Dave Parks, IAM, commercial plumbing at Emco, received CIPH’s Lifetime Service Award.
Grant Stuempfle (l), technical manager at Bibby-Ste-Croix, was presented the Outstanding Service Award from Jerry Fairborn, national sales manager commercial, Moen.
By Jillian Morgan
Killer leadership apps were the focus of the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH) Ontario Region Business Meeting.
The meeting was held on January 31, 2018 at the Mississauga Convention Centre in Mississauga, ON. Speaker Beth Ziesenis, or Your Nerdy Best Friend, shared key apps for leaders.
In addition to the presentation, several awards were presented to CIPH members. Grant Stuempfle, technical manager at Bibby-Ste-Croix, was presented the Outstanding Service Award. This distinction recognizes over 25 years with a CIPH company and over five years of volunteer service at CIPH.
KILLER APPS FOR CIPH LEADERS
“You have more power literally at your fingertips than has every existed in the history of the world,” said Ziesenis, who kicked off her presentation by calling on attendees to share their favourite mobile apps. She also encouraged participants to get to know one another based on the contents of their phones.
In her presentation, Ziesenis gathered advice from industry leaders at Bradford White, LynCar, G.F. Thompson, Bibby-Ste-Croix and Noble in order to share a series of relevant apps.
Listen – Paul McDonald, general manager at Bradford White Canada, said the best advice for leaders is to listen –and be prepared to accept other answers.
Ziesenis shared a few apps that could help make this task easier, such as Google Translate, Trello, a project management app, and Tunity, which allows users to stream muted live television audio to a device.
Be attentive – Understand and be attentive to the needs and aspirations of colleagues, employees, customers, superiors and suppliers, said Hart Heller, executive vice president at LynCar.
For this, Ziesenis recommends Eva by Voicera, which records, analyzes and organizes conversations, and Name Shark, an app that helps with name and face recognition.
Connect – Emotional intelligence is key to successful leadership, according to Joe Drago, product support manager at Bradford White Canada.
In order for leaders to better connect with those they work with, Ziesenis recommends Crystal, an app that tracks personality data, and cloudHQ video e-mails.
Be prepared – Be over-prepared for all interactions, recommends Josh Hopkins, vice president of sales and marketing at G.F. Thompson.
Fancy Hands, a virtual assistant app, LastPass, a password management platform, and IFTTT (If this, then that), an app that connects other applications, offer leaders an opportunity to follow Hopkins’ advice, according to Ziesenis.
Lead by example – Michael Saragosa, procurement director of plumbing at Noble, said the best advice is to lead by example and hold employees to a high standard. Productivity-based apps like Todoist and Pomodoro help in this venture.
Keep learning – Develop personal skills and choose a path, recommends Stuempfle. For this, Ziesenis recommends the Flipboard news app and Evernote, a note-based organization app.
“To say you do important work is kind of an understatement,” said Ziesenis to the audience. “Do not always do things the same way. Walk out and change the way you work with your customers,” she concluded.
The next Ontario Region Business meeting will be held on April 12, 2018. Speaker Rumeet Billan, president and CEO of Viewpoint Leadership and Jobs in Education, will give a presentation titled How to Lead Millennials. www.ciph.ca
