How to motovate employees

[will104]

How do you guys motovate your guys (light a fire underthier butts).WE hired 2 guys on is greener then green the other has got an assosite degree.IN hvac problem is I left them to do a simple a/c and coil install.It looked like all they did was remove the system.It took them 4 hours to remove it I had to install the coil because he could not make a pan or a door for the coil.So how do tou guys motovate your people.

[green_apprentice]

Not a big thing just train them a little bit more.

[a\c don]

Originally posted by will104
How do you guys motovate your guys (light a fire underthier butts).WE hired 2 guys on is greener then green the other has got an assosite degree.IN hvac problem is I left them to do a simple a/c and coil install.It looked like all they did was remove the system.It took them 4 hours to remove it I had to install the coil because he could not make a pan or a door for the coil.So how do tou guys motovate your people.

You answered your own question if you read your post.

#1- They are green. There is no substitute for experience.

#2- An A.S. degree does not equal field experiance.

I worked with a guy years ago that was smart as a wip.

Ask him almost anything about hvac and he sounded like an instructer.

Put tools in his hands and he was more like a disaster.

[R12rules]

First of all, read this old thread.


tech incentives program, by NormChris
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=46894

Then sit down with your employees and see where THEY are coming from.
Then once you, the better man, have heard their side of the story ... you tell them what you need in an employee!


At work, I run pipe. Hard copper. I make it look beautiful. But every once in awhile I am asked to run condensate drain lines.
I loath it.
So if someone comes along and makes a comment about how my lines are run ... I dont take a lot of store in what they say cause I am not a plumber.

Every once in awhile, I hear a story about one of the systems going online and having failures. Then I hear tell of what some guy did to attempt to correct the issue.

It really growels my hide when they put a newly educated "technician" on a rascal job like that one and I know darned good and well he has never seen nor heard of such a problem in his entire trade experience.

So I sit, stand, crawl ...climb, squat, etc., and run ACR pipe all day long.

But I'm not in my element.
I am a commercial refrigeration service mechanic!
I love making ice machines drop.
I love making freezers freeze.

I am not, per say, a construction pipe fitter/ brazer.


And if someone comes along and attempts to get a fire goin under neath my butt ... to so called; "get me motivated" and producing more work .... he best have sat down with me first cause I can certainly save him a whole lotta words in that speech he's preparing to give!!!

Perhaps your man is that same way.
He has a degree. That only means he was presented enough knowledge to make himself dangerous once he enters the field.


Your job is NOT to provoke him to more production! Your task, should you decide to accept it, Mr. Phelps, is to enable him, them, to produce all that they can do.
Safely, orderly, effeciently, courtesly, etc.



I can do lite or heavy RTU's all day long. Anything on em. ANYTHING!!!
Because I already been there/ done that!

But ask me to to do what you described your team just did ... and I would not be your best choice.
That is, if I was left alone without a guy who does that stuff day in and day out.


You cannot expect your team to perform 1/10th as well as you yourself do in the field cause of many, many factors.

You must figure out where they can operate in, safely/ effeciently.... and enable them to work there until such time as they can progress upward.


Put me on a project installing light gage tin and I'll just get in the way.
But ... you put me on a project with heavy metal ... not something stuck together with "S" metal strips and zip bit screws .... and I will maintain your same pace! We'll get some serious work done ... and it'll be right!


If I'm right, your guy with that degree didnt go to college for two years and suffer what it takes ... just to knock tin together.
Especially not when tinners are paid much less ... seriously less than what servicemen are paid today!


Ya know how many codes or rules I need to employ when I run my ACR pipe?

Jus three ....PLUMB, SQUARE, LEAK-FREE. That's it.

However.... your guys installing a gas fired cooling/ heating appliance either in a home or commercial building have more codes to adhere to than Carter's got pills!!!
AND it takes additional tools which arent on any list a tech school prints out.
AND there is no training in that degree course on tin work or installation of any kind.
AND each job is differant.

etc.

etc.

etc.



