Five Tips For Janitorial/Custodial Training

Effective communication is important with all aspects of facilities management, but especially so for training and educational endeavors.

These five expert tips on janitorial/custodial training are just a fraction of what you’ll learn from the a Cleaning Management Institute (CMI) three-day Train the Trainer course.

1. First Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Start off on the right foot

Even if you’re training a group that works regularly together, go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves — including yourself as the instructor.

People are more relaxed when they know the people around them, and when relaxed, they are more likely to participate in the discussion.

2. Second Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Set expectations

Let the people in the room know what you expect from them and let them know what they can expect from you.

Tell them what you’ll be covering, how long the training will last and if there will be any sort of exam — either written or verbal.

3. Third Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Don’t be afraid to get personal

If you’re working from a published training program, mix it up with some personal stories of your own cleaning career.

Talk about a cleaning challenge that you overcame or a difficult management situation you were faced with.

And, encourage your students to share their experiences as well.

People retain new information best when the content of the training means something to them.

4. Fourth Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Repeat yourself

Our brains like to recognize patterns; we’ve been taught that, when we hear information or instructions repeated, they must be important.

Don’t be afraid to repeat certain keywords, phrases or concepts throughout your training session.

5. Fifth Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Tell them, show them and then tell them again

The idea here is that people learn different things in different ways, so you should spend some of your training time in a classroom setting as well as doing hands-on tasks.

People will find it easier to concentrate on the big picture information in a classroom setting, but the applied information is best taught via hands-on demonstration.

Click here to see dates and locations for CMI’s Train the Trainer course.

           
Posted On February 18, 2013
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