Page 41 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

We enjoy what we do
THE RULES
• TheChampionisselectedbyhis/herpeersbyblindvote,
and tallied by the shop supervisor.
• Employeescasttheirvotebasedontheco-workerthey
feel best lives up to the core values during the previous
month.
• Employeescannotvoteforthemselves.
• Intheeventofatie,theemployeewiththehighest
productivity rating will be named Champion.
• Ifallthingsareequal,acontestofphysicalstrength
will be the deciding factor.
• TheChampionwillleadtheJumpStartmeetingsfor
one month.
Once the championship belt is presented, those who voted for that person are encouraged to share why they wanted to acknowledge him/her as the new champion. It’s another way of passing on the Brand Ambassador message of encouragement and support. “All of us have gotten the belt a few times,” says Clark, who moved to the hydraulic shop in February 2018. “Some of the ThinkBIG kids come in here and see what we’re doing.2 They can see that we’re all involved in what everybody is doing out here. It’s not just one person doing every- thing. It’s a team effort. We’re trying to lead by example.”
It’s also about adding fun into the everyday routine of work. “If you’re having fun, it’s so much easier to do your job and be part of the team,” says Clark. “We’ve even had some that have caught the fun bug because people who are having fun are infectious. Others just want to be a part of that.”
KEEPING IT ALIVE (2018)
In November 2018, the PDX shop moved into the newly acquired Peterson Trucks facility (formerly Brattain International). The championship belt went too. “We brought it with us and continue it to this day, here at PTI,” says Doron Zentmire, PTI’s lead tech in Portland. “I was there when the belt was created, and I have worn the belt in 2014 and 2015. It’s cool to see how different people handle it. One of the recent champions decided to do the Quote of the Week himself at our Tuesday afternoon JumpStart meetings instead of as- signing it to someone else. He opened up with a story about something that had happened to him during the week and then the quote went along with that, which was really cool.”
So far, the PDX-turned-PTI Portland shop is the only one that has done something like this. It shows how much pride they take in their work and in themselves. And it’s one more way that Peterson’s core values are being instilled and practiced every day, in different ways, across the company.
Doron Zentmire with the championship belt, now at the ‘new’ Portland Truck Shop.
2 ThinkBIG is a 2-year Cat-specific program, which earns an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science. See full story in CH20 ThinkBIG, on pg 317.
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