< Previous10 SEPTEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY NOT ALL A BED OF ROSES In the beginning, trying to get all our field service and installation techs to do CO draft testing was difficult. Change is hard, and we did have some resistance, especially on new installations. My installers would say things like, “Tom, it’s a brand-new system. Why do we have to combustion test it?” I tell them the reason is that equip- ment is not perfect straight out of the box. We have to attach it to an exist- ing ventilation system that may not be functioning properly. So we test and we train. We train in our small training facility and out in the field. Another issue we faced was making sure they were doing performance tests in the field. Part of resolving that was talking about testing every week in our service meetings. We also ask our field techs questions. Reviewing their tickets is important too. Our technicians know that if they need to call me with questions, they better have certain information. I need to know from their analy- sis if the issue is combustion-related. I need to know if the appliance is power vented or not. I’ll ask for information such as oxy- gen readings, CO readings and its ac- tion, and the draft measurements re- sults, if applicable. With high-efficiency inducers, there’s certain information necessary to coach a tech in the right direc- tion. But it’s by living and breathing the high-per- formance culture that shows people it’s here to stay. It’s important. They need to do it. For us, we’ve been do- ing this long enough that it is part of our culture. Today our long-term technicians stress the importance of testing and measuring to new guys. The senior technicians are ● Calibrated replacement sensors. These make it possible to avoid send- ing the instrument back to the man- ufacturer to replace a sensor – a definite cost savings. Having the right tools is just one step. Again, training is vital. We try to have as many of our technicians trained and certified in CO and com- bustion as possible. I’d say that 70% of our company right now is trained and certified. DRAFT TESTING HAS LEFT A POSITIVE MARK With training under our belts and equipped with proper tools and in- struments, we implemented com- bustion testing on every service call, every installation, and startup. We embraced it 100%, implement- ed it, and talked about it every week in our meetings. We invite our tech- nicians to tell us what’s going on, what’s confusing, what’s not. Though I can’t quantify the impact of CO draft testing in direct dollar terms, I can confidently say that de- livered revenue is one benefit that’s come from it. At T.E. Spall and Son, we now install draft modifications regularly on atmospheric draft hot water heaters. We do this maybe 30% of the time. We include draft modifications when we change out a gas water heater. The cost is built into our water heat- er changeout fee. CO draft testing has also given us a leg up in our marketplace. We are one of few organizations that test, mea- sure, and diagnose issues and then of- fer customers choices. These choices are on how to keep their systems safe and improve their comfort. You’ve got to talk about PERFORMANCE TESTING every single week. IF YOU DON’T, your team will drift away from it. MANAGEMENTSEPTEMBER 2021 11HVACTODAY.COM suring on the heating side back to the forefront leading into our heat- ing season. All of our field people can then brush the rust off, blow the dust off, and make sure they do the right thing. Isn’t that the heart of high- performance contracting? them the ‘why’ behind it. That means helping them to understand why per- formance is so crucial for their safety and the safety of your customers. We want everybody going back to their families at the end of the day, and we’ve got to be doing the right thing in identifying these problems. Next, performance testing and mea- suring must be part of your culture. You’ve got to talk about this every single week. If you don’t, your team will drift away from it. And that will happen. When it does, you need to refocus on helping your team to get back on point. As we slow down from our sum- mer busy season, we’ll start training our field technicians on combustion again. This brings testing and mea- now who teach the ‘why’ behind why we do these things. THE HEART OF PERFORMANCE SAFETY The High-Performance HVAC method is, in my opinion, the future of this industry. It is essential for cus- tomer satisfaction and safety. It isn’t easy. It requires focus and patience. And it can only succeed if it is driven from the top down throughout the en- tire company. As the adage says, “the fish stinks from the head