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April 26, 2023One to Watch: Lucas McDonald Reflects on his Five-Year Career with Intelcom
For Lucas McDonald, a career at Intelcom can be summed up in three themes: continuous growth, empowering others and taking opportunities as they present themselves. On his fifth anniversary with us, and just weeks after his promotion to Regional Operations Manager Ontario East, we caught up with him to reflect on his work experience to date.
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"The initial draw [to Intelcom] for me was the flexibility and balance because it was part-time hours. I was a full-time student at the time so it was a nice opportunity to work part-time and still do school full-time but still have plenty of hours available because it was overnight shifts."
Starting as a package handler for the Ottawa station, Lucas' supervisors quickly picked up on his drive and knack for managing staff. Over the next five years, he would continue to grow and learn, being promoted to Lead Hand, Supervisor, Station Manager and then Area Manager.
"...And that brings us up until last week when I was formally promoted to Regional Operations Manager. [I've worn] lots of different hats, lots of different experiences. But throughout all of it, the one thing that really stood out was the support of Intelcom."
The Four "E" s of Job Satisfaction
Lucas shared what he felt were foundational qualities of the organization that helped propel his and his team's careers forward.
Empowerment
Considering the many lessons he's learned along the way, "...All of these [growth] situations were opportunities that I had to take myself, and go outside of my comfort zone and deal with some challenges and long days, hard work, lots of issues. But throughout it, the company supported me. It supports all of our growing staff members, anyone who's trying to improve themselves and grow."
Engagement
"…Despite it being a monolithic size of a company, they [Intelcom] still approach their staff and their team members from a very small scale organization standpoint where they support us, they engage us, they empower every level of this organization, and it's something that in my previous life with some other large corporations I didn't see."
Empathy
"One of my main tenets of leadership is empathy. It's relating to my staff. I'm on the floor with my team, and I empathize with them. I work with them. I come from a place of relation. I've done all these roles. I've faced the same challenges that they have faced and am very fortunate to have this knowledge and experience I've had, but I leverage that to bring the best out of all of my team members because when you engage people, you bring out their best work."
Enjoyment
"It's often something that managers and organizations don't take into consideration quite as much, is the importance of how much you enjoy what you do. I have staff all over the region, and I've seen it in other parts of the company and other regions, where they say that they enjoy what they do. And that's the biggest source of pride for me, is the impact I've had on the people who work for me and work with me and make it a positive and happy environment for everyone."
It just boils down to the people.
Lucas Mcdonald
Regional Operations Manager, Ontario East
Lucas Mcdonald
Regional Operations Manager, Ontario East
"It just boils down to the people." Lucas reflected, "It's really about understanding who your people are and empowering them to bring their best performance out… When you're transparent about the expectations in your relationships, be it with my staff or with our IDCs or contractors that we deal with, there's no surprises about what comes out of the work atmosphere. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone is positive, and everyone is engaged. The positive work atmosphere just comes naturally after that."
After half a decade and half a dozen promotions within Intelcom, Lucas is energized for his next chapter. "I'm excited to be able to foster growth and personal empowerment on a greater level. I'm super excited to be able to work with new staff members, new team members, in some of the other warehouses that I haven't worked directly with as much, and continuing to provide a positive influence for everyone."
Lucas' advice for folks interested in career growth? "Take the opportunity, challenge yourself, and you'll be pleasantly surprised with where you end up."