From driver to leader: Zack Mansfield's decade of delivery at DCC Propane

Ten years after starting as a delivery driver at DCC Propane’s Hicksgas, Zack Mansfield is now Area Manager for the Illinois operation he once drove for.

When Zack Mansfield interviewed for his first job in propane, someone told him the industry gets in your blood. He didn’t believe it. “I took that with a grain of salt,” he recalls, “but it really does.” Since then, whenever an opportunity has arisen to take on something new, he has taken it.

Ten years on, that instinct has carried him from delivery driver to Area Manager for DCC Propane’s Hicksgas in Illinois – a path built one step at a time rather than planned in advance.

From the driver's seat to leading

Zack’s route into propane was almost accidental. “I already had a commercial driver’s license, even though I’d never really used it,” he remembers. “I was commuting to work at the time, and my wife happened to work with someone whose husband was looking for a propane driver 15 minutes down the road from home. I thought, why not? I was young and I just said yes. It started there, and it’s where I’ve been ever since. It’s almost become an obsession.”

He spent six years delivering propane before becoming Logistics Manager and then, a couple of years ago, Area Manager – now responsible for nine offices, six field managers and a customer service specialist. The job varies from week to week: managing financial goals and budgets, ensuring operations run effectively and safely, and developing his team. “I have a number of people who are early in their careers, so I want to see them get on the same track I was on,” he says.

Much of that support is hands-on. Zack is the person his field managers come to when an issue arises that they can’t solve themselves. He reviews how each territory is tracking financially and helps with recruitment. “If drivers and techs are successful, then we’re all successful,” he points out.

His time behind the wheel still shapes how he leads, especially under pressure. “In the winter months, it’s a high-pressure situation – you feel very obligated to take care of every customer,” he explains. “I have a little more compassion there. I still hold my team accountable, but I try to lead with understanding first and then coaching, because I remember what it’s like to be in those situations.”

A market where no two customers are the same

Central Illinois brings together a very different mix of customers, from Amish communities without phones to family farms, industrial accounts and residential heating customers, each requiring a different approach. “You have to understand their needs and how to communicate with them,” he says.

The terrain itself works in his team’s favour. After a recent trip somewhere hillier, he returned struck by how much easier Illinois’s flat, cornfield landscape makes the job. “We can haul so much more gas because we don’t have those challenges,” Zack smiles. “We have a couple of big hills – they have mountains and turns.”

Recognising the people behind the business

Zack is deliberate about recognising the contribution of the people around him, from drivers and technicians to customer service teams and field managers. “I’ve always believed leadership isn’t about making myself the centre of the story,” he says. “Having started out as a driver myself, I know how much it means when the work you do is recognised. I want to build a culture where people feel valued, where everyone understands that when one of us wins, we all win.”

That same instinct shapes how he talks about safety, one of DCC Energy’s core values as a group, which is built through proper training and equipment and a culture where people can speak up. “No one should ever hesitate to speak up and say, ‘I don’t feel safe doing this; this isn’t right; we need to get this fixed,’” he says. “There’s no delivery, service call or deadline that’s more important than making sure they go home safe.”

Local service, national resources

Zack is clear about what being part of DCC Energy gives a business like DCC Propane’s Hicksgas that it wouldn’t have as a standalone company: better technology, better equipment and, in his words, a “top-notch” safety and HSE team. What has struck him most is that the scale hasn’t come at the cost of the local identity his customers know.

It’s a balance written, quite literally, on the side of his trucks. “It says, ‘Local service, national resources’ for a reason,” he shares. “We give that local service, but we have the resources if we need support or help from another area, or if we have new ideas. Across the country, we can collaborate on those. That’s a big deal.”

Technology has changed just as much as his roles during his time in propane. The industry has moved from stamped metre tickets and routes that were little more than lists of addresses to tablets, GPS and tank monitors now fitted on almost every account – all giving his team the ability to provide much better service to customers.

Learning to let go

Moving into the Area Manager role meant something harder than learning new systems: learning to let go. It was partly about his determination to do well, but mostly about preventing burnout in an industry he is openly passionate about. “I was very much a ‘do it all’ kind of person,” he admits. “But I picked this team. I needed to trust them, let them grow and make their own decisions. That was challenging for me.”

Two people have shaped how Zack leads: Greg Nielsen, an earlier manager who “was the first one who really saw the potential in me”, and his current boss, Gary Hanna, whom he describes as a mentor. “He gives me advice whether I want to hear it or not, but I respect that. He’s helped me develop my career and the path I’m on – I owe a lot to him.”

Never quite off the clock

Outside work, Zack’s time revolves around his family: his wife, two teenage sons and two-year-old daughter. Travelling together and seeking out flea markets along the way are family favorites, alongside strapping a GoPro to pretty much everything – including the golf cart Zack takes his daughter out on around their neighborhood. “She’s got a reputation as the girl who waves and says hi to everyone,” he laughs. “We’ve got some very funny videos of her waving to everyone as we go.”

Switching off from work isn’t always easy. Propane has a habit of following Zack on his travels. “You always seem to spot a propane tank and say, hmm, that’s not our customer – that could be a possible opportunity.” His wife has picked up the same habit and now points out tanks before he does. Meanwhile, his daughter is more interested in the trucks themselves; her favourite part of any community event is honking their horns.