Reflections ... Leading Into the 2nd Half after our July Senior Leadership Meeting

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” ~ Dwayne Johnson

Our APM senior leadership team spent the past week coming together to discuss our status today and develop strategies for future success. From the good discussions, there were a few key themes I want to share. We all will rally around these priorities to ensure a positive 2nd half and strong momentum leading into 2020.

Safety Management

After a busy Spring outage season, our safety metrics have improved. We see the improvement each Monday in the weekly report from Alex Polhemus, our EHS Director. We have reduced our significant injuries and first aids by over 50%. We have performed over 1300 hazard hunts, driving a culture of seeking hazards before they become events. Almost 99% of our jobs are being completed with all of our craft are going home safe. This improvement has been a multi-factor success – there is not one magic fix. We are proud of all your efforts to improve our safety performance.

However, there have been too many instances (one is too many!) where situations could have resulted in a different outcome. We must remain resilient. The day we stop perceiving safety management as a daily, never-ending journey is the day we lose our edge, and put our people in harm’s way. You will hear more this summer about building consistency and maturity with the tools that we have in our safety management toolbox.

Financial Stewardship

We have maintained good financial stewardship in the 1st half. We have built credibility with our shareholders to manage costs effectively. This is significant and allows us the opportunity to reinvest in our business, and specifically in our people. Over the next two months, we will deliver training and leadership development to 400 employees across the business. We are proud and grateful for this opportunity. We must remain diligent in managing our costs effectively to keeping reinvesting in the future.

Investment in Our People

One significant investment we are making to further our business growth is in a new Learning Management System (“LMS”) developed in the same platform as AirTime. This August, our team will launch the online training portal. The new tool will provide mobile learning capabilities for simple and engaging access to curriculum. It will also deliver a centralized experience where all applicable training is tailored to the user. All user training will be stored in this one location, producing a total learning history and training resume from all learning sources, including union training.

Another equally critical and exciting investment we are making is in our new Resource Program being led by DonnaMarie Konoff, Resource Program Manager. The purpose of this program will be to create greater visibility for work opportunities and resources. For our operations management, it will empower the ability to leverage the best qualified talent for jobs across the business. For our Superintendents, it will provide the opportunity to see your future job schedule for enhanced work and life planning. Our goals with this initiative are to deliver better career experiences and expand and retain diverse top talent. With these goals met, we will be able to deliver excellent customer solutions and outcomes.

Look for a communication coming in the next couple of weeks from Julie Doyle, our Chief Services Director, sharing more details about the LMS and Resource Program.

Growth through Excellence

Achievement of the above priorities are critical to APM’s growth. We have identified and are working toward 3 major focuses over the next 6-12 months. You will hear more in the next couple of weeks from Charles Nagley, our Chief Growth Director, about our strategies, including “Tex-Mex”, Boiler Commercial, and Third-Party Scopes.

All growth starts with excellence. A significant contributor to excellence is the implementation of Lean methodology across all segments and levels of our organization. As you read in the recent guest blog by Lisset Lopez, our Business Improvement Leader, Lean is about valuing people’s time and maximizing the value of their work. Lean is another investment in our most important business resource – YOU!

In summary, I enjoyed the week of partnership to develop business strategy with our senior leaders. We have a strong team that is passionate about our APM and the craftspeople that are the heart of our business. There are several more exciting events in the coming weeks, and I look forward to the opportunity to spend time with you, listening and learning from you, in person.

—Jake