuart Saville of zoeller Canada shared these images to help illustrate pump evolution. On the left, you’ll see an old F&W circa 1950s brass-shelled pump with a G e motor On the right, you’ll see zoeller’s four inch S Series Submersible Deep Well pump, made of one of the latest stainless steel materials.
New technologies and materials will continue to be huge factors in the development of future pump design and operation.
“Starting with the pump manufacturers and their engineers, computer-aided design is becoming increasingly sophisticated,” says Mark Reeder, director of market development at Franklin Electric. “Along with this, advanced manufacturing technologies once only available to the largest industrial companies are now being used by many pump manufacturers. From a design and manufacturing standpoint, these trends will no doubt continue.” Reeder says new materials such as advanced composites will also play a significant role going forward.
The engineers at Zoeller Canada also see the new materials currently available such as engineered polymers and stainless steels
as becoming more important in years to come. “The future of these [materials] lies with technology,” says Stuart Saville, Zoeller Canada’s spokesperson and national sales manager. “Technology to support higherefficiency operations, only delivering the demanded water and only using the exact amount of energy needed.”
From the standpoint of designing pump systems, Reeder notes that design software is improving all the time, in addition to becoming more widely available. “If you’re an installer, you’ll soon start seeing systems, even smaller systems, that you can wirelessly program and even monitor.”
Solar technology will also be a driver in the future of pump systems. “As solar technology continues to improve, it offers vast opportunities for ground water pumping,”
says Reeder. “All one has to think of is all the locations that are ‘off the grid’ but need water.” Franklin Electric has already adapted much of the technology incorporated in the company’s variable frequency drive (VFD) designs to its solar systems.
Indeed, VFDs represent another whole area of future change. Reeder and his colleagues believe that the most significant technology driver in the next five to 10 years will no doubt continue to be the coupling of pumps with electronics. “Of course, when talking about electronic and pump systems, most of the time we are referring to VFDs, [which] allow us to precisely control pump speed based on any number of parameters,” Reeder explains. “That is, we can tell the pump to operate at whatever speed it takes to maintain a constant pressure, a constant flow, a constant level in tank, and so on. But the most common parameter here is pressure, and this is the most widespread application of VFDs when used with a pump.”
Reeder says what’s been interesting to watch is how the coupling of electronics to pumping systems has steadily spread and worked its way down from large industrial pumping systems to smaller ones over the last decade or so. “Today, it’s spread to irrigation systems, municipal systems, and even relatively small residential systems,” he notes. “What’s really exciting is that despite all the technology developments here in the last few years, we’ve just started to scratch the surface as an industry.”
Zoeller engineers note that new technology with monitoring, wireless communication and even the ability to troubleshoot or operate products off-site will also be a driver of change. “This technology is currently being used at the municipal level, and development is underway to create cost-effective technology for use at the residential level,” Saville reports. Reeder agrees that wireless programming of systems will soon be widespread, and that remote monitoring and diagnostics of pump systems are coming –things that “were unheard of just a few years ago.”
b ehind the technology trends
When asked why these particular pump system developments are on the way, Reeder says it’s simply a matter of being able to deliver greater value. “Like nearly all industries and businesses, the water systems industry is expected to deliver an increasing level of value to our customers,” he notes. “A great example of this is energy efficiency. Pumps, especially large ones, are increasingly designed to be the most efficient possible. And coupled with this, VFDs can be a path to significant energy savings by operating at system at the proper speed, instead of simply being either on or off.”
Which things will come ‘down the pipe’ more quickly or slowly depends on several factors, in Reeder’s view. “From what we’ve seen so far, different industries, different applications, and even different geographies have adapted at different rates in our industry. Just looking at energy efficiencies again as a driver, most submersible residential systems aren’t large enough and don’t operate enough to achieve significant savings via efficiency. So, although technology in a residential system can offer the benefit
of constant pressure, efficiency isn’t a major driver here. However, in the case of large pumping systems that are used for irrigation and other commercial applications, energy efficiency has become increasingly important and a major driver of change.”
Reeder says that if we examine the pace of change across the board in just about every industry and aspect of life, we’ll note that this pace is accelerating. “The water systems industry is no different,” he says. “However, what won’t change is the world’s demand for water, especially ground water. As economies develop around the world, their demand for water will increase at a rate even faster than their economies. It will be up to us as an industry to deliver that water in the best way possible.”
Saville says that it is exciting to be involved in the evolution of pump technology and see the industry advancing. “This is an exciting time to be involved in our industry. Just like the early developers of pumping products of the 1950s and 60s where new materials changed the way products handled the water, technology is the new buzz within our industry.” He says “smart technology” and the ability to reduce operating costs, coupled with high-quality mechanical devices, will be the current spotlight for the next five to 10 years. “The future of water pumping equipment will match proven mechanics with new technologies, creating products no one could have imagined 20 years ago. It is truly a fun time to be in this business.”
treena Hein is a science writer based in Pembroke, Ont., and a regular contributor to Ground Water Canada.
INDUSTRY NEWS
N EW b EST praCTI CES IS SUED by NGWa
The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) has issued a new best practices document for dealing with methane gas water well systems.
Intended to give guidance to water well system professionals, Reduce and Mitigate Problematic Concentrations of Methane in Residential Water Well Systems may also be of value to well owners, though professional assistance is strongly encouraged due to health and safety concerns.