down.” By this, as the owner, you better be 100% bought into the High-Performance approach and believe in it if you expect your people to do it. Then, you must deliver that message to your people and teach Tom Spall is president of T.E. Spall and Son, Inc. (ncilink.com/TESpall) of Carbondale, PA. Known as the Comfort Doctor, this 36-year-old HVAC service, add-on/replacement, and construction company enjoyed gross sales of just under $4 million in 2020 and is well on the way to breaking their $5 million budget in 2021. He is a strong propo- nent of High-Performance HVAC contracting, and training. You can reach him at ncilink. com/ContactMe.12 SEPTEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY hold training to help improve job site safety. Safety becomes paramount during the busy seasons. We’ve noticed over the years that when things get busy, there tends to be more injuries. Many such injuries are caused by technicians working too quickly to finish jobs and move on to the next one. Your company and your techs must keep ev- eryone in the game during the busy season. This is the time to communicate the importance of safety more often; remind the techs to slow down and ask for help if they don’t think they can do something safely. CREATING A SAFETY CULTURE Haller’s approach to safety begins by creating policies through what we call our Safety Committee. The com- mittee consists of people who work in the field, do the work, and face safety con- siderations every day. Once the commit- tee develops safety policies, we take it from there and start driving those home, focusing on the areas where we see the most dif- ficulty. Here are some bullet points on how we develop and maintain a safety culture at Haller: ● Safety is all about good communication, keeping it up front, and part of your daily safe- ty routine. We talk about it in our daily huddles. We talk about it in our one-on-one conversations. ● Evaluations. Everyone is evaluated on safety H aller Enterprises, Inc. is a 40-year-old residential and commercial HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contract- ing company serving residential and commercial new construction and service mar- kets. Based in Lititz, PA, the company employs around 350 people in five branch locations around the state. With that many employees and customers, our mission is to keep them all safe and healthy. That is a big mission. From its start by Rick Haller back in 1981, the company developed seven core values, and safe- ty was among them. We’re anchored by our val- ues and driven by our vision for a better service experience. WHY IS SAFETY SO IMPORTANT? Customer safety is always at the fore- front of our minds on every job, and with the pandemic, we leaned in to be sure we were as safe as possible when work- ing at customer’s homes. Safety in- cluded wearing full personal protective equip- ment (PPE), sanitizing all tools and equipment, and using daily covid protocols for technicians. We view our jobs as keeping our customers safe, whether by providing them clean air by replac- ing an air filter or fixing an electrical issue in a panel. Our #1 priority is to make sure our teams go home safely every night. To that end, we regularly Why It’s So Important To Have A Culture of Safety By Eddie McFarlane and Dwayne Stauffer TRAININGSEPTEMBER 2021 13HVACTODAY.COM peer program developed and fostered by Dwayne Stauffer. Furthermore, this process also works to help improve mi- nor injuries such as sprains and strains. We also regularly talk about these in- juries and encourage team members to stretch before beginning work to help prevent them. COMPANY SIZE DOES NOT MATTER Even though Haller is such a large company, this kind of safety culture is transferrable to companies of any size. Smaller companies may not have dedicated safety leadership on staff, but they should have someone with safety as one of their responsibilities. The key is to create a peer-to-peer cul- ture of inclusion and a no-blame ap- proach to safety events. There are two key things a smaller company should think about: First, as an owner or general manager, you must break the habit of having all the answers. Your role is to facilitate. Let everyone speak freely. Secondly, when you include others, safety becomes part of their respon- sibilities. In a small company, that would be incredibly powerful. TRAINING IS AS IMPORTANT TO SAFETY AS IT IS TO SKILLS For you to create and foster a culture of safety, you need regular and contin- uous training. There are many sourc- es for this training from national sourc- es through the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and third-party outfits like NCI. When it comes