Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 187: Making The Leap From Technician To Service Manager - Learning Leadership Skills with Scott Farley of The Arcticom Group

Transcript

Episode 187: Making The Leap From Technician To Service Manager - Learning Leadership Skills with Scott Farley of The Arcticom Group · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Scott: Biggest thing is let somebody know, Hey, I'm interested in doing this. This is what I want to do. If you don't let somebody know, and then you find that people are being passed, getting opportunities, it's because they're telling somebody they're letting them know, Hey, what do I got to do? So they're being prepped that that's, that's the biggest key is don't be afraid to ask questions and let somebody know that, Hey, I want to move up.
• 0:01
  How can I do that? And you know, the, the, the great leaders are the ones that are going to help develop those people.
• 0:02
  Trevor: Welcome to the refrigeration mentor podcast. I'm your host, Trevor Matthews as a former technician turned entrepreneur. My goal is to really help train you, educate you, and mentor you in the commercial refrigeration industry. Each week, I'm going to have top guests from technicians. Manufacturers to experts around the world to really help us grow and learn together by sharing their knowledge in commercial refrigeration, commercial HVAC, and not only on the technical side, but really the professional and the personal development side as well. I'm really excited that you're here. Now let's get a conversation going.
• 0:03
  Welcome back to the refrigeration mentor podcast. I'm your host Trevor Matthews. And today I have a special guest, a returning guest, Scott Farley, the director of service for the tag group or the Articom group. We had a great conversation back in the fall.
• 0:04
  into his amazing journey, coming up the ranks from a technician and to manager role, training roles to the director of the company. And I've had lots of you reach out to say like, how do I make that transition? Trevor? Like I'm a technician now, but I know that I want to get into more of a, Service manager role, operation manager role at some point, or maybe even a director role, but I don't know how to make that transition.
• 0:05
  How do I start? Where do I start? And I see a lot of businesses, I get into trouble where they try to take maybe a lead technician and throw them just right to the wolves into that leadership role. And this is the conversation that I want to have today with Scott, because he's an expert at this. He's, Such a personal little guy, very positive and understands human dynamics and leads a lot of people in these organization with a lot of help from conversations that he has.
• 0:06
  So Scott, welcome back to the refrigeration mentor podcast. How are you doing?
• 0:07
  Scott: Oh, good Trevor. Thanks for having me back. That was a good, that first episode was really good. And I'm glad to be back and talking some more about with, uh, you about regarding leadership and how to, how to develop from the, from the technician aspect into service manager.
• 0:08
  And then on. Onto the stars from there.
• 0:09
  Trevor: Yeah, because it's a, it's a big thing. This is something when you're not talked about in apprenticeship school or when you start first start in the industry, because all about like learning that technical side, that personal side of, you know, the communication with the customer, things like that.
• 0:10
  But I never ever really see like, what's that journey as a refrigeration professional, you know, you get used to it. You start out here and you're going to end up here and don't get me wrong. It's great. I see lots of technicians do a full career as a service technician, construction technician, which is great.
• 0:11
  That that's awesome. But I know there's more and more that I know that are around my age or like trying to figure out how do I get into that service manager role now that I just did a 15, 20 year career in the field. And this is. Kind of where I want to help more people. And a lot of people are asking me questions.
• 0:12
  So we'll start off. Um, we talked the last time about your transitions. You know, we, we talked about, you went from a service technician into a manager role, into a training role and, you know, into that director role, what were some of the key things that you, um, had to do to, to make those transitions, Scott?
• 0:13
  Scott: Well, a lot of it coming from the field into management, it was, it was, it was a lot of things that I had to look at myself to, um, but also I expressed it to my, my leadership above me that, Hey, I, how do I, how do I make that transition? And, and I had a really good mentor at the time on my first, my, my very first one, um, management, uh, position.
• 0:14
  And he guided me to what I needed to understand what I needed to learn. And, um, you know, a lot of it was like, okay, well, you need to take a course in how to management, how to talk to people, how to, how to kind of develop that, um, approachability and, and how to, um, how to be able to, to coach, be a good coach at the end of the day.
• 0:15
  Um, but, um, It was, it was, it was not hard. Um, I, I'm, I'm kind of, I like talking as you can tell. Um, but, um, you know, I had a lot of good, I liked interacting with customers. So that, that got me out of my, my shell. Cause you know, prior I was to myself, you know, we were technicians. We work, we work alone typically most of the time.
• 0:16
  So dealing with the customer aspect and then having my, my, uh, my leader at the time kind of helped me prep for. Um, like, you know, how to talk, you know, listen, listen before you speak types of things and, and the, the main, the main thing and I think we've talked, we've touched on this is, is being approachable.
• 0:17
  You want, you want them to come to you to ask questions, and you want to be able to develop that personal, personal relationship with them so when, when that time comes when you want to make that, um, uh, jump or leap. To learn leadership or get into leadership. There's somebody that's going to be there to help you guide you.
• 0:18
  And, um, we're all here to help each other. And, and again, we, our goal is, is the leaders is to help develop everybody beneath us, beneath us to help get them through those hard parts of their, their choice and getting into leadership. Cause it's not easy. Um, there's always that aspect, always that aspect where, okay.
• 0:19
  Uh, I'm a field technician. You have a couple of bad days as a service manager. Did I make the right choice? Yes, he did. We learned from those mistakes, and we get better at what we do, um, and then we, we move on and progress from there, but, but never stop coaching and teaching, um, but, but that was part of what was, what was making the transition for me is having somebody comfortable to tell me the things that I needed to work on, um, whether it was my, my approach to speaking, um, yeah.
