Training Requires More Than Just Sharing Information

Rick Mayo looks stoic when you first meet him. He speaks with focus. Put him in front of a crowd, though, and he transforms into a musician, blending information and engagement.

Mayo has nearly five decades of experience that calls in his role as Western residential application trainer for Taco Comfort Solutions. He retired in December, but he took a few minutes to talk with Southern PHC after his official company sendoff held during a training session at Taco’s head office in Rhode Island.

Mayo is well known within Taco’s company circle, and he is featured on the company’s video training series on Facebook called “Taco Tuesday Webinar Training Series” and “Taco After Dark.”

Mayo, John Barba, Taco’s director of training and Dave Holdorf, Taco’s eastern region residential trainer, host a podcast focused on how-tos on products and applications.

Mayo’s training career stemmed from his experience working hands-on in 1977. His brother helped him get an apprenticeship at a plumbing and heating company in Anchorage, Alaska. “I learned how to solder on a prefab bench, do gas piping, a threading machine, and typical manual hands-on sorts of things,” he said.

He did that for about four years and then decided he didn’t want to be a plumber and moved into a sales role with a small retail plumbing shop. He eventually moved into the wholesale business and became a regional manager with a large distributor in the Northwest.

Moving Into Sales Opened New Career Paths

Mayo moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, as a regional heating manager in 2001, which also involved several years of training on products and applications for hydronics. He then worked for a PEX tubing manufacturer, then a mod-con boiler company. At the same time, he had his own consulting business and then decided to take an offer from Taco as a product and applications instructor.

His territory at Taco stretched from southern California to Alaska, and included four provinces in western Canada. His replacement is Jason Kockx of Santa Clara, California, with experience in hydronics and plumbing through working with wholesalers in the Northern California market.