to HVAC services and construction, we focus on Combus- tion Performance & CO Safety (ncil- ink.com/COTest) training provided by NCI. We usually bring their trainers in to train all our field guys over several days. We also focus on OSHA training. Specifically, we do OSHA 10-hour training (ncilink.com/OSHA10) for all our employees. This online training program covers fall protec- tion, personal protective equipment (PPE), electrocution protection, ISHA inspection procedures, and more. For our foremen, we recently began using the OSHA 30-hour training (ncilink.com/OSHA30). Further- more, we do what is known as con- fined space training (forklift training) and more. Internal Training: For a compa- ny of our size, we use an outside train- ing consultant to organize programs customized for our needs. This con- sultant also provides advice and guid- ance. When he puts on a training pro- gram, it’s all hands-on, and in many cases, training is on-site. By the way, we design our training approach to be engaging and interac- tive. We’ve found if you don’t use this approach, it usually doesn’t work. No matter what size your company is, you need to find a way to engage your tech- nicians so they can relate to it. Engage- ment makes training real for techs. Part of that is making sure the techs understand the “why” behind safety. Remember, techs are diagnosticians. They are good at tracing problems to the root cause, doing root cause anal- ysis, and finding solutions. The same should be valid for your approach to at their quarterly one-on-one meet- ings including management. We talk about difficulties and wins at monthly department meetings. ● No-Blame. We have what we call a no-blame autopsy process where ev- eryone in the room is equal. There are no ranks recognized here. Every- body discusses what happened during the incident. Sometimes, depending on the type of event, we might go to the site to see where it happened. We examine the event triggers and talk about the consequences of deci- sions that could have caused it. ● Training. Like anything else, safety requires training and prac- tice to make it work in any compa- ny. Most companies partner with third-party organizations to help with safety training. In Haller’s case, we partner with several – including National Comfort Institute (NCI). This process is a focus on contin- uous improvement. Between our ap- proach of no-blame and engaging the right stakeholders, we create a com- munity that focuses on the big safe- ty issues and on daily suggestions to help avoid minor issues. Such sug- gestions include getting better work gloves, PPE, or safety glasses. Then it is up to the leadership to go to their resources and have sam- ples brought in for the team to ex- amine. The team then decides what works best for them. They own the decision. And I think when you cre- ate that type of engagement, it cre- ates people who are champions. That is our culture. So safety is not just a leader’s re- sponsibility. It is also the team’s responsibility. The Safety Committee is a peer-to- 14 SEPTEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TRAINING dress any safety issues we see. It’s im- portant to share what we learn from our incident meetings with everyone. It’s a learning opportunity. Creating a culture of safety includes catching people doing something right. Our team can nominate people for rec- ognition regarding a specific one of Haller’s Seven Values. It’s an oppor- tunity. These recognitions give us a chance to celebrate. Then we have an end-of-year recognition breakfast. In the end, safety for both your techs and customers should be a high pri- ority. The new generation coming into the trades care about work-life balance and about going home in one piece. Do yourself and them a favor and begin working on or improving your culture of safety today. safety and your training. KEEP TRACK OF SAFETY Finally, as NCI likes to say, “If you Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing.” This statement is true for creating a safety culture; regardless of how mi- nor the incident. Each safety incident is an opportunity for your team to learn and get better, no matter the size. We keep track using specialized software, but there are plenty of ways to build Excel spreadsheets to keep track of incidents. You can track the number of days between incidents, keep tabs on technicians to see the im- pact of their training on the number of incidents they have, and more. Then during our regular one-on-one meetings with the techs, we can ad- Eddie McFarlane is Vice President of Learning and Development for Haller En- terprises, Inc., Lititz, PA. He has been in the HVAC trades for 19 years. He