As a business owner, you have to keep your eyes on the numbers. But as a leader, the most powerful choice you can make is to put joy first. Your customer’s joy. Your team’s joy. And above all, your own joy. Because a fulfilled leader is an effective leader.
We must resist the subconscious urge to hire people in which we see ourselves — the full gamut of self from physical appearance to hard skills — and instead, map talent acquisition strategies to our deficiencies. This begins with an objective evaluation of your teams’ strengths and weaknesses, and from their hiring to resources that fill the empty spaces on your mantle.
Lisa Lavender's passion for “checking your work,” on an individual and company level, comes from the consequences she has observed when this discipline is lacking. Here, she offers ideas for creating a culture of minimal errors.
In this column, Laura Spaulding, CEO of Spaulding Decon, shares three of the toughest hoarding cleanup jobs she has worked on in her 15-plus years specializing in crime scene and hoarding cleaning. “The tougher the challenge, the bigger the reward, and I have faced some tough ones,” Spaulding writes.
In the fire restoration industry today, many practitioners use ozone generators as one of their primary means to neutralize smoke odor. Although ozone may be effective to some degree in neutralizing odors, many experts disagree on its effectiveness and whether the risks outweigh the rewards. So, what is ozone? And what are the associated health risks? Sean and Briana Scott examine the effects of ozone exposure and offer necessary precautions for working with ozone.
“Maybe you have difficulty getting your restoration technicians to wear safety boots, even with the vast selection of types and brands. So how do you, as a restoration company owner or project manager, change this mindset? Let me provide seven basic ways to do this,” writes Barry Rice, CSP.
“As an industry, we must perform at a higher level than ever before with less qualified people than we’ve ever had. That is the restoration industry’s staffing challenge,” Jeremy Reets writes. “Companies that bring on new staff and quickly get them to a high level of competency will be the ones to dominate their market. So, how do you increase the competency of your staff quickly and dominate your market? Hands-on training is part of the solution!”
Jeffery Gross shares an overview of hoarding cleanup best practices based on his experience with First Onsite Property Restoration. “The process of cleanup includes several steps: Bulk removal of trash, then cleaning and disinfecting of all surfaces and remaining contents. Then comes extermination and usually some refurbishment like painting or replacement of damaged fixtures,” Gross writes.
Ours is an industry where entrepreneurs cling to traditional ways of doing business. It’s an in-person service, after all. We work with our hands, we serve clients face-to-face. Who cares how tech savvy we are? Everyone cares, and if you don’t see that reflected in your customers’ priorities now, you will soon.
“If the Jon from five years ago has anything further to add, perhaps this idea still has merit: ‘Your office is your second home. Arguably, you spend more time in your workspace with your work peeps than with your actual family, so making it an enjoyable and functional environment should be a priority,’” Jon Isaacson writes.
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