A WELL OVERDUE DOWNLOAD
It’s a great time to be a truck driver. Late February saw the Road Transport Forum and Truck and Driver magazine’s Truck Driver Appreciation Week campaign and the launch of our Trucking Toward a Better Future competition. We’re excited about the competition and what might be in store.
Some time ago, I was chatting with Lindsay Wood, founder of Resilienz Ltd, a company working in the climate and sustainable building sectors. The upshot of our discussion was Trucking Toward a Better Future.
Truck drivers see more of the wider economy than any other industry sector. Every day they’re delivering to and picking up from businesses servicing a kaleidoscope of markets. They see and experience equally broad spectra of processes. And let’s not forget the interaction with all the individuals and worksite cultures therein. Then they have the unique opportunity of being able to ponder what it is they’ve seen while being productive themselves.
Our comp is designed to tap into the ‘truck-a-net’, that vast intellectual pool of knowledge amassed in the cabs of trucks, and ask the questions, ‘What is it you’ve seen? How can things be done better?’
We’re looking for anything that could be done smarter, better, with sustainability lurking as the backdrop theme. We do not at all want the competition to be swamped in ‘greenwash’; nine times out of 10, any improvement in efficiency will likely yield a positive environmental outcome. However, because it’s the planet’s No1 issue for at least the next three generations, it needs to be well in the mix at the pointy end of thinking.
Holding the environmental train of thought for a moment, the other key outcome we want to achieve is to convey to the broader public that truck drivers are as invested in the future as any community subset. Since the competition started, I’ve already experienced, ‘Oh, really? I thought because they were truck drivers, they wouldn’t be as invested.’ Mindlessness.
My response was simply that truck drivers bridge the gap between society’s ideology and greed. “What you say you want and what you actually want are poles apart.”
All the details on how to enter are on page 10, and I urge every one of you to tap into your vast experience and see what’s there that might be a hidden gem.
There’s no greater truck driver advocate than me, and I can assure you Lindsay, too, is a great believer in the premise that practical on-thejob solutions harboured by those who live the reality are often overlooked.
My whole working life, and much of my prework life, has been in the cabs of trucks and around drivers, listening to the anecdotes of improved practice. Many of those drivers have ended up in senior management roles or are now running their own gig. One thing I’ll never be guilty of is underestimating the power of the truck-a-net.
It’s worth noting that in terms of the judging panel, among others, we’ve secured the services of Rod Oram, one of the country’s foremost business journalists and commentators, and I can tell you he’s excited at the thought of the concept. Another believer in the worth of on the job IP, believe me.
All we need now is you. So turn to page 10, go onto our website nztrucking.co.nz or visit us on Facebook, and let’s hear what you have to say.