Sharing Interviews with Industry Experts

We've sure come a long way since 1844 when Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. Since then, we've evolved and experienced many new ways of communicating: the telephone, fax machines, cell phones, internet, and of course today's social media with all the wonderful tools like podcasts!

I read articles such as the one below and all I can think about is how can I help people in an industry who do the jobs that my dad once did when he was alive? I've spent 1/2 of my life working around operators and heard managers bash their ability to learn and the skills they posses. It bother me so much, that I did something about it.

"Recently there has been a lot of talk about “skills gap”. Although there are 4 million unfilled jobs, 11 million people remain unemployed in the US. The most common solution suggested by many, including President Obama, is to attract more people to “STEM” fields (science, technology, engineering, and math)........ To thrive in today’s technological society, we have to be able to learn fast, and on our own."

The goal of my podcast, audio files that you can subscribe to for free, is to share stories about leaders in the industry so listeners can hear what's possible and learn from it. Through my company Enhanced Building Solutions, the mission is to transform the culture in the building industry through training and development. It's about empowering others to take responsibility to learn! We offer a blended learning approach, both online and hands-on.

Most of the guys in the building industry want to learn, and want to do more, but the way they have been expected to learn is flawed! Working for a start-up company where I had the opportunity to speak with people, who work in the facilities department of all industries from all over the country, validates my statement of a flawed system.

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” ~ Abraham Maslow

Years ago an operator would work in a building for years and would not even consider leaving. Today most of those people have retired or passed away. The one's who are knowledgable want and expects more. If you are looking for ways to "train and retain" your staff I'd love to discuss.

When maintenance contracts came into play operators were in fear of their work being outsourced, so sharing knowledge was not embraced. The reality is:

Daily responsibilities are very different than contracted services.

Even with a maintenance contract in place there are still daily responsibilities that are necessary and required to operate buildings. There was never a formal training program for operators. It was always a transfer of knowledge where you was expected to learn from the previous guy. Given the dynamics of operators being selfish with knowledge, what makes anyone believe there has ever been an effective training protocol?

“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” ~John W. Gardner

Engineers are specifying the latest and greatest technology according to the energy models they have created, but who's training the people who are responsible to operate it? In some engineering specifications, they are specifying that when equipment gets turned over, it must be videoed. Reality check: There are very few companies who do this effectively. Turning on a camera, while contractors are training and trying to run off the job, with a classroom full of people asking questions; is a waste of hard-drive space, highly ineffective, and defeats the purpose of solving the problem.

“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” ~Clay P. Bedford

Enhanced Building Solutions is about creating solutions for your facility pertaining to mechanical systems. If you'd like a consultation to discuss, please contact me. Stay tuned, in January, I will be sharing lots on my podcast and look forward to you subscribing.

If you're interested in being a guest for an upcoming show, reach out to me! Tell me how you're automating your systems and keeping your operators engaged. What have you done to encourage your operators to learn. My goal it share best practices, and obtain better energy efficiency goals where everyone wins!