You found new parks maintenance staff that will be an excellent fit for your team. Ideally, you want them to get into the flow long-term.
So what happens when a new maintenance staff joins the agency? What type of maintenance onboarding is available for them?
Is there a formal training program? Do they team up with a more experienced staff? Do they immediately go to completing tasks using knowledge from prior jobs?
We’ve all had our first days on the job. It can be pretty challenging. You’re not sure where to go, what to do, and how to do it. You don’t know anybody. You’re not even sure how to find the bathroom and lunchroom.
Maintenance orientation training, as well as ongoing training for your existing staff, is the key to having staff start on the right foot and keep their stride when challenges come their way.
Learn more about setting up an effective training program for maintenance staff and how to implement it. Also, get some ideas for essential topics to cover for maintenance training.
Why Train Maintenance Staff?
Maintenance staff play a critical role in ensuring safe assets, equipment efficiency, and ensuring programs and special events. Properly training park maintenance staff helps to ensure they follow the procedures for completing tasks and managing assets.
Staff who know their job duties and expectations may find it easier to acclimate to their new roles. Training staff on the unique needs of your park and recreation system allows them a deeper understanding of the scope of work beyond the knowledge they gained from previous experiences.
Creating a Maintenance Training Program
If you are creating a training program or refining an existing one, here are some steps to help develop the curriculum.
Determine Needs
When your staff start in the field, what do they need to know? What information allows them to do their jobs better?
One way to determine training needs is by looking at the duties in an individual’s job description. Based on those duties, what topics and information must be covered to ensure the individual can complete those duties?
For example, you may want your seasonal staff to understand the necessary steps of checking a park every day. Creating standard operating procedures and incorporating them into the training program allows them to be more consistent with what they are looking for and what they need to report.
Creating Learning Objectives
The next step to developing an effective training program is creating measurable, relevant objectives based on the defined needs. By having clear objectives in place, you set the foundation for your curriculum.
For the example in the last section, an objective can be for new staff to successfully complete all steps during a park check practicum.
Clear and measurable training objectives benefit everybody. They allow the management team to know what needs to be taught, and it gives trainees a clear path to learn the steps necessary to complete their work. The objectives also create consistency in the training program.
Keep in mind that specific maintenance roles may require unique objectives.
Choose Training Methods
Park maintenance staff are doers. They work with their hands and operate heavy equipment. They problem-solve in the field.
Sitting them in a room for eight hours at a time, listening to lectures, and watching PowerPoint slides could have them quickly glazing over and holding back yawns. Few maintenance staff will see this as a beneficial way to learn.
Variety is key for training maintenance staff. Combine different training methods. Include hands-on lessons, simulated tasks, and sessions in the field or shop. Bring in equipment they will use, show them the areas they’ll maintain, and give real life scenarios where they may have to use customer service skills.
If possible, get an understanding of their previous experience to make more customized, beneficial learning opportunities. Unless the mowers are unique, you don’t need to train staff to switch out mower blades if they’ve done it for years. Adapting training can save time and keep new staff engaged in the content.
Select Instructor
Your Director of Marketing and Communication is probably a great speaker and teacher. But, new staff may have more questions than answers if they lead your entire maintenance training program.
Sure, a maintenance manager can create an effective curriculum and pass it on to someone else to lead. But there may be missed opportunities.
New staff may better understand their new boss and job expectations when the maintenance manager is the instructor. New staff may also start to develop a rapport with their new boss.
Also, the maintenance manager can get a better feel for the new staff–see who is attentive, asks questions, thinks they know it all, etc. Learning this before assigning tasks in the field can help the manager determine the best pairings with existing staff to ensure personalities mesh and skill gaps narrow.
If the maintenance manager is unavailable or prefers not to lead, consider using senior maintenance team members or pairing instructors who work well together. Use the Marketing & Communications Director to coach potential instructors on delivering information clearly and engaging the trainees.
Evaluate & Evolve Training
Just like your agency, your training program will evolve. Perhaps you’ll add some new assets that require specialized knowledge, or the agency’s strategic plan involves initiatives for the maintenance team. Or maybe you’re noticing new maintenance staff seem to be making the same mistakes when starting in the field.
Be open to feedback and suggestions to improve your maintenance training program. Help determine the effectiveness of the training by conducting pre- and post-tests before training modules. Monitor performance on the job to ensure the training covers all necessary aspects.
Ongoing Training
New staff training is just the beginning. Creating ongoing learning opportunities for existing staff allows them to learn new skills, hone their existing ones, and adapt as your agency evolves.
Ongoing maintenance staff training goes beyond the standard First Aid/CPR and other necessary training. For example, what if someone in the maintenance department gets promoted? Do they model their role based on what they saw from previous staff?
Make the learning curve easier. How would a part-time staff transition into a new full-time role? What happens when someone who usually works grounds gets promoted to facility manager?
Implement a system for ongoing professional development. Employ mentoring, coaching, or job shadowing methods for staff to get more comfortable in their new role.
Hold interactive in-services about new industry trends, technologies, and best practices where they can voice their opinions and try new approaches.
Park Maintenance Training Topics to Consider
Developing your park maintenance training program depends on the specifics of your agency and what is expected from your staff.
Here are some topics that can be worthwhile for your maintenance team:
- Equipment Maintenance: Best practices for asset managment and keeping your equipment in good shape. Updates on new equipment and maintenance standards.
- Safety Procedures: Personal protective gear, operating equipment & machinery safely, safely using chemicals or pesticides, and emergency procedures.
- Customer Service: Ensuring positive interactions while performing maintenance and training for dealing with angry/irate customers.
- Leadership Skills: Effective communication, active listening, leadership styles, cross-department training.
- Technical Skills: Having some of the more skilled maintenance staff show some more advanced maintenance tasks.
- Technology Proficiency: Ensuring staff knows how to navigate an electronic work order system, park maintenance CMMS, or other tech tools your agency uses.
The Takeaway
Supporting park maintenance staff with appropriate training as they onboard and beyond allows them to be more knowledgeable and productive. Developing a parks maintenance training program that addresses your agency’s unique needs and assets gives new hires the information they need to be successful in their new roles.