Touting Training: Importance of Staff Training in a High Performance Green Cleaning Program

By Mark Petruzzi

My son recently won his first state championship event in swimming. Of course, I was tingly all over since it was also my first time as the father of the fastest 10-year-old-100-yard-breaststroke boy in the state. As I reflected on the hours of practice he’s invested to be successful in his sport, my thoughts naturally kept coming back to the importance of staff training in a high performance green cleaning program.Some of these thoughts were due to my experience with the Green Sports AllianceGreener Cleaning Playbook. If you haven’t already downloaded and read it, the Greener Cleaning Playbook contains guidance, tools and resources needed to plan and implement a successful green cleaning program. Staff training is emphasized as critical to such a program (as do many other standards and guides for green cleaning programs from Green Seal, ISSA, the Healthy Schools Campaign and others), but it’s an element that’s often overlooked or given little regular attention.As any sports fan knows, practice makes for better and higher-performing athletes. The same can be said for staff on your team — investing in training will result in better and higher-performing cleaning staffs.Let’s say you’re currently using a team cleaning system, which is comparable to team sports like baseball, football, soccer or basketball. Each player has a dedicated role, and they work together on offense or defense to score or prevent points. Middle linebackers and point guards translate to restroom and light duty specialists, only your team cleaning staff has more opportunity to rotate through positions to reduce boredom and maintain fairness.Read more here.