Trinity Logistics, a leading nationwide logistics provider, is thrilled to announce the promotion of Aaron Lansink to the position of Vice President of its Iowa Regional Service Center. With his dedication, extensive experience, and proven leadership, Lansink’s promotion reflects Trinity Logistics’ commitment to fostering internal talent. 

Prior to joining Trinity Logistics, Lansink owned and operated his own trucking company for five years. His journey with Trinity began over ten years ago at the Denison, Iowa location as a Logistics Specialist. Since then, he’s consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the company, a deep understanding of the logistics industry, and a passion for achieving the highest standards of excellence. Lansink represents the core values and people-centric service that Trinity Logistics is known for, making him an ideal choice for this key leadership position. 

“I look forward to working with Aaron in the Vice President role,” said Hayley Dobson, Senior Vice President of Regional Service Centers. “He’s shown his commitment to Trinity for over ten years at the Denison, Iowa office and recently relocated last year to work as the Director of Operations at the Urbandale office. He continues to push for excellence, having recently completed the Aspire Leadership Experience in 2022. With his history of excellence and continuous improvement, I’m confident Aaron will have many great accomplishments in this new position.”

In this new role as Vice President of the Iowa Regional Service Center, Lansink will play a pivotal part in expanding Trinity Logistics’ reach of businesses seeking exceptional logistics solutions, while strengthening existing relationships with shippers and carriers. 

“I’m thrilled and honored for this opportunity to lead the Iowa Regional Service Center, a place I’ve proudly called home for the past decade,” said Lansink. “The exceptional and hardworking Team Members within this office and fellow Leaders that have helped guide my way are core ingredients to our recipe for success, and I’m confident that together, we’ll make the future shine even brighter.”

Trinity is confident that Lansink will excel in this new position and looks forward to the impact he will have on the Team and Company. 

Interested in working with an organization that is committed to you and your career growth? Visit https://trinitylogistics.com/join-us/become-a-team-member.

To learn more about Trinity Logistics, visit https://trinitylogistics.com. 

About Trinity Logistics

Trinity Logistics is a Burris Logistics Company, offering People-Centric Freight Solutions®. Our mission is to deliver creative logistics solutions through a mix of human ingenuity and innovative technology, enriching the lives of those we serve. 

For the past 40 years, we’ve been arranging freight for businesses of all sizes in truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), warehousing, intermodal, drayage, expedited, international, and technology solutions.

We are currently recognized on Transport Topics’ Top 100 Freight Brokerage List, as a Top 100 3PL by Inbound Logistics, and as a Top Company for Women to Work for in Transportation by Women in Trucking.

Are you leading a team within your Freight Agent office and want to be a more effective leader? Do you often feel like you don’t have the time?

There may be issues with the way you’re running the team. I don’t mean to be harsh, and I certainly don’t mean to imply that you’re not doing enough. If you look at the bigger picture, the issue is probably the opposite: you’re probably doing too much.

For most leaders, their issues lie in the delegation. Delegation is one of the most crucial aspects of leadership. It can also be one of the most difficult because it’s tough to relinquish control when you oversee the bottom line.

What kind of habits do you have? What holds you back from delegating more?

There are three key reasons why you may struggle with delegating tasks:

You’re Not Sure That Your Team Members Are Up to It.

Leaders can struggle to believe that their Team Members are capable and willing to take on some of their tasks. However, your role is to push and uplift your Team Members to be and do more than they think they can do.

You’re Used to Doing Everything on Your Own.

Even if you’re used to doing everything yourself that doesn’t mean that’s the best avenue to take. If you don’t begin delegating tasks, you’re likely to burn out. Isn’t that why you hired your Team, to help support your business?

You Believe Your Skills are the Best for the Task.

While this may be true, you won’t know what your Team is capable of until you give them a chance. And even if they don’t quite have the same skills as you, skills can be learned. You want your Team to become experts at what they do, don’t you?

Take a moment for some self-reflection and see if any of these ring true for you. It could be one or a mixture of them all, but regardless of which specific reason is keeping you from delegating work, the overall theme is fear. You’re afraid of what might happen if you let go. But as Andrew Carnegie said, “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”

LEADING A TEAM POST-DELEGATION

Now that you understand why you should be delegating some of your work, let’s look at some strategies for supporting your Team after you’ve begun delegating tasks.

