While many organizations talk of downsizing or even closing their doors forever I want it to be known that Horizon Services Corporation remains committed to continual growth and the creation of new opportunities.  Uncertain times such as these that make me grateful for our fiscal restraint because I know we navigate through rough waters in a seaworthy vessel. While our competitors are forced to cut jobs we welcome their employees to join the Horizon Services team. I am certain that the diverse backgrounds, skills and experiences these new employees will bring will help Horizon in our continued growth.

The news stories of doom & gloom will run for years to come but I am confident Horizon Services will not be a victim of this economy. It is my ongoing pledge to keep Horizon profitable, to find new opportunities and to assist our sales and operations teams in any way possible.

My blogging has been noticeably less frequent the past few weeks as I prepared for and attended the BSCAI convention in Chicago. It had been a few years since I last attended a convention and it was great to be around other industry leaders and talk about new trends in building services contracting.

This year I had the privilege of sitting on one of the panels for the discussion on CIMS, RBSM and CBSE Certifications. It was a pleasure to be involved in such a lively discussion and forced me to recall just how important these certifications have been in building my business.
I encourage all contractors to consider these certifications not for any cache that they carry but for the invaluable training that they
provide.

At Horizon my managers do not start out “industry” managers but are highly successful managers from outside the building services industry. The best example of this is my VP of Operations who began her professional clear as a highly successful manager in consumer banking. Since arriving at Horizon and attaining the RBSM certification Ms. Gladden has developed an operations team that has surpassed my every expectation and far exceeds the ability, depth and flexibility offered by our competition.

The certifications themselves are not where the value lies it is in the preparation. Studying and preparing for RBSM and CBSE certifications professionals are forced to understand the ins and outs of our industry and consider the logic and science behind them. The CIMS certification transformed our industry because we had to examine every procedure and consider “does this make sense?”

It is easy to forget the good in people when, as managers, we must plan for the very worst. I didn’t want to spend too much time blogging about the topic but I did want to remind myself, my managers and my readers that for the many “tough love” tactics I may encourage I have the utmost respect for the work that gets done night after night. My workforce continues to impress, astound and amaze both our customers and myself.

Heartfelt thanks to every member of my team. To those of you not affiliated with Horizon Services I thank you for your ongoing readership and encourage you to take a moment to step back and reflect on all you have gained from the commitment, sweat and loyalty of those individuals in the trenches, the very hourly employees we spend so much time discussing.