Let's Talk Cabling!

Mastering Professionalism: Insights from ITSIMM and Real-World Experiences

Chuck Bowser, RCDD, TECH

Send us a text

Ever wondered how maintaining professionalism can elevate your career? Today, we’re diving into that very topic, with insights pulled from my day job and the revered Information Technology Systems Installation Methods Manual (ITSIMM). We'll start with an engaging acronym challenge centered on ITSIMM to set the stage. Reflecting on interactions with highly professional customers, we’ll discuss how best practice manuals help technicians learn from seasoned experts. We’ll also share a personal touch by chatting about your favorite beverages, creating a community vibe as we explore the key aspects of professionalism.

Beyond appearances, we’re getting into the heart of what it means to be truly professional. Integrity, responsibility, and excellence are more than just buzzwords; they’re the cornerstones of building trust and advancing your career. We’ll share five essential tips for staying professional, from securing licenses and certifications to refined communication and respectful behavior. Personal stories, like my own eye-opening college experience, underline the importance of communication and continuous learning. Stay tuned to discover how professional journals, training sessions, and safety meetings can keep you at the top of your game in an ever-evolving industry.

Support the show

Knowledge is power! Make sure to stop by the webpage to buy me a cup of coffee or support the show at https://linktr.ee/letstalkcabling . Also if you would like to be a guest on the show or have a topic for discussion send me an email at chuck@letstalkcabling.com

Chuck Bowser RCDD TECH
#CBRCDD #RCDD

Speaker 1:

Wednesday night, 6 pm, eastern Standard Time. That can only mean one thing Live after hours with your favorite RCDD. Make sure you tell me your favorite RCDD. And we're going to talk about tonight professionalism, professionalism. It's kind of ironic, I didn't plan it this way, but it certainly happened this way. On my day job. I got to go meet with some customers today and I'm telling you it really kind of reinforced me why professionalism is critical, because everybody I met with today was on top of the game. They were the highest, highest of the professionalism game.

Speaker 1:

But before we get started, you know've got to do the usual routine First. We'll start off with the acronym challenge. The acronym challenge for today is what does ITSIM mean? I-t-s-i-m-m. What does that acronym mean ITSIM? It has something to do with tonight's show. I'll explain in just a minute. Give everybody a few seconds to type it in. What does it's-em, i-t-s-i-m-m mean? Right, give everybody a few seconds there. All right, giving once, giving twice. It stands for yes, john got it not well, almost close. Uh, wise component says information technology systems, installations, methods, manual. 10 000 points to wise components because they got it correct. Good job, wise components. How'd I know you guys were going to get that. Right, that's a good one. Um, yeah, it's the book for which everything tonight's show is going to be based on.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all this information is from that book. Now I don't have a hard copy like I do with my TDMs I got a soft copy for that but all this information I'm going to give you is right from the book and it's right from Chapter 3. Chapter 3 is the safety and professionalism chapter. So, if nothing else, hopefully this will give you the sense of just how valuable these best practice manuals are. You know, I tell people all the time do you want to be a good technician, do you want to be a better technician or do you want to be the best technician? Good technicians follow the codebook and that's all they follow. The better technicians follow the standards. The best technicians follow the best practice manuals, because best practice manuals have been written by industry professionals who have tons and tons of experience willing to share it with you. Industry professionals who have tons and tons of experience willing to share it with you. They help you from duplicating the hardships and the mistakes that they did. So if you follow the best practice manuals, it's going to really, really help you do a good job. Ed the old tech guy says the industry refuses acronyms all the time. Makes me nuts. Yes, reuses, oh yeah, it does, absolutely. Oh, you know we forgot to do.

Speaker 1:

What are you drinking? What are you drinking? Tell us in the chat box what are you drinking. So tonight I am drinking water. I ran out of Zevia sodas. I ran out of Zevia sodas why, for instance, it's in the house. So I ran out of Ziggy soda. So I'm using this thing that my wife buys. It's drops that you can put in there. I put it up so the TikTok people can see it. You just give that a squirt. Give that a squirt in your water Helps, give it a little bit of flavor. That's what I'm drinking tonight. So tell us, let me see Wise Components drinking iced coffee.