I know a service contractor. He has in his employ a hard working installer.
Put this guy in an area where a furnace/ air handler needs to be knocked in, set up, plumbed, piped, drained, lines ran, insulated, etc ... and his hands are a blurr!

But watch him work on troubleshooting a call and he's nearly worthless!
He's been on the job about two years now and his meter, (singluar), still looks brand new!
And he doesn't improve.

He doesnt read up, look up, cram up on information which will make him more valueable to his employer.

He doenst drool over tools to use during the day on his job.

When we're sitting down to lunch, he doesnt pester me with questions about problems he's encountered.
In fact, he hardly asks questions at all.


He should be working for an employer whom will use him in his areas of his strengths.
Instead of working in his apparent weakness.


Learn your employee's areas of strengths as well as their weaknesses. And then decide should you shore up their weaknesses and capitalise on their strengths?

Or should you wish them well and help them find employment with someone you know at another shop...

[sline-dawg]

R12

Excellent post and insight.

[ct2]

where I work they have an interesting approach to motivate their employees

1) After they accuse you of doing something they make sure that they are in the biggest group of fellow employees they can find , then they start yelling at you like you are some kind of ?????? and make you feel 2 inches tall

2) they make 2 or 3 people their target people and humiliate them on a rotating basis making sure 1 of them is pissed off daily

3) you come to work a half an hour early - they say nothing to you about that ( because it is free time for them)

and then yell at you for being a minute late returning from lunch

4) GPS the nextel system so they can keep track of you and where you are through out the shift

5) take your Ideas and present them as their own

this list could go on forever

[John(Chicago)]

People in charge wonder why they can't find good help. It seems obvious from what I've seen and heard, my boss doesnt know how to make money off me, but I know how to make other people money. Bosses are their own worst enimies, if they would just think with their head insted of their D___S.

I would be better if my boss would just put me on the taget, then I would bring it home, but only if he gives me a piece of the pie. How about that for motivation, actually give than recive. Really, wouldnt your guy be more motivated if you told him that if he can figure out how to do XXXXX and I'll give you all the help YOU ask me for and I'll pay you 30% of my take less overhead and I'll show you how it all works out. Really, as long as the owner makes some money on the guy, even if it isnt a killing, he will have a motivated long term employee that will grow and grow HIS customer base whitch is the REAL wealth of the company, right?

[oroy54]

I guess pay for perfomance? How about things like feeds, gifts and trinkets.... Don't fix me lunch today sweetie! The company is feeding all of us! Last year I got a nice fire extinguisher, then got a nice card table for the family to play Monoply on! But the guys really want the praise from you. Tell them to take that extra step. Give them something that they can tell their wives that is positive when they get home. I had a good day at work. Life is to short, I owe it all to my wife. Hell, today I had to go to a meeting at work 5 hours. At the end of this SAP meeting, they gave us a 8' ruler with a built in calulator, batterys included Roy

[pabull]

When I was in the field...our motivation was the good ole fashioned..."Work or get Fired" incentive plan......

[The Penguin]

1 don't let the &%$#* despatcher call you frequently asking "hows it going" or "are you finished yet"
2 if you are a full service co and you do refrig, commercial ac and residental try to get the techs that want to do that particular field first go (I loath ref and resd so I want to do commercial hvac so the despatcher sends me to ref and resid calls its no wonder I'm looking)
3 shiny new trucks with real A/C ask the tech beforehand what he wants eg pu or van.
4 ensure the office staff don't collectively hassle the tech all day over petty stuff
5 ensure that the techs feel they are an asset not a liability
6 provide FREE (paid) training decent training one on one
7 communicate easy to say hard to really carry out (most meetings we all "listen" and mgmt talks
8 don't let the despatcher get a big head
9 DON'T nickel and dime the techs
10 Pay a decent salary
11 provide feed back on how jobs went did that referal turn into an install?
12 Give the guy fill in work and let him keep it to fill in his day(there's nothing worse than when "we are busy" a guy goes home short cause the service calls ran out and hes got no fill in work to do so its a long run back to the shop to get work and by the time he reaches the shop its too late to start something and he can't put his time to something
13Communication is key meaningfull communication
14 trust you have to gain and retain your employees trust its hard to do and even harder to retain and impossible once you have lost it

[oroy54]

With all of that, how do you keep from screwing up?

