Living Our Practices Submissions: October 2022

Hong Leng Lee (Connell)

The goal to achieve in performance transparency is openness and engagement between management and employees or among own team in order to share information freely.

To support performances transparency, we can :

1. Clear communication on changes and ongoing objectives to go
2. Convey both positive and negative points reflecting to current situation
3. Clear objectives set with clear forward action with measurable parameter
4. Open mind to listen and allowing feedback taking with open heart

Particularly I like various town halls we have (country, Connell or from Wilbur-Ellis), clear message from higher management, current performance, key messages and plus update on various excitement agenda around us. The session allowing questionnaire for transparency and understanding. This support in shaping open, transparency, high integrity culture locally and within organization.

Nick Giannecchini (Agribusiness)

Performance transparency is all about communication with the common goal of success in mind. This success comes in the form of proper care and service for clients and business success and flow within our branch amongst employees. It is good to communicate what is work and what is not working, with emphasis on the successful “wins” and a focus on what needs to be improved and is not working.

Barbara Davis (Agribusiness)

We can support performance transparency by actually owning our work that we do every day. I am a HUGE fan of personal accountability. It is a win for the company and for our customers and co-workers. Personally I hold myself to a very high degree of accountability and I also expect the same from my team members and co-workers. It makes me feel good to know I am performing at a high level and it builds trust in me from my co-workers. The business world today is a very competitive market and every little thing we as employees can do to earn respect and trust is a huge plus to our company.
An employee without personal transparency is just “working for a paycheck”. Step up and take the reins and succeed by making yourself more accountable. It will pay you back tenfold.

Misty Swann (Agribusiness)

Open discussion and sharing both our successes and areas of opportunity leads to motivation to perform as well as continued growth and development. We need to celebrate our successes together, but we also need to allow our team to offer feedback and coaching in areas that we may be struggling. Many times an idea can spark from being transparent and asking for thoughts and ideas. It is not a sign of weakness or failure to pull in other members of the team- it is being responsible for your success as well as the the team’s success and using the resources, skills and talents of others.

Jessica Pfluger (Agribusiness)

Performance transparency on a team would mean that all team members are aware of the the expectations, and the steps necessary to be successful collectively. This does not necessarily mean that individuals share tasks daily, but it would mean that should a member of the team be absent another could step in an perform the duties with enough knowledge to be a beneficial asset on that particular job or at that certain time. It means that all tools are provided by the employer that aid the team in reaching their goals or even surpassing. There is clear and concise procedures in place that allow the team as a whole to perform in a uniformed fashion. Every member of that team is an asset, and every member is a weakness so there for making performance transparent it allows the team to identify and know exactly what their role is but also the understanding of the other team members as well.

Sam Engel (Agribusiness)

I believe that each of us can support performance transparency by being willing to share work results with those that ask. We can do this by making time to answer questions that coworkers have instead of pushing it off and forgetting about it. There are many WECO employees looking to learn about the business and how it runs so they can figure out their career path, if we don’t share results with them, we are basically acting as a speed bump on their career path. One person who is great at career transparency is Robert Ogden. Rob isn’t afraid to answer questions or share certain details with employees who are curious about what he, as a location operations manager, does. Rob is also great at helping others figure out their career path and is always willing to get employees engaged in activities that will drive them further down their career path.

Caitlyn Nigbor (Nutrition)

We can support Performance Transparency as Managers having conversations with our employees on how they are performing day to day as well as towards their goals for the year. Having open communication where they can share what they need to better perform in their day to day work as well as towards their goals is very important. Sometimes it may mean having to adjust and update a goal due to changes that have occurred since the goal was originally set. On-going communication is very important in ensuring Performance Transparency.

Smita Shetty (Connell)

Honesty, openness, and transparency are the mantra in the new modern workplace, as this allows every employee to feel welcome, motivated, and a part of the bigger picture. We should practice the free sharing of relevant information such that it benefits both the company and the employees. There should be openness not only between the management and the employees but also between the individual teammates. In simple terms, we should mindfully have two-way and honest openness between Team. Personally it helps to give timely feedback & keep our progress on track with the larger organizational goals.

Christopher Gonzales (Nutrition)

I recently had to address a situation that challenged my word of delivering the highest quality product, customer service, and integrity to a new customer. Along the process of delivering our best to this customer, there were multiple complications with unexpected outcomes; the new customer was highly concerned.

What I love about these types of challenges is I have a vital opportunity to display the capability of holding MYSELF accountable. So, I owned every single one of these obstacles; even though the process involved many individuals, I still owned them because I am my team.

I promised the customer that I would investigate, find a solution, and resolve any further disruptions in our process of delivering to them our Wilbur-Ellis integrity and quality. My customer is very happy now and is already speaking of having a great relationship with Wilbur-Ellis for decades to come.

Performance transparency is at its maximum potential when it has an aim to successfully affect your company by, in part, aiming to successfully affect your customer relationships. This can happen by making all expectations clear and taking accountability when the expectations are not met on your end. Be transparent. Fix what has failed. Move forward.

ROBERT OGDEN (Agribusiness)

I like the idea of a think tank with our teams. We look and talk about our performances, brainstorm ideas of helping support each other. We increase level of trust, teamwork, and cross-training. We hold each other accountable, if one of us fail, we fail as a team.

Doris Deuser (Nachurs)

We need to be accountable for not only ourselves, but for our team.
If something is off, say so. Whether it be quality, safety or customer service. We all have an effect on the company standards.

Kameron Schenk (Agribusiness)

Communicate the gaps in which we struggle with and how to overcome them to continue to gain our customers trust in doing business no matter the challenges to come.