Is Your Custodial Training Like Herding Cats?
Is motivating your workers like herding cats? If so, I have a solution for you.
In my experience, workers need three things to get motivated:
- Understanding the importance of their work
- The right system and tools to enable and dignify the job
- Interesting training
Understanding the importance of their work
W. Edwards Deming said: 'Joy in work comes from understanding why your work is important … Motivation—nonsense. All that people need to know is why their work is important.'
I agree.
Teach custodians the importance of their jobs both from a health and business viewpoint. In schools, study after study shows better cleaning and disinfection relates to lower rates of illness and absenteeism. As custodians interact with customers, help them 'frame' cleaning's impact on IAQ, safety, academic performance, pest control, odor control, and security, among other business concerns.
The right system tools that enable and dignify the job
Invest in 'Special K'. If you are reading this, then you understand the importance of the right system and tools (many start with 'K').
Interesting training
Hire interesting, engaging trainers, then focus on short, effective training to minimize 'seat-time', length and amount of instruction—e.g., just three or four learning objectives—to boost retention. View the worker as a coffee cup, and your knowledge base, a coffee urn. Fill—but don't overfill—the cup.
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Perry Shimanoff
Perry Shimanoff, principal of MC2―Management And Communication Consultants−with offices in San Carlos, CA and Oklahoma City, OK―has almost four decades of experience teaching the best methods of cleaning smarter not harder. He has taught nearly 20,000 custodians nationally, at more than 800 school districts, written 70-100 articles requested by journals, and as part of his commitment to make the complicated simple, his company offers comprehensive performance audits and proven software―SPMMS, SuperACE, and FaST―with a huge installed base and successful track record.
SPMMS offers a complete facilities, grounds, equipment and vehicle maintenance management and job control system designed especially for school and college use. SuperACE provides a complete custodial management and job control system. FaST delivers a complete facility scheduling system to optimize resources while encouraging sound fundamental management techniques, including documentation, planning, scheduling, communication, follow-up, and analysis.
Contact:
Perry Shimanoff
125 Pearl Avenue
San Carlos, CA. 94070
650-465-2729
mc2sancarlos@msn.com