A lot of changes have taken place in recent weeks at the head offices of TIMBER MART. The national buying group has filled out its ranks in anticipation of the departure next year of the group’s vice-president of distribution and trading, John Morrissey. But the noteworthy aspect of all the appointments is that they represent hires from within or of people who have already worked with TIMBER MART.
And that suits CEO Bernie Owens (shown above) just fine.
“At TIMBER MART, we believe in hiring from within, when possible, and pursuing progress through people, because it nurtures our positive company culture and values,” Owens says.
TIMBER MART represents hundreds of independent member-dealers across Canada, each of which has built a culture based on the values of its owners. Those home-grown values are what Owens wants to reflect at TIMBER MART’s own head offices.
“We believe that by providing our employees with opportunities to grow within our organization, and by investing in them, it not only eliminates the risk of external hires not being the right fit but also offers several advantages,” Owens says. “Recruiting, hiring, and training employees is not easy and by doing so from within we reduce the knowledge transfer time from one employee to another, motivate and engage our employees by investing in them, unlock their creativity and true potential, and foster teamwork.”
Kurt Norlen was recently promoted to TIMBER MART’s top lumber procurement job as director of forest products trading. He was formerly national procurement manager. With over 30 years of experience in management and building material sales, he joined TIMBER MART in 2013. At the same time, the group’s national hardware procurement manager, Shawn Ettinger, was promoted to the role of senior national procurement manager. He’s been with TIMBER MART since 2019.
Other changes at TIMBER MART included the promotion of Phil Temple to the national role of director of member services. In addition, Carolanne Olivier has joined the group as national advertising manager. She came over from TIMBER MART’s ad agency, Sims Advertising, where she’s worked for the past seven years on the TIMBER MART account.
“In recent years, we’ve witnessed companies lose the essence of their corporate cultures that once formed their foundations, due to outsourcing their talent and ultimately not being successful in transferring the knowledge and experience from within to external hires,” says Owens.
He stresses the importance of keeping new and existing staff closely aligned with an organization’s values and culture, which will position them for success throughout a career within the company.
“Communicating early on with our staff about retirement timing, identifying likely successors, providing developmental opportunities, and using transition periods that allow for knowledge transfer from the previous generation to be imparted to the next one are all key to ensuring positive employment life cycles,” Owens said, “and that our organization continues to operate seamlessly despite transitions.”
