Palliser Lumber Finds Success by Empowering Employees

Palliser Lumber Sales has emerged in recent years as one of Canada’s largest secondary lumber producers.

            The Palliser management team puts a strong emphasis on empowering rank and file employees to make decisions. “The unique culture that Doug started — and that Bob and I have been able to continue — is that we want people to make their own call,” said Howie Kroon, one of the primary managers behind Palliser. “We don’t want people to make the wrong decision six times, but we want them making the call.”

            “If you have a company where only one person is making all the decisions, as the company grows a greater and greater bottleneck occurs,” said Howie. “I think we have really worked hard to push some of that decision making downward. In the end, the ability to make decisions is a motivator.”

            Being empowered to make decisions keeps employees motivated; they want to work because their job is engaging. The company also awards bonuses as an incentive to help retain employees.

            “If you have the authority to make decisions, even if it is only in your own little fiefdom, that helps to keep some of our employees,” said Howie. “In that sense, we are poised for the next tier. We’re not perfect, but we are starting to see more and more decision making by employees. It makes it more fun for the management team because we can go out and explore more opportunities and not worry about operations.”

            “The hard thing is to stay out of the way as people develop,” said Doug Currie, owner and CEO. “It is very, very difficult” to watch a worker who makes a wrong decision and not to intervene. “But if you jump in and stop them, they’ll get gun shy.”

            “These guys have it together, so I’m no longer needed,” Doug added, “which is the toughest thing for senior management to do — for senior management to marginalize itself out of the picture, to not even be there. That means that you no longer have those warm, fuzzy traps of personal gratification. These guys are now better than I ever was, and that’s the goal.”

            Empowering employees to make decisions is a strategy that not only motivates them but also makes Palliser more valuable and succession-ready. “It is far more attractive to a banker or a buyer, to an employee group, if you have a wide management structure that has responsibility in different areas,” Howie explained.