10 Reasons Why You Should Perform Routine Cleaning Inspections - Reason 3: Build Support from your Cleaning Staff
Introducing a formal quality program and cleaning inspections can be tough on a cleaning staff as well as management. Whether you’re implementing from the top down in an in-house organization or are working with your cleaners as the owner or supervisor of a small janitorial company, it’s always a struggle to get immediate buy-in from your cleaning staff when it comes to a new initiative. Cleaning personnel might initially see inspections as a way for superiors to “check-up on” or “babysit” them. This creates an idea that there is nothing positive about implementing a formal quality assurance process and will only mean a heavier load of responsibility and work for the staff in the future.
Since we know that formal quality programs are integral to the success of both small and large cleaning organizations it is very important that supervisors convey the merits of quality to their staff appropriately. Ultimately, the cleaning staff should understand why quality matters and be in support of a formal program that will reward their good cleaning and help them fix poor habits.
We realize gaining staff support can be a tall task, however a good way to begin building such support is to call a meeting and discuss quality, why it is important to the overall success of your organization and why you want to implement a formal program to manage it. More importantly, In order to build true and long-lasting support for the program, you need to lead by example. Performing in-the-field routine cleaning inspections yourself is one of the best ways to show your cleaning staff that quality is a priority and it’s a focal point for the organization as a whole. This is why the third reason on the list of why you should perform routine cleaning inspections is to build support from your cleaning staff.
Leading by example is consistently one of the best tactics that supervisors or managers can use to build support from staff members. In an article titled “Leading by Example” Bruna Martinuzzi discusses the topic at length and even sites a few ways you can apply the concepts immediately to your office life. She says things like “If you ask a co-worker to do something, make sure you’d be willing to do it yourself” and “if you implement new rules in the office then follow those rules just as closely as you expect everyone else to follow them.” She states that it is very important to staff enthusiasm that the managers and supervisors really buy in to the new initiatives if they want the staff to follow suit.
