The good news? The home services industry is one of the skilled trades where the path to leadership is not only attainable but in high demand, with front-line techs frequently making the leap to management and even ownership.

At Wrench Group, we partner with companies that make preparing their skilled trade workers for leadership roles a priority. For Raphael Leite, HVAC operations manager at Berkeys Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical in Dallas, he started as a technician, then spent a year as the installation manager before being promoted into his current role.

“After successful years in the field, I wanted the opportunity to give back, try something new, and challenge myself in new ways,” Leite said.

Leite’s current role allows him to help the next generation of skilled technicians come up in the business, what he calls the most rewarding part of his job.

One of those next-gen leaders trained by Leite is Isaias Ayala, service manager at CoolToday Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electrical in Orlando, Florida. He was originally hired and mentored at Berkeys by Leite, where he worked for nearly three years before a team leadership opportunity opened up in Florida. Paying forward what he had learned was a big part of the motivation for the move.

“I enjoy being able to teach others rather than just fixing things myself,” Ayala said. “Personally, I get more out of training others and helping others succeed, so they have the tools to achieve a better lifestyle.”

The path to leadership was a bit different for Chase Strickland, director of the west division at Ragsdale Heating, Air, Plumbing & Electrical, a home services company in the Atlanta area. He started his career in home services 10 years ago not as a tech, but as a warehouse worker, keeping inventory, loading and unloading equipment, and organizing parts. Those skills led to a position as a data steward, then roles in customer service and dispatch, before being elevated to management roles in HVAC and plumbing, and finally his current role as a division director.

For Strickland, having the right support system in place was crucial for his success.

“There was a learning curve in all of my jobs, but I had great mentorship from those who were directly responsible for all of those areas,” Strickland said. “I had really good department managers to lean on and our COO is a great coach, and they made sure we had what we needed to be successful.”

We’ve shared some success stories, but what can your skilled trade company do to ensure they are developing the next generation of leaders across their organization? There are a number of things firms of any size can do to keep the path to leadership open:

• Communicate the opportunities available to team members: Clearly map out and visually post career path opportunities and promote jobs on internal career sites.
• Allow employees room to grow into opportunities: Come up with individual development plans for success; allow time for and encourage managers to teach, train, and coach; and identify mentors to partner with individual employees.
• Create an environment of empowerment and engagement: Be sure team members know they are a part of something bigger, and what they do matters. Also, encourage out-of-the-box thinking from your team and embrace these new ideas.

The companies that make internal promotions part of the culture — and embrace team members who express their interest in career advancement — will thrive as leadership turns over with the changing of the generations.

“Decide to be excellent at what you do and make it happen,” Leite said. “There is so much opportunity in our industry.”