Speaker 1:

Anthony's drinking Nice. I like tea. I like peaches. I don't know if I like peach tea, never tried it. Shotzi's in the house. Shotzi's drinking a Dr Dye pepper, again, as usual. Oh, that's good stuff, man. Good, good, good stuff, all right.

Speaker 1:

So now let's talk about professional.

Speaker 1:

What does it mean?

Speaker 1:

What is the definition? Tell me in the chat box. Tell me in the chat box what is your definition, or what does it look like to you when somebody's a professional right A professional. So the definition that I came up with and I don't remember where I got this, I had to do this a couple weeks back for something else, but I'm just going to read you the definition it's professionalism is more than just dressing well or having a polished resume. It's all about conducting yourself in a manner that reflects integrity, responsibility and excellence in all aspects of your job. Right, how cool is that? That is the best, the best definition that I've heard of for for professionals.

Speaker 1:

Now, again, we're going to go through the five areas in just a minute, but you know, I want to talk about the benefits of acting like a professional. I guarantee you, everybody watching this podcast tonight, guarantee it, as I go through this, you could probably come up with one or two or three examples of people who have made the mistakes and I'm going to talk about tonight. Now I will tell you this I'm going to go through a lot of content tonight. I hope I doubt I'll get it through in 30 minutes, but but I will tell you this If you hit, if you, if one of the two of these things describes you, that doesn't make you a nonprofessional, but if the majority of the stuff I say in the night is what you do, then you might want to take a better look at yourself.

Speaker 1:

So here's the reasons why you want to act like a professional. Oh, great one there, daryl the RCDD, and I'm going to talk about that here in just a second. I guess the first one building trust and credibility. I'm going to talk about that here in just a second. I guess the first one Building trust and credibility. When you act like a professional, it builds trust with your peers, your customers, fellow members on the committee members, right, and it makes you credible. You know, that's why I always used to hate it. One of my bosses I won't say who it was One of my bosses. What they used to do is when we used to have internal meetings and if he was really mad at somebody he would dress them down. That's not professional and I lost, in my eyes, that boss lost credibility, right.

Speaker 1:

Another benefit of acting like a professional career advancement Career advancement is going to open up potential doors for you for new jobs, right, the potential for maybe working with a new customer. It's going to enhance the workplace relationship because it fosters better relationships and a positive working environment, you know, and a positive working environment. You know, everybody is more efficient, everybody works better when the workplace is positive. That was one of the companies I went to today. I really, really enjoyed seeing them all interact with each other. You could tell they really like working with each other. Right, it's going to give you improved customer satisfaction and it's going to help you for your growth, for your personal growth and your career growth. So there's lots and lots of great advantages as to acting like a professional.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about this. So tonight's thing, like I said, it's really going to be broken up into five sections. So let me put up the banner for the first section. Let me flip over here to design. So the first section we're going to talk about is credentials and the ability to work. Credentials and the ability to work what does that mean? So I'm going to give you five tips in this section. Right Again, number one make sure that you secure and maintain right.

Speaker 1:

Secure and maintain right, secure and maintain any licenses or certifications that's required of you by the AHJ in the low-voltage industry. I'm not talking about RCDs, I'm not talking about technicians or installer or CFOTs, none of that stuff. What I'm talking about here is there are some areas of the country and I actually just did a TikTok video about this today is there are some areas of the country and I actually just did a TikTok video about this today. Some areas of the country low voltage people are required to get a license, just like journeyman electricians are okay. So make sure that if you have to get that, that you get it and you maintain it. A lot of people do the first half, but they forget to do the latter half right. Then the next thing is obtain credentials and certifications that will help you with your job Again.

Speaker 1:

Now this is where the RCDD comes into play. This is where the Bixi Tech, the Bixi Installer, copper Installer, fiber the FOA Certified Fiber Optic Technician you go to Cydia. The Cydia is C-T-S-I-C-T-S-D, if I remember right. Get those Now. That seems pretty simple.