Prepare a Training Plan in Advance

Have you ever had a job where you had no idea what you were doing and all you ever heard from your supervisor was that you were doing things the wrong way? Most individuals have, and they usually don’t survive long in these occupations. Nobody likes to feel unsure and alone.

Typically, if you’re not recruiting someone who is an experienced professional, it’s always good to provide an initial training session for every new employee to shadow or watch you. Let them watch you and ask questions. They need to understand your expectations, work habits, and preferences.

This is something that doesn’t happen overnight. In most training situations, it’s recommended to devote two weeks to a month to this and allow your new employee to start doing their specific job when they are ready.

If you put in the time now, you’ll get a lot more later.

Allow Them to Own Their Responsibilities

We’ve already discussed your need to delegate work; now let’s talk about your role after giving a task. People are most devoted to and involved in something when they feel responsible for what they are doing. So, how can you make someone care about their job performance and feel accountable for it?

It all starts with trusting them. I’m not suggesting you won’t be available to help them when they need it, but you should be willing to give someone an assignment and let them see it through to completion.

This will result in three important outcomes:

1. Increasing your team’s self-confidence and helping them to continue progressing at a faster rate
2. Building trust with your Team
3. And most importantly, allow you to focus on your bottom line

Don’t Be High-and-Mighty

This one should be self-evident, shouldn’t it? But it may be difficult for you to see it. Again, we must consider many views and be very aware of our own actions. And, while I’m not suggesting you let your staff heavily criticize you, you should be open to input. As you gain their trust, your Team should feel comfortable enough to approach you with any concerns or feedback. If they’re not doing that, consider re-evaluating.

Show Appreciation and Celebrate Success

Morale is no laughing matter. One study says 69 percent of employees in an office said they would work harder and take their jobs more seriously if they felt more appreciated. Make employee appreciation a regular part of your weekly calendar. Think about it:

Feeling valued = confidence = working harder = learning faster = taking on more responsibility = leading an effective Freight Agent Team

Don’t Overwhelm Them

Delegation is a balancing act. You delegate jobs due to a heavy workload, but delegating too much work to others who are already overwhelmed puts vital items in danger of falling through the cracks or creating a burned-out team.

You must maintain track of each person’s workload, especially if you have numerous employees in your Freight Agent office, to ensure that everyone is working at their maximum potential. This necessitates first learning about each employee’s talents and capabilities.

If you aren’t already using task management software, I strongly advise you to do so. Task management software programs like Salesforce and Hubspot can show you how many tasks each team member has, their task timeline, and deadlines, so you’ll know how much you can assign them.

LEAD A SUCCESSFUL FREIGHT AGENT OFFICE WITH THE SUPPORT OF TRINITY LOGISTICS

Leading a team means going as a group rather than alone. As a team, you’re there to learn from each other and draw strength from one another. As a leader, it’s your sole responsibility to support your team, help them develop, set the direction, and remove obstacles.

“Delegating doesn’t mean passing off work you don’t enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.” – Harvey Mackay

At Trinity Logistics, we know all the challenges there are for growing Freight Agent offices in leading a team efficiently and handling delegation. That’s why we have a whole Agent Support Team available to help. They’re a Team dedicated solely to the support of our Freight Agents to help you set and achieve your professional goals, provide constructive feedback to succeed in your business, offer learning opportunities to grow your skillset, and so much more.

Trinity Logistics has over 30 years of experience aiding in the success of our Freight Agent businesses, with many of our Freight Agents seeing a 50 percent increase over a two-year period from joining. If you’d like support and see a similar kind of growth within your Freight Agent business, then get connected with one of our Team Members to get started. 

Trinity Logistics is proud to share that it has received Comparably’s 2022 Best CEOs for Women Award. 

“I wouldn’t be receiving this recognition if it weren’t for the great effort and feedback of the Team Members at Trinity,” said Donnie Burris, CEO of Burris Logistics, the parent company of Trinity Logistics. “At any of the Burris Logistics companies, every Team Member is empowered to pursue excellence within their careers here. I’m very happy to hear that the Team Members at Trinity feel that empowerment and I look forward to continuing that great company culture they have for years to come.”

“To date, 54 percent of Trinity’s Team Members are women and 23 percent of those women, hold a management or leadership role, including Trinity’s President, Sarah Ruffcorn. 