[cehs]

TOP PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FORMULA

1. Show honest and sincere appreciation at every opportunity.
Make the other person feel important . . .
2. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
3. Make your cause bigger than your ego.
4. Work for progress not perfection. (efficiency?)
5. Be solution conscious NOT problem oriented.
6. Invest time in the activity that brings the highest return on investment according to mutual priorities.
Effort alone doesn't count; results are the reason for activity.
7. Fulfilling responsibility is a good reason for work.
Self-discipline is the method.
8. Recognize and accept your own weaknesses.
9. Make check lists and constantly refer to them.
(Master action list - Daily action list.)
10. Always show people in your life the humility of gratitude.

6 ACTION STEPS FOR PERFORMANCE ORIENTED MANAGERS

1. Give regular, specific, and observable feedback on performance.
2. Respect the lines of communication and authority.
3. Make timely decisions.
4. Be accessible.
5. Encourage creative ideas.
6. Provide PERSONAL support.

10 DOUBLE WIN RULES THAT LEAD TO TOP TEAM PERFORMANCE
1. A smile is the most powerful social tool we have.
2. Listening is the most neglected skill in business.
3. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. Check out the other person’s point of view.
You will find a uniqueness and special ness in others. Others are interested in you when they are discovered.
4. Ask questions you know the answers to. You will see the other person’s perspective.
Most ideas are more acceptable when we discover them ourselves.
5. Actions speak louder than words.
Model the behavior and attitude you want the other person to possess.
6. Give assignments that allow you to express faith and confidence that the other person can successfully perform in the assigned task.
7. Always make requests, NEVER give orders.
8. Develop the ability to use the narrative story and meaningful analogy.
These are powerful teaching tools.
9. Be respectful - Be on time, or inform others why you will be late.
10. Return phone calls and letters immediately.
There is no excuse for not doing so.

Show respect for a job well done.
REAL job equality is feeling we have a stake in our company’s success.
We must INVOLVE employees, NOT CONTROL them.
Keep skid chains on your tongue.
Cultivate a calm persuasive voice.
In any discussion your objective is to win them over, NOT win over them.
Be short on promises and long on fulfillment.
Be interested in the goals, home, welfare and families of those with whom you work.
Being the boss does NOT mean you are always right.
Be open-minded. Discuss but don't argue.
Minds can disagree without being disagreeable.
Be careful of employee’s feelings.
When someone is resentful, the best way to remove the chip is to let him or her take a bow.
Workers want management they can look up to; but management which does NOT look down on them!

Praise in public.
Criticize in private....

[John(Chicago)]

Originally posted by oroy54
I guess pay for perfomance? How about things like feeds, gifts and trinkets.... Don't fix me lunch today sweetie! The company is feeding all of us! Last year I got a nice fire extinguisher, then got a nice card table for the family to play Monoply on! But the guys really want the praise from you. Tell them to take that extra step. Give them something that they can tell their wives that is positive when they get home. I had a good day at work. Life is to short, I owe it all to my wife. Hell, today I had to go to a meeting at work 5 hours. At the end of this SAP meeting, they gave us a 8' ruler with a built in calulator, batterys included Roy

Not a bad idea because just cash doesnt help. You give the tech more cash and he takes it home to the wife who just spends it on herself leaving him with no self reward, then she *****es to him we are broke and you need to work more. So maybe you need to find something that tech really likes and feed him that, like free lap dances or have a company Viper and the best tech gets it for a week to go HO chasn.