How to Improve Interactions With Your Field Crew

By Alec Doniger.  

Using effective communication and utilizing critical thinking skills to solve pain points are key for your crews. 

In a recent Lunch and Learn, Heidi J. Ellsworth talks with Brittany Randall and Adam Cook about improving your relationship with your crew members. Both are regional support managers at Tremco WTI, and Adam has been there for 20 years. With Heidi, they discuss knowing what your field crew needs for success, finding solutions for your crew’s pain points, and facing the challenges involved with launching those solutions. Practicing effective communication and utilizing technology are two big ways WTI addressing these things.  

Right off the bat, Adam made it clear that clear communication is the single most important tactic you can use to discover what your crew needs for success. “There are so many different points of information… and we're getting that information from many different places,” he explains. “We're getting emails, we get texts, we get phone calls. So, one of our big objectives was find a single point for communication that could kind of solve all those problems.” 

A single, simple technological form of communication effectively changes the scope of contractor and worker interactions for the better. “It’s a big push towards getting rid of the paperwork,” Adam continues. “So, everything they do from their time entries, their workday, the photographs of the work, their customer interactions – pretty much everything's going to go through some form of app nowadays.” Having the technology to streamline the communication process ultimately streamlines the business process.  

WTI chooses one ecosystem for their workers to communicate on, further eliminating other pain points getting in the way of work. “We chose to supply all of our employees with iPhones,” explains Adam. “It was a bit of a struggle, but now we’ve gotten to where we feel a little more comfortable.” Educating your workers about using a platform that not everyone might be familiar with can be difficult. However, in the long run, it saves time and money because they are all on the same page about how to use the tools that have been given to them. WTI makes decisions for their employees with this in mind, and it has brought them great success. 

Watch the full Lunch & Learn to discover how WTI is streamlining their company/employee communication. 

Learn more about WTI in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit tremcoroofing.com. 

About Alec  

Alec is a reporter for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When he isn’t investigating the state of the roofing industry, you might find him playing drums with his bands in Denver.