Lead Cleaner Guide to leading other cleaners
Please ensure you understand the material completely as you will be talking through your understanding of the material with haylie during a coaching meeting.
How to address poor quality in the moment
Start with a question asking if your partner worked on the area of poor quality, they may need to work on adding more details or they may have missed it completely and were not aware of that cleaning opportunity.
“I want to show you something quick, can you come here?” Show them the area of poor quality.
“Let me show you how I would do it.”
“This stain will actually come out if you use ___”
“This can actually come even cleaner, let me show you so you know for the future.”
“Maybe you were just going a little too fast, it’s okay we all miss stuff sometimes.”
“There is some time left, can you go back and check over your work, maybe there is something you can add to the space, while I do this?”
“This client is super particular about this, can you work on this a little more?”
“Could you do this again?”
“Try to focus on slowing down a little to make sure you're not missing things, I would rather you skip a whole area if need be.”
What to do if your partner is waiting by the door
“Hey we still have ____ minutes left, so that should be enough time to go do an extra project to fill the time.”
“Did you take the garbage out? Did you spot check windows? Do you want to double check things while I finish this up?” (Offer project ideas they can do.)
“Hey actually I am not quite done with the supplies yet, we can take them out when we are totally done, no worries thank you though.”
“Do you mind finishing mopping so I can do a quick walk through?”
“So we can’t wait by the door at the end, some clients have cameras and we have gotten complaints before. Why don’t you go see if ____ could use some touching up.”
“It is Sparklean standard to be doing something for the full time until we clock out.”
How to handle when a cleaner lied about cleaning something
Show them what you are asking about. Avoid making accusations, assumptions, or starting an argument. If they are not being truthful about if they did or did not clean something, just treat it as it is poor quality.
Do not just give in and say oh okay if it is not done well. YOU are the lead and are responsible for it in the end, avoid letting them walk over you. If it is continuously happening, we recommend coming to management about it.
“Oh okay, can you explain to me your process for this? I think it could actually get cleaner.” (Refer to How to handle poor quality.)
How to be strict without being bossy
Watch your tone, NEVER be disrespectful, put others down, mean, blame, etc. You need to lead by example and set a good one.
Avoid words such as “need to”, do not assume, do not accuse, and refer back to the phrase “Sparklean standard”.
Be objective and considerate.
Be open from the start, approach conversations as a teaching experience.
How to handle a cleaner who is being bossy
No matter what, you need to treat everyone with respect and be mature. Be respectful to them, avoid any tonnage, and do not undermine others.
Give them the opportunity to give their input and ideas. Verbally acknowledge them and weigh their ideas. In the end YOU make the decisions. We encourage you to verbalize your reasonings and game plan for the house.
Always take matters to the management team if it becomes continuous or out of control.
“I understand you had previous cleaning experience so I understand it may be hard to adjust to our Sparklean standard of how we do things.”
“Every client is different and has different expectations. I know you want to do it this way, but you have to respect their wants and follow their expectations.
How to feel confident in leading and giving feedback (and avoid conflict!)
Use “I” statements instead of “you” statements.
Instead of saying “You didn’t mop well enough. Go do it again.” (which sounds accusatory) you could say “I’m concerned about how well the mopping got done, it looks like there are some streaks on some of the hardwood and there’s some salt left on the tiles by the front door. I’m worried that the client will be really unhappy if they come home to that. Would you mind fixing it while I finish up my tasks? Increasing the amount of pressure you use and making sure to rinse and wring out the mop pad really well might help.” This shows that you are invested in their growth and in giving them ample opportunities to learn. Always have a method or piece of advice to give that may help them.
Challenge your own assumptions about how the conversation is going to go
Many people genuinely want to know, truthfully, if they’re doing well and if there is anything they could do to improve.
People crave meaningful, candid feedback from their leaders.
It’s easy to jump to worst-case-scenarios. I urge you to dismiss thoughts like “bringing this up will just make them mad at me, it will ruin our ability to work well together” as they are not reflective of reality. Sometimes personal experiences can lead you to think these things, but the more you practice approaching these situations, the more you will be able to build your confidence and feel comfortable handling those situations. We all have to start somewhere!
Focus on what can be gained by you speaking up and saying something. Compare this to what could happen if you avoided the conversation entirely. Expressing thoughts, feelings, concerns, etc. is much healthier for everybody involved and helps foster a sense of community and mutual support which is critical to overall success, confidence, and job satisfaction. There are so many consequences to not speaking up, for you, your peers, and the company as a whole, the largest being that people would be uninformed and unable to do their job to the best of their ability and wouldn’t have opportunity to build their skills.
Use empowering language, not demoralizing language
Approach situations with a mindset of helping the person grow
Tell them that you want them to succeed and express how the information you’re giving them will help them do that.
Avoid telling them that they’re “doing poorly” and instead outline how they might find ways to be more successful easier. Be clear in expressing your intentions behind the conversation. Explain the why behind the way you do things!
Relate to them by giving examples of similar things you’ve struggled with in the past and then explain - precisely - how you overcame those challenges.
View obstacles as solvable and allow that to guide your conversations. Always approach it from a position of wanting to help the other person grow and learn.
Communicate intentionally and directly with your peers.
Give lots of positive feedback always! If you create an environment of trust where they know they will be recognized for what they do well, they will be more accepting of negative feedback.
Acknowledge your own shortcomings and explain how you overcame those. Being able to relate to you will give them a lot of confidence in their own growth!