Your April INSIDER!

This month, we delve into the dynamic landscape of field service, where the top challenge on every leader's mind is talent acquisition; this months Ask Me Anything with Sarah Nicastro delves into this topic.

April's spotlight shines on Franklin Maxson, Vice President of Field Services at Socomec, Inc., who shares his insights on navigating the complexities of recruiting and developing high-quality talent. From prioritizing potential over experience to fostering creativity within teams, Franklin offers invaluable perspectives on shaping the future of service leadership.

We're thrilled to unveil more details about the upcoming Future of Field Service Live Tour, we announce the speaker session titles for our Stockholm event. Plus, we're excited to announce a new speaker joining us for our Cologne date, adding even more depth to our line-up of expert voices!

Future of Field Service Live 2024

Stockholm:

We are excited to announce the speaker session titles for our Stockholm event in May! Find our more about the key takeaways from each session here.

Sign up to our Stockholm Event here.

Cologne:

We are also excited to announce that Jelle Coppens , Product Domain Expert Service & Repair at 伊莱克斯 will be joining us as a fourth speaker at our Cologne event in June! The speaker session titles for this event are still to be confirmed, so keep your eyes peeled for updates.

Sign up to our Cologne Event here.

Explore this months UNSCRIPTED podcast episodes

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Name: Franklin Maxson

Job Title: Vice President of Field Services, North America

Company: Socomec, Inc.

1 - What trend or challenge is top of mind for you at the moment?

Recruiting and employee development. As an industry, we need to work on attracting, retaining, and developing high quality talent and the next generation of service leaders.?

2 - How do you nurture creativity and innovation for yourself or for your team?

Personally, I read a lot and I look to focus on areas that are not directly related to work. I packed Through Two Doors at Once, a quantum book highly recommended by a friend of mine for this trip. I also spend a lot of time in aviation to keep current on my pilots license.?

Through Two Doors at Once: The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality https://a.co/d/bQ1rEYl

For my team I look for ways to encourage them to explore other areas based on their interests. Whether book recommendations, articles, or courses.?

3 - What source of either information or inspiration has helped you/helps you most in your role? (can be a book, podcast, article, quote, website, community, mentor, famous person, etc.)

I have had the opportunity to work with or alongside several great mentors that I remain in touch with. I also follow several authors: Simon Sinek, John Maxwell, Steven Covey. And several web resources: Harvard Business Review, IEEE, Bill Gates online Journal, and have been allowing Apple News to learn to recommend leadership articles from various sources by liking them. It has become quite interesting over the last two years!

Explore this months articles

Read more of our articles here

How are organizations finding talent??

This is the #1 challenge that comes up in my conversations with service leaders and, while there isn’t one simple answer, there are some through lines of the companies who are having the most success. First is the mindset shift that they’re seeking talent, not experience – there’s a big difference, and many don’t make that distinction. Service organizations that are accustomed to hiring based on experience need to realize that model is outdated and no longer viable – you have to be willing, instead, to find talent and train that talent up for the roles you need filled.??

Companies are also getting far more creative than ever before – this means revisiting wording in job descriptions that may ostracize certain people and ensuring you’re casting a wider net and thinking out-of-the-box. One of our friends, Roy Dockery, shared at an event last year that his company had begun looking for people that had worked for Chic-fil-A since their customer service is so good. Other leaders I’ve spoken with have pointed to investing more in school and military recruiting as well as the development of programs that target recruiting in underserved communities that may not be aware of the career opportunities in field service.??

The biggest advice I can give is to completely set aside what you’ve “always done” or what’s worked in the past and get creative. Ask new hires why they joined and ask those that decline what would make them think differently – then adjust accordingly.??

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