Pictured above: Pace Montgomery’s Delandra Moore, David Rook, Noell Anderson, and Rodney Thomas
“If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right,”- Admiral William H. McRaven, U.S. Navy retired, former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.
“1 Thing to Work On was introduced as a communication and cheerleading tool to help our team see some of the little things that have an immediate and direct effect on our bottom line. When I show them these prior achievements, it opens their eyes to help us find the big wins of today and in the future.” – David Rook, Pace Logistics Manager, Montgomery, Alabama.
Pace Montgomery received praise recently from a customer who was looking for help. Staples Delivery Operations Manager Daniel Winkler wrote to say “I wanted to share the kudos email I received earlier today from one of our Customer Success Managers. I truly value the teamwork involved in cleaning up this account. The effort everyone has put in to enhance the customer experience has not gone unnoticed. Both our customer and the sales team are incredibly grateful, as am I.”
The Staples Customer Success Manager, Michele Stone, was thrilled with the dramatically improved service.
“Hi Dan, just wanted to send you a quick note to thank you and the courier team for all the work you have done on Auburn (University),” she wrote. “As you know this account has had a huge pain point with deliveries for quite a while. The KAE (Key Account Manager) was out there last week meeting with them, and she had multiple people go out of their way to talk to her and let her know how happy they have been with deliveries. She said they were so grateful that we had been able to turn it all around! I know that is thanks to the hard work from you and the courier team, so THANK YOU!!!
Pace Montgomery Logistics Manager David Rook credited his team for the customer success. “All recognition for successful performance goes directly to the team,” he said. “They are the ones that put in the blood, sweat and tears each day to relentlessly serve our customers. This success starts with the sorting team, the scanning and sorting of each order by Nakia McCall, Derrick Ray, Darius Mobley, and Amir Paige, led by Rodney Thomas. Noell Anderson and Delandra Moore running dispatch making sure each order is assigned and covered is a major contribution. Finally, our driver partner has made an obvious difference. We made a recent change in that role, which completes the great customer experience we can provide. The driver partner’s attitude is great, and it shows in the responses from the customers he serves.”
David and the Montgomery team have embraced Pace’s 1 Thing to Work On concept. A proponent of Pace’s core value to Serve relentlessly, David wanted his team to believe in the value of focusing on and executing the “little things,” knowing that excelling in taking care of small details leads to ultimate success and a great experience for Pace customers. Thus, the principle of serving relentlessly is realized as a benefit by the customer. “It means to care about a job well done for our company and our customers, going above and beyond to make sure the job is done right,” he said. David’s leadership emphasizes to the Montgomery team that we do the right thing even when no one is watching. Our core value Do the right thing is applicable to taking care of the little things as a means of helping our customer.
For David and the Pace Montgomery team, our value to Get the job done means we don’t rest until the last delivery is made and our system is clean. It means we step up for one another when needed.
Our Pace core value Always improve means being open-minded, listening to ideas, learning new skills and processes that will effectively support the company and ourselves. Our value to Do what you say means being dependable and trustworthy, and viewed as someone to be called and relied upon without hesitation or reserve.
“As a leader I treat others as I would like to be treated, listen more than I speak, and try to lead by example,” said David. “A good leader is first to take blame and last to take credit. I try to approach each day with a hands on get it done approach and instill a sense of urgency to the team that is needed in this business. These are all part of the 1 Thing to Work On approach over time. And of course, pay attention to the little details every day.”
A recent addition to our Pace management team, David came to Pace with an extensive 28 years’ experience as a fleet manager for a large Montgomery headquartered greenhouse and nursery company. He also had a successful trucking company for 5 years. As Logistics Manager for Pace Montgomery, his duties include day to day oversight of the on-time safe and efficient delivery to our final mile retail and pool customers, heavy duty truck and tractor parts, car parts, LTL, TL and linehaul operations. The Montgomery team includes a staff of 3 Logistics Supervisors, 4 dock crew personnel, several W2 drivers and 40+ contract carrier partners.
As Admiral McRaven observed, “getting the little things right leads to getting the big things right.” In Montgomery, as noted by our customer, David leads the team in executing our plans to the smallest detail, which ultimately leads to daily fulfilling our core value – Get the job done.
