I run a company that is centered on cleaning, janitorial and building maintenance services ranging from window cleaning to painting. I often tell people we aren’t in the cleaning business so much as the people business, because people are at the core of what we do.
Still, while finding qualified people in an industry that is very labor-intensive is critical, how you communicate with those people is equally important. As human beings, nearly all of us want to please other people, however, that can be quite difficult at work if your employer does not communicate what is expected from you.
Good communication is one of those things that seems like is would be pretty straight forward and kind of easy, but it’s not. In today's cultural climate, I think we are more distracted than ever before. Our attention is in so many places at once that effective communication has never been more difficult. Additionally, as leaders, our attention is often spread so thin and in so many directions, that we can think we are communicating with our people when we are actually falling short.
I have worked very hard over the years to develop systems within our company to insure our people know exactly what we expect from them and what the customer requires. Having these systems in place doesn’t prevent every miscommunication or replace face to face communication, but it has helped close the gap and insure we are meeting the needs of our customers, our employees and our organization as a whole.
Leave a Reply