Keeping Your Job

Has your boss ever described you with any of the following? Do you know others who might be described with any of these?  If so, soon the boss may be saying; “Sorry we just can’t use you anymore.”

·         He always looks like Joe Slob! And he leaves a mess behind wherever he goes!

·         He just can't seem to show up on time.

·         He too often forgets to fill out the paperwork. Or he fills it out wrong and the secretary has to hunt him down.

·         He gets too few calls or installs done.

·         He just can't seem to take charge. When the supervisor is not around he just stands around when he runs out of work.

·         He just won't ever read directions. Or learn about new models. Even when you send him to training he just sits in the back and talks.

·         He has to go back a 2^nd time or more for every 4^th call or we have to send someone else to redo his work.

·         He seems to make customers unhappy. Or downright angry.

·         He is always going back to the truck or the shop to get something because he never has what is needed when it is needed.

When I was 17 I worked part time doing HVAC installs while I was going to school. One day when I called in I heard those dreaded words, "Well, don't call us, we will call you if we need you." Of course, I never heard from them again. I had been observed doing several of the things on the above list. And I had called in sick several times. To tell the truth it was too much partying.

Several years later, and much experience wiser I was hearing these kinds of things.

·         There is a little something extra on your check this week.

·         Thanks for doing such a great job.

·         Stick this in your billfold and take the wife out to eat this weekend.

·         You know there is an opening for the Service Manager's job coming up, would you be interested?

·         Would you show Joe how to fill his Time Card out right?

·         I just put that nice letter we got from one of your customers on the bulletin board.

·         Starting next week your check will be a little larger than it has been.

·         We are putting on an extra crew and I would like you to take charge.

·         We will have to cut some help back this winter but we want you to stay.

·         That new customer asked for you by name.

·         She said she would have cupcakes setting out for you when you get there.

Now if you were the boss in these troubled economic times and you had to let one of these guys go which one would it be?  One winter during some tough times the company I was working for let all of the HVAC techs go but me.  Why do you think the boss kept me instead of someone else?

But I did not become that second technician overnight. Change does not happen instantly. Change does not come from outside of you.  Beginning with this newsletter I am sharing with you some of the ways in which I became a Highly Effective Technician who was sought after by employers and customers. 

One of the greatest misconceptions in this world is that we're entitled to live a great life. That somehow, somewhere, someone is required to fill our lives with continual happiness, enticing career options, empowering family time and blissful personal relationships simply because we have been born. We expect these things - and when they don't show up many of us immediately decide it is someone else's fault.

But perhaps the greatest truth in this world is that there's only one person responsible for the life you enjoy here. That person is you. If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything you experience in your life. From the level of your achievements to the results you produce, to the quality of your job, to the state of your health and physical fitness - even responsibility for your feelings, your income, your debts ... everything!

This is not easy. In fact, most of us have been conditioned to blame something outside of ourselves for the parts of our life we don't like. We blame our parents, our bosses, our teachers, our friends, our co-workers, our customers, our spouse, the weather, the economy, our astrological chart, our lack of good tools - anyone or anything we can pin the blame on. We never want to look at where the real problem is - ourselves.

How many times do you look for the answers to your problems outside of yourself, when the answer lies within? It is you who creates the quality of the life you lead and the results you produce. No one else!

If you wish to succeed and prosper in the HVACR business;

YOU must decide to become a Highly Effective Technician.

YOU must believe that you can become one.

YOU must have a clear vision of your purpose for becoming a Highly Effective Tech.

Why do you want to be a Highly Effective Tech?

To serve people?

To earn a lot of money?

To be respected by your peers?

To get a promotion?

One of the best ways to focus your efforts to improve yourself and to further your career is to write out a statement of purpose or Personal Mission Statement. Think through clearly what motivates you to do what you are doing.

As an HVACR Technician my purpose was to make a difference in people's lives; keeping people warm or cool, helping steady the surgeon's hand without sweat, helping little old ladies be comfortable, keeping the right conditions in the sports dome, preserving milk at the dairy and keeping produce at the supermarket safe - making the world a better place to live.

Now write a short description of your purpose for or what motivates you to become a Highly Effective Tech.  Just why are you working at this job?

As you journey down your path to future success in the HVACR business you have control over just three things in your life - the thoughts you think, the images you visualize and the actions you take. How you make the most of them determines the outcomes you experience in life.

If you don't like what you are producing and experiencing, choose now to change your responses. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones. Change what you dream of becoming. Change your habits and you will start getting different responses from those around you.

If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. In fact, if what you are currently doing was capable of producing the "more" that you are seeking in life, the "more" would have already shown up. If you want something different, you're going to have to do something different.

While I can give you some strategies and principles that are proven to help you become a Highly Effective HVACR Tech, ultimately, you are the one who will execute these strategies and incorporate these principles into your everyday activities. The day you begin to do that is the day your career and your life will begin to change for the better!

I believe you can do it.  Do you believe in yourself?  Watch for my next Technique for Keeping Your Job.

LearningHVACR.com has helped these companies and many more grow their Techs

ClimateMaster Inc.      Air Assurance

B & L Heating and Air Conditioning Inc.

Hobby Lobby         Circuit City