• 0:20
  My demeanor sometimes, because sometimes we walk, we don't always smile. And we get that, we get that, that concentrated look on your face, like you're, you're, you're, you're, you're doing 10 million things in your head. And people are like, Oh, he looks like he's busy. Don't, you don't want to be like that. You want to always be approachable to your people.
• 0:21
  Tell them, you know, be that person that that's going to say, hello. Hey, how are you guys doing? I, I really enjoy when my guys, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm not on the bottom floor anymore. So it's hard for me to get down with the guys. So when they come up to talk to me and, and, and ask questions, I love it. So I wish I could get them to come in more, but I need them out pretty rich.
• 0:22
  Trevor: Yeah. And that's fair. And I think the big thing is, especially when I talk with a lot of technicians is they spend that all those years working real hard, building their knowledge. The technical knowledge, you know, fixing things, technology advances, working on that, and then they go to, okay, maybe I should try this leadership role or this sales role or something like that.
• 0:23
  And they try to flip almost overnight or even where they just say they leave the company that they're at to go to another company to trying to learn something overnight, where. In the technical side, they spend 15 years. Now they're comfortable. They know what they're doing going into now this uncomfortable zone, into this manager role, project manager, service manager, director, whatever the role is.
• 0:24
  You can't flip that overnight. Can you talk about some of the skills along the way that you picked up while you were a technician and how you. And you start to learn. So maybe some of the advice your mentor gave. I know you said one about speaking. Uh, what are some of the courses right now? Like someone that's 25 mid twenties or early thirties who are planning at some point to be a leader in the organization.
• 0:25
  What are some of those things that they could start today? looking at for their future self.
• 0:26
  Scott: Actually, probably the best thing is, is speaking in front of people, um, bigger groups, because as a, as a, as a new service manager, you're going to be conducting meetings, um, and try to avoid that robot robot reaction that you're reading from a script and just let it flow.
• 0:27
  Um, so. Maybe a course in talking with people in front of people. Um, not always necessary because some people have that natural gift to be able to talk in front of a group of people, but it helps to have that. Um, only because now you're not just dealing with yourself and one on one with a customer or, or your buddies.
• 0:28
  Now you're dealing with an entire team. It could be 25, 30 people with all different personalities and view things differently. And then. That's that that would be that would be the biggest in the first one and then delivery and how you deliver you want to you want to make sure you understand. And there's there's classes and there's there's literature on that to where, you know, you know how to how to.
• 0:29
  How to deliver a message and, you know, what, what to say, what not to say, um, things, try not to lose the group. You want to, you don't want to get, you don't want to make it too long, not too short, but you want to make sure that they understand the message and, and not lose them in, in, in things. And sometimes it's openers.
• 0:30
  Hey, how, how do we kick this off? You know what I mean? And you learn that. I learned that from, from just people that I've working with, how to kick off a big meeting with a bunch of people. Um, and it's ice breakers, basically.
• 0:31
  Trevor: And the big thing there is that you can learn this, you know, don't give up. Cause I see, I see a lot of people, like they try once or twice and it's nerve wracking and it's scary.
• 0:32
  Cause I did it like getting in front of a group. It made me sick to my stomach. I didn't like talking in front of people and it just took more practice. And I think that where someone could start today is maybe you lead a toolbox talk. At your company. So just say you don't even have to be a lead technician.
• 0:33
  Lead that tool. Say, listen, service manager, I'd like to lead the toolbox talk or to help and safety person. If you have those, and maybe that could be the start of it to, to get up in front of your team and talking, because as that leader service manager, you are just like Scott said, you're going to have to host stuff.
• 0:34
  Some of these meetings and that could be a good start another few I took a Dale Carnegie public Speaking course which you could could take as well over time or there's toast masters as well But this is you got to put the work in absolutely It's all learnable, but you got to put the work in what would be another one?
• 0:35
  So that's a good one there, you know, get in front of a group because that's something that as a leader you're going to do, what could be another one that somebody could start working on, uh, today?
• 0:36
  Scott: Well, there, there's, there's a couple more. Um, so one is one, okay. We talked about, um, you know, and your personal skills, developing and try to help, um, work with your interpersonal skills.
• 0:37
  There's, um, There's other things you can take like the one minute coach, um, because coaching now, now you're not just, you're, you're not just that working side by side, you're coaching them to do better on whatever, whatever, you know, if they're struggling with something, you want to coach them, not necessarily, um, uh, tell them they're doing something wrong, but coaching, Hey, we were doing something you're doing.
• 0:38
  This is what we've seen. Um, but this is this. This might help you if we do it this way, uh, might help you understand it a little better. It's all about the delivery again, like we talked about, but it's also that personal skill because you have to be able to coach people. You don't want to be, you don't want to be known as a boss.
• 0:39
  You want to be known as, Hey, this is my, this is my service manager. And also, you know, we have a good relationship. So knowing your people and developing that skill, it's, it's, it's basically helping them to give you the information that you need to help them, uh, fix or, or develop them for, for their next steps.
• 0:40
  And, and, and it's, it's like you said, we spent a lot of time in our younger part of our career learning something. And we were so, so ambitious and so like energized to, to learn something because we wanted to know, but we also wanted to teach that. at the same time. Um, but that drive and putting that work in that you did when you were a technician transitioning to a manager, don't let go of that.
• 0:41
  Even though you've aged a little bit, you can't let go of that. You got to keep pushing through. And it's just that energy level that, um, helps you develop the skills you need. And sometimes to your, to your point, They try something sometimes and it doesn't seem to work out. Don't give up. Don't give up.
• 0:42
  Push through it. You, you, you learn from those, you learn from those critical things or the things that bring you down. You learn how to do things a little bit better, but, um, the personal skill developing it because, you know, the personal skills and how to talk in front of people and, and, um, those are, those are key factors, but the drive at the same time.
