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. 

• Workflows built on generalities and best practices are turned into guides that answer questions:

• When a store manager calls about a broken freezer, what happens next? 

• Who determines whether this requires an emergency dispatch or can wait until morning? 

• What criteria drive that decision? 

• Who identifies which contractor responds based on location, capability, and current workload? 

• How does pricing get validated? 

• When does the coordinator escalate versus resolve independently? 

• 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 3: A Job Description That Reflects Reality

Beyond Generic Responsibilities

With your workflows documented and your SOPs built, you finally know what the maintenance coordinator role actually requires. Not the generic responsibilities every job description lists, but the specific capabilities someone needs to operate your particular system.

Most job descriptions read like they were written by someone who's never done the job. "Manage vendor relationships. Coordinate maintenance activities. Process work orders efficiently." These phrases mean nothing to candidates because they could describe anything from a coordinator who answers phones and enters tickets to one who manages a $2 million contractor network across a hundred locations.

Scenario Based Role Definition

Your job description should make a qualified candidate read it and think "I understand this role." 

That means describing the real challenges they'll face and the real decisions they'll make. 

When three stores report HVAC issues on the same day and you have two contractors available, how do you determine which stores get serviced first? 

When a contractor's invoice comes in 30% higher than the quote, what factors help you decide whether that's justified or inflated? 

When a store manager insists their situation is an emergency but your dispatch criteria suggest otherwise, how do you handle that conversation?

These scenarios belong in your job description because they show candidates what the role actually involves. 

A coordinator who's managed large multi site operations will recognize these situations and know they have the experience to handle them. Someone who's been processing tickets at a single facility will realize this role requires capabilities they haven't developed yet. The candidates who keep reading are the ones who see themselves succeeding in the specific challenges your operation presents.

The 40/60 Rule: Aptitude vs. Temperament

What matters more than experience? Temperament. 

You're looking for maybe forty percent job aptitude and sixty percent personality. Someone who's been in facility maintenance for ten years but doesn't think about how their decisions affect other people will struggle in a coordinator role that requires constant judgment calls. Someone with eighteen months of maintenance experience who naturally considers consequences and thinks systemically can learn everything else they need.

Chapter 5: Creating an Environment Where Excellence Becomes Standard

What Culture Actually Means

When you hire a coordinator into a documented system with clear standards, that's when the real work begins. Not the work of managing maintenance, the work of building an environment where people show up ready to do their best.

Most companies think culture means perks. Free coffee, casual Fridays, team lunches. These things are fine but they're not culture. Culture is whether people feel like their work matters, whether they trust that doing the right thing gets recognized, whether they believe their manager genuinely cares about them as humans and not just as resources.

The Foundation: Genuine Care

Here's what that actually looks like in practice. Your one on ones with your coordinator shouldn't start with "How's work going?" They should start with "How's life treating you right now? How's your family?" You need to know what's happening in their life because what's happening in their life affects how they show up to work. When someone's dealing with a sick parent or a kid struggling in school or any of the thousand other things that make life complicated, they need to know you see them as a person dealing with real things, not just as someone who processes work orders.

Care Without Compromise

This isn't about being soft or lowering standards. It's about creating the foundation that makes high standards possible. Someone who knows you care about them as a person will push themselves harder than someone who thinks you only care about their output. They'll tell you when they're struggling instead of hiding it. They'll ask for help instead of making mistakes they tried to cover up. They'll stay when things get difficult instead of leaving for slightly better pay somewhere else.

Demonstrating Care Through Action

You demonstrate care through action, not words. When bad weather hits where your coordinator lives, you check in before you ask about work. You notice details about what matters to them and you remember those details. If they mention their kid plays soccer, you ask how the season's going. If they're dealing with a home repair, you follow up on whether it got resolved. These small acts of attention accumulate into trust.

Accountability Within the Family Model

But care doesn't mean accepting mediocrity. In fact, the opposite. When you genuinely care about someone, you hold them to high standards because you want them to succeed. You give them direct feedback when they're falling short. You coach them through challenges instead of just pointing out failures. You're honest about what needs to improve while also being clear that you believe they can improve it.

