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We introduced Lester Gray, and his ‘achieve your dream’ story in the
last issue of Coromandel Life, Recently semi-retired at age 48 from
a solid 30 year career managing petrol stations, he attributes his
success to ‘putting people first’.
This committment is demonstrated in his ‘Future Stars’ programme,
an impressive incremental training system he developed in 1998 that
created a clear career path for many of his young employees. Lester
estimates he mentored hundreds of Caltex employees during the first
year it was in place. After purchasing his own service station – the
Katikati Caltex in 2001 – he adjusted the programme for a single site
operation and continued to support staff into managerial positions
before selling this station in 2016. He remains involved with his
Opotiki station, and continues to help staff advance their careers.
We glanced over Lester’s organisational Excel sheets and
understood the simple yet solid progression and training topics. Very
solid. Duly impressed, we asked him to share.
“I have worked in a minimum wage
environment my entire life”, explains Lester
Gray. “Just because I didn’t start out earning
much, it didn’t mean I couldn’t get ahead. I
found that with a goal, a plan, hard work and
persistence, I had what I needed to realise
my dreams.”
Lester was promoted from pumping petrol
to Manager, before losing his job due to
company restructure. Eighteen months later,
he was able to re-enter the industry in another
managerial position and was quickly promoted
to a Multi-Site Manager and later became the
Operations Manager for 46 sites.
However, with the promotion to the top level of
the organisation, Lester also inherited a work
place ‘culture’ that wasn’t positive for staff,
but
demanded
a lot from them. The result was
an incredibly high staff turnover rate. Imagine
working for a company where
more than half
of its 800 staff members across the 46 service
station sites quit every 6 months.
“The cost of constantly recruiting and training
can be crippling for any business. But, just as
important are the devastating consequences
this drifting in and out of jobs can have on the
lives of the people involved.”
Because Lester had made his own solid
career in this predominately transient industry,
he took a deep look into his own personal
experiences when considering why so many
people were leaving ... while he had chosen
to stay.
“Ultimately, I felt that many of my colleagues
were leaving because they struggled to find
clear pathways towards achieving their goals”,
Lester explained. “I decided that
this
was the
challenge I needed to target – increasing staff
retention while improving the lives of our team
members. That’s when I created the Future
Stars Programme.”
“The goal was to change the work place from
an unskilled, transient abyss to a place of
motivation, challenge and aspiration...as well
as rewards.”
Lester’s passion and determination led him to
develop the plan to mentor the ‘future stars’
he could see in the organisation.
Over the next 15 years, the voluntary
programme would provide training and
advancement through the ranks for over 400
people, paving the way to create clear, career
pathways for unskilled teenagers, young
and older adults. Participants were able to
successfully take on more senior roles within
the company or transition to better positions in
other companies. It provided an expected time
frame to acquire new skills and move between
the different jobs available. Lester notes. “It
was simple, measurable and perhaps most
importantly, achievable.”
Lester was pleased to find that people’s lives
were
being changed. “I let my staff know that
I trusted their abilities and that every one of
them could achieve what I had – with the right
level of training. That’s where Future Stars fit:
Leadership is about giving others the tools
they need, teaching them how to use them
and then trusting them to get the job done.”
Lester found it rewarding to observe how the
business environment changed soon after the
programme was implemented.
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COROMANDEL LIFE 2017 LATE AUTUMN / WINTER
The
Future StarS
Programme
The programme demonstrated its worth in April
when power for the entire town of Opotiki went
down but his staff ‘gave it their all’ to keep his
petrol station open. Lester praised their great
attitude, particularly camera-shy Shannon at
right, who “had only been in the job for 3 weeks!”
Lester Gray
on Facebook April 14 - ‘Thanks
Shannon Lee Hennessy
for everything you
have done in the last 24 hours. To stand up and
own such a serious situation in the way you did
shows maturity, skill and amazing will to keep
everyone safe!
Shannon, Leah and your team have had a 24
hours you will never forget. A Huge thanks to the
entire team that have worked tirelessly to keep
Caltex Opotiki open while everybody else in the
area had no power. You are all amazing! Thanks!
FUTURE STARS IN ACTION