The Client
Company: North Mechanical Contracting & Services
Industry: Mechanical Contractors
Company Size: 201-500 employees
https://www.northmechanical.com/
“We, like the rest of the industry, are in dire need to develop the next generation of leaders for our company, both in the office and the field. They hold the fate of our projects in their hands and we too often neglect to give them the tools they need as leaders to be successful.”
Rod Foley
President North Mechanical
The Training Solution
Professional Construction Leader (PCL) Video Coaching + In-person trainings through MCAA and local MCAI
North Mechanical utilizes a lot of training offered by the MCAA and their local MCAI. They get a lot out of these full day or week long conferences, but often times they drink from the fire hose, then return to day jobs overwhelmed from being gone for a day or more, and never follow up or act on the things that were learned and discussed in the training.
That is one of the big reasons North Mechanical chose to utilize the PCL videos, the consistent quick burst teachings. Field leaders can get a quick message on a topic on a regular basis. They drink from the fire hose at the conferences and then get the consistent drip from the PCL videos that provide reinforcement to much of the concepts taught at the conference.
By providing that routine reinforcement North Mechanical feels they get much better results from all of the training they provide. The biggest change they have noted is communication all around, office to field, field to office.
North Mechanical Best Practices
- Pairing PCL with in-person trainings for routine reinforcement
- Holding a quarterly Field Leaders meeting where a PCL user gives a talk on the videos and a specific topic that resonated with them
- Expanding PCL lessons to the entire field leader staff for better communication across the whole company
“I don’t think you can over-do it when it comes to reinforcing to our field leaders that they are just that, leaders. One of the items discussed in a video was that most don’t see themselves as a professional, they are just a plumber or fitter. If I want someone to lead in the field, they have to see themselves as more than “just a plumber”. The PCL videos are a great way to help instill that mindset!”
Rod Foley
President, North Mechanical
“The videos are very good and make me take a step back sometimes and reevaluate how I’m going about things. I think these would be very beneficial to any foreman or up and coming foreman to watch. It really helped going to the conferences and hearing these ideas in person too. Thanks for the opportunity!”
Shaun Dickerson
Foreman, North Mechanical
Q&A with North Mechanical’s President – ROD FOLEY
- What were the ‘pain points’ that led you to look for training for your field leader?
We are always looking for ways to further develop our field leaders. They hold the fate of our projects in our hands and we too often neglect to give them the tools they need as leaders to be successful. We, like the rest of the industry, are in dire need to develop the next generation of leaders for our company, both in the office and the field.
- Were there other training options you considered, and why did you ultimate choose Breslin’s PCL Videos?
We approach training as a continuous journey. We spend as much resources training our new leaders as we do our seasoned ones. We utilize a lot training that is offered by the MCAA and our local MCAI. Often times these are 1-day or week long conferences/seminars that throws a lot of information at them in a short amount of time. These are valuable and we get a lot out of these types of training, but often times we drink from the fire hose, then return to our day jobs overwhelmed from being gone for a day or more, and we never follow up or act on the things that were learned and discussed in the training.
That is one of the big reasons we chose to utilize the PCL videos, the consistent quick burst teachings. Our field leaders can get a quick message on a topic on a regular basis and I think that is an important factor. We drink from the fire hose at the conferences and then we get the consistent drip from the PCL videos. They provide reinforcement to much of the concepts we teach at the conference. By providing that routine reinforcement we feel we have a better shot at getting results from all of the training we provide. In addition I have seen Mr. Breslin speak on numerous occasions and simply put, he just gets it. I love his message and I think any field leader can benefit from hearing it.
- What was your biggest hesitation to starting with PCL in the first place?
My biggest fear was – would the people actually participate? We rolled it out to a pilot group (6 or 7) and with the analytics on opens/watches we were able to verify how often the information was being consumed. I was very pleased with the results. They got the emails and they actually watched the videos! And they had very positive feedback. We have recently rolled this out to all of our entire field leader staff.
- You started off PCL training with a small group and then expanded training to a larger group, as well as starting in on Year Two of PCL video coaching. What did you see from the initial group that led you to train more of your field leaders – what has been the biggest benefit to your teams, projects, or company?
We got good feedback from our pilot group, so we decided to implement to the bigger group. They felt the messages were important and worthwhile. The biggest change I have noted is communication all around, office to field, field to office. We have made that a big point of emphasis over the past year. We certainly have a long way to go yet but I am seeing improvement. I credit PCL to helping with this. It’s definitely something all of our field leaders should be a part of.
- Do you have a best practice of using PCL that we can share with other PCL Users?
One thing we did was at our quarterly Field Leaders meeting we had one of our pilot group members give a talk on the videos and discussed a specific topic that resonated with him. It was good to have someone that shares the groups perspective to give feedback and buy-in to what we are trying to do.
- Anything else you want to share about PCL?
I don’t think you can over-do it when it comes to reinforcing to our field leaders that they are just that, leaders. One of the items discussed in a video was that most don’t see themselves as a professional, they are just a plumber or fitter. If I want someone to lead in the field, they have to see themselves as more than “just a plumber”. The PCL videos are a great way to help instill that mindset! Rod Foley, President – North Mechanical
Find out more about PCL – Professional Construction Leader Video Coaching.
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