🎯 Guide: How to Run Cleaning Employees' One-to-One Meetings Effectively

Introduction

There are different approaches to running one-to-one meetings with your cleaning employees. The truth of the matter is that you can make them as simple or as complicated as you want them: short or long, as  often as every week or every quarter - I don't think there's a perfect way to do it, but I do believe there's a practical and effective way to do it.

Definition: The difference being, effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right. Similar, but not the same.

For me being effective is to accomplish the right things, that will move the employee and company forward. 🤝

So what's the purpose of the one-to-one meetings?

The purpose should to bridge the gap between where they are and where they could/should be in the cleaning-technician career path.

Side note: At Gmaids, we believe every employee should have a long-term vision (career path) and certain realistic goals they want to accomplish once they start to work for me (e.g., save for down payment on a house, pay for children's college, etc.). This is what will make your job worthy of loyalty (low turnover). If they feel they can get what they dream of, your company (job) becomes a vehicle to get there.

Who should conduct the meetings?

If you're just getting started with your house-cleaning business, then will be you the owner. Businesses with $500k in revenue and above should have the office assistant or manager do this. As a business owner when you cross $500k+ in annual revenue, you should be focusing more on leadership, growth/expansion and fine-tuning procedures to get to the $1m/year cleaning business.

What should the meeting be about?

1. Discuss challenges: Address employee concerns by asking which area(s) they feel stuck in, so you can send them to the right place (e.g., re-train them or review the 13 speed cleaning rules). One word of advice: Listen to them, but don’t become their psychiatrist. 😱
2. Review performance: Talk about their last complaints received and how they will improve next time. It's also even more important to review their compliments and positive feedback they’ve received from clients, because it'll help with their self- esteem. Successful cleaning services are far more supportive and complimentary than low-performing ones. Positive reinforcement with employees is so important in our type of business, and from my own experience, we don't practice it enough. Also, within performance it's critical that you review their job attendance. A committed employee shows up to work every day without excuses. 👊

What are the benefits of these meetings?

• Reduces common problems like complaints, attendance issues, turnover, gossip, etc.
• Allows you to mentor and coach some of those who want more than just a job. I've found great employees who look for more than a job; they want a company worthy of their time and future.
• Builds company culture, which is very important to lower-employee turnover. When the company culture is right, your cleaning employees will bring you new type-A workers. This saves you money and time in recruiting, and it's a great sign that you have a thriving company culture.🤗

What should you do during the meeting?

Document, document, document....why? Because you want to make sure you remember for the next meeting what was said and what they committed to. Also, in my case, I don't do these meetings anymore, my local manager does, but I review the notes within their employee profile, so I know at all times what's going on.

How to handle the good, the bad and the ugly?

When things are going poorly, it’s time for a difficult conversation, or as my friend says, a "come-to-Jesus meeting." But when things are going well, use the time to encourage and appreciate the employee’s accomplishments and good behavior. Don't hold back - make sure you're managing your employees well so the issues get fixed.

How long they should meetings last?

I recommend 15 minutes with a clear agenda. If you don't have an agenda you will run over time and you don't need to be doing this for too long.

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs

Questions on managing cleaning employees?

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