9 minute read
IN THE FIELD
OUR FUTURE LIFE
ARE YOU GETTING THE BEST FROM YOURSELF?
What will your future self look like? Are you taking charge and getting the best from yourself? Hal Hershfield, a UCLA psychologist, notes that imagining our future selves as separate people whose interests and desires matter to us allows us to feel closer to the future you and treat him or her better.
Future supply chain challenges will include developing digital dexterity and employing advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Beyond communicating, collaborating and managing constant change, supply chain leaders must have not only enterprise IT skills at the user level but also hands-on use. We also need an affinity for technology; an understanding of what drives demand, supply and pricing for the goods and services provided by your organization and its competitors; knowledge of costto-serve; flexibility for project management; and an understanding of the principles, pitfalls and challenges of project management.
GETTING THE BEST FROM OURSELVES
For results we must look beyond identifying weaknesses and explore self-reflection and self-assessment. We must create a road map to take action and to monitor ourselves.
Self-reflection could include the five Rs model (Bain team, 2002): reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing. This will allow you to ask questions and seek answers. If your job is killing you, if circumstances are leaving you stressed, if you’re unhappy, tired and frustrated then things are not working for you and must change. When our middle son was in rep hockey, there was a rule that stated, ‘give yourself 24 hours before responding to something that upset you.’ I have done this, and it’s a great idea to use this with many situations in our lives.
Tools for reflection include journaling, blogging, video documentation and voice recordings. The Wheel of Life tool is one such tool, the modern-day version is created by Paul Meyer, a pioneer in life coaching. It contains eight sections – spirituality; health; work; social; development; recreation; family and life planning. Rate yourself in each area from one to 10. The process facilitates which areas you should focus on and gives you a perspective of your life. Such self-reflection improves self-awareness, provides perspective, a deeper level of learning and confidence while enabling you to challenge your assumptions.
Self-assessment could include tools such as the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, a self-report inventory identifying personality type, strengths and preferences. The questionnaire was developed by Isabel Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs based on their work with Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. Today, the MBTI inventory is one of the most widely used psychological instruments in the world.
Or, try writing a personal mission statement to define your fundamental purpose. It gets to the why of you and states who you are. A roadmap could include a personal vision statement, a timeline with milestones, questions on goals, skills, knowledge and personal experience.
You can create a roadmap for each goal. I like the seven-step method from Design Epic Life: • Define the big picture • Define the end of the roadmap • Define the milestones, achievements and rewards • Define the process • Define the obstacles • Track your actions • Do a regular review
An action plan should include setting smart goals: specific, measurable, attainable and time focused. It could include a personal vision statement to define your current and future objectives while guiding and helping you to make decisions that align with your beliefs and goals. Criteria include concise; clear; time based; future based; stable; challenging; inspiring and abstract. You can return to it, review and revise as well as use it for reference. It helps you set a broader strategic plan with a long-term focus to differentiate you, as well as focus on core competencies needed to achieve your goals.
Monitoring your plan could include aspects like educational, spiritual, physical, emotional and social. Setting personal KPIs, which focus on small, achievable steps, help keep your goal in mind while staying motivated. If, for example, you set physical fitness goals, monitoring them could include fitness trackers and apps. Professionally, if you’re working to improve focus, the process could include the Pomodoro Technique, a time management strategy; a meditation app such as Insight Timer; or Panda – an extension that offers a focus mode.
There are many benefits to focusing on getting the best from yourself: smarter goal setting, a more balanced life, less stress, self confidence, improved quality of life, enriched relationships, better
Lisa Fenton is supply chain manager at Rapala VMC Corporation.
health, fewer bad habits. I recently came across two figures: if your annual income is under $50,000, invest three per cent of it in yourself. When your income climbs above $50,000, invest five per cent.
There are many cost-effective ways to work on your development. Take a class or course, read, watch webinars, ask for feedback, shadow others and observe, network, attend conferences, journal, meditate or get a mentor.
In the future, supply chain leaders and their teams will face additional challenges in a virtual environment. This will compel us to anticipate trends, pivot quickly to take advantage of opportunities, provide appealing workplaces and challenge our ability to attract and retain employees. Focusing on our own development will help us to meet these challenges. SP
ADAPTING TO CHANGE
CANADA’S RAILWAYS AND THE PANDEMIC
Originally serving Canada from East to West, our two historic railways, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, both expanded into the US several years ago through acquisitions and are also important North-South lines. Being two of only seven North American Class 1 railroads (as they are called in the US), they play a major role in getting products to market in all directions – domestically within Canada and internationally with the US, southbound and northbound.
