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Is efficiency just all TMI?

Published 11th October, 2024 by Kelsey Hargreaves

Kelsey Hargreaves

Kelsey Hargreaves

Technical Manager
BICSc
The British Institute of Cleaning Science

Is efficiency just all TMI?

Kelsey Hargreaves, Technical Specialist at BICSc, reports.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get put to me in the technical side of my role is: “How can we make the teams we have more efficient?” There are so many different facets to efficiency, different things that can impact it, different innovations we can introduce, different systems and practices we can adopt – all of which are very niche to the many different parts of the industry we work in, but surely there has to be something universal we can apply?

Now, I highly suggest that we don’t follow my own mantra of “a coffee an hour gives you power”, but what I can wholeheartedly back – with my doctor’s full agreement – is that efficiency, no matter what we implement, promote or introduce is only ever going to be successful with TMI – and no I don’t mean ‘too much information’!

In this instance I refer to:
Training
Mobilisation
Inspection

Let’s have a look at what I mean:

Training – we cannot expect to embed anything without first training all relevant stakeholders in the newest suggestion we have. We introduce things into our businesses on a day-to-day basis in the hope of making our services more efficient, but without training we cannot expect these introductions of innovations to take any hold. A big conversation topic throughout the industry now is robotics; we see them at every exhibition, conference and in each industry magazine. These cobotics only work if the operatives and users around these machines are trained to work with these robotics. Training in this instance reaches far beyond what the name of the robot is, or where to plug the machine in, but should also include how to put the “co” in cobotics. If we move away from the extensive chat on robotics, and talk around the use of chemicals, we can train someone how to use a certain type of chemical, but real efficient working and adoption of new methods comes from explaining ‘why’ we are using these products and again, how to use them properly.

Linking on very nicely, we have Mobilisation. Adoption of efficient introductions is only going to work if we correctly mobilise what we have trained. Training outside of the usual work area, or without the struggles of the operational environment can help the staff we have learn in a more relaxed environment. However, when we then take them from this state and place them directly into a working environment with only half of the lessons, efficiency and realism suffers. I remember the shock I had the first time I was asked to utilise disinfection machines within a working ward, after only ever being shown how to use the machine is an empty dispensing ward where I could leave my equipment charging next to the room I had practiced in! If you want a new efficient practice to be adopted, we need to either make the training environment as real as possible or show the teams we have how to implement this training in their real environment.

Which then takes me to Inspection – which we should have really named ‘check’, but TMC doesn’t really have the same ring! When we adopt new practices, we need to ensure what we are implementing is working – not just one day, one week, or one month in! Assurance checks should be completed routinely to ensure that efficiency is at the peak of its ability. Inspections into both the practice and the cleanliness of what we deliver will give us clues as to where we can improve the service we give.

Is efficiency in service delivery just TMI? I personally struggle to see how you can run a successful service without it.

www.bics.org.uk

About the contributor

Kelsey Hargreaves

Kelsey Hargreaves

Technical Manager

BICSc

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