It’s always a struggle to keep our maintenance shop clean. But this spring, we hit upon a contest idea that went beyond that, and led to a reorganization and clean-up that has changed the culture of the shop as well.

At Sugar Bowl, two departments, Village Services and Base Area Maintenance, together maintain the 26 corporate buildings along with 126 private homes. The two departments oversee janitorial services for the corporate facilities and transportation needs for our snowbound Village. They also handle grocery delivery, light maintenance, airport transportation, snow removal at all buildings, and special events in the Village.

This effort is led by a staff of 10 to 12 managers. We usually hire 30 to 40 seasonal staff between the two departments. All staff bases out of our workshop, and shares a workshop of tools and supplies.

Our maintenance shop consists of three offices, a break area, locker room, and work space, all in 2,171 square feet. By the end of last season, a winter in which we had record snowfall and some very late-season snow, our workshop had become unorganized and messy. We hadn’t done a full cleanup in more than two years; parts had accumulated everywhere, making it very difficult to find items that we needed for various jobs. To complicate our lives, the long snow season left us facing a short summer season in which to get ready for the upcoming winter. And with all the snowy weather in the spring, employees were tired.

Question was, where to start on restoring the shop and our moods? I hit upon the idea of a staff team competition after a homeowner gave us a $100 tip for the work we had done this winter. The tip would become the prize money, and would go to the team that did the best job of cleanup. I figured that with the snow and weather making a mess of things outside, an indoors team competition would be the perfect use of our time.


COMPETITIVE CLEANING

To begin the competition, one of my managers and I selected seven different sections of the shop that needed the most work—mostly the small places where our equipment, parts, and tool storage are located. We taped off each section, and I then sat down and selected each team—assembling groups that would challenge each other and work well together at the same time. Everyone, from our office staff to our housekeeping staff, including me, was on a team.

We called a staff meeting and I walked the staff around to each area, and let them know who their teammates were. I then let them know they had two weeks to complete their projects. I told them we had a very limited budget for improvements and equipment. I suggested that if they did one hour a day, or a few hours every few days, they would surely be completed in time. This suggestion was met with the usual complaining and hesitation.

I then told them that the leaders of our company would be walking through our shop and reviewing our work. These leaders would also attend a party in celebration of our new, cleaned-up shop, and vote for the area that they were most impressed with, complete with before-and-after pictures. The winning team would win a $100 prize.

Once the party and award were announced, the mood changed. Several staff members started challenging each other and bragging about their plans to win the prize and get all the glory.

After that meeting, the ideas kept coming. One staff member persuaded a tool supplier to donate an organization rack for our nuts and bolts. Another staff member sanded and re-painted the break table. From that point on, staff were taking daily action to make their areas of responsibility much nicer. Some staff asked to come in for an extra day of work to really focus on their area.

For the first time in quite some time, the staff was smiling.

The teams had free range on how to approach the task. They could do nothing to their section, or totally change it. But they also knew that the company’s leaders would be reviewing each area, and would eventually learn which employees were responsible for the final outcome for each section. That provided additional motivation. Even so, only two groups asked for any extra budget, and at that, each spent no more than $50.

The results were fantastic. The teams were very creative in the solutions they came up with. Our shop is now much better organized, and the staff has a good incentive to keep it that way.

When we had the celebration party, the crews were so proud of their areas that they asked if some of their co-workers in other departments could visit to see their work. We decided that the changes were so great that we should invite all staff who were working that day. About 30 to 35 summer staff showed up and voted. As they walked around the different areas, some of the cleanup team members were hanging near their sections to see what their peers thought.


THE PAYOFFS

The overall result has exceeded my expectations. Not only do we have more space, but more room for parts and supplies as they come in.

The greatest change, perhaps, is that we save time looking for parts when we need them. For instance, while we were cleaning up the shop, we found several water-reducing showerheads that were purchased years earlier. They had been pushed aside, forgotten, and never installed. We are now installing them to further our green efforts at the resort.

The contest has also given the technicians a sense of ownership in and pride for their work areas. Since the competition I have heard staff remark, “Hey, don’t be leaving that mess in my section, don’t you see how good it looks?” That determination and involvement in maintaining our new level of organization may well be the most important impact.