Building a Better Culture Through Connection and Camaraderie

Fleets across America are struggling to hire. There simply aren’t enough technicians or drivers to make the wheels go around. Half of fleet managers cite labor shortages and staff retention as two of their top challenges. And it doesn’t look like this is going to change any time soon. Statista projects the industry will be short 100,000 drivers this year.  

So what can you do to help recruit new team members while also holding onto the ones you’ve got? Today’s fleet leaders have found that investing in culture goes a long way. 

We talk a lot about the importance of culture. Building an intentional culture is one of the Four Pillars of Fleet Success and among the best ways to ensure your team sticks around. According to Glassdoor, 77% of people consider culture before applying for a job and 56% of employees believe that company culture is more important than salary.

RTA has spent the last few years focusing on creating a humble, hungry, and smart culture. A couple of our co-hosts on The Fleet Success Show recently shared some secrets we’re using to encourage connection across the organization. 

Check out Episode 139: Spirit Week, BBQ & Cornhole—A Recipe for Fleet Success for proof that letting your team cut loose can be good for business.

“If you’re a fleet leader, I’d encourage you to take the time to think about what you can do to intentionally help reinforce culture, to reward your team, and to build those relationships between all of your employees.” 

~Josh Turley CEO of RTA

Why Team Camaraderie Should Matter to Your Fleet

Fostering connection is one of the best ways to ensure a strong, healthy culture. When team members feel connected to their companies and each other, they’re happier, more productive, and able to exceed all kinds of organizational goals. 

Some of the primary benefits fleet managers notice as a result of camaraderie include: 

• Increase engagement: Gallup found that people are 3.7x more likely to be engaged at work when they feel connected to company culture. 
• Boost retention: Fleets that invest in creating personal connections within and across teams have lower turnover rates. 
• Promote collaboration: People have an easier time collaborating and problem-solving with their peers when they get along with each other.
• Improve customer experience: Author Michael Lee Stallard says that when employees have a connection with their supervisors and each other, customers can tell—and it makes a big difference.   
• Strengthen safety: The highest-performing teams always have each other’s backs. And when the team watches out for each other, you inevitably have fewer safety incidents.  
• Drive performance: There’s a strong correlation between culture and performance. Whether you’re trying to improve PM compliance or increase availability, strong interpersonal relationships are key to conquering your KPIs. 

5 Ideas to Build Camaraderie Across Your Fleet

If you’re new to the idea of intentional culture, have no fear. We’ve been at this for a little while and have learned a lot about what works. Here are some tried and true ways to promote connection across your fleet.

1. Create opportunities for in-person connection.

Zoom is great but there’s nothing quite like being with people in person. Half your team is in the field. Half in the shop. Another handful in the office. It’s hard for people to build relationships when they never see each other.

Plan opportunities for people to connect face-to-face. This is admittedly harder with a nationally disbursed team. But if you can get everyone together once or twice a year, the outcomes will be golden.

2. Remember that food is a great bonding agent. 

People have been gathering over food for millennia. It has a wonderful way of nurturing bonding. 

When it comes to food, the ideas are limitless. Bring in lunch once a month or, better yet, host a monthly potluck; pull food trucks into the bays on first Fridays, or setup a grill outside the shop and host a cook-off.

3. Introduce some friendly competition.

Nothing fosters teamwork like a little friendly competition. From fantasy football leagues to an onsite basketball court, there are countless ways to inspire people’s winning spirits.

We know one shop manager who taped out a pickleball court on the shop floor. They shut down for one afternoon a month to play pickleball. Even though it means they close the shop for four hours, it’s boosted team productivity. 

4. Plan regular offsite activities. 

Sometimes you’ve got to break away from your daily environment and introduce new challenges. There are a ton of offsite team-building activities. 

RTA recently organized an escape room event and we’d highly recommend it. Think about it. Your fleet is trying to figure out how to make a bunch of disconnected components work together. What better way to improve their collective problem-solving skills than to lock them in a room together?

5. Host a Spirit Week.

We’ve celebrated Spirit Week every May for the last several years. The whole week is packed full of activities. Our out-of-town team members fly in. We plan costume themes for the week and encourage everyone to dress up. We cater lunch every day, set up some cornhole, and have a blast getting to know each other.

We still get all of our work done this week. And the team gets a huge emotional lift that boosts outcomes for the summer. 

Prevent Employee Turnover through Intentional Culture

Culture may be the key to solving your labor crisis. We’re so convinced of its importance that we’ve built some reporting tools that help fleet managers measure cultural health. 

If culture, retention, and employee engagement are top of your mind, discover how RTA delivers insights into employee satisfaction. Book a demo. 

Check out these other resources to continue your deep dive into all things culture.

• Episode 134: Clear Direction Leads to Accountability
• Episode 131 - Is Culture Really Something Fleets Should Spend Time On
• Episode 108: Accountability Partners
• Article: Struggling to Hire Technicians? Improve Your Fleet Operation’s Culture