• 0:43
  Trevor: Yeah, and I really like that that there has to be a purpose of why you want to do it You know what? I mean, you have to have a vision on like why you want to take that leap, you know Because it's not it's not taking the leap into management role. It's not you're not doing it for the money You know what?
• 0:44
  I mean? Maybe it's a different quality life Maybe you're tired of working nights and I get this with a lot of construction technicians like Trevor. I'm tired of doing nights So how do I make that shift in just to a service technician, not into a manager role, just from a construction technician to a service technician.
• 0:45
  And once again, that is a tough transition. If you're just jumping overnight. Like if you're thrown to the wolves, good doing construction, burning pipe and installing cases is different than going out and servicing on a CO2 rack. For an example, you know what I mean? So there has to be a progression and that's the same thing going into a leadership role or a management role.
• 0:46
  You have to work. Towards that goal step by step. So have that vision. So the interpersonal skill, I totally agree with that. Talking, talking with, uh, in front of groups is an, is another one coaching. I think that's a big one coaching. And these are all things that are learnable if you put the work in, because Scott learned, I learned them.
• 0:47
  What, what would be another tip for that technician is like, like I'm ready to start learning. Start focusing maybe in a few three to five years. I want to be that service manager. I started to speaking in front of the, uh, our toolbox talks, start doing that. I start learning a little bit of the coaching, you know, how to talk with people without putting them down or, or being that micromanager, just working on their skills.
• 0:48
  What would be another one that somebody could start working on today?
• 0:49
  Scott: Make it known, make it known to your, to your leaders that you want to progress. And then that's the biggest thing is, is make it known because then, then when projects come up, Hey, can I lead the project? Your point, the toolbox talk, or, Hey, um, I gotta, we got a big job going over here.
• 0:50
  Can I, can I, can I, Can I be the, can I strategize and, and help, uh, help, you know, execute on this, uh, volunteer to help out wherever it's needed, um, because that's where you're going to learn the most is, is, you know, in getting outside of your comfort zone, um, that's, that's key to, okay, well, okay, you've got all these things going on and, you know, as a service manager, even with your leads, you can't, you can't always manage everything, um, and understand what's going on.
• 0:51
  So you need, you need to be able to. As, as the service technician, um, Hey, I want to do this. I want to, I want to, I want to move up. I'm, how do I do this? I'm, I like being a technician, but I'm, I'm, I'm a leader. So that has to be known. And then at the end of the day, it's, it's more or less that drive and, and, and don't be afraid to get involved.
• 0:52
  Hey, I want to help out. What can I do? Um, or, you know, in my case, just do it. Just get out there and be the leader. Get out there and get out in front of it and just do it. And then that, that, that's, you're, you're going to get noticed. Um, okay, wow, look at this guy. He's over here. He's managing. We didn't even have to tell him.
• 0:53
  That's the drive that's in you
• 0:54
  Trevor: to want to do good. And all these things, once again, they're learnable. You know, you can learn them. It might take some people longer than other people. Some people might pick up these little qualities quicker than others, but it's important just to understand and give yourself a break.
• 0:55
  Don't give yourself a hard time. If it doesn't work the first time, maybe the company you're even at right now is not the right company for you to become that service manager. Maybe there's someone that just took that role or is young and you know, they're going to be at that role for a long period of time.
• 0:56
  Maybe there's no progression in the organization you're in right now. And you might have to make that shift, which is uncomfortable because you're starting maybe out at a lower position than you were at the company you're working at for five or six years, but making that move, you will excel a lot faster in organizations that see that you have drive and you want to make it there because a lot, I have also seen a lot, a lot of technicians who, who say they want to be the service manager or they want to be in the office or they want to, to do this role, but they never.
• 0:57
  Spent the time there and it's not actually something they want to do. And after a month or two, they decide to go back onto tools because they're not interested in that type of role because you do have to have a personality skills. You know, you gotta, you gotta understand leading people is different than leading a technical troubleshooting scenario.
• 0:58
  And could you talk on, on that, on where people you've seen people, uh, not prepared himself enough. To come into like a service manager or a manager role and then go back, uh, into the field?
• 0:59
  Scott: Oh, that's, that's, that's a good one, because that's actually happened to me in the very, very beginning. I thought, you know, okay, I wanna be a, I want to be a service manager, or I want to do this.
• 1:00
  And, um, you know, when, when the opportunity, opportunity came, I went into it and, and I was, I didn't quite get back to the tools, but I was so close and, um, there was a point where. My mentor at the time, he said, give it some more time. Don't give up this push forward. Cause if you were in the field, trying to do something as a technician, you, you, you wouldn't just leave it.
• 1:01
  You'd fix it. This is what you got to do here. You've got to figure out the solution to the problem that you're having and work through it. That's you can't give up. I mean, once you take that step, it's almost like you can't go back. Um, there's nothing wrong with that, but. To continue your leadership, pushing through it and breaking down the barrier gives you that better feeling of if you can push through something because we all have those bad days and sometimes, you know, we have the months and it's continuous and continuous and it weighs and I understand that I get that been there.
• 1:02
  But there's a light at the end of the tunnel and you can push through it and it's just, you know, don't give up at the end of the day. Once you once you've made that transition from the field to leadership role, service manager role, whatever role it may be moving forward. Don't give up. I mean, we all have those days and and I can I can give you a dozen scenarios where I'm kidding, where I said, man, I wish I could just go back to the field.
• 1:03
  But the next day. You know, things started to move up, move, move, you know, the site, the storm cleared, no more thunderstorms, sun came out and boom, we went back to business. So,
• 1:04
  Trevor: so I work with some service managers now who have just become service managers, and one of the things that they struggle with is that they were working beside these other technicians for five, six.
