NWFA University: The Answer to Training Staff and Growing as a Business

By Megan Lhamon, NWFA

Recent business trends have been showing an increased importance for investing in your employees and showing them you care about their well-being. One way to invest in your employees’ growth, while also growing your own business, is providing them with training opportunities to help them stay current with our ever-changing business world.

One of our new members, Phillips’ Floors, has taken the initiative with their employees using NWFA University. I recently sat down with Scott Laube, Vice President of Sales at Phillips’ Floors, who mentioned NWFA’s online university was a main factor in their decision to join NWFA.

With new business constantly coming their way, Scott said it has been a struggle to grow enough highly trained installers and finishers to keep up. Since sending out poorly trained technicians isn’t an option, Scott and his team researched and discussed various ways to better train their staff and grow as a business. When Scott read about NWFA University, it was obvious to him that this was a pretty easy first step they needed to take.

Initially, the goal in giving their employees access to NWFA University was to show them Phillips’ Floors is invested and interested in their professional growth. As they have advanced through the program, Scott says the firm knowledge base that NWFAU provides has influenced them to require all flooring technicians to go through the full courses prior to promotion.

Even though many of the employees at Phillips’ Floors have years of experience under their belt, Scott said through NWFA University there have been many new interesting points and ideas presented that have expanded their expertise. Employees have had to pay strong attention through the course work to pass the tests and move forward to other courses. Scott has received positive feedback from his participating employees who take pride in becoming more highly qualified and feeling better trained to assist customers.

Although Phillips’ Floors currently has all the business they can handle and more, Scott knows there will be times when they’ll need to compete for projects and he feels that having the most highly qualified hardwood flooring people in their area will be a huge benefit in those scenarios.

To learn more about getting involved with NWFA University, visit our website at www.nwfa.org/nwfa-university.aspx.

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