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How do you ensure your technicians are constantly levelling up their skillset in such a fast paced and chaotic industry? In this episode of The Restoration Playbook Podcast, host Paul Silliman speaks with John Savin, Mitigation Manager at Graystone Restoration, about their innovative training program, Mitigation Mondays. Savin explains the origins of the program, the kind of training provided, and how they get their staff to buy-in to employee development. Listeners will walk away with a clear, step-by-step guide on how to keep their technicians sharp through micro-lessons. The episode ends with key takeaways and a free resource for listeners from KnowHow, a software tool for growing restoration companies.
0:00
John Savin
That's exactly it. We're one team. We're all under the same roof. And yeah, we're departments. But high five in the hallway as we pass. Just like a team.
0:09
Paul Silliman
Welcome to the Restoration playbook podcast by KnowHow. I'm Paul Silliman, and the goal of this podcast is to give you an insight into how the restoration industry's most innovative companies are building a world class workforce. One step at time. We interview the biggest names in restoration and explore in depth how they're building team culture, developing their employees, and strengthening loyalty, all while increasing the revenue. On today's episode, I'm chatting with John Savin from Graystone Restoration, who has launched Mitigation Mondays as a way to train up staff and keep them sharp in the hustle and bustle of a chaotic industry. We wanted to sit down with John to explore the origins of Mitigation Mondays and how he practically delivers weekly trainings to his techs and how he gets his staff to buy into employee development.
1:00
And because we're KnowHow this episode ends, as it always does, with some key takeaways you won't want to miss, we'll kick things off with John in a minute, but first, here's a quick word about KnowHow. KnowHow is a software tool for growing restoration companies who want to equip their staff with the information they need to succeed in their role. From tight, structured new employee onboarding to step by step guidance on how to use equipment out in the field, KnowHow ensures your workers are doing things the right way every time. Plus, with over 600 restoration industry templates on everything from how to use a dehumidifier to which exactimate line item you should enter, you don't need to start from scratch to begin equipping your team.
1:45
In fact, for listeners of this podcast, I created a comprehensive day one water mitigation checklist that anybody can use for free, even if they're not a KnowHow customer. Just head to tryknowhow.com/podcast1 to view it, print it, or send it to your team. Again, that's tryknowhow.com/podcast1. And we'll also throw a link in the show notes. All right, with that, let's kick things off to John Savin of Greystone Restoration. Welcome to the podcast, John. How are you doing today?
2:18
John Savin
Another day in paradise.
2:20
Paul Silliman
Ain't that the truth? So what we want to dive into is, what is Mitigation Monday?
2:27
John Savin
Mitigation Monday. So that's just a little training I hold with our Mitigation and Contents team. Shout out to our Contents team. So they like to help us out on, I would say mainly our large losses. So we get together every Monday. We go over tactics, training and procedures of what makes us a Mitigation company. It's not so much how Mitigation is, it's kind of what Mitigation is. It's the science of the drying, the importance of documentation, the importance of photos. But we have fun with it. We do it all on our phones. We use all app-based products. So, I mean, you get to use your phone during work. It's not like you have to hide. It's kind of, I like to say, like the New Age. It's not the paper, not the scripts, not just reading from the script. It's kind of hands on and bringing it to your face.
3:21
Paul Silliman
That's awesome. So what kind of benefits have you seen in your team? Like, how is it affecting their day to day?
3:28
John Savin
They give me training ideas, so hey, man, I want to work on containment this week. I want to work on monitoring. I want to work on best practices for photos. So I hear all the struggles in the field and what needs to be covered. So we'll get together and every Monday, like I said, we'll go over the training topics. Or for instance, last week was job site photos. We had an incident where we're pretty TPA heavy company. So there was a job where a few photos got missed and we all did a mock up job. So we acted like our little classroom got trained or had a loss and each person went through and was hands on with it. Will our contents team be on every loss? No, but we can teach them every loss that can possibly come through our door.
4:15
Paul Silliman
Exactly. So what kind of impact is this having on your team? Like you mentioned, it's a confidence level. It's allowing them to be that first responder in the door. But being that expert, how are you seeing that turn out?
4:30
John Savin
We see sales. So sales, they speak more confidently. They sell the job for our sales team, essentially just with their education, with their knowledge, and with their boost of confidence, actually having a better handle on what they're doing on their day to day.
4:47
Paul Silliman
That's fantastic. But the real question everyone wants to know is, I know you said you make it fun, but how do you keep your guys entertained to do it?
4:57
John Savin
I'm pretty young. I'd like to say I'm in the younger bracket of managers in our industry. So we just kind of do it how we see it ourselves, how we want to be taught. And like I said, we kind of break that script and bring it to your face here, actually go out and pull the baseboard off. Put it back on, put it off again. And it's more hands on versus videos and scripts.
5:24
Paul Silliman
Yeah. No, it's breaking the tendency of those long form videos where nobody remembers or knows what's going on, so it allows them to get that knowledge. But how is it affecting your team culture, having this dynamic where you get together, how's that working?
5:42
John Savin
Our lead techs are taking, like, the newer guys under their wings more. Hey, man, come here, let me show you something. Because we have the Monday, we can do a little breakout session. If your crew needs special type of work, then we will do a breakout and cover the specific topic. Are you containment monitoring photos. Or we can do it as a whole training if it needs to be something blanketed over the whole company. And if it's a good idea.
6:06
Paul Silliman
Absolutely. Now let me ask you something important. When you first implemented this, obviously some people have experience. How did you help motivate those guys who maybe think they knew what they were doing or maybe didn't think they needed the training?
