5 Ways to Build a Positive Culture in Trucking

Join Aaron Craddock as he breaks down the leadership principles behind building a high-performing culture.

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Culture can make or break a team. In this solo episode, Aaron shares the principles he’s using to build a stronger organization, from doing hard things and pursuing growth to assuming positive intent, communicating directly, and listening more.

For transportation and recruiting leaders, it’s a practical look at how the standards you set and the way you lead can shape team performance, recruiting success, and long-term growth.

Follow Aaron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-craddock/

Hire Truckers Website: https://hiretruckers.com/

What is Hire Truckers Podcast?

Explore the world of driver recruiting with the Hire Truckers Podcast! Join us as we talk to recruiting experts, offering industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to enhance your recruiting skills. Whether you're a seasoned recruiter or just starting, our podcast is here to help you level up your game in the trucking industry.

Aaron Craddock: 00:00

Just be slow to speak, quick to listen. Some of the most high performing teams listen really well, and those people that are the most influential on their team often say less. Sometimes the people that talk the most have the least influence. Welcome to the Hire Truckers Podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock.

Aaron Craddock: 00:34

So today, we have another solo episode. So the thing I want to talk about today is culture is who you become together. And so a little bit of context. So we're in the process of just growing in terms of the team. Some context, I have, during my career, interviewed over 1,000 people, hired over 100, had to do firings, had grove and laid off myself.

Aaron Craddock: 01:02

Culture is just something really, really important to me, and it's something I'm thinking a lot about as we're building a culture as we've added a lot of talent in the last thirty days. Culture can make or break a team. It's the difference between a 10x team and a 2x team. And it's really nuanced, takes lots of work. And one of the reasons I'm qualified to talk about this as well is I've made a mistake, or maybe 100 mistakes, in all of these areas.

Aaron Craddock: 01:33

And so just know that I'm coming to you guys like this is kind of the highest standard that I'm working on just in process of upholding. And so the first kind of concept I want to talk about is doing hard things. And so when we think about what does success look when I can't meet with everybody on the team, it's just that we have a culture of doing hard things. And so that's on the day when we don't want to do it, on our hardest day, when we don't want to have a conversation, when we don't know how to solve a problem. You get that bad news, you want to crawl in a hole, and you pause for a minute, maybe get a snack, go for a walk, and then you dive into it maybe a couple hours later and have that conversation, like after you've paused.

Aaron Craddock: 02:29

And you don't necessarily send it in written communication. You call and have a conversation human to human, like whether that's with clients, whether that's with vendor partners, competitors, peers, employees, teammates, contractors, just whoever it is. And then you want to take swift, strategic action. Lead with confidence, and then do the hard thing. So number two I wanna talk about today is the concept of, like, when you're building a high performing culture, a 10x culture, is you dream big, and then you believe there's a way.

Aaron Craddock: 03:06

And so I've always thought throughout my career, there's always a way to solve a problem. And so that's any problem in the business. That could be a client is upset. That could be an employee is upset. That could be you're worried about losing the biggest deal you've ever had.

Aaron Craddock: 03:32

You don't know how to double performance for a client if they need it. It can crop up a million different ways. You don't know how to mend a relationship. You don't know how you can turn a toxic situation into a positive situation. There's always a way.

Aaron Craddock: 03:54

And so if I'm not around and can't talk with everybody on the team, just as our team continues to grow and have a conversation, I want them to have an attitude when the inevitable problems roll in every day. Because if you're solving seven, eight, nine, ten figure problems sometimes, there are gonna be difficulties and struggles. If you're not having challenges, then you're not solving a big enough problem or you're not helping enough people. And so expect those and then believe there's a way. And so that's for our biz dev team, our sales team, our client success team, our operations team, our development team.

Aaron Craddock: 04:37

And as I know it's mostly fleets listening, the reason I wanna talk with you guys is this is important in this recruiting season. So there's a way to fill those 37 empty trucks on the fence. There's a way with the same amount of leads to increase your numbers in class that show up 50%. And if you have that attitude and if you can instill that in your team, you'll find a way. Because there is a way.