• 1:05
  Now all of a sudden the leader of the group that they were working alongside and they see a lot of they've they've been noticing some struggles with some of those coworkers. Um, can you talk on that on going from working alongside a team to now leading the team and what things you've seen in the past, which was very difficult and struggles and what positive things you've seen in, in the past and that you talk along.
• 1:06
  Absolutely.
• 1:07
  Scott: So, so. As, as the transition manager, your, your first instinct is your guy gets in trouble. You want to jump in the truck and go help him and help him fix it. Right? That's what you did is when you were in the field working as buddies, but you have to, you have to, you have to take that step back.
• 1:08
  Okay. Um, I'm in a different role now. How can I help my, help my, uh, my fellow technician? So it's, it's, it's sometimes pairing him up. Or, or do what you did in the past, maybe walking through the phone. What, what's the situation? Um, what can we do to help you? But now, now you have to be the orchestrator of how to give them the help that he needs to solve the issue.
• 1:09
  And then sometimes it's, it's different when you work with your friends so long and then you move to a different position and now they're like, Hey, you're no longer one of the buddies anymore. Hey, and it's like, it's no, we can't, it's, it's not like that, but sometimes you have to. reiterate that relationship with your team.
• 1:10
  Hey, I'm in a better position to help and support you at this point. And even though I can't jump in the truck, go, go, go help you solve the problem, and then we go break bread and eat lunch, we can still break bread. And then we can still work through this together. Um, and now, now that that person that's transitioned, that becomes.
• 1:11
  the tool to help his team get better at what they do, help them get what they need to do their jobs more effectively, more efficiently. And he's there, he, he becomes, he becomes now the coach to help them for, for example, hit the home run more often. Um, you have to put it in a perspective that your team's going to understand.
• 1:12
  I use baseball for one, but, um, whatever perspective you have. You have to work with your team and it's hard. It is because some of them kind of maybe even have that resentment. Well, how come you moved up and I did it? But you know what? That's your friend at the end of the day. And that's now, now your responsibility to, to bridge that relationship to make sure that, Hey, and once you, once you've built that, you have an unstoppable team.
• 1:13
  That's, that's key. And that's, that's, that's a fact. You, you get your team to function and follow process and do the things, um, that, that are necessary because now you're, you're responsible, not just for them, their safety and, and you're responsible for the business and having them understand what it's going to take for them to improve on both aspects.
• 1:14
  What kind of training can we get you, you know, as far as, as far as, uh, the, the, the technical side of it? What can we do? Or now you have access as a manager. Okay, I've got this class coming up. I think I'm going to take my, this group of guys, or this group of guys, or this guy. Get him get him up to speed so he can help get that information transferred down to the rest of the team.
• 1:15
  So we all function better on the technical aspect, but then help them understand the business part of it too, because if they understand what we're business actually to do to get paid, pay the bills, get get equipment, things like that, they're more amped to understand. Okay, all right, I get it. And that also helps them in their in their personal lives too, because they're not just thinking, hey, this is just a paycheck.
• 1:16
  Yeah. This is this is my career. This is what I want to do. And your goal is to get them to want to eventually move up into a leadership role as well and just continue the
• 1:17
  Trevor: cycle. Yeah, and I definitely agree with you on that. One of the things though, I've seen them as well when I talk with them and I'm coaching these service managers where they struggle.
• 1:18
  It's like, I just had to worry about myself. When I was in the field, now I have to worry about, like you said earlier, I got 10 personalities, 10 different people, and we're at different parts of our career. Now I was working alongside, now I'm leading the team. What are a few tips you would give these new service managers that are starting to lead their team on things that they could do to help build that new relationship with their same person?
• 1:19
  Same buddies. Is it like different types of toolbox talks? Is it going to take enough going out to lunch? Is it giving them opportunity on different jobs that they may have wanted to do in the past? What are a couple of tips for those new services to build this new relationship, uh, in the organization?
• 1:20
  Scott: From the transition point, you need to get to know if you're used to working with your guys, It's, it's, it's, it's sometimes harder when you're working with the group that you, you, you worked with versus being handed over to a different, a whole, whole different spectrum, a different team that you're not used to working with.
• 1:21
  So, the best thing to do is get out with them, get in front of them, start talking with them, let them know who you are as a person, build that trust factor because the trust factor is everything. Um, your guys will, as long as they understand what, what the, what the long term goal is for the team or for, uh, that specific person, they're gonna, they're, they're gonna go leaps and bounds to help support the team.
• 1:22
  They, everybody wants to work in a, in a cohesive, uh, uh, you know, Place to work and place to be or their home. That's their home. When people go go like when they get our age, Trevor, they're looking for a home somewhere that you can build their career and be there for the long haul and building that structure or that cohesiveness within the team is essential because now everybody knows everybody.
• 1:23
  Everybody wants to help everybody. And that's getting to know your guys. That's the biggest thing is understand what they're thinking, what's going on with them, what, what are they, you don't, you don't necessarily have to go over for lunch every or dinner every, every Sunday night or, or all that, but know your guys know how they think so you can better support and help them.
• 1:24
  And then that goes for, um, just. everything that you could possibly want them to do for you, they're going to understand it. If you can, if you can get that, build that relationship with them. And then when you need something that's, that's at the drop of a hat, cause we all know those emergencies pop up, they're going to want to go to help, um, knowing your team, knowing how they think and helping them to learn you and, and what your expectation is.
• 1:25
  Um, at the end of the day, that's, that's key right there.