Speaker 1:

Here's one in the ability to work section that most people don't think about Maintain a valid driver's license. Maintain a valid license, driver's license, maintain a valid license. Now, a lot of technicians, you know they will drive the speed limit when they're in a company van, they will use their turn signal, they will put their seatbelt on, they will follow all the rules. They'll have their hands on 10 and 2 because they are a professional when they're behind the wheel of their work truck or their van. I'm going to tell you this you better be doing that when you're driving your car as well. Now you might be thinking well, chuck, if I'm off the clock, why does it matter? If you get a DWI, if you get a DUI, if you get a felony speeding ticket, you may lose the ability to drive a vehicle. Let me know in the chat box if you've ever worked with somebody who's had their company driving privileges suspended because of something that they did driving on their own hours, right? So a good professional is going to do that. They're going to maintain their driver's license, right? You may also have to. You might have to obtain additional work operation licenses where necessary Did a project in Miami and we were doing some satellite installs there.

Speaker 1:

They were putting satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings. So we got, we had these specific stands and we had these stands were held down to the roof by center blocks. So we were buying center blocks by the thousands, thousands. So what we did was one of the guys we rented a really big U-Haul truck it was like 28 feet long and they went to Lowe's and they loaded them up with cinder blocks. Well, you need a CDL to drive that. Right, you need a CDL to drive that.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one that's going to be able to affect your ability to work is refrain from acts that can negatively impact your background or your security check. Now, this, this one, really came on over the last probably five or 10 years. Right, because the government's doing a lot of work out there and there's a lot of places, when you're doing government work, that they will do a background check. They you will have to get a security clearance. Well, you know, if you just had a bankruptcy or if you are hanging out with the wrong kind of people, that might affect the ability for you to be able to get that background check or that security clearance. And then you now you don't have the ability to work. Okay, you don't have the ability to work, you don't have the ability to work, you just don't.

Speaker 1:

Let's go on to the next major session. There we go Personal image and ethos. Personal image and ethos. So I've got about six in here for you. So this is critical because you want to make sure that you craft an image of trustworthiness and competence. If I'm a customer and a crew of technicians comes on my property to do cabling and they show up in a Bahama shirt, crocs and shorts, that doesn't make me feel well about their ability, right? Doesn't make me feel well about their ability.

Speaker 1:

Another one, too, is the using company property. Using company property, for example, like cell phones, right. Is that person using their cell phone for work purposes or are they using it for personal purposes? What kind of websites, what kind of things are you looking up on that phone? Because I guarantee you a cell phone. We can stretch this to a computer too. If you're looking up stuff on the phone, the internet, whether your computer or your phone, that you're not supposed to be doing, somebody's watching that. Oh, that's a great one there. Wise Components Company credit cards are not personal credit cards. I like that one, yes, yes. So yeah, watch out for company. If you're issued a company credit card, don't go out buying personal stuff with it. Right? A professional is not going to do that.

Speaker 1:

Can you manage your time effectively? I'll be honest with you. I struggle with this one. This one hit a little too close to home for me, because I'm juggling three things. I'm juggling my day job. I'm juggling the podcast and I'm juggling a farm and I haven't been doing so well on my podcast scheduling stuff. There's a couple of meetings that I've missed because I just haven't been doing good at it. I got to get back on it right.

Speaker 1:

Another one be punctual and minimize absences. Yeah, if you're supposed to be there at 8 o'clock, be there at 8 o'clock. If not, before that, 8.05 is not 8 o'clock. Now we can get into the argument. Well, chuck, if I show up at 7.45 and start working at 7.45 and then the company owes me 15 minutes of pay, that's a different conversation. But if your company start time is 8 o'clock, don't be walking through the door at 8.01. To pay, that's a different conversation. But if your company start time is eight o'clock, don't be walking through the door at 8.01. Be at your desk, be at your workstation, be where the pulling the cable, determining you'd be there and you are ready to work at the time that you're assigned. That's what professionals do. That's what professionals do.

Speaker 1:

Another one handle purchase orders and sensitive materials responsibly. When I worked for Hinkles and McCoy a long, long time ago, somebody says if you're early on time, yeah, my dad always used to say if you're 15 minutes early, you're five minutes late. That's what my dad always used to say All right, get back, handle purchase orders and sensitive materials responsibly. So I've worked with people before where the project managers, where they got assigned a project and because there was no balance and checks on the purchase orders and they knew that the local gray bar was trying to, they were giving away free vacations to people who hit certain dollar values and orders. Well, because of that, we ended up with $25,000 worth of metal wire mold that was ordered for a job, that wasn't bid in the job and sat in the warehouse for a year. So that was a huge, huge legal problem because we tried to get it, give it back to him, get our money back, and someone was damaged from sitting in a warehouse. There you go All kinds of problems.

