TRAINING & EDUCATION
in my opinion, is that it was created and developed by cleaning and facility management experts. In short, it was created by cleaning professionals, for cleaning professionals.
Then put yourself in the shoes of a facilities, premises or estate manager for a minute. They are looking for consistent, quality services from their cleaning provider, and gaining a CIMS qualification demonstrates that the organisation is dedicated to meeting its customers’ needs and expectations. Therefore having CIMS Accreditation is clearly good business sense for cleaning companies.
TC:
As the ‘digital revolution’ continues to roll on throughout
the industry and more and more things are shifting online, is it pleasing to see that trade shows and exhibitions such as ISSA/INTERCLEAN continue to be successful? And do you think that it is important to maintain the physical, face- to-face interaction that comes with such shows?
DS:
Actually, there’s no single technology around today
that can come near to replacing the power of face-to-face relationship building. Some of the array of digital collaboration tools available now certainly complement networking, but a steady dose of personal interactions is critical to building long-lasting business relationships.
You might reasonably assume that it would be the younger generations who are leading the charge for more virtual meetings or remote digital communication and collaboration but recent research that ISSA undertook actually proved the opposite with Generation X and Millennials both preferring face-to-face meetings when communicating.
With regard to exhibitions specifically, we have run focus group research and have found that cleaning professionals truly value our ISSA/INTERCLEAN trade shows and this is confirmed by record exhibitor AND visitor numbers at this May’s show in Amsterdam. The same research showed that the industry
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would even like us to expand it still further, particularly in terms of attracting more qualified buyers from the education, healthcare, and hospitality sectors.
I always like to think that the days spent at an ISSA/INTERCLEAN show are probably the most stimulating and rewarding of the entire year for many visitors, and certainly the most cost effective way to see a large number of top customers in the least amount of time, with the highest impact.
TC:
When it comes to training and education in the cleaning
industry, rather than purely being online, or in person, do you see the future as being somewhere in the middle?
DS:
In whatever way the training is delivered, the most important
thing is that we do actively train, evaluate and retrain our people.
The benefits for the industry of training are pretty self-evident and measurable including increased job satisfaction; motivation and morale in cleaning operatives; increased efficiency and productivity; a greater willingness to adopt new tools or techniques; and reduced employee turnover.
Both online and face-to-face learning have their benefits, and I agree that the winning solution is to wholeheartedly embrace both. By this, I mean leveraging different modes of delivery to create more effective learning and teaching experiences.
Online has the ability to offer training anywhere, anytime. Your trainees can be scattered all over the country, yet they can still tap into the same course materials, at a time that’s convenient to them. Often they can undergo the training in segments or at a pace that is convenient too.
Yet, at the end of the day, humans need interaction. By actively seeing a trainer or expert who conveys enthusiasm about a topic, it ignites a shared passion, there is often better interest due to lack of distractions, and there is an increase in the likelihood of key knowledge retention.
www.issa.com Tomorrow’s Cleaning October 2016 | 65
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