6:21
John Savin
I'd like to lean on the hiring process. So that's where you have to vet. And we kind of been doing a not hire your friends, but in-house referrals. And we can kind of vet the employee prior or based off of who's referring them. So we just hire the people that we would like to see function as our team. Not every applicant through the door is going to be the one that you want holding the moisture meter. So you just got to pick the best team and make the team a team.
6:52
Paul Silliman
No, exactly. Now for someone listening to this that maybe has heard this, that this is a fantastic idea, I really want to dive in, kind of what are your suggestions for someone to adopt this? What's some simple steps they can use to bring this to their company?
7:10
John Savin
Listen, so like I said, every training that I bring up is an issue that was in the field. I hear the guys picking on each other, oh, man, remember that time you dropped the fan or something like that? Just put your ear to the ground and it'll give you everything you need to design your own training and take care of your people.
7:28
Paul Silliman
That's fantastic. Now let me ask you a big question. What's the next upcoming topic?
7:34
John Savin
The next upcoming topic is communication. Communication to- So we do structure, we do content, and we do Mitigation. We're full service. So we're running into an issue of a handoff in between departments. So for instance, when are PRV scheduled? When are PRV is going to be complete? When is the mold job going to be done? So that way the structure team can roll in. So we're going to work on what needs to be talked about and how to talk about it and how to relay it in an efficient manner. That's one’s not as cool.
8:10
Paul Silliman
No, but it's just as important. Correct. So say I was shadowing you guys and jumped in on a Mitigation Monday. How do you set it up? Do you have bullet points? How do you kind of get that schedule or what you're diving into out to your team?
8:24
John Savin
It's kind of real time. Like I say, I'll pick the training. I try to plan it the Friday prior. But if I hear something like in our group chat, my group chat goes 24/7 between me and my technicians. They're joking, they're having fun. And what I have planned Friday might change. Come Sunday, if I see an issue that pops up in the group chat. It's really hit or miss every single day. Like I said, I could have a whole hour lesson plan, but then I see something else and boom, that's gone. Let's talk about that. Or I'm big on Facebook. I see Michelle Blevins over there at CNR, and she puts out a topic. I'm like, let's talk about that. So it's really just what's important and what's relevant to you.
9:08
Paul Silliman
Absolutely. We're big fans of Michelle's over here at KnowHow. My question to you is coming from restoration. Monday mornings can sometimes be a drag. What do we do over the weekend? What monster loss came in? Do you see any kind of production by having this on a Monday morning? Maybe gets them in the focus of getting into work, or is it helping you guys get into the week?
9:33
John Savin
Exactly. I would say it's a rope back in from the weekend. It kind of gets you dialed in, gets you a little breathing time before the hectic week ahead. So get you more focused, I'd say get you more definitely just stay focused.
9:48
Paul Silliman
Awesome. Now, do you guys do is it more lecture kind of open discussion or do you have any kind of presentation or anything like that?
9:57
John Savin
I've done both. I've done open discussion, I've done presentations. Like I say, if I see a topic that I see fit, then that's more of a presentation and or hands on training. But the open discussions I get the most feedback out of because some least experienced guys might speak up but not really know how to ask the question, and I can piggyback off of it and then make it the presentation for the next one.
10:20
Paul Silliman
Got you. Now, if you come across a subject which obviously we'd love to have the answers day one, but maybe it's something that you want to expand on. Is this something to where maybe you'll have a multi Monday training or something you might go into more depth on?
10:33
John Savin
Yes. So fire jobs. Fire goes hand in hand with our contents department. They go over contents. It's half contents and half mitigation. On Mondays, they'll go over packing procedures and cleaning procedures, and then we'll go over the demo because sometimes they'll just hang around after the packing, cleaning and help us with some demo. So, yeah, it is a butter and bread.
10:56
Paul Silliman
That's awesome. So speaking of that, what's your team's relationship now between your mitigation and your contents? It seems like you guys have a great working relationship now.
11:06
John Savin
That's exactly it. We're one team. We're all under the same roof and we're departments, but high five in the hallway as we pass, just like a team.
11:15
Paul Silliman
That's awesome. That's one thing we've seen, especially in our book, Why Workers Quit, is a lot of people are looking for that team culture, somewhere they can grow, somewhere they're part of a family. From the sounds of it sounds like something you guys are growing and expanding on any possible future expansions to bring maybe other departments or make it bigger?
11:36
John Savin
Not so much. I mean, mine is just growing staff, but we're happy with the family we got right now.
11:48
Paul Silliman
That's fantastic. Well, any other tips or anything you may want to give to someone listening on how to bring this to their company?
11:48
John Savin
Just listen to your people. Nothing is not important. Everything is important. Just listen, listen, listen… and make it work.
11:58
Paul Silliman
Fantastic. Well, I think that covers our topic here. We really thank you for jumping on and hopefully this can help someone listening to this podcast. Bring that to your team culture and help get your employees up to speed right away. Thank you.
12:14
John Savin
Yeah, thank you.
12:15
Paul Silliman
There you have it. Thanks again to John Savin from Graystone Restoration for sharing those insights with us. John is pretty active on social media, you can find him on LinkedIn and Facebook. And again, thanks to you, the listener, for checking out the Restoration Playbook Podcast. If you liked it, please share with your friends and give a good rating wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, you can get free access to my comprehensive Day One Water mitigation. Checklist by heading to tryknowhow.com/podcast1. That's tryknowhow.com/podcast1. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you again soon.
