As a field service manager, it’s your job to be as actively involved with your teams as you can be, helping guide them toward your business goals. That said, it's critical to ensure that you use your time wisely. You shouldn’t have to spend hours of your day with boring paperwork or playing phone tag to check in with your teams. Empower your team by providing them with the necessary tools, resources, and accountability they need to succeed.
Here are 5 tips to help you become a more effective field manager:
1) Use technology to streamline your field service processes
Use advanced technology that will help you manage your field service teams. Leverage technology that can help you schedule projects and tasks, send instructions, and easily communicate with your teams. Avoid those long, boring spreadsheets, and let technology do the work for you!
2) Automate your HR tasks to avoid unnecessary paperwork
By implementing a software program that takes care of payroll, mileage tracking, and other HR processes for you, you won’t have to cut your workday short just to leave yourself time to complete admin tasks and get home at a reasonable time. Utilizing this technology not only makes your life easier, but also gives you more time to attend to the well being of your business. You can press on & get the physical work done, instead of worrying about when to stop to fill out reports to show exactly WHAT work was done by whom and in which locations. You can focus on what's most important - your customers.
3) Let the technology create accountability
As a manager, it's natural to want to be involved in overseeing every aspect of the company. But in reality, this just isn't sustainable. If you use a field management software, you can allow the technology to create accountability and get visibility into your employees workdays. You can more effectively build trust with your teams and customers, while being able to take a step back and focus your time where you're needed most – not double-checking all your employees’ work.
4) Track performance metrics via goals
Managers should help create goals for all of their employees and field service teams. If you use a field management software program to monitor the performance of your employees and assign tasks, you can easily track your performance metrics and see where improvement is needed. This makes it easier for you as a manager to determine in which areas you need help and how to grow your business. It also gives you the opportunity to see what's working well, so you can recognize and celebrate your team's successes.
5) Utilize GPS tracking
Once you've done your homework and decide that implementing a GPS tracking software program is the right decision for your business, it can lead to more effective management, as well as some unexpected positives. You will be ensuring the safety of your employees, while also creating transparency in outlining expectations between your company and your employees, which improves productivity and efficiency and encourages good driving behaviors.
In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, you must adapt or get left behind. Your customers are looking to you for solutions to innovate and navigate changing times, so they'll want to see companies who are using cutting-edge solutions, not those who are satisfied with status quo and doing things "the way they've always been done." By following these 5 tips and utilizing a field management software platform, like ONE by Movista, you can take a load off your plate and streamline your processes, while creating accountability and flexibility with your remote, distributed teams.