Speaker 1:

A professional wouldn't do that. A professional would not do that and they would also handle their sensitive materials correctly. Again, if you're doing work in like for the federal government, right, if you are working in areas where it requires those clearances, mind your P's and Q's. Don't be scanning people's desk. You focus on what you're supposed to be doing Right and maintain confidentiality. Maintain confidentiality, actually. You know, actually, this happened to me today. Somebody called me today to ask me about something that happened with somebody else, and it involved a situation that I don't really want to get into, and I just told them that's not my story, even though I knew what the answer was. I told them that's not my story to tell. If you want to know what happened between those two individuals, you need to go talk to those two individuals. It wasn't my place to tell it. It wasn't my place to tell it. Nope, nope, nope was not.

Speaker 1:

The next one is interpersonal skills. Change the graphic there. Interpersonal skills no, no, no, don't go away. Come back. I hate graphics. Inventory is not personal material. Yeah, oh, that's a good one too. That's stealing. That is basically stealing Interpersonal skills. So you want to make sure that you do everything you can to cultivate and maintain a professional demeanor, and here's some ways you can do that.

Speaker 1:

Number one attend every training that the company offers you. You know the harassment training, the sensitivity training, the diversity training, even if you disagree with it. If you disagree with you, know your political values, diametrically opposed to it. Still attend it, always attend it with an open mind. Everything I go to, whether I agree with people or not, I go to with an open mind, hoping that I can glean something from that meeting or that discussion that I can take in my life and be better, even if you disagree with somebody's opinion. Maybe you might disagree with me because I got a bald head, and because I have a bald head, you might write me off because I don't know how to do gardening. Because I got a bald head, you might miss out on something Interpersonal skills Be courteous. Be courteous, and here's one Stay away from using vulgar language.

Speaker 1:

I know it's hard sometimes, especially when you get a couple guys together on a job site. I get it, I get it. But what you may not know is if it's just you and a peer working on a job site, on a construction site, and you start oh you, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Yeah, you're harassing each other, I get that. But you know what? There might be somebody around the corner who might be hearing all that and that's not good. It's not good.

Speaker 1:

The best thing to do is just remove vulgarity from your language. 100%, right, 100%, ed. The old tech guy says 100%, especially around women, children and grandmas. I agree with you, ed, but I'd say, take it one step further and have respect Ed, the old tech guy. He's on the TikTok, feed Him and I are friends. We shared food together when I was in Chicago. We had dinner together. One day, I hope to meet his family. I am going to talk to his family the exact same way I talk to Ed. Ed, have you ever heard me utter a vulgar word? I'm not going to say I don't. I haven't said a vulgar word, but I don't.

Speaker 1:

If you start maintaining these two different spheres like you act and talk one way in front of your friends and you act and talk one way in front of your friends and you act and talk another way in front of customers or their family there will come a time. There will come a time where you will slip up and talk like you're talking to your buddy in front of their family or in front of customers. So the best thing to do is to just get rid of that language. And again, I am not perfect by this, by any stretch of imagination, but I learned this lesson when I was in college. I went to college late in life.

Speaker 1:

I was in my mid-30s and on one of the classes I was taking, we had to do presentations and the learning team was on. We were doing our presentation. There was five of us on the team. When it came my time to do my part of the presentation, I did the presentation and then afterwards the rest of the class got to ask us questions and give us feedback. And so when they did that, one of the persons said the feedback said Chuck, man, you did really good. Man, your language is horrible. And here's the thing. Good, but man, your language is horrible. And here's the thing I become so numb to vulgarity that I didn't even know that I was using vulgar language. You don't realize how much you cuss until you try to stop cussing, right? So that's the biggest one there, right? Also, avoid arguing and being confrontational. I work on this one. I work on this one a lot.

