The Future of Business is Continuing Education

By Dani Sheehan. 

The roofing industry is seeing huge growth. See how continuing education provides the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and build your business by investing in your employees. 

In the most recent RCS Lunch and Learn, Heidi J. Ellsworth visits Jon Gardner of Owens Corning to discuss the importance of continuing education. You won’t want to miss this discussion of Owens Corning University, the leading continuing education platform for contractors in the industry, and the new content to help build businesses. Jon’s been with Owens Corning for over twelve years and in the industry almost thirty years. He currently heads the training and development platform for contractors and distributors while also running their strategic partnerships around bringing resources and education to contractors in the program.  

The first objective is to understand why continuing education and why roofing companies should invest time and efforts for their employees to pursue continuing education. Jon explains, “At the end of the day the roofing industry is not excluded from what it takes to scale and to grow, and by unpacking and learning in the areas where you might need to focus your energies you can take your business to the next level.” From a business ownership standpoint, continuing education is vital for learning new skills and technologies to stay ahead of a growing industry. 

But even more so, Jon says that continuing education is the number one priority for contractors. Employers want to be able to offer training and development for their employees because it can get the attention of potential employees. “Many of them are looking for road maps to be able to take themselves from somebody who’s smack dab in the beginning of their career in the roofing industry and helping them grow” in any part of the business. It also helps to retain strong employees by showing a commitment to their growth journey and improving business efficiencies overall. Finally, continuing education also looks at the business more holistically. While we want our contractors to be able to successfully install a roofing system, there are so many other areas of the business that create new opportunities for contractors based on their skills and interests. 

Continuing education is both good for the business owner and the employee. It helps to create a scalable and predictable process to continue a trajectory of growth. When employees have a clear path, Jon says, “You reap the rewards one hundred to one when you provide this to employees. They return that to you in a big way which is ‘I’m more excited, I’m more invested in the business. I love where I might be going with this company,’ and they begin to bring that extra energy that helps drive and grow that business.” 

Grab your team and watch the full RCS Lunch and Learn to see how you can improve your business through continuing education and what to expect from an online learning system.