The Unified Group hosted the first meeting of 2017, ‘Inspiring Your Team Using the 3 C’s (Change, Culture and Communication): A Forum for Service Leaders from January 18 through January 21st. Attendees went through 2 ½ days of intense small and large group discussions guided by guest speaker, Bob Ash, as well as presentations by five Unified Group Members.

Bob Ash kicked off the forum with a presentation titled ‘Change is Inevitable; Growth is Optional’. Discussions centered on the importance of the following ideas: Perceptions are important, integrity is a must, choose to see possibilities, listen…then respond, love what you do, and laugh at yourself and with others. By giving people responsibility and holding them accountable, a true sense of empowerment is created. Bob also presented the group with six reasons why people resist change and offered strategies to help overcome these challenges. Daniel Gomez (J&J Air Conditioning, San Jose, CA) described Bob as “very uplifting and inspiring”. Throughout Bob’s presentation members were able to utilize the strategies they learned in breakout groups where they discussed implementing changes pertaining to culture and technology.

Day two was a full schedule of events. Matt Blauch (Blauch Brothers) and Sam Nekola (The Unified Group) opened the day with a discussion on Generation Gaps and Motivating Millennials. With multiple generations in the workplace it can be difficult, but understanding what each generation looks for is important to create a successful environment. Another important aspect of creating a prosperous culture is to eliminate drama in the workplace. Tyler Jeffrey (Air Comfort) lead this discussion, sharing the top categories of drama creators and how to properly and effectively eliminate unnecessary negativity.

An on-going struggle many members have is finding, training and retaining great service technicians. Frank Quintanar (J&J Air Conditioning) led an hour-long discussion on the different techniques used to ease these challenges. There are many social media platforms, websites and local listings to advertise employment opportunities. Quintanar talked about the culture they have created at J&J Air Conditioning and how the family feel has helped retain technicians.  Members were also able to learn about an in-house training program that has been extremely successful for J&J.

“Communication is huge and I want to use that information along with the resistance to change to keep our company moving forward”, said Chris DeMers of CMC Corporate Solutions, after Mike Devito (Air Comfort) led a discussion and breakout session pertaining to communicating to align departments within your organization. Devito shared his success in uniting Air Comfort’s multiple departments which has been imperative to Air Comfort’s success this past year.

To tie the entire event together, Gary Griffin (B&I Contractors), led the discussion on increasing profit and the changes that can be implemented to impact the bottom line. Gary’s strong financial background led to intriguing discussion and collaboration, as all worked together learning about Key Performance Indicators to help monitor progress and generate a fair profit.

CMC Corporate Solutions attendee, Chirs DeMers, added, “I love the collaboration between all the mechanical contractors and how willing everyone is to share their information.”

Thank you to our 2017 Service Leaders Forum Task Force: James Eudy (TEAM Mechanical), Frank Quintanar (J&J Air Conditioning), Gary Griffin (B&I Contractors), and Mike Devito (Air Comfort).