The document states that proper construction and regular maintenance of water wells are important to reducing risks to ground water and protecting public health. If there are concerns about the presence of methane in a residential water well, the water supply should be tested. Testing should be performed by a certified drinking water testing laboratory.
The NGWA also issued a new best practices document on how to deal with problematic concentrations of hydrogen sulfide in residential water well systems.
Hydrogen sulfide is often responsible for the “rotten egg” odour sometimes present in well water. It is a nuisance for well owners due to its corrosive properties, which, even in low concentrations, may cause well and plumbing components to deteriorate. However, the greatest health threat is to water well system professionals servicing wells who encounter hydrogen sulfide in confined spaces or very high concentrations.
For more information on how to access the reports, visit www.ngwa.com.
grundfos CelebrAtes 40 yeArs
In late November, Grundfos celebrated its 40th anniversary of operation in the United States.
Grundfos, which is based in Denmark, expanded into the U.S. in 1973 and has since grown from one small office in California to more than 1,300 employees in five major facilities nationwide. The company celebrated its efforts in a ceremony at its facility in Fresno, Calif.
Grundfos concentrates on the production, assembly, distribution, and servicing of pumps and related equipment for the agricultural, irrigation, residential, commercial, and industrial markets in North America. The company recently completed an aggressive five-year investment plan in the Fresno facility.
Grundfos’ expansions included the opening of a water technology centre for promoting innovative water research and developing sustainable solutions; a water conservation project that uses recycled water to support the external water needs of the entire campus; and a 1.1-megawatt solar energy system that provides more than 40 per cent of the energy needed to power the 180,000-square-foot facility.
alb E rT S m ITh laN DS N EW j ob WITh WaTE rG roU p
WaterGroup hired Albert Smith as the regional account manager for Western Canada.
In this newly created position, Smith will be responsible for all outside sales activities in Western Canada, serving wholesale and independent water dealer channels.
Smith has eight years of water treatment experience in customer service, and branch and territory management within the wholesale and independent water dealer channels. He will be based out of Calgary, to best complement WaterGroup’s western Canadian customer base and its new distribution hub.
“Albert’s vast field experience, product knowledge, training and branch expertise will be a great asset for our western Canadian customers,” said Brian Mills, WaterGroups’s director of global sales, in a prepared statement. “Albert will be traveling extensively to meet face-to-face and engage directly with our growing customer base and introduce our new Calgary warehouse operation.”
Managing expectations
There is no surefire way to manage people, but we have to try anyway
by Tron Jordheim
“People are people,” the old saying goes. That means everyone brings their own personal baggage with them to work. People make poor choices, act rashly and defend their own comfort zones. People have agendas all their own that often have nothing to do with the work agenda that you, as the manager, are promoting.
The best managers try hard to motivate and guide their people to meet agreed-upon goals. Procedures, protocols and guidelines are put in place to help keep things fair and organized. Feedback, motivation and direction are given. But at the end of the day, good managers realize that there is no one-size-fits-all good way to manage people.
But since managing people is the key to any business success, you have to try anyway.
Try to create models of best performance and best practices for employees to learn, to copy and to aspire to. You can create goals, requirements and performance thresholds to use as measurement tools. Be fair and consistent in enforcing performance requirements and work rules and be honest with them in your assessment of business conditions, your communication of company policies and your feelings about their performance.
Try to get to know each of your people so you can find the right way to approach them, motivate and correct each of them. Spend a little time with each of your direct reports and encourage them to spend time with each of their direct reports. Spending time together helps solidify teamwork, helps clarify any issues and helps to make sure you and your people are being accountable to each other.
Stop relying on e-mail and memos; have personal conversations with the people in your group. Allow your people to be honest with you. Spend at least a little personal time with each person every month if you can. Learn to be a good listener. Your will learn a lot about how to deal with your people if you hear what they say.
Sometimes managers feel that people can perform better and can produce more, but if employees have found a comfortable and satisfactory balance it is best not to disturb. Resist the temptation to over-manage them.
There are times when your people just need to be left alone to do their jobs. Some days you will work hard to mold people’s behaviour and performance when what they really needed was to be left alone to do their jobs. Some days you will leave people alone when what they really needed was to be working with someone. Try to ask yourself each day, who needs time from me today? And who needs to be left alone?
If you allow yourself to admit that there is no good way to manage people, you can do your company a lot of good by trying to be a better manager every day. Work on best practices, get to know your people, communicate personally, and above all leave well enough alone. If you try too hard to manage people or if you go too far in attempting to manage behaviour, you’ll end up throwing your hands up in the air and declaring there is no good way to manage people!
tron Jordheim is the CMO of StorageMart, one of the world’s largest privately held self-storage companies with locations across the U.S. and Canada. He has helped lead the company to double-digit revenue growth for the last four years by embracing digital marketing and call centre support. Jordheim has consulted for companies and spoken at trade events in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Spain and Mexico. Prior to StorageMart, Jordheim managed one of Culligan Water’s top U.S. bottled water franchises. With 40+ years of experience in sales, marketing and training, he continues to be sought after as a public speaker, sales trainer and consultant. For more information, please visit www. storage-mart.com/blog/author/tron-jordheim
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