Hi Leadership Community,

I want to share something Don Gillis said partway through our conversation that stopped me.

He was describing a training program he is building for HARDI's distribution teams: counter sales, tech support, outside reps. And he said this:

"Words matter, but more importantly, tone matters."

Don Gillis | HVACR Technical Trainer, HARDI

Then he walked through an example. Two technicians call in with the same problem. You use the same words in both responses, but in one you are direct and cold, and in the other you are collaborative. The technical content is identical. The relationship outcome is completely different.

Don has spent more than 30 years in the HVACR industry, from field work to service management to national technical training at Copeland, Emerson, and now HARDI. He is one of those people who designs training the way good engineers design systems: with failure modes accounted for and retention built in from the start.

In the newest episode, we talk about:

• Why tone changes what people retain, even when the words are the same
• How to redirect a wrong answer without shutting the person down
• What listening more and talking less actually required Don to change
• How he designs training with prerequisites, in-session checkpoints, and follow-up built in
• What the football coach analogy teaches about reading the people in front of you
• The leadership lesson that took the longest to learn

Take Me to The Episode Now

If you have ever sat in a training room that felt like a waste of time, or if you have ever been the person responsible for running one, this conversation is worth your time.

Sannah

P.S. Don's line about what makes a good leader: my phone is not ringing. Meaning his manager did not hear about problems because Don handled them first. That one stayed with me.