The pandemic hit mid-March, just when business was getting back to normal with the lifting of the rail blockades that affected rail transportation in Canada at the beginning of the year. Covid-19 has affected all industries and like everyone, our railways must adapt. We’ll first look at the impact in Canada, then on their operations to and from the US. This market is crucial for Canada as, year after year, three quarters of our exports go to the US and about 60 per cent of our imports come from there.
Canadian National had a good 2019, with revenue up four per cent. But 2020 didn’t begin that
well and revenues were flat in the first quarter, compared to 2019. Of have to take climate course, second quarter results were adversely impacted by the pan- change seriously, as demic, with revenues down 19 per cent due to lower volumes across evidenced by the most commodity groups and lower fuel surcharge rates. These were wildfires in partly offset by increased shipments of grain, higher coal exports via California and West Coast ports and freight rate increases. RTMs, measuring the Oregon, and act on it relative weight and distance of freight transported by CN, declined collectively.” 18 per cent from the same period last year and freight revenue per RTM decreased by one per cent.
By contrast, 2019 saw Canadian in July, dropping 67.1 per cent Pacific’s revenues increase by seven compared with the same period in per cent, in spite of the economic 2019, in spite of stronger crude oil uncertainties caused by geopolitical exports. Similarly, coal loadings challenges, like Trump’s trade war dipped 23 per cent and fuel oils, with China and others. Following crude petroleum and coal products a record first quarter, where reve- accounted for over half of the total nues were up 16 per cent, they were drop in tonnage. Gasoline and avidown 9.4 per cent in the second ation fuel loadings saw a decline of quarter, unsurprisingly, as automo- 55.4 per cent, reflecting the weaker tive, metals, container, oil and coal demand for these fuels during sumrevenues all decreased due mer travel. to auto plants, factories and retailers Automobile and mini-van railcar shutting down. These negatives loadings fell 29.7 per cent in July were partly offset by increases but motor vehicle parts and accesin grain, potash, fertilizer and forest sories saw a 12.8 per cent increase, products, with grain up eight per with other transportation equipment cent year-over-year. parts on the rise as well, signalling that assembly plants were ramping CAR LOADINGS up production as the economy The latest statistics on Canadian began to re-open. Following the railways car loadings for July have economic slowdown, loadings of just been released. In spite of the essential commodities like agriculrebound in trade with the US, rail- ture and food products were up and way car loadings remained below this trend continued in July, with pre-pandemic levels in July, falling large year-over-year increases in car short of a full recovery. The vol- loadings of wheat (+34 per cent), ume of freight transported by canola (+82.3 per cent) and other Canadian railways posted year- cereal grains (+69.8 per cent). over-year declines for the fifth con- Potash loadings also increased in secutive month since the start of July (+9.9 per cent). the pandemic. Overall, 29.7 million Internationally, March saw our tonnes of freight were carried in exports fall 4.7 per cent and imports July, a decrease of 11.8 per cent decline 3.5 per cent. The big plunge compared with July 2019, with the happened in April with exports low demand for raw minerals and down 29.7 per cent and imports hydrocarbon contributing the most down 25.1 per cent. Following these to this decline. historic declines, exports increased
Loadings of fuel oils and crude 6.7 per cent in May but imports petroleum saw the largest decline decreased a further 3.9 per cent.
Christian Sivière is president at Solimpex.
The rebound took place in June, where overall exports were up 17.1 per cent and overall imports up 21.8 per cent. The good news is that our exports to the US alone increased 21.8 per cent and imports by 28 per cent in June. The positive trend continued in July, with our exports to the US up 15.1 per cent and our imports 16.2 per cent.
As we saw in the car loadings figures above, these have not yet fully benefitted our railways. Trucks carried the majority of this increased trade and railways will benefit as well, with some delay, as the types of products they carry have a longer cycle and are slower moving. In the short term, we will be very attentive to the evolution of the post-pandemic recovery and the US election outcome. The latter may produce more harmony or more “trade wars,” with substantial impacts on Canada either way.
In the short to medium term, we will have to take climate change seriously, as evidenced by the wildfires in California and Oregon, and act on it collectively. Meantime, railways will continue to play an essential role in transporting energy, minerals, agricultural products, automotive as well as containers loaded with finished goods across the continent, in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way. SP
