The whole person Prior to joining Emco, Joshua worked for five years as an elementary school teacher before completing an MBA at Wilfrid Laurier. He was drawn to Emco by the company’s decentralized, entrepreneurial model, as well as their heavy emphasis on leadership development. After coming aboard, he entered an accelerated management program designed to give high-potential candidates hands-on experience across all facets of the business. Upon graduating from the management program, he assumed leadership of the Stratford PC. When Joshua arrived at Emco Statford, he found there were some foundational issues that prevented the business from reaching its potential. Improving the culture and building alignment became a key focus in the early years. “Every teammate here should have an understanding of and a sense of ownership in the direction the business is going,” Joshua explains. “If someone is just keeping their head down and they’re stuck in the day-to-day and they don’t really know why they’re doing what they’re doing, it’s hard to get buy in. So the first thing I did was have a conversation with everybody about where the business was going and the role they could play in getting it there.” “I am a big believer in considering the whole person,” he adds. “So we also talked about where they see themselves in the near future, the distant future, what goals they had set for themselves, and how Emco Stratford could align with those goals.” Where alignment was possible, Joshua says that the team leaned into it. Where it wasn’t possible, both parties moved on respectfully. The result is a streamlined team of four today, including the aforementioned operations manager, who joined through Emco’s strategic development program and is now a key long-term business partner. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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