• 1:26
  Trevor: And I agree with you in there building that culture around the team, building that relationship, uh, we'll make it better. You've been doing this for a long time. And one of the biggest things that people don't like moving into these leadership roles, even service manager role is conflict.
• 1:27
  Um, and there's lots of that, right? Conflict within the team conflict within a job could be dispatched, could be sales project manager. How do, how do you, 'cause this is something still a learnable thing, you know, conflict resolution. What are some things that you've seen throughout your career where there was a conflict, which is hard to talk about, but it needed to be talked about and safety would be a big one.
• 1:28
  You know what I mean? What's some, what are some of the strategies you, for conflict resolution, because a new service manager. May not be, that's not something that they're all about, you know, it might've happened with a customer, you know, there's conflict with a customer. They don't want to pay their bill.
• 1:29
  They didn't like the service, yada, yada, yada. Somebody came back three or four times, but that's different than when you're leading a team or a service manager. Can you talk about conflict resolution? Some of the things you've seen in the past.
• 1:30
  Scott: Um, conflict. There's, there's always, there's always multiple sides of it.
• 1:31
  You need to do your best to, as a manager, you have to do your best to understand both sides of it, to, to understand how to mitigate it, and, um, sometimes it's. You know, if you know your people, when there's a conflict between two people, for example, two technicians, it could be a wrong call. It could be multiple callbacks.
• 1:32
  It's understanding the team. Okay. Is somebody having a hard time understanding something? Um, did, are we misreading or did you misread what he said to you while you guys were working under there and now you're upset with them? At the end of the day, it's, it's, it's working to get working. As as a team to come together with with those two guys, but understand both sides of it.
• 1:33
  You can't just go in one sided and say, Hey, well, you were wrong what you said to him. It's like, Hey, guys, um, at the end of the day, you know, I understand what you're what you're what you're talking about. And I see your point. Um, what do we got to do to get through this? I mean, we're all on the same team.
• 1:34
  None of us is going anywhere because you don't want somebody to quit over over over misunderstanding or or any type of conflict and it's not easy. It's it's how you approach the situation and how you deal with the guys or or even the customer. You know, we have we we deal with that too. At the end, you have to be able to listen, listen to both sides of it.
• 1:35
  Um, customers, we as managers, we deal with the customer aspect of it a little more often where, hey, you guys didn't fix this right. The first time I go, okay, well, let's take a look at it and we'll see if we can figure out what happened. But as as a good provider, you have to be able to know when, when you, if you didn't do something wrong, right, you have to make it right with the customer and those types of things.
• 1:36
  And it's building that relationship and the trust factor at the end of the day. Okay. My boss, love you. You guys do everything for us and help us out. I understand me and me and me and Tom and yeah, we just had a disagreement on something, but you know what? We're okay now. Okay, let's break bread together.
• 1:37
  Let's, let's all go about like, you know, let's, let's be a team and let's, let's break bread and let's move on from it. But it's not always that simple. Sometimes you get, and those are the ones that take the real, real, um, you know, diplomatic approach to, to help, but it can, you can resolve it. It's, it's, it's not always the best outcome, but you can get an outcome where people are comfortable with working together again.
• 1:38
  And, and your customer's not going to fire you.
• 1:39
  Trevor: Yeah. And I think that's, that's it is getting to an outcome. I like what you said, get all the facts, you know, you need, you can't jump to conclusion because you don't know what happened. It could be a job where it costs. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and a mistake was made.
• 1:40
  You know what I mean? So you can't just go and start blaming someone or the other person. It does take time. And this is something that I think is hard for people transitioning from in the field where they don't deal with a lot of that or they avoid. Because that's what I've done for years. Just avoid, always avoid those hard, right?
• 1:41
  I got into those uncomfortable moments and then fought through it and then had them, even though sometimes it didn't, it definitely didn't work out into my advantage, but at least I had, and I learned from that experience and the next one wasn't as hard. And the next one wasn't as hard. And it's just like troubleshooting.
• 1:42
  First time and the next time is not as hard. And then as you continue to grow and work on that, but I think conflict resolution is tough for most people in society and you, it's something you can learn though, uh, like there's books on it, there's YouTube videos. Like I did a course called crucial conversations and, you know, learn a little bit of tips there.
• 1:43
  So it's something that you're going to work on, but these are the hard skills that you can start planning for today. Just say you're. Three years into your refrigeration career, and you know, in 10 years, your goal is to become a leader at the company. Now start working on that stuff, have some of those conversations, get involved with your team,
• 1:44
  Scott: right?
• 1:45
  And don't don't try to get get respond and get in front of it as quick as you can, because the longer things fester within two people or a group, the bigger the problem gets. And sometimes it's sad to say, but sometimes The manager that, that, that overlooks it is not the manager that needs to be in the position that he's in.
• 1:46
  You gotta be able to work through that. And that's, that's important for the survival and, uh, and, uh, uh, of your business and, uh, and what's best for your team overall.
• 1:47
  Trevor: So, so that's another important tip is understanding that stuff because this stuff is going to happen. This stuff even happens as a technician.
• 1:48
  You just may not think of it the same way because it's with that customer versus internal where you're the leader, uh, uh, dealing with it. Let's dive into some, uh, some of, uh, the culture side of it. We talked about it a little bit, but as a service manager. How can you bring some of that positivity, maybe some cultivating some positivity with inside the group?
• 1:49
  Because we've heard it lots of times. If you have one bad seed, it can really damper a team, you know what I mean? And it couldn't be from anything, people from negativity in the office, talking behind other people's back, things like that. And this happens. You know, but as that service manager, you didn't deal with this a lot before as the leader and having to, and this may come back into the conflict resolution, but what, what do you do to build that positivity as a service manager or as that leader to really get the team firing on all cylinders?