Speaker 1:

Some people you know well in our industries like this. Right, this absolutely happens a lot of times. Somebody will say something well, hey, I need you to go down to the IDF and go get blah, blah, blah. Well, it's not an IDF, that's a TR. I guess because you're not a Bixie certified technician, you don't know that You're stupid. Let's not do that.

Speaker 1:

A professional would just let that slide, because they understand that some people communicate using the old acronyms, some people communicate using new acronyms. Does it really matter and what did you really benefit from being confrontational? Address other people in a professional manner. We're great at doing this with customers. Do it with your peers on the job site. Do with your the people back in the office. All right, you know this happens too often. I've seen it happen. Many times. I've seen technicians come in the front door and totally ignore or do something to disrespect the person who's sitting at the reception desk, whether it's your company or your customer's company. You, they'll disrespect the receptionist. Um, you don't know, you never know, but that that receptionist might be the owner's wife, might be the owner's son or daughter who's just working there for the summer. Treat everybody with respect and last one for interpersonal skills answer your phone. Answer your phone, return phone calls within voicemails within 24 hours and do it professionally. Do it professionally, okay.

Speaker 1:

Now let's move to on-site activities, changing to the next graphic, other ways to make sure that you're acting like a professional, okay. So on-site activities Park your vehicle in appropriate places. I understand that it's hard to find a parking space for that Econoline van in downtown Chicago. I understand that construction site where they got a special area for people, for the construction workers to park. I understand it. Park there. If that's where you told the park, then do it Period, even if it means you have to walk. Daryl the RCDD he's in the TikTok feed, he'll probably tell you this. When we were doing the renovations for the Pentagon, the Pentagon was still operational, so everybody who's worked in the Pentagon was still parking in the parking lot. So our parking spaces was literally three-quarters of a mile away from the building Because that's where we were told to park. Right.

Speaker 1:

Make sure that you use the site's phone or break rooms and facilities only when you're given permission to do so. So what happens a lot of times is that break room is for the employees of the company. Don't go in and just sit down and take over, because you might have muddy boots and a bunch of other stuff. Find a place to go eat it's that simple and make sure that you communicate professionally with all those other people on that job site All those other people on that job site, because that's going to help you do a lot.

Speaker 1:

The next main area for acting like a professional is to remain current. Remain current. Make sure you attend those training classes. Make sure you do. I've said this a million times Our industry moves at the speed of light. The way that we installed cable two years ago is not necessarily the same way we're doing it now. Stay up to date on the latest installation, certification, training, design techniques. And how do you do that? You can do that by attending manufacturer classes. You can do that by following the webinars, like Cable Installation and Maintenance Magazine webinars.

Speaker 1:

And I just came across another set of webinars. Whose was it? It's somebody that I'm interviewing for an upcoming show. Dang it, I can't remember it. I'll put it in the description down below. When I get there, when I remember it right, make sure that you read professional journals and standards and code. And if you don't understand something in any one of those, ask somebody. Ask somebody to help explain stuff to you. Right, wise component says they have an upcoming training in October in New York City, nice. I wish I could come. I really wish I could come. So yeah, cable Installation Mainland Magazine is a good one. There are other magazines out there you really should be reading.

Speaker 1:

Make sure you also attend your safety meetings. Make sure you also attend trade shows. That's a great way to act like a professional and stay current. Just to kind of give an example for safety meetings, I learned my CPR training when I was an EMT 25 years ago, maybe 30 years ago. It's a long time ago. You don't even do CPR that way anymore. They've changed the way you do CPR now, right. So, yeah, also, make sure Macy's across 305 is where they park now. Yeah, and that's a long walk. That's a long walk, right.

Speaker 1:

Next next section is and this is actually I've already done five. This one's a bonus one. I told you five, but this is six. This is number six. Support your employers and your peers. Support your employers and your peers. What do I mean by that? Number one comply with the policies and the procedures of the company. They're there for a reason, and usually the company policies and procedures are because somebody else did something horribly wrong. Wise Component says Las Vegas, viva, las Vegas, bixie Conference. I wish I could go. I wish I could go. Somebody has a quick question? Quick, random question Does indoor, outdoor armored fiber need to be bonded to a ground? Yes, it does, on both sides. All right, so you support your employers and peers Um. So again, comply with the company policies that's just gonna make everybody easier and make sure that you assist colleagues in obtaining their, their um, their certifications. You know I'm doing that. I've got to an RC study group.