“We are blessed to have Donnie Burris as the leader of our organization,” said Sarah Ruffcorn, Trinity Logistics President. “He listens, supports, and encourages all Team Members in our organization to be their best each day. He doesn’t just believe in our purpose of ‘Improving people’s lives by constantly striving to be our best’; he lives it.”

Comparably Awards are based solely on sentiment feedback provided by employees who anonymously rate their employer throughout the year. Comparably Awards showcases the leaders and leadership teams who are driving positive culture change across companies large and small. The Best CEOs for Women for 2022 represents the top-ranked CEOs as rated by female employees on Comparably.com throughout the previous 12 months. Every CEO on the list is in the Top five percent of all CEOs rated by female employees. 

“The top-rated leaders on our annual Best CEOs for Women list have fostered inclusive company cultures that make everyone feel supported and heard,” said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar. “Donnie Burris’ high ratings from Trinity’s female employees is a testament to his commitment in this arena.”

Interested in working with an organization that is committed to you and your career growth?

About Trinity Logistics

Trinity Logistics is a Burris Logistics Company, offering People-Centric Freight Solutions®. Our mission is to deliver creative logistics solutions through a mix of human ingenuity and innovative technology, enriching the lives of those we serve. 

For the past 40 years, we’ve been arranging freight for businesses of all sizes in truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), warehousing, intermodal, drayage, expedited, international, and technology solutions.

We are currently recognized on Transport Topics’ Top 100 Freight Brokerage List, a Top 3PL and Cold Storage Provider by Food Logistics, and a Top Company for Women to Work for in Transportation by Women in Trucking.

About Comparably                                 

Comparably is a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous employee ratings on 70,000 companies. With the most comprehensive data on large and SMB organizations in nearly 20 different workplace categories – based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, industry, location, education – it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third-party site for workplace culture and compensation. For more information on Comparably’s studies and annual Best Places to Work Awards, visit Comparably News.  

Trinity Logistics is proud to announce its earned recognition as a Top Workplace for Women by Women In Trucking (WIT) for a third year. Every year, the Women In Trucking association looks for companies with a culture that supports gender diversity, flexibility in hours, competitive compensation, quality benefits, training, and continued education opportunities, career advancement, and other factors. Trinity is proud to be a company that’s known for its culture, where women can experience career growth and excellence. 

Trinity Team Members are offered flexibility in hours, quality benefits for their families, many continued education opportunities to help support career growth, and a company culture that is positive and family-friendly. 

To date, 54 percent of Trinity’s Team Members are women and 23 percent of those women hold a management or leadership role, including our current President, Sarah Ruffcorn.

“Whenever I’m asked to describe my career with Trinity, I always think of the word opportunity,” said Jennifer Hoffman, Director of Agent Services. “This company has provided an opportunity for growth beyond my wildest imagination. By awarding achievement and being truly understanding and compassionate, our leadership team encourages growth from all Team Members, regardless of gender. I’ve seen it and benefited from the mindset in so many ways. Because of this, as a woman at Trinity, it could be easy to momentarily forget that this type of equal opportunity isn’t the norm in some industries or companies. I am forever grateful for the work I get to be a part of with this company – not just in the day-to-day movement of freight – but in the overall showcasing of a consistently successful company that’s equal in its promotion and celebration of diversity and inclusion among team members!”

“Trinity Logistics supports individuals who have servant leadership attributes regardless of their gender,” said Amanda Lloyd, Director of Sales in Delaware. “During my tenure at Trinity, I’ve always felt that my voice is heard and my opinions are valued throughout our entire organization.” 

One of Trinity’s strongest attributes is our company culture. We’re proud of our efforts to be diverse and offer everyone an opportunity to grow their career here, no matter their gender.  

Learn more about Trinity’s People-Centric culture and see what job openings we have currently available.

A recent Harvard Business Review study shows that women in leadership tend to shape better outcomes during times of crisis. Trinity Logistics recently participated in the Women in Trucking Webinar to discuss how women in leadership have paved the way for positive results during the pandemic. In this webinar we heard from the Vice President of Operations at Trinity’s Kansas City office, Jennifer Braun, the President of Trinity Logistics, Sarah Ruffcorn, and the President of Transportation Intermediary Association, Anne Reinke.  

