Erin Van Zeeland speaking at the 2023 Accelerate Conference & Expo in Dallas, TX
How Leaders Create Leaders
It takes a dedicated leader and bold leaps of faith to lead a team through challenges and unknown circumstances. The core values instilled at Schneider, the major North American transportation and logistics provider, have carried the company through decades of accomplishments.
Schneider Chief Commercial Officer and Group Senior Vice President and General Manager of Logistics, Erin Van Zeeland, says former father/son leaders Al and Don Schneider had very clear visions for the drive and purpose behind their business.
Van Zeeland says the question at the top of mind is, “How do we make sure that we are intimately close in understanding what our customers need and ensuring that we’re building capability to create real value for them?” For Schneider, it begins with identifying leaders in their team, and lifting them up to reach their true potential.
Building a Team of Leaders
Van Zeeland says emotional intelligence, effective communication, learning from failure, diversity, work-life balance, time management, decision-making, and change management are all areas that a leader needs to master to be successful. “Whenever you’re building a team, I think the leader matters a lot,” says Van Zeeland. “And so the work that I go through is to just kind of discover me, build on me and my capabilities so that I can be more effective as a communicator and leading our team toward a new normal.” She says when an individual is identified as a potential leader, Schneider does its due diligence to understand more about the person and what they bring to the table so they can be set up for success.
“For those who are able to turn into our higher-level roles, we get really aligned around who is that person, what do they bring, how are they currently performing in their own role,” Van Zeeland says. “How do we make sure that they get a lot of opportunities in that role, projects, and/or with the scope of the role, to continue to get reps in things that are going to be important? But then how are we lining that person up for the next capability so that they’re ready for it.”
Mentors Make a Difference
She says Schneider’s mentorship program is a key component in making sure an employee’s needs and strengths are being recognized and met. The company is very purposeful in crafting mentoring relationships to help employees continue to develop their skills.
“We invest a lot in this space so that we can be recognizing that our most important asset is our people and that we’re very planful around what we are positioning them for so that we can build an organization that lasts forever,” Van Zeeland says. Van
Zeeland reflects on her own mentorship experience with former Schneider CEO Chris Lofgren. He would challenge her on such critical issues as how she was determining what work to prioritize, how she would interact with others, and how she felt about her accomplishments when leaving the building.
Though Van Zeeland shared with Lofgren that her work is enjoyable, he let her know that things needed to change for her to get to the next level. With his guidance, Van Zeeland was able to take a hyper-focused look at immediate issues she could tackle and transition to a mindset of looking at the bigger picture. As her mentor, Lofgren’s goal to help Van Zeeland move forward in her leadership capacity started with pushing her into a different direction that would open her up to more opportunities.
How to Identify the Leaders
An in-depth study of data gathered from different hires at Schneider reveals interesting results around the people who were making it to 13 months of employment, Van Zeeland says. She says pinpointing the leaders who can get their team members to that milestone has been eye opening.
“Your job is not to show them what they’re not doing well, but to show them what they are doing well and give them the capability and talent around them to do it … that they have direct ownership in terms of their style and capability and connectedness in order to grow that success,” she says.
Speak Up to Stand Out
Van Zeeland says it’s important for leaders to always look at what can be done, what can change, and what can be better. See where your team is aligned, and also take a closer look at where the team is not aligned, she recommends. A good leader can point out when and where to make capacity for something more important.
“We significantly invest in the people side of change and it has been a huge accelerant for us overall,” she says.
A version of this article will be featured in Edition 1 of 2024 in our official magazine, Redefining The Road. Download the latest edition here.
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Schneider Chief Commercial Officer and Group Senior Vice President and General Manager of Logistics, Erin Van Zeeland, says former father/son leaders Al and Don Schneider had very clear visions for the drive and purpose behind their business.