Aaron Craddock: 05:17

If you don't and again, it may sound overly simple. If you believe there's not a way, there's not. If you believe there is a way, there is. And I've just seen that being in the transportation industry over a decade having some incredibly high performing teams like that. That's one of the standouts is dream big and believe that there's a way.

Aaron Craddock: 05:39

So in your recruiting departments, in your operations departments, in your fleets, if you're a CEO running a fleet, just believe there's a way in and through this and a way to exit. Have that belief. There's always a way. The third thing I want to talk about today is pursue growth. And so the company can't outgrow the leader.

Aaron Craddock: 06:05

And so honestly, is one of the hardest things. I can't continue to have 10x growth in the value we add to the industry. So that's our stated mission. How do we have 10x growth in the value we add to the industry if I don't grow? And so that's everything from the personal growth, like having lost a bunch of weight and just becoming the identity.

Aaron Craddock: 06:35

I need to be there in my health journey. There's how I show up for my family, like when I haven't showed up well, and then now I'm showing up well. There's how I show up for my team, like when situations are hard. There's what I don't share and what I share. There's just a million nuances.

Aaron Craddock: 06:56

And I know as we have new members joining our team that, yes, self accountability comes first. And so, I lead with that, hold myself accountable, again, set really high standards and goals, often fall short of the goals, but often hit the standards. And so what standard did you want need in my life? What standards does your team need in their life? Along with that, every season of my career, I've had to become the person the next season requires.

Aaron Craddock: 07:41

And so, yeah, I just encourage you if you're on a team, become the person that this season requires. If you're leading a team, 10x more important. And then also, like we say the word leader, like that's not always positional title, positional leadership. Like, can lead sideways, you can lead up, you can lead down. And so kind of spoiler alert, this is a big deal for everybody, that you need to become what the season requires.

Aaron Craddock: 08:08

So the next kind of principle, core principle we have in building an incredible culture that I've applied to different teams I've built and just seeing who the highest performing teams are, is speaking life into people and being a go giver. And some of this is just a preference. Like, are other styles that work, But we culturally aspire to a lot of the principles in the book, The Go Giver. If you haven't heard that episode where I had Bob, one of the co authors on, I go back and listen to The Go Giver episode, here's some principles straight from him. But one of our goals, as we set out to impact millions of people and then ultimately over a billion people throughout this journey, is speak life into people, be a Go Giver.

Aaron Craddock: 08:55

That's people on your team, that's your family. And yeah, I encourage you guys to read the red Go Giver book. The way we speak life into the industry, what does that mean? How do you operationalize that? So that can be somebody gets laid off that's at a fleet.

Aaron Craddock: 09:18

Somebody gets laid off or fired at a fleet, at a vendor, at tech provider, a recruiter, or have a hard life situation, you just encourage them. Like, hey, I'm here for you. What do you need? Let them talk. And speak life and what you see into people, like what they do well.

Aaron Craddock: 09:44

And so you can do this every day and have the highest impact, like leading up, down, sideways, by seeing something someone is doing well and speaking that into them. And when you work closely with somebody like our team, for instance, working closely with me, they see glaringly the things that I'm falling short on. And similarly, I see areas that they could improve. And however, what we focus on as a team is the things that they're doing well. Because people, one thing I've heard a few different times is once you've given all the praise you think you should, then you've doubled it.

Aaron Craddock: 10:30

You're just getting started. And so speak life into people, like genuine, authentic feedback and then what you see into them. So that's what I have an expectation of our team, to be a 10x team and to just, yeah, yeah, to continue to make the industry better, like be a light, be an encouragement. That's what we want to be in trucking, and that's part of why I do this show as well. And to bring other people on that are lights, and then share that with the trucking industry.

Aaron Craddock: 11:00

So we want like, what does that look like? Like, we're looking back objectively, like, let's say we don't get a deal, or we do get a deal. Like, we do help a fleet get 100 trucks off the fence, or we don't get the opportunity and someone else does. It's like, did that client that met with us leave better? Did we give them something tangible even just for meeting with us?