• 1:50
  That's a good
• 1:51
  Scott: one. Um, Trevor, the, you have to look at it from the, from the entire team's perspective, because everybody has their superpower. Everybody is good at something, and you want to see the good in everybody. And you want to be able to figure out, okay, he struggles in, let's just say he, he, he struggles with oil problems.
• 1:52
  Okay. How to diagnose oil problems properly. Okay. Um, what can we do to help him? Um, you know, everybody complains, Oh, every time he goes in, he just resets the oil sale and runs and, you know, forgets to write the log book, all that good stuff. Well, you know, that's where it's like you break it down to the team level, um, to the team lead.
• 1:53
  Hey, did you, did you, have we coached this guy on this and have we talked to him about this? We don't want to leave anybody behind because our team is only only as strong as a week is like, you know what I mean? And you don't want any. Your goal is to teach your team and, and as a leader, you're, you're, you're next in line.
• 1:54
  Your leads have to be able to. Uh, get that information and get that, those, those technicians up to speed to where, you know, at the end of the day, you, you, you're responsible for your team. And just that one person that's, that's the outcast, that's your challenge. That's, that's, that's your job. Okay. How can I fix that?
• 1:55
  It's like any other problem. How do I fix this? What do I need? So sometimes it's the team coaching. Okay, where's he failing? So when we talk to him, we can help him. We're not going to attack him. We're going to talk to him. Hey, what were you struggling? And sometimes people just have bad days. They can have something going on in their personal life.
• 1:56
  And that's where the, that's where being, knowing your guys and having that, that, that relationship with them. You understand because when you, when you have good technicians and all of a sudden things spiral out of control, there's usually something going on. You have to be able to identify those things.
• 1:57
  And the rest of the team may not know about that because, you know, he's quiet. He doesn't want them to know about his problems, but you know him and you know what he's capable of. So you have to kind of sit there and I teach that to my managers now. Hey, so and so is just, Seems to be struggling a little bit lately.
• 1:58
  I don't know what his problem is. Well, is there something going on that we don't know about? You know what? He did mention that he's having a problem with this and you know, some type of problem. And I go, okay, we'll find out what he needs. How can we best support it? And that's what you have to do. Um, and, and sometimes, sometimes it may come down to the, it's an individual, not so much the team.
• 1:59
  And you have to be able to identify that. So you can have that, that difficult conversation. Is this right for you? Do you understand what we're what we're doing? Is there anything we can do to help support you? But at the end of the day, you have to have that strong conversation because if it's not working out, it's not working out.
• 2:00
  You have to be able to say Okay. Are you sure this is what you want to do? And everybody wants to be a technician. Everybody wants to, to, to do well and know everything. But, you know, are you, are you fully understanding it? And those are the conversations, the tough ones. Sometimes they have to be had. But, you know, I, I, I kind of, I kind of don't like to give up on anybody.
• 2:01
  I want to make sure that, you They, they get it or they at least have the opportunity to, to use their superpower when they can.
• 2:02
  Trevor: So, yeah, well, there is definitely a situation where if someone does something, they have to be let go, terminate it. Like, you know, there's some that just, you get, you know, but what about those ones that are in between, just like you're talking about there?
• 2:03
  Cause as a service manager, you don't think, Oh, the team's been working together good for years while I worked on a team, now I'm the leader, but now we have some people that are struggling. We've tried multiple things. What is not really a policy, but what would you do to that last resort before you have to say, okay, I think it's time to go our separate ways.
• 2:04
  Can you give some examples, uh, maybe in the past, because that's something hard for us. Uh, service manager as well is how do I let this person go after I gave them so many tries? Can you talk on that?
• 2:05
  Scott: Yes, absolutely. So even even even as a director we run into situations where we We have to address performance at the end of the day if it's if it's not if it's performance related And we've done our best to coach through and coach, coach up out of the situation or out of the hole that they're in.
• 2:06
  Um, it becomes time for like a, like a performance plan for improvement. Um, that way we've, we've given them clear instructions on what their, what their job is, what they should be doing from day to day. Same thing from the technician aspect of it. This is what you should be doing. You should be checking in in the morning following process.
• 2:07
  If you get stuck, you make sure you call your supervisor. Those things continuously not happen. And you've coached to it and or you've taught a specific, uh, issue with, with something. Um, at the end of the day, you have to, you have to, as the manager, you have to make the decision. Is this, is this guy going to, it's not going to, you can't do it.
• 2:08
  Okay, let's put them on a plan. If the plan doesn't work out, then we, you know, unfortunately we have to draw the line and say, what's best for the business is be part ways.
• 2:09
  Trevor: Yeah, because that's a big thing you've got to understand. Yes, they might've been your call, your, your work beside, You for years and you know, you're working alone, you know, so you don't see everything that's going on.
• 2:10
  But now as a service manager, you're seeing everything that's going on. And if that technician is taking eight hours to do the two hour calls, costing the business, a lot of money, a lot of callbacks, a lot of, uh, unhappy customers calling in, like they were rude. They were cursing things like that. Like you, as a service man, you got to make those decisions.
• 2:11
  So thank you for talking about that. Cause these are hard conversations to have, right? Because they were. You worked alongside them. Maybe you did have, uh, you know, been at the pubs and broke bread with them, but you still, now that you've made that transition, you're looking out for the business as well, you're looking out for your team.
• 2:12
  Yep. That team is looking out for the business as well because as they improve, as they do a great jobs, they complete jobs on time, that's helping the business grow.
• 2:13
  Scott: Absolutely. And, and you have, you have to know where the stopping point is. Okay. I I've done everything I can. I I've, I've, you know, exhausted all resources.