joined Haller Enterprises in 2006, with a focus on residential service and replacement. McFarlane served in various positions within the company, including sales, management, and marketing on both the com- mercial and residential sides of the company. You can reach him at ncilink.com/ContactMe Dwayne Stauffer is the Safety and Risk Control Man- ager at Haller Enterprises. He has been with Haller for 32 years. Stauffer began his ca- reer in the electrical trades, earned his journeyman license, moved into manage- ment, and eventually into a safety role. According to McFarlane Stauffer led the development of Haller’s safety culture. You can reach him at ncilink.com/ContactMe .SEPTEMBER 2021 15HVACTODAY.COM H ave you ever felt like there is more to life than what you are experienc- ing today? That you are somehow missing out on the life that you were meant to live? What is really holding you back? Is it laziness? Lack of motivation? Lack of time or resources? Lack of experience or education? Lack of extreme weather? Lack of skilled work- ers? Lack of available equipment? Lack of luck? Most likely, there is a deeper issue under- lying this “lack” in your life. “Mental blocks” commonly hold you back from achieving your true potential. In other words, the problem is in your mind! SELF-LIMITING BELIEFS DESTROY FUTURE RESULTS Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right.” The key word in his statement is “think.” Mental blocks (or “self-limiting beliefs”) af- fect everything you think, feel, do, or avoid do- ing. According to American Psychologist Car- ol Dweck (ncilink.com/CDweck), “Changing people’s beliefs – even the simplest beliefs – can have a profound effect.” How much we achieve doesn’t depend on in- nate ability, character, environment, or oppor- tunities. Achievement depends on what we be- lieve about ourselves, and what that means to us. That is called our “mindset.” Learning to control and change mindset impacts our success. If you want to achieve greater success in your life, you must do so with clarity, confidence, fo- cus, and a strong belief it can be done. You must learn to destroy self-limiting beliefs and em- brace a high-performance mindset. EMBRACING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE MINDSET According to an INC. magazine story (ncil- ink.com/IncProductivity), researchers find that 92% of people say they never achieve the goals and resolutions they set for themselves each year. Most people do not really believe they will ever achieve them. They fail “in their mind” before they even get started. In studying the 8% who do achieve great success, a common ingredient was discovered – they all operated with a positive, success- oriented, high-performance mindset. These positive thinkers come from all walks of life. They can be married, single, or divorced; highly educated or high school dropouts; wealthy, middle class, or even poor by most standards. They are a variety of ages and ethnic- ities. The fact is, no matter where you are in life or where you came from, you can set big goals and achieve them with the right mindset. By David Holt MANAGEMENT The Power of Changing Your Mindset16 SEPTEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY MANAGEMENT iting beliefs, self-doubt, and a whole host of negative thoughts that get in the way of your future success. Zig Ziglar (ncilink.com/Ziglar) labeled limiting beliefs as “stinking thinking.” Furthermore, in an article pub- lished by the TLEX Institute (ncilink. com/PosThoughts), author Nerin- ga Antanaityte says that up to 60,000 thoughts go through our minds each day. Left unchecked, 80% of them stink. These negative thoughts occur so often that most people are unaware of them. Aware or not, they seriously impact our outcomes. We all know that little voice in our head that makes you hesitate before changing the way you do things. What if you try something new and it fails? What if you do nothing new and your business fails? You must identify your limiting thoughts and find ways to eliminate their impact on your future perfor- mance. When you allow limiting be- liefs to control your actions, you re- main stuck where you are. FLIP THE SWITCH WITH THE “IF/THEN APPROACH” Once you identify your top negative thoughts, you must stop them from holding you hostage. You need a way to “flip the switch.” When you find yourself looking at a situation through a set of negative lenses, flip the switch and discover ways to turn the nega- tives into positives. It will take time to embrace this way of thinking, but it is well worth it. From my computer background, I learned an effective method to attack this mindset challenge - the “if/then approach.” When