Aaron Craddock: 11:26

Like when we interact with our agency partners, ad agencies that place with Hire Truckers, did we do that well? Did we make them better from every meeting? Whether doing business with us or not doing business with us. Like when I interact with people at shows, when anybody on our team interacts with people at trucking shows and industry events, did we speak life into those people? Did we help encourage them on what they're doing well?

Aaron Craddock: 11:55

Encourage them to chase their dreams. Like, how did we be there and listen to them when things are hard? That's being a light. This next one is one I talk about maybe every six months with our team, at least in our leadership meetings. But it is complain up, not out.

Aaron Craddock: 12:15

And so this is one of the more controversial ones that principles I've had that was instilled into me from an early leader in my career. Both of these principles. But the number one is complain up, not out. And so what that is, is like in the organization, which we try to have a pretty flat leadership, there's almost always someone that is the boss or has accountability, like that next layer above you, like in terms of accountability. And go to them first.

Aaron Craddock: 12:50

Like, let's say you're a recruiter, go to your recruiting manager first, like when you have a problem. And then when you do it, like here's a problem I see, here's how I think we could fix it. That's going to be your highest chance of success. But at a minimum, just go and say, here's the problem. Then if you want to be top 10%, say, here's the problem, here's my solution, and here's step A, B, and C to do it.

Aaron Craddock: 13:15

Am I cleared to move on this, or would you like for me to handle it a different

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Aaron Craddock: 14:07

This isn't like a power power thing. A lot of people sometimes think complain up not out is like a a power thing or like a limiting thing. It's like, no. Like, if you have the mindset that something can be improved, which there's always something that can be improved, like a lot of times, your leader or the person responsible for that area ultimately can help you get there or clear the path. And so start there.

Aaron Craddock: 14:36

Complain up, not out. And so out would be talking to your peers, talking to people you work with in other departments, and saying, here's the problem. And then if they're like, hey, have you talked to your leader about that? And you say no, then you're probably violating that core principle that that's something we have in the company. And next is assume positive intent.

Aaron Craddock: 14:57

And so this is a big one. And I can still on a weekly basis fall into the ditch of not assuming positive intent. And so what this is is like when someone comes to me with a problem or there's a let's say we think a client is frustrated, but we really don't know. And just assuming that the conversation is going to go well, assuming that we're working as a team, whether it's clients, partners, agency partners, teammates, just assuming we're all pulling in the same direction. And this applies mainly when something hits hard and feels personal.

Aaron Craddock: 15:45

So for me, it could be like, this is an area of the business that we're really failing. And I take that personally. Let's say somebody came to me and said, Aaron, we are massively failing on culture. We're terrible at it. My natural inclination is to not assume positive intent.

Aaron Craddock: 16:05

It's to be like, this person's trying to tear me down. Then they're kind of I take it as a stab kind of at my identity. Because my identity is being a good culture builder, even though I fall short in that area and continue to grow in that area and have to grow a lot to continue to hit our company goals. And so, just assume positive intent. And then as far as our culture, sometimes you have sideways complaining, creating tension in your organization, negativity, resisting feedback, tearing other people down.

Aaron Craddock: 16:51

So you have those kinds of gaps. And again, everybody has weaknesses and things, areas they need to work on. Then sometimes you have skill gaps. So somebody's coding something, like in our case, engineering or dev, and it breaks or causes a problem and doesn't work properly. That could be a skills gap or just a failure.

Aaron Craddock: 17:18

And I have a lot more grace for those than tearing others down or negatively impacting the team as a whole. And so as I was prepping for this episode, was thinking, what's worse? Like a skills gap or complaining, negativity, tension in the organization? The worse and the things I try to spend most of my time working on. Because again, you always have these things.

Aaron Craddock: 17:46

Like, it's just a scale. It's great. It's not black and white. It doesn't matter. The best team in the world still has an element of things they could work on.