The family over everything mindset means your coordinator knows their personal family comes first, but it also means they're part of a work family that holds each other accountable. When someone isn't meeting standards, they're letting down people who care about them and who they care about. That matters more than any policy or consequence you could implement.

When Someone Must Leave

When someone does need to leave, whether because they can't execute or because they stopped trying, you can have that conversation from a place of care rather than frustration. You're not angry at them. You're disappointed for them because this role isn't the right fit, but that doesn't mean they lack worth or capability. It means this particular system requires something they don't have or aren't willing to give, and that's okay. Better to recognize it now than to let them struggle indefinitely.

Chapter 7: The Player Coach Approach

Beyond Managing From Distance

Most operations managers sit in offices reviewing reports and sending directives. They manage from a distance based on data. When something goes wrong, they ask questions about what happened and issue instructions for how to fix it. This creates a gap between the people doing the work and the people managing the work.

Operational Depth as Management Foundation

The player coach model means you're in the details with your coordinator. You know exactly what they're dealing with because you could step in and do their job if needed. You understand the specific contractors they're managing, the particular challenges of your stores, the nuances of how your escalation process works in practice versus theory. When they hit a problem, you're not just telling them what to do. You're working through it with them based on shared understanding of the real situation.

Coaching From Authority

This doesn't mean micromanaging. It means coaching from a position of deep operational knowledge. Your coordinator knows you understand what they're up against because you demonstrate that understanding constantly. When they make a decision you would have made differently, you can explain why without it feeling like criticism because they know you've made the same type of decision hundreds of times.

The Details That Demonstrate Commitment

You track details that matter to your people. You know what time zone they're in. You know what the weather's like where they live. You know the names of their family members and what's going on in their lives. These details don't make you a better manager directly, but they demonstrate a level of attention that raises everyone's game. When people see you paying attention to things that don't show up in reports, they pay more attention themselves.

Replicating the Model

The player coach model scales when you hire your replacement using the same criteria. You need someone who will care about your coordinators as much as you do. Someone who will be in the details not because they don't trust people but because they genuinely want to understand what everyone's dealing with. Someone who sees their job as developing people, not just managing processes.

You can teach someone your systems. You can train them on your standards. You can show them how to analyze data and identify problems. What you cannot teach is whether they'll invest the emotional energy to build real relationships with the people they manage. Either they have that temperament or they don't. And if they don't, everything else they know doesn't matter because they can't create the culture that makes people want to stay and grow.

Chapter 8: Why This Approach Succeeds Where Others Fail

The Perpetual Hiring Cycle

Companies that hire without documentation keep hiring the same problems. They bring in someone new, watch them struggle with the same issues their predecessor struggled with, and conclude they need to hire better people. Then they hire someone with more experience and better credentials and watch them struggle with the same issues because the issues aren't about the person. They're about the absence of systems.

Infrastructure That Enables Success

When you build documentation first, you're not just preparing to hire better. You're building the infrastructure that lets any strong hire succeed. Your new coordinator doesn't spend six months figuring out how your operation works through expensive trial and error. They spend their first week learning your documented workflows and SOPs, and they start making good decisions immediately because the system guides them.

Retention Through Meaningful Work

This approach also changes retention fundamentally. Coordinators don't leave after eighteen months because they failed. They left because the job was chaotic and they got tired of fighting fires without the tools to prevent them. When you hire someone into a well documented system and then build a culture that recognizes and rewards consistent excellence, they can see their impact. They can improve processes instead of just surviving them. They can develop expertise instead of constantly starting over.

The Real Cost of Shortcuts

The documentation work feels like it slows down hiring. You want to post a job description and start interviewing tomorrow. Building workflows and SOPs first means investing weeks before you even start the hiring process. But that investment changes everything that comes after. You hire coordinators who succeed, stay, and build on the systems you've created instead of reinventing everything each time someone new arrives.

And the hiring itself becomes more efficient. When you know exactly what temperament and capabilities the role requires, you can identify wrong fit candidates in the first five minutes of an interview. You're not wasting time on people who look good on paper but won't thrive in your specific operation. You're focusing your energy on candidates who have the character foundation to build on.