[Chrissie Taylor]

Hi there Andy!? If anyone can figure this out, please please let me know!? I try starting with explaining in training about them being the start of every great event…that we make or break the event.? ?I also have tried providing steps in making sure that a room is event ready…all that to say that I have not figured out the magic answer to this and hope that we can all work together to figure it out!!!

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Chrissie King
Assistant Director
Rutgers University Camden
Camden NJ
chrissie.king@rutgers.edu
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-04-2023 11:54
From: Andy Causey
Subject: Motivation and Attention to Detail

Hello all! 

We are searching for ideas on motivating our student employees to pay closer attention to detail and take more pride in their work. These students complete meeting room set-ups and provide customer service to the guests who reserve our meeting rooms. 

We often find that these students do about 95% of their work well but miss on the small items. I am looking for some wisdom from the community on instilling these characteristics other than using disciplinary actions. 

Thanks in advance!

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Andy Causey
Facilities Manager | Union Department
The University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.usm.edu/union
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[Stephen Clarke]

I imagine we are all seeing this. It is the ongoing struggle and since COVID, it has been even more difficult to get students to get that last 5%. The setups are often perfect, but the cleanups are often a mess. My team is a mix of returning and new staff and one of the struggles has been that by focusing in on one item, they miss the other two. Trying to get them to have their head on a swivel and to take initiative have been the common themes this semester. Communication, often cited as what they feel makes a team work well together, is most often lacking in between shift changes. While we do have shift reports, busy shifts may not be able to complete a full round before they leave.

What we’ve focused in on this semester is the “why”. We just had a large external conference and we used the client’s needs as the main reason why students need to communicate effectively, be observant. We also focused on “passing the baton” and communicating what the next shift needs to know and why.

I will say that the conference was a make or break moment for my students and they rose to the occasion. The clean up was also more thorough. I attribute this to focusing in on meetings with my student Operations Manager and my Building Manager team in preparation for the event to lay out the expectations for the conference and why it was important. I think that buy in helped. However, that is only one event. We will see how the rest of the semester goes.

I tasked my Building Manager who leads training to do a little research leading up to this training. Here are some articles and activities she found:

Improving Observational skills: https://ccmit.mit.edu/observation/

The Secret to Ensuring the Follow-Through: https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-secret-to-ensuring-follow

How to encourage staff to take initiative (and why they won’t) https://www.howtomakepartner.com/how-to-encourage-employees-to-take-initiative/

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Stephen Clarke
Associate Director for Campus Center Operations
Fordham University
Bronx NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2023 16:23
From: Chrissie King
Subject: Motivation and Attention to Detail

Hi there Andy!  If anyone can figure this out, please please let me know!  I try starting with explaining in training about them being the start of every great event…that we make or break the event.   I also have tried providing steps in making sure that a room is event ready…all that to say that I have not figured out the magic answer to this and hope that we can all work together to figure it out!!!

——————————
Chrissie King
Assistant Director
Rutgers University Camden
Camden NJ
chrissie.king@rutgers.edu
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-04-2023 11:54
From: Andy Causey
Subject: Motivation and Attention to Detail

Hello all! 

We are searching for ideas on motivating our student employees to pay closer attention to detail and take more pride in their work. These students complete meeting room set-ups and provide customer service to the guests who reserve our meeting rooms. 

We often find that these students do about 95% of their work well but miss on the small items. I am looking for some wisdom from the community on instilling these characteristics other than using disciplinary actions. 

Thanks in advance!

——————————
Andy Causey
Facilities Manager | Union Department
The University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.usm.edu/union
——————————

[Andy Causey]

Thank you, Chrissie and Stephen for your responses. It does seem like this is common struggle!

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Andy Causey
Facilities Manager
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg MS
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——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-04-2023 11:54
From: Andy Causey
Subject: Motivation and Attention to Detail

Hello all! 

We are searching for ideas on motivating our student employees to pay closer attention to detail and take more pride in their work. These students complete meeting room set-ups and provide customer service to the guests who reserve our meeting rooms. 

We often find that these students do about 95% of their work well but miss on the small items. I am looking for some wisdom from the community on instilling these characteristics other than using disciplinary actions. 

Thanks in advance!

——————————
Andy Causey
Facilities Manager | Union Department
The University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.usm.edu/union
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