Aaron Craddock: 17:57

And I'm gonna focus more effort not on closing the skill gap, but on closing the culture gap. And then if somebody doesn't align culturally, which again, multiple cultures work, like this is just a philosophy, a business philosophy that I think creates the highest performing teams just based on what I've seen, like I said, bringing on over 100 people into different organizations. And yeah, we have patience. There's gaps. We assume positive intent.

Aaron Craddock: 18:30

Like, because a lot of times, like when people, like even when we take something personally or think it's negativity, maybe it's not. Maybe it's just objective feedback, and our lens is wrong. So, again, I think it starts with me as leader, starts with you as the leader in any position, because you lead up down sideways all around. So the last thing I want to talk about, I wanted to end on this because I think it is the most important. Talk less, listen more.

Aaron Craddock: 19:02

Talk less, listen more. When you go into any conversation, Like, I initially heard this concept in How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. One of the things that people think coming out of a conversation, like just in general, is like human psychology. If they don't get to talk a lot and share what they wanted to share, they won't think it's a great conversation. So, like, if you talk 80% of the time, they talk 20% of the time, they typically won't feel heard and won't come away liking that conversation or liking you.

Aaron Craddock: 19:40

If you let them talk 80% of the time, you talk 20% of the time, they will come away thinking like, I don't know why, but that conversation with Aaron was the most incredible conversation. This isn't a manipulation tactic. This is just reality. And one of the things that I love reading the Bible every day. And there's a scripture that always pops in my head around this concept of when words are many, sin is not absent.

Aaron Craddock: 20:09

So it means when you're talking too much, you're sinning. So I don't know if that's pride, arrogance, lying, whatever it is. Just be slow to speak, quick to listen. Like, there's wisdom in that. And some of the most powerful teams, high performing teams, listen really well.

Aaron Craddock: 20:34

Those people that are the most influential on their team often say less. Sometimes the people that talk the most have the least influence. And I would say where we watch this the most is on our team meetings. Is there equal like, say you're doing a meeting with your recruiting team. Do the people that are in the meeting get to share and talk equally?

Aaron Craddock: 20:58

So like, if I'm leading weekly meeting with my key leaders of the different parts of our business, Am I talking the whole time? Or am I talking if there's five of us, am I talking 20% of the time? And so if I look at success on a meeting, the days where I rant 50% of the meeting, I know that's not gonna be a good meeting for everybody else. I might feel great about the meeting. But it's not about how I feel.

Aaron Craddock: 21:26

It's about how everybody else feels on the team. And so similarly, when you're bringing people in the room, give them an opportunity to engage and share their perspective. Even if there's conflict. Conflict is okay. You can't grow without failure.

Aaron Craddock: 21:41

You can't grow without conflict. You can't grow without any of those things. And so, yeah, you guys so I've talked about multiple leadership principles today that we're in real time instilling into our culture. And that's just what I had on my mind this week as we were prepping for this episode, because I think it's the most important thing that I could be doing as a leader. And I also think in the industry, when it's harder to fill trucks now than it has been previously, and when there are more opportunities in terms of rate increases and increasing capacity, these principles are so important with your team.

Aaron Craddock: 22:28

And it could be as simple as removing someone that's not building others up and is tearing others down or coaching that person into who they can become. Because sometimes people may be doing that because we haven't set a different standard of just this isn't how we do things here. And so, yeah. And so just leaving you with something that just, again, always one takeaway. Just pause before you speak today.

Aaron Craddock: 23:00

Listen well in every conversation, and you will have more influence. Like one thing John Maxwell says, leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less. So go be influential in the trucking industry today. I appreciate all the listeners on YouTube, Spotify, Apple.

Aaron Craddock: 23:22

Yeah, it's just been cool just to see how much the show has grown recently and just the impact we're having, just the community and the industry. I think the listeners of this podcast are people that add light to the industry and speak life into people. So each of you keep going doing that. Dream big, have big 10x goals, think crazy, improve the industry. Yeah, just keep doing it.

Aaron Craddock: 23:46

Appreciate doing this journey with you guys in the transportation recruitment industry. That's it. Hope you have a great week.