CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Chief Editor Jason Cannon at [email protected] or 800-633-5953.
When TA Dedicated set out to make its company safer, it launched an initiative rooted in accountability, driver engagement, and a philosophy of continuous improvement.
The Eagan, Minnesota-based dedicated transportation provider—which operates 950 tractors, 2,000 trailers, and 900 drivers across roughly 80 U.S. locations—achieved a 20% reduction in accidents and injuries, a result that Vice President of Operations Melissa Suedbeck described as both a lofty target and a team effort.
The initiative was built on a framework called WIGs (Wildly Important Goals), focused on safety and reducing accident and injury frequency. WIGs was launched directly using the 4DX framework, a business management strategy by FranklinConvey, as its structural foundation. Suedbeck said the company’s past accident and injury rates were on par with industry norms, but they wanted to look for drivers who genuinely embraced a safety-first mindset, not just those who met the baseline.
There was also a practical factor. “Cost reduction is more critical than ever. Cost remains a huge hurdle for carriers, and that’s not going away,” she said.
Senior leadership began developing the WIG framework at the start of last year, working behind the scenes to establish metrics, set targets, and figure out how to get the entire organization pulling toward the same goal.
“We had clear targets, the framework around those, and wanted to bring visibility to our teams as well as scoreboards, so there’s some accountability as well,” Suedbeck said.
The rollout didn’t come without hurdles. There was uncertainty regarding what the program meant for daily responsibilities and workload. The tracking process started out largely manual, and the company was simultaneously rolling out several new systems, which can be a lot for employees to absorb at once.
The company developed Power BI dashboards halfway through, and that changed the game. Once the scores started trending in the right direction and the scoreboards were shared, Suedbeck said that visibility became its proof of concept. “That brought a lot more visibility and reduced the manual work,” she said. “We navigated those setbacks relatively quickly and got through those within a couple of months.”
When visibility increased via the Power BI dashboards, friendly competition also broke out across the organization. “Folks embraced this really quickly, and I was excited to see how fast they embraced it and how quickly that helped drive those results,” Suedbeck said.
Recognition and coaching as critical factors
Increasing positive recognition for safe driving behavior and tightening the driver coaching process drove the bulk of the results, Suedbeck said.
On the recognition side, the company made a point to celebrate safe behavior loudly and often through peer shoutouts, individual acknowledgments, and company-wide standups.
The coaching side was more involved. The company leaned heavily on its in-cab camera system, capturing and coaching on a wide range of events—not just incidents, but also speeding, following distance, and other behavioral patterns. Low performers were identified for more in-depth conversations; specifically, the company reduced the window between when the event occurred and when the coaching conversation happened.
“That was a big one—being able to decrease the time from an event being captured on that camera system to being able to pick up the phone or grab that driver in person and talk through the occurrence so it’s top of mind,” Suedbeck said.
The tone of those conversations mattered as much as the timing. Coaches were trained to approach drivers collaboratively rather than taking a disciplinary approach. Coaches developed strategies as a team and maintained regular contact in the weeks after a session to track progress.
“Those conversations were meant to be collaborative. They’re not meant to jump on and scold a driver. We want to find out what’s going on, talk through it with the driver, talk through strategies and tips, discuss what might be going on if this has been a pattern, and get creative with what the solution is.”
The approach caught some drivers off guard, especially newer drivers who may not have experienced that type of safety culture at a different organization, Suedbeck said. They received a lot of positive feedback from drivers who weren’t used to that.
Frontline teams—sometimes working solo or paired with the safety team—carried out the coaching effort. Prior to the program, TA Dedicated ran coaching sessions for the coaches themselves, giving leaders a guide to frame difficult conversations and set the right tone.
The WIGs process also deepened the relationship between the safety and operations teams, which Suedbeck highlighted as one of the program’s meaningful results. Besides the win on accident and injury reduction, Suedbeck pointed out other outcomes, such as improved driver engagement and decreased driver turnover.
What’s next
Going forward, Suedbeck said the WIGs framework would be revisited annually for the company’s next goals each year. Safety, including driver engagement and retention, will likely remain a focus.
The company is also rolling out a program of monthly safety team site visits, with dedicated resources going toward driver recognition, contests, prizes, and hands-on coaching.
The CCJ Innovators program is sponsored by Comdata, Mack Trucks, and Shell Rotella.