you recognize a negative thought, simply stop to con- think about.” If you want to achieve better results, you must think better thoughts. We live in a skillset-driven indus- try. When you believe more educa- tion leads to goal achievement, your primary focus becomes learning new skills and improving existing skills. People in general are usually on the lookout for that “silver bullet” skillset that makes everything fall into place. Unfortunately, skill development ef- forts fall way short when the student has a negative mindset. Improved skillsets - together with the proper toolsets - are critically im- portant to success. But our mindsets need adjustment long before we invest in additional tools and training. Fail to adjust your thinking and you will fail to achieve better results. IDENTIFY YOUR MOST COMMON LIMITING BELIEFS Mindsets are formed through pri- or experiences and emotional mile- stones. Bad experiences lead to lim- Here are seven steps to help guide you into a winning mindset: UNDERSTAND YOUR “WHY” Your WHY defines your purpose, be- lief, cause, or existence. In his amaz- ing book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Ac- tion (ncilink.com/Sinek), Simon Sinek says “knowing your WHY is the only way to maintain lasting success.” Changing your mindset takes work because established habits are not easy to break. This is especially true since many of our most harmful hab- its and negative mindsets were formed when we were kids. You must under- stand your WHY to keep you inspired, motivated, and on the proper path to higher performance. ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU MUST ADJUST YOUR THINKING Your current results are based on your current thinking. According to Earl Nightingale (ncilink.com/ EarlNightingale), the strangest se- cret to success is “we become what we SEPTEMBER 2021 17HVACTODAY.COM fact, you will stop punishing yourself for stumbling or failing to stick to your plan. This emotionally frees you to op- timistically try again tomorrow. START SMALL SO YOU CAN FINISH BIG This may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to change your mindset and realize your dreams is through setting ridiculously tiny, utter- ly achievable goals. Decide that your tiny goal is the minimum, and that you can do more if you feel up to it. Some days, you will do more and feel great because you are overachieving. Other days, you may do the minimum and feel great be- cause you have met your goal. Either way, you feel great! shut those negative thoughts up. Flip the switch! REALIZE THAT MOTIVATION AND WILLPOWER ARE NOT ENOUGH Most people incorrectly believe that motivation and willpower are all they need to achieve goals. That is because it is common advice given by friends, fam- ily, motivation gurus, and life coaches. Motivation is hard to maintain no matter how important your goal may be, and that’s when willpower is sup- posed to kick in. Willpower is like a gas tank. You start with a full tank, but deplete your supply each time you use it. High achievers understand this real- ity: achievement is not about grinding your way to success. By accepting this sider the consequences of a negative reaction versus a positive response. Here is an example: You planned to follow up today on a system reno- vation proposal. It is late afternoon, and that little voice in your head says, “they haven’t called back so they prob- ably aren’t interested.” To combat your stinking thinking, you immedi- ately apply the if/then approach: ● If I do not follow up, then I do not sell the job. ● If I do not sell the job, then my kids do not eat. ● If I do follow up, then I might sell the job. Positive thoughts and negative thoughts cannot occupy the same space. Often, just taking one positive step in the right direction is enough to 18 SEPTEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY MANAGEMENT adjustments that will keep you moving forward. That is progress! Changing your mindset does not happen by accident, it happens by choice. These seven steps will help get you on the right track and stay there. Enjoy a better future by employing the power of your positive, success-orient- ed, high-performance mindset! forward with confidence toward achiev- ing your goals and dreams. However, it is critical to understand that it is hard work. That’s why high-performance achiev- ers are comfortable with the “F” word: FAILURE. When most people hit a wall, they make excuses and give up. High-per- formance achievers realize that the only thing that keeps them from win- ning is not trying. What separates them from under- achievers is they mentally prepare for fail- ure. They know it is coming, and it does not scare