We Value Communication and Responsiveness
By Aprille Hunter
Excellent communication skills are beneficial across every industry and at Donegan’s Tree Service, communication is our top priority. Regardless of how little the trees speak while we’re working on them, there is a lot of information the climbers and groundsmen need to be able to convey in order to perform dangerous work with no mishaps. Between alerting each other of hazards or obstacles, making sure the area is clear of people, and using teamwork to tackle large projects, staying in constant communication is a must.
Even on the back end of our procedures, when we answer phone calls and emails, clarity and responsiveness are essential to meet the expectations of our clients and maintain high standards of service. We’ve all experienced what it’s like when a business doesn’t communicate – trying to make an appointment with a pavement company and never hearing back, waiting over 30 minutes for food in a restaurant and the waiter doesn’t let you know they’re running behind, or calling a customer service hotline and you can’t seem to get past the automated voice on the other end of the line that is incapable of communicating well.
This morning, Jim and I were talking about the importance of communication, and he insightfully put together our increased text-talk and its effects on how we speak by calling it “taking short cuts in communication.” It struck a chord with me and I thought about how many times I have clipped a sentence, taking out my subjective pronouns which makes my phrases short but leaves room for misinterpretation. I become apt to type out or say “just sent it” instead of “I sent the proposal 5 minutes ago.”
To combat this, we take tasks seriously and don’t rush. The crew is briefed on every job before they visit the job site, they hold safety meetings once a week to gain preparedness and confidence in the field, we read emails twice before they are sent and double check each other’s work. We actively strive for high quality service, both on the job and behind the scenes, and we hope you’ll benefit from our work.