How White Castle Roofing Tripled Their Output by Turning Top Performers Into Trained Leaders
We are getting three times as much work done. We are seeing three times as much potential job sites… a lot of growth, dramatically.
What We Did
Enrolled White Castle's field-promoted leaders in the Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP)
Coached high-performing leaders on delegation, communication, and difficult conversations
Provided 1-on-1 coaching to apply leadership skills in real time, on the job
Strengthened consistency, follow-through, and professionalism across a growing, multi-state footprint
Built leaders capable of managing regionally, not just locally
Key Outcomes
3X increase in work completed and potential job sites in the pipeline
A leadership promotion earned before the program was even finished
Company-wide communication improvements leaders describe as a competitive edge in the roofing industry
Table of Contents
Background
White Castle Roofing started as a family business in Lincoln, Nebraska. Today, it’s one of the fastest-growing, top-rated roofing contractors in the Midwest, operating across multiple states. From day one, the company built its reputation on “Excellent Quality Work and Even Better Customer Service”, a standard that matters even more given how many of their people meet with customers, clients, and the public every day.
As White Castle expanded, leadership ran into a familiar growing pain: their best performers in the field were being promoted into leadership roles with no formal training on how to lead. In the words of Chris West, White Castle’s Fleet Manager:
“When I started this, there was no handbook on how to be a leader. You know, we all kind of get thrown into it.“
Leaders like Patrick Rollins, Regional Service Manager, and Chris West, Fleet Manager, found their days shifting fast, from hands-on technical work to communicating across departments, navigating difficult conversations, growing and retaining their teams, and leading people who, in some cases, had more tenure than they did. Leadership wanted their top performers equipped for that shift before it became a bottleneck to growth.
Challenges
As individual achievers, White Castle’s leaders were excellent at getting things done themselves. But managing more people, more markets, and more complexity required a different skill set entirely.
Patrick described himself, before ALP, as “a very driven individual… task-focused, getting things done, moving the ball forward.” That drive came at a cost: he was taking on too much ownership himself instead of leaning on his team and the resources around him.
Across the company, leaders ran into the same wall:
- Struggling to delegate without feeling like they were coming down on people
- Communicating well enough to get by, but not well enough to lead through hard conversations
- Managing time reactively instead of intentionally
- Feeling the pressure of leading peers who were more tenured than they were
As Zach Clarke, VP of Service Operations described it:
“We have individuals that are really good achievers as individuals. But over the years they’ve started to manage more people… It seemed wise to equip them with more tools to be able to have difficult conversations and figure out problems on the fly.”
Results
White Castle partnered with Leadership Resources and enrolled their leaders in the Accelerate Leadership Program, built to close the exact gap between being a great individual performer and being a great leader of people.
The shift showed up fast. Patrick earned a promotion before he even finished the program. ALP helped him grow into a leader who could delegate meaningfully without overloading himself or his team, freeing him up to manage regionally instead of just locally.
“ALP has given me the tools to be able to handle these different markets in different regions. I can delegate things to people and it doesn’t weigh on me. I can understand that people are going to have shortcomings, and that’s OK. You delegate those types of tasks to people, and if they come up a little short, that’s a great learning experience. It’s not a come-down-on-them type moment.” — Patrick Rollins, Regional Service Manager
Communication improved across the board too. Leaders sharpened how they ran one-on-ones, delivered feedback, and navigated conversations that used to feel harder than they needed to be.
“I’ve learned so much more into just communicating in a proper way, professionally, that I didn’t really know it was there because it wasn’t taught. One-on-one conversations are easier. Annual reviews… those conversations that were kind of difficult before for me being a younger guy, it just got easier.” — Chris West, Fleet Manager
Zach was impressed by the professional communication that the leaders started applying throughout the program. He said:
“Biggest improvements I’ve seen with the two employees that we have currently finishing up the course centers around communication. Communication is in everything we do. It’s just how we’re getting messages across to people and doing so with high EQ and high IQ.”
The results showed up in the business, too. White Castle’s leaders became more consistent, more professional, and more capable of leading across a growing, multi-state footprint. Patrick reports that his teams are getting three times as much work done, with three times as many potential job sites in the pipeline.
For Zach, the investment comes back to something bigger than output:
“Even though we’re a roofing company, we’re really in the people business… If we lose the sense of helping other people, the quality work thing doesn’t matter as much. That’s where we’re actually making the biggest impact on our community and the different communities we serve.”
Ready to build leaders who can carry your growth?
Book a call with us today and see how the Accelerate Leadership Program can turn your best performers into your strongest leaders.
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