What is a growth mindset? Does it help or is it just another buzzword that has created a momentary euphoria in the field service sector?
A mindset is a notion that people have about anything. The mindset determines their perspective. For instance, if a technician has a mindset that client-success is not their responsibility in the organization but of leadership teams, he would not take independent decisions to resolve client’s issues.
The decision to contribute or to not to create more value depends on how a technician sees themselves in the job. On the contrary, a technician may believe that his success in the role is determined by the happy clients, the person may go the extra mile to meet the expectations of customers. This reflects a growth mindset.
The Role of Leadership in Cultivating Growth Mindset
The role of leadership teams is essential to cultivate a growth mindset in HVAC technicians. The benefits are immense, right from a more customer-centric team to higher accountability and improved service quality.
Here, one of the impediments to cultivating a growth mindset is stressing upon the fact that why would someone change their mindset or the way of working for a company. The company must be able to show the benefits of a growth mindset to technicians. Until the technicians see value in the mindset for their own growth in the long run, only then they would be committed to the purpose.
Aligning the business goals with the technician’s career prospects is a key message to success here. When the technicians would see that growth mindset is helpful in climbing the ladder of success in the company and in the industry as a whole, they would give their best shot to the cause.
Here are three ways how HVAC service providers can instill growth mindset in service engineers, while motivating them to the cause and enabling them to see greater benefits.
- Make them open to innovation
A team can be innovative when they are fearless, when they are able to take risks without the fear of failure. The major source of fear is about job security. While a company cannot ever guarantee a job, it can create an ecosystem where there is a higher acceptance of mistakes.
When employees know that they won’t be punished for taking risks, making independent decisions to help clients resolve their problems, and taking measures to improve the processes on their own and address the internal issues to the leadership teams, they would work with higher accountability towards the job and ensure customer success at all cost.
- Improve collaboration
Collaboration streamlines Communications. A team that communicates with each other, listens to each other, shares information with each other and guides each other is obviously going to drive a better strategy and overcome challenges and achieve success.
Create processes that assure effective communication between teams. Place in systems that help improve speed and ensure optimal utilization of resources.
Use HVAC business software to automate technician scheduling and dispatch processes. Choose one that has powerful data analytics capabilities to help you capture data and generate accurate insight out of it. While selecting such solutions make sure it has an advanced dashboard for accurate interpretation of data. Figure out ways that make collaboration an easier and reliable process for your team.
- Create common objectives.
Let your HVAC service technicians know the consequences, for better and worse. This way they would decide their own path to go. It should be threatening, instead a learning experience, where they could see the benefits of applying those objectives in real life.
As in not only those objectives should make them a better HVAC service technician but also help them earn more. Set define field service metrics which are measurable and based on the achievements, award them and provide recognitions.
You can also create attractive incentive schemes to enhance the commitment level of the technicians.
- Provide training, guidance, and support
The ultimate goal of developing a growth mindset is to help service technicians develop their skills and be more efficient and productive. This couldn’t be achieved without consistent training. But the greater question here is who would you train? Who requires what training?
As training requires both time and investment, it is necessary that you are well informed about the skills and the technical requirements of your HVAC service engineers. Regular tracking and monitoring of their performance in detail on the factors such as visit-in and visit-out timings, usage of inventory and spare parts, time taken to perform a task, and general qualifications and knowledge about HVAC installations and maintenance works.
Detailed monitoring of their performance on specific KPIs would reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Based on this information, you can determine who needs training and on what aspects of HVAC maintenance works.
The Final Thoughts
Your service engineers are our greatest strength. With consistent training and skill development you could enhance their performance levels, increase their efficiency and help them achieve more in their career, not only in your company but in the industry as well.
About Author
Suyash is a customer experience manager at FieldCircle, a field service technology company. A writer by heart, he loves to spread the word around how customers interact with business across channels and the role of next-generation technology in customer experience and business success.