These women share their thoughts and opinions on leadership and key values that have helped them excel during these times. We’ve gathered key information from this webinar that we believe will be valuable to you.  

Question: What are the top words you would use to describe leading during a pandemic? 

Sarah: Authenticity. Being authentic enough to say, “here’s what we know”, and “here’s what we don’t know yet”. Leaders need to let their guard down and say more than we’ve ever heard before.  

Anne: Plan B. Plan A wasn’t going to work so what can we do instead? What can we do to get people working so that it makes sense? 

Jennifer: Preparation. It’s comforting to know that you have some preparation to fall back on and there’s still steps you can take to servicing customers. 

Question: One of the higher ranking traits for women in leadership was “takes initiative.” Can you share what “takes initiative” means to you? 

Sarah: Taking initiatives isn’t necessarily about taking it on by yourself. It can be involving others that know more than you do about the subject. Sometimes it means stepping out of your comfort zone when you don’t know the answers. 

Anne: There’s people in life where, when they see an issue, they’re on it. Taking initiative means feeling like you have an immediate responsibility whether it be because of your title or because that’s naturally the person that you are. What gets you to be a great leader is to take on those initiatives.  

Jennifer: “Takes initiative” can align with empowering others. Take initiative can be raising an awareness, asking questions, or challenging yourself and other people. 

Question: How do you incorporate “inspires” and “develops” others in your role? 

Sarah: This links up to our company culture at Trinity. You’re truly working to remove obstacles for other people and get them to where they want to go. Encourage and offer your employees to get into other projects and educate themselves so that they can increase their skill set.  

Anne: Empowering the team so that they feel a shared sense of responsibility and mission. Listen to them and bring transparency into processes, emphasizing their critical role. Be a mindful cheerleader. Knowing that there’s mutual trust within your team. 

Jennifer: When we’re providing feedback, be specific. What specifically are you wishing to have this person know about their performance or leadership? Be mindful of the words that you’re saying to your team. 

Question: Collaboration & teamwork: why is it important to work together?

Sarah: We’re in a relationship-driven business. We all depend on relationships with our shippers, carriers, warehouse workers. Those relationships are necessary to make things happen in the supply chain. If we’re not pulling in the same direction, it all falls apart. 

Anne: I can’t know everything. It’s a win-win that we work together and give assignments to people who know more, have the experience, or relationships. It makes for a stronger organization. 

Question: High integrity & honesty: Why is that so important in what we do in the transportation industry? 

Sarah: At the foundation of every relationship is trust. If you don’t have that level of integrity and honesty, then trust goes out the window. Everything that Trinity does is based off of our words and so little is based off of contracts. It all ends and starts with our word and backing it up. 

Anne: This industry is based on relationships so you’re only as good as your word. If you want people to continue that relationship with you, you have to live by that. 

Jennifer: All the people we have doing business for us at any minute of any day are the faces of Trinity. Everything is visible and transparent every time we’re talking with people. High integrity and honesty  needs to be something that people live by each day. 

Question: What words of wisdom would you offer other women in the transportation industry? 

Sarah: Even when you don’t feel prepared, say yes. A lot of us hold back until we feel like we’re ready for something but always say yes. 

Anne: Go for it. What do you have to lose? Someone says no to you, that’s fine. Let people say no to you rather than saying no to yourself. 

Jennifer: One of my favorite words is “yet”. If you don’t have something or if you’re not good at something, I always say “yet”. You can achieve pretty much anything you put your mind to. 

Our Director of Marketing at Trinity Logistics, Brittany Seigel, recently interviewed Ava Pearson. Ava is a driver that has built a strong relationship with Trinity. We asked her some questions on how the pandemic has affected her life as a driver.   

Question: As an essential worker during this very difficult time in this past year, what was your experience like? 

Ava: Difficult in a way where we were not able to interact with other people. It was like us drivers were shut off from the world. 

Question: What were you faced with during the pandemic?  

Ava: Not knowing how to handle the situation. Am I going to be safe or protected? Why do I have to be out here when others are with their family? It was rough not knowing the unknown. 

Question: Do you see a lot of this carrying over to the next year or do you think things will start to improve? 

Ava: I think things are improving and they will continue to improve. It’s great that everyone is participating and doing their part of being clean, wearing masks, and keeping your distance. Doing your part really helped out. Now that the vaccine is out, it will probably help with future of normalcy. 

