FACILITY HIRING GUIDE PART I
Build the Foundation
Chapter 1: Workflow Documentation
What Real Documentation Captures
Most companies hear "document your workflows" and think that means writing down procedures. “Create an SOP for handling HVAC emergencies.” “Write a checklist for contractor onboarding.” “Build a template for incident reports.”
These instructions get turned into documents that get filed in a shared drive where nobody reads them because they describe individual tasks without connecting them to the larger system.
Real workflow documentation captures how your entire maintenance operation functions as an integrated system.
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Workflows built on generalities and best practices are turned into guides that answer questions:
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When a store manager calls about a broken freezer, what happens next?
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Who determines whether this requires an emergency dispatch or can wait until morning?
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What criteria drive that decision?
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Who identifies which contractor responds based on location, capability, and current workload?
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How does pricing get validated?
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When does the coordinator escalate versus resolve independently?
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What information flows to which stakeholders at what points in the process?
The Institutional Knowledge Problem
Your maintenance operation already has answers to these questions.
The problem is those answers exist as habits and assumptions rather than documented systems.
Your experienced people know that certain contractors always inflate emergency rates, that specific stores have managers who call everything an emergency, that particular equipment types require particular specialists. This knowledge shapes every decision they make, but when a new coordinator starts, they make decisions without this context. They dispatch the wrong contractor. They approve inflated rates. They escalate issues that didn't require escalation and miss issues that did.
What Effective Documentation Delivers
Documentation means extracting the decision making framework your operation actually uses and making it visible, teachable, and repeatable.
When you document workflows properly, a new coordinator should be able to look at an incoming service request and know exactly how to handle it because the system tells them which factors to evaluate, what thresholds trigger different responses, and who owns which decisions.
Chapter 2: From Workflows to Operating Standards
Identifying What Actually Works
Once you've documented how your maintenance operation actually functions, you can see where it functions well and where it relies on workarounds. Maybe your emergency dispatch process works smoothly because your senior coordinator knows every contractor's capabilities and availability patterns.
That's great until that coordinator leaves and suddenly nobody else can make those dispatch decisions with the same confidence.
Systematize for Sustainability
The transition from workflow documentation to standard operating procedure means taking what works and systematizing it so it no longer depends on specific people. Your emergency dispatch workflow might reveal that you're actually evaluating five key factors: contractor specialty, current location, historical performance, pricing tier, and availability window. Right now those evaluations happen in someone's head. An SOP makes them explicit.
The Fatal Flaw in Most SOPs
Here's where most companies build SOPs that nobody follows: they focus on what people should do without addressing why they should do it or how to handle the situations where the standard approach doesn't fit.
A maintenance coordinator doesn't need a flowchart that says "call the nearest HVAC contractor." They need a framework that explains when nearest matters more than fastest, when fastest matters more than cheapest, and when none of those factors matter as much as the relationship strength that ensures the contractor will actually show up.
Teaching Principles, Not Just Procedures
An effective SOP captures the decision making principles that guide action rather than prescribing specific actions. When your coordinator faces a situation that doesn't match the template, they should be able to apply the underlying principles to figure out the right approach.
That means your SOP needs to teach them how experienced maintenance professionals think, not just what they do.
The Limits of Training
You can teach anyone the mechanics of maintenance coordination.
With AI, with training systems, with detailed documentation, you can teach someone how to process work orders, track invoices, and manage contractor relationships.
What you cannot teach is whether someone will care enough to apply those mechanics thoughtfully when nobody's watching. You cannot teach someone to prepare themselves mentally before their workday starts so they show up ready to handle whatever chaos emerges. You cannot teach someone to think about how their decisions affect store managers, contractors, and the larger operation.
Those qualities either exist in someone or they don't. That's why documentation comes before hiring.
You need to know what your system requires before you can identify who has the temperament to operate within it.
STRATEGY CALL
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