them or make them give up. When failure happens, they seek feed- back and adjust to get back in the game. Give yourself permission to fail. It takes the pressure off getting a perfect result. Learn from missteps and make Massive change requires small steps, repeated daily, which create momen- tum and yield positive high-perfor- mance results over time. According to an article published in 2018 by the Chicago Tribune (ncil- ink.com/MeetGoals), the top 8% of achievers apply this approach. Sadly, most people never try this strategy be- cause they think it is pointless to start so small. Wrong! Over time, consistently hit- ting your small goals will form new mindset habits. The result is real prog- ress toward revamping your thinking so you can live your biggest dreams. GET COMFORTABLE WITH THE “F” WORD The previous steps will help you move David Holt is an NCI business coach who shares his expertise and knowledge with HVAC contractors who are looking for guidance on how to implement High-Per- formance into their business. He is respon- sible for developing content for both classes as well as in-person training events. You can reach him at ncilink.com/ContactMe.SEPTEMBER 2021 19HVACTODAY.COM counts are available! So mark your calendars, register today, and join us in Scottsdale in April. We look forward to seeing you there. If you have any questions, be sure to call our Customer Care Line at 800/633-7058. WELCOME TO THE SEPTEMBER 2021 POWERPACK Guess what? The member-only Sep- tember 2021 PowerPack is now online and ready for you to access. We hope you were able to take advantage of all the great tools from August. This month we provide you with more content to help you with your carbon monoxide approach and strategy. Some of the tools included each month may not be normally accessi- ble with your current membership sub- scription package. However, you can access these tools through this PowerPack portal during the current month. So, without further ado, let’s drill down and see what we have for you: ■ Introduction to Carbon Monoxide (Online Training Module) ■ Create the Ultimate Fall Marketing Strategy (Recorded Webinar) ■ NSI 6000 CO Monitor Sales Ideas (Download) ■ Why Should I Demand a CO Test? brochure (Download) ■ Important Test Results (Download). We think you’ll find these tools and training materials very helpful as you continue to grow your High-Perfor- mance HVAC business. Be sure to share your September Pow- erPack with your entire team! Get start- ed today: ncilink.com/PwrPak . NCI INTRODUCES IT’S LATEST CARBON MONOXIDE MONITOR High-Performance HVAC contrac- tors: there is a new low-level CO mon- itor in town. It is the NSI 6000 which boasts better sensitivity and accuracy than any store-bought detector on the market. After years of research and develop- ment, now you can offer your custom- ers a level of safety above and beyond anything your competitors can! To offer this product to your customers, you must become a reseller. Learn more about that here: ncilink.com/NSI6000. If you are trained and certified through NCI’s Combustion Perfor- mance and Carbon Monoxide Safety training ( ncilink.com/COTest ), you can simply apply to be a reseller. The NSI 6000 lets you know there is a prob- lem before CO reaches dangerous, even dead- ly levels. This is especially important for infants, children, the elderly, and highly sensitive or ill people. Questions? Call our Customer Care Line at 800/633-7058. SAVE THE DATE! SUMMIT 2022 RETURNS TO SCOTTSDALE, AZ Good news! National Comfort Insti- tute is bringing its Annual High-Per- formance HVAC Summit event back to Scottsdale, AZ, and the fabulous We- Ko-Pa Resort and Conference Center, April 4-7, 2022. Members tell us that We-Ko-Pa is one of their favorite locations for Summit. It is just 20 minutes from the Phoenix International Airport in Ari- zona’s captivating Sonoran Desert. The resort and casino have both undergone major renovations and up- dates, which will make your stay better and safer than ever. From award-win- ning golf to incredible gaming, horse- back riding, off-road tours, kayaking, spa, fine dining, deluxe rooms, and more, it’s a four-diamond desert oasis beyond anything you’ve experienced before. Summit 2022 will feature the program developed for the postponed 2021 Sum- mit with the addition of a golf outing on one of We-Ko-Pa’s two world-class cours- es. Stay tuned for more information. You can learn more about the We-Ko- Pa Casino and Resort here: ncilink.com/ WeKoPa2022 . You can get all the details about NCI’s 2022 High-Performance HVAC Summit here: gotosummit.com. You can also register for Summit here: ncilink.com/summitreg . Early bird dis- NCI UPDATENext >