Speaker 1:

People reach out to me questions all the time about how to do things and I get that information out freely. It used to be Project Form and stuff would not do that. They would keep that information close to their chest. They didn't want to tell you anything because they were afraid if they told you something that you might take their job, who cares if they take your job right? Daryl, the RCD on the TikTok feed says don't be the reason for the new policy. That's great advice. That is great advice, daryl. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

Also, make sure that you report the time spent on your job ethically and accurately. Ethically and accurately. So that means don't fluff your time sheet. If you're late from coming back from your lunch, you took a 90-minute lunch instead of a 60-minute lunch, or a 60-minute lunch instead of a 45-minute lunch. Put that on your time sheet. Do that professionally.

Speaker 1:

Make sure that you use your tools and the materials ethically. I already talked about you know that wire, mold and if, and make sure that you use the tool for its correct purpose. It's correct purpose because if you don't number one, you could damage that tool, make that tool, the lifespan of tool shorter and you might get hurt. So make sure that you use it the right way. Wise component says remember it is okay to be confident and be your own cheerleader as long as you're not bragging. Oh, absolutely Absolutely. And Ed Diltek says make sure you clean your tools. Oh, I heard my dad when I read that one I did. Now here's one last thing. And then this is the last one I have for tonight and this is probably going to rub some people wrong. Anthony, you let me know how you do this Right.

Speaker 1:

Maintain your company vehicle appearance and operation. If you are issued one, all right. If you issued a company vehicle, wash the thing, keep it clean. Don't let an accumulation of candy wrappers get up on the dash. Treat that vehicle I can't say treat like your own, because some people don't treat their vehicles that good right. Treat your company vehicle like it's your mom's car, like it's your future spouse's car, your future boyfriend or girlfriend's car. Keep it clean and do the walk around in the morning. Walk around and just kind of look at the air tires, make sure there's nothing got damaged, check the oil and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

And if you have a if they have a some companies that let people, their technicians, drive trucks. They have their tickets that they got to fill out like a weekly vehicle inspection sheet, sometimes a daily vehicle inspection sheet Fill it out. I understand we don't like paperwork, I understand that, but that's to prompt you to do things to keep that vehicle running, because the longer they can keep that vehicle running, the more they can get out of that vehicle. That's going to help that company financially be benefited from that. And then that's going to help you If you're the only technician who I used to wash and wax my company van all the time, dress the tires, you could eat off the interior of my company truck and I was one of very few people in my company that did that. But you know what that meant. That meant every time they bought a new company vehicle, who do you think got it? I did because they knew they I was going to take care of it if they were, if they wanted to send the technician to a customer that they knew that that customer, that their, that customer's hot button is that had professionalism stuff they would send me because they knew my truck was clean, organized, taken care of.

Speaker 1:

I had my pants on my steel-toed boots, I had my PPE, except for when I'm mowing my lawn, oops. Oh hey, did you see my new hard hat? I got a new hard hat. Hold on, I had to go do a walkthrough on a job site today. Well, I was scheduled to go on a walkthrough job site today. And remember a few scheduled to go on a walkthrough job site today and remember a few episodes back I told you that my hard hat expired. I had to go get a new one. Yeah, here's my new hard hat. Yes, yep, very cool man, been wanting one of these for a while, alrighty. So that was the last tip I had.

Speaker 1:

Let me go ahead and flip this back over and see if anybody had any in the comment section that I missed. Quality, workmanship and attitude Absolutely Shotzi. Absolutely my friend, alrighty. So let me see if anybody has any questions up here before I close out. I really thought I was going to go longer than that 30 minutes. Somebody says we have a service that cleans all of our delivery trucks and vehicles weekly Nice. Well, wise Components, you're actually in a little bit different scenario because you have big delivery trucks and I'm assuming you probably don't let those people drive those home. A lot of times technicians are issued, you know, sprinter vans and stuff like that, where they do take them home and there's not a service that can do that. So I understand that 100%. All righty. So that was the last thing that I have for tonight's live stream. So until next time, remember knowledge is power.

Speaker 2:

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.

People on this episode