Question: Any advice for other women in this profession? 

Ava: Ask as many questions as you can, don’t be afraid to ask. Do your research. Help anyone else that you can along the way.  

This past year has earned the title of “unprecedented times”. We are appreciative of all the women in trucking and the leaders in our supply chain that persevered through the challenges we’ve had to face in the past year and a half. We couldn’t do it without you. 

Want to hear more about these women in leadership? 

Trinity Logistics is proud to announce that we have earned recognition as a Top Workplace for Women by Women In Trucking (WIT) for a second year. Criteria to be considered for this list surrounds a company culture that supports gender diversity, flexibility in hours, competitive compensation, quality benefits, training and continued education opportunities, career advancement, and other factors. Trinity is proud to be a company that checks so many boxes to create a space for women to experience growth and excellence. 

Trinity offers flexibility in hours, quality benefits for families, many continued education opportunities to help support career growth, and an overall company culture that is both positive and family-friendly. Many of our leadership roles are held by women Team Members, including our current President, Sarah Ruffcorn. 

To date, Trinity’s employees are 55% are women, with 23% of those women holding a management or leadership role. 

“In the 12 years I have worked for Trinity the leadership team has supported me through many stages of life. I started right out of college and since then have had a child, married, experienced life-altering health issues, and so much more,” said Ashley McAvoy, Business Analyst II at Trinity. “Through it all, I’ve been offered opportunities to advance my career with employer-funded certifications and training, as well as education opportunities with tuition reimbursement for my MBA. Trinity’s deeply-rooted family culture provides me time off, flexibility, benefits, and a support system of Team Members and leaders beyond what anyone could expect from an organization.”

“Trinity recognizes those who have the desire to succeed and assists those team members on their journey, no matter their gender,” said Tanya Vanderheul, Director of Operations in Kansas City. “It is through Trinity’s strong Culture and our Guiding Values; specifically, Determination – and in combination with my desire to grow; that I was empowered to work my way into a leadership position. Not a day goes by where I regret my decision of entering into a leadership role and being on board with the diverse and fantastic team members at Trinity Logistics!”

Trinity is proud of its company culture and inclusion of all, no matter their gender. We strive to continue to be diverse and offer everyone an opportunity to grow their career and the business. 

Interested in working somewhere “Different On Purpose”?  

Learn more about our company culture and see our current job openings

Author: Christine Griffith

Hi there! My name is Shelby. I am a lover of hiking and the New Jersey Devils. I’m a senior at Salisbury University majoring in Marketing. This year I had the opportunity to work as a Market Research Intern at Trinity.

When I began my internship in June, I never expected to grow as much as I have professionally and personally. What started as a ten-week program has become a year-long internship that serves as the foundation of my future marketing career. Here are the three key highlights I have from my experience, which I believe is what makes my internship program “Different on Purpose”.

Leadership

From Day 1, I was treated as a full-fledged member of the Marketing Team, despite my intern title. I am expected to handle some serious responsibility that not every internship offers. Throughout my time here I have been conducting research on our trade show presence and working on our email marketing strategy to increase our open rates, as well as get our message to our audience. I am in charge of handing the team’s Marketing Analytics, which helps keep our company’s leadership up-to-date. These analytics have an impact on steps we might take to reach company goals. Although challenging, it’s incredible that my internship has trusted me to complete higher level tasks and is invested in developing interns like myself into leaders.

The People

I get to work with a talented team that wants to see me succeed. Everyone here has been willing to jump in and help me with anything I need, as well as answer all my questions. Additionally, I have developed friendships with other interns at the company that I will continue to maintain long after this experience is over. Being able to come to a work environment that is so warm and motivating is what has made my internship so special.

Expertise

I can confidently say that this internship has allowed me to learn more about marketing and analytics than I would have in any college classroom. With the hands-on training I received and industry certifications I’ve earned during my time at Trinity, I feel much more prepared for the “real word”.

Working as a Market Research Intern at Trinity has been a defining opportunity in my life. As I wrap up my final semester and begin my career, I’m excited to take everything I have learned with me as I navigate my career. If you see an internship at Trinity pop up, and you are considering applying, go for it. You won’t regret it.

To view our current job openings and internships,

Click Here

To connect with Shelby on LinkedIn,

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