Second Choice

Margie Larson has been at Willmar Electric for over 20 years. She has held several positions and is currently working in our accounting department focusing most of her time on payroll. She has been a great asset to Willmar Electric.

But when Margie first interviewed at Willmar Electric we decided not to hire her. We hired another person but shortly after that decision we realized we had made a mistake by not hiring Margie and went back to her and offered her a job. Fortunately Margie didn’t hold it against us and she came to work alongside us.

I can’t even tell you the name of the person that was our first choice. I don’t need to because we have Margie now and that is what matter to us.

Every time I have ever been part of a hiring decision and it comes down to two people I wonder “which one of these two people is ‘Margie?’” I don’t want the best candidate to come in second.

At Willmar Electric we are currently under taking an initiative to reduce the time it takes to install conduit on our projects. It is the focus of everything we do. If we are successful we will be a much more competitive contractor and in turn we will get more work. The process is very exciting to think about.

Margie does payroll and you are likely what our Payroll Clerk has to do with reducing conduit installation time. As you might have guessed, Margie doesn’t install conduit. She doesn’t order conduit. She doesn’t estimate our projects or how long it will take to install conduit.

So what is the point of this blog? Why am I writing this blog that highlights two completely different subject matters (Margie Larson and conduit installations)?

Because first thing this morning I got an e-mail from Margie that gave a super suggestion on how we can make our conduit installations not only more productive but higher quality.

Thank you Margie.

It was a great example of what a great teammate she is. Margie is looking out for the interest of the entire company. She wants to see her co-workers reach their goals.

Looking for cost saving ideas in all areas is modeling Thrifty. One of our four core values. Today and everyday Margie is a great model of that core value. Margie is thrifty.

(In the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that time some of Margie’s coworkers can become very annoyed with her. Margie loves to snowmobile and that means that starting about this time of year and running until April she “thinks snow.” She is cheering for snow all fall, winter and spring. We tend to overlook this flaw because otherwise she is awesome. And she signs our pay checks!!!)