• 2:14
  We have tools. And at that point, you, you as the leader have to decide what's best for the business, and if it's. Like we said, like we talked, if it's, if it's parting ways and, you know, we wish you the best, I'll give you a recommendation on something else that you're going to do, but unfortunately it doesn't work out for you here.
• 2:15
  Trevor: And exactly. And these are things you can work on. You'll have the first one to be the most uncomfortable thing. You might do some of the wrong things and may feel like you say the wrong things and you might say the wrong things. You know what I mean? Because you're learning, uh, what you want to do is always plan before you go into these conversations.
• 2:16
  Don't go in. Correct. As a hothead. You know what I mean? Go in there. Yeah. Don't
• 2:17
  Scott: let emotion take over. Exactly.
• 2:18
  Trevor: Yeah. Cause cause that's where, you know, uh, you could get caught up and it could be planned. Plan this
• 2:19
  Scott: planet because you don't want it to be, you don't want it. You don't want the, it's, it's not emotional and it's not personal.
• 2:20
  It's, it's, it's end of the day. It's, it's a business decision. And, um, as much as they, they may not understand that you have to keep your cool and you have to maintain order. Yeah. Um, and control the room when you're having those conversations, you have to be in control because some people will just, they think the world is against them and now you're against them and it's not the case at the end of the day, especially when you've tried and tried
• 2:21
  Trevor: to try.
• 2:22
  Yeah, exactly. And you got to look out for your team as well because you could have someone in there that is really bringing down the whole team. They could be an awesome superstar technician. And I've seen this happen before. They could be great and they can fix all the problems. But if they bring a lot of that, uh, negativity, uh, really bring the team down, uh, they might be a performer, but they're bringing the performance of the rest of your team down.
• 2:23
  You got to look at that. Cause at the end of the day, you want to make sure your team is happy growing because that's how you get bigger and better,
• 2:24
  Scott: right? And then to your point. You can have the best technician in the world. He can fix any of your problems and is always willing to go. But if he can't write up a decent work order that you can get paid for, I can't help you
• 2:25
  Trevor: at the end of the day.
• 2:26
  No, exactly. So let's dive into a few more things, a few more skills and attributes really that you believe is essential to get into that, the leadership role. Because right now we're talking about You're a technician in the field and you want to four or five years. You want to get into a leadership role, maybe even in a couple of years, if you want to find back stuff, what are a few other key skills or attributes that you really believe essential to the success of their refrigeration career?
• 2:27
  Scott: Um, for moving up, um, you, you gotta be a people person. You have to be at the end of the day. Yeah, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're one of those persons that likes to be alone and doesn't like to be around people, um, management and dealing with people is a people business. Um, so you have to, you have to want to be around people and, and, and that's.
• 2:28
  That's essential, that's one essential thing. Um, and second, it's, it's just that the passion that you bring, um, into the room, um, when you, when you come in, it's, it's, sometimes it's you, you wanna work with alike people, people that are of the same mindset, and you're though, you, you may have a group that's that's good at that.
• 2:29
  Your, your challenge becomes the people that are not like minded to get them to understand. But, um, you know, I would say passion and, and at the end of the day, that's, that's key right there. You want to succeed. You want to move forward. It's that drive. Like we talked about it earlier. I mean, I, I, I try to have as much energy in the morning as I do when I leave the building.
• 2:30
  You know what I mean? It's like, okay. You know, because it's infectious, um, positive, good being good, uh, having a good attitude and positive is infectious. It makes people feel good. You know, and even sometimes those people that are by themselves and nobody seems to talk to them in their corner, just punching away at the keyboard with their headphones on.
• 2:31
  If you say good morning to that person and hey, have a great day at the end of the day. You've lightened up your, your, your business and you've created a positive culture within, within your, within your operation. So,
• 2:32
  Trevor: yeah. And I totally agree with that. It is, it is infectious and, and people see that they notice it.
• 2:33
  There are going to be tough days and there's going to be, you know, there's going to be days that like we talked about earlier, that's not going to be very fun, but the thing is, how do you get over that and then start working towards Making it either better or moving on because if you stay stuck on the problem, that's a big issues.
• 2:34
  And I've seen this as well where an issue happens and they get stuck on it. And it's not only in our industry, in every industry, and you just stick on that and you just keep dwelling on this one issue that happened. That's all over with. But you can't get over it. So I think as a leader, you got to work out the problems and start to move on and get your team back on track with that.
• 2:35
  Oh, I really think this, uh, this is a really good conversation. You know, we dove into some of those key tips for, you know, that, that kind of transition or preparing for that move inside the, or, uh, inside the industry. What are any final thoughts that you have, uh, for, uh, for, uh, Technicians for people in the refrigeration industry who really want to make that move, uh, scott.
• 2:36
  Scott: Well at the end of the day There's there's always an opportunity for Leadership and and it's how much you want to give And you don't always have to be the best technician and you can be the best technician, but you know what, the, the door is open if the opportunity is there, but the biggest thing is let somebody know, Hey, I'm interested in doing this.
• 2:37
  This is what I want to do, because, you know, if, if you don't let somebody know, and then you, you find that. People are being passed, getting opportunities. It's because they're telling somebody, they're letting them know, Hey, what do I got to do? So they're being prepped. And then that that's, that's the biggest key is don't be afraid to ask questions and let somebody know that, Hey, I'm, I'm, I want to move up.
• 2:38
  How can I do that? And you know, the, the, the great leaders are the ones that are going to help develop those people.
• 2:39
  Trevor: And I love that. So we dove into, you know, public speaking, you know, get to those toolbox talk. We talked about, you know, coaching and mentoring, like coaching your, your team or talking or even developing some skills in those coaching types of conversations.
• 2:40
  We got into a little bit of conflict management or conflict resolution, things that you can learn. Also something that we didn't really dive into deep is, you know, Get in into a little bit of business acumen. You did talk about the financial side, but I think that's something very important that, uh, as a leader, we probably could do a whole conversation on the business acumen, but take, let's just jump into that really quickly.
• 2:41
  Like what are some of the things on the business acumen side, uh, or a financial side as. Uh, those service managers need us or those technicians need to start to kind of learn or get an idea of So when they prepare themselves for that role, i'm
• 2:42
  Scott: glad you brought this up and it's good It's good. We're having a conversation because it is month 10 this this this week.
• 2:43
  Yeah So, um, basically learn and understand your P and L, um, uh, use all the tools and resources. Most companies have, um, dashboards that can help you understand your inbound open calls, your completed calls that need to be built out, uh, review your work orders. That's the biggest key as a service manager.
• 2:44
  Start reviewing what your, your guys put in their work orders and help them understand. What needs to be in those work orders? Because that's gonna, you know, the right information, model, serial number. How many hours do I need to quote this out? What kind of parts do I need? Do I take enough pictures? That is key to help things move through the system on a financial basis.
• 2:45
  Those work orders run right through. Customer has no problem paying it because, okay, everything here, the story is here. It's a clean written work order. That's key, understanding that. So that comes from the field. That is a direct How you get paid is directly impacted by what your guys do in the field. Um, second, and like we talked about, understand the P& L.
• 2:46
  Okay, what is my
• 2:47
  Trevor: revenue? What is P& L for those that don't know what P& L is? Uh,
• 2:48
  Scott: profit and loss. You're profit and loss. You get that monthly so you understand what, where your target is. And what you have to drive for each month to hit that target or go above it. I'm overzealous. So I try to exceed that every month.
• 2:49
  So, um, just so I have some cushion there because I know certain things, some things happen. Um, but, um, yeah, understanding how much revenue or what your, your revenue target is, uh, controlling your costs. Don't buy things unnecessarily, even though you want to buy everybody a brand new jacket, a brand new, you know, Hoodie in the wintertime.
• 2:50
  Um, those types of things. Um, it's a cost and you know, you have to evaluate as as a need basis that and understanding callbacks, the impact of what callbacks do to your business. Um, understanding, um, when we have to credit, credit work orders, the impact on that. But, um, like I said, a lot of companies have dashboards that can help you evaluate, um, how financially you're doing through the month, through the week, and sometimes to the day.
• 2:51
  Um, look at that stuff, learn it, understand it, because that's the stuff, information you want to help your technicians understand. to make them better business operators as technicians. So when they're out there doing something, okay, I can't, you know, Hey, I've been here for two hours. Let me call my lead.
• 2:52
  Let them know I'm still spinning my wheels. I don't want to, I don't want to run up the meter too much. I want to fix the problem and move on to the next one. And
• 2:53
  Trevor: I love that. And that's, this is stuff that can be learned. And if you start talking with the leaders inside your organization now and say, I'm interested in learning this, you know, getting a better handle on it, maybe it's working with the finance team, maybe it's working with a sales or a project manager to get an understanding of that, as well as you're doing this on a daily basis as a technician, cause you're writing up those work orders, do I have a vac pump?
• 2:54
  Did I charge refrigerant? Did I change this part? You're actually, all that stuff there. So you can start right now to get an idea on. What does this job? What does it cost for me to do this repair? And then you can challenge yourself. I met some, lots of technicians who say I'm going to try to make it better on the next one.
• 2:55
  How do I make my business, the company I work for more money by doing it, doing the job, right. The first time, not the second, correct. First
• 2:56
  Scott: time. Your first time fix. Yes, sir.
• 2:57
  Trevor: I love it. Scott, how can people get ahold of you, get ahold of your organization? If they want to learn more about you
• 2:58
  Scott: guys? Okay. So, uh, on our website, just, uh, if you, if you just Googled, uh, the Yardicom group, it'll pop up.
• 2:59
  It'll show a big link right there. It'll tell us, tell you all about us. Uh, what we're about, uh, me, uh, I'm s Farley at our com group.
• 3:00
  Trevor: com. I love it, Scott. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to do this, because I know this is valuable for a lot of people. Cause like I said, a lot of people reach out and ask and how, how to make that transition.
• 3:01
  So really appreciate your time, Scott. And I really appreciate, uh, you sitting with us again.
• 3:02
  Scott: Hey, thanks for having me back Trevor.
• 3:03
  Trevor: Thanks a lot. I want to thank you
• 3:04
  Scott: so much for
• 3:05
  Trevor: hanging out with
• 3:06
  Scott: me and the refrigeration mentor podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment. Let me know what were your key highlights, what you took away from myself or my guests, as well as if you have not subscribed yet, head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and subscribe.
• 3:07
  And if you enjoyed this episode, please share with a friend, let your friends know that there are people who care, who want to share the refrigeration information to help
• 3:08
  Trevor: them get to the next level in their career. If you have
• 3:09
  Scott: not been to the refrigeration mentor website at refrigeration mentor. com, go
• 3:10
  Trevor: check it out.
• 3:11
  There's a ton more guest podcasts
• 3:12
  Scott: I've been on as well as the event page. Check out the events
• 3:13
  Trevor: page because there's a lot more free
• 3:14
  Scott: trainings. As well
• 3:15
  Trevor: as paid training to really help you grow your knowledge base.
• 3:16
  Scott: Super excited. Can't wait to see at the next refrigeration mentor podcast.
• 3:17
  Trevor: Let's get a
• 3:18
  Scott: conversation going.