Education Leads to Growth

RFMA Leadership Class 2020

By JR Weber – Director of Sales

The one constant in the foodservice industry is that the industry is continually evolving.  The constant evolution of foodservice is one of the many characteristics that make it so enjoyable.  However, this constant evolution also presents its own challenges as well.  The foodservice industry lacks any formal education at both the elementary and collegiate levels.  General Parts Group is an advocate of education as well as personal and professional growth and we are continually looking for opportunities not only for our field staff but our support and leadership staff as well.  We have found that partnering with industry trade associations like CFESA, NAFEM, RFMA, SNA, etc. provides opportunities to meet these educational/growth needs.

Recently, I participated in Leadership RFMA.  Leadership RFMA is a 12-month program designed to help increase leadership skills/abilities and increase career potential.  This program challenges participants to take a deeply personal journey through self-discovery by identifying their strengths and weaknesses as well as helping participants understand behaviors in the workplace among the teams they lead.  Although a personal journey, it promotes teamwork by assigning each participant to a team of leaders to navigate the course together, as leaders.  Leadership RFMA takes you on a journey of projects in which your team will work together to overcome real-world challenges in the workplace.

My journey with Leadership RFMA began just as the COVID Pandemic was unfolding and I was almost certain that the program would be postponed and honestly, I hoped it would as I had more important priorities, at least I thought I did.  However, we pushed through the program and much of our conversation and learning experience was Pandemic related.  It turns out that Leadership RFMA was just what I needed during these uncertain times.  Our team talked about very real current challenges not only professionally, but personally and we were able to lead each other through these challenges and the content of the course together.

I am proud to be part of an industry that genuinely looks out for one another.  During my experience with Leadership RFMA, I was able to experience an environment where competitors, customers, and vendors worked together to help leaders in our organizations become better leaders.  I am even more proud to work for an organization like General Parts Group, that promotes education and growth and have proven that not only by supporting me in achieving my CFSP designation, CFESA Management Training certificate, Leadership RFMA but General Parts has supported many educational programs for employees for many years.  Growth is one of our core values as an organization and we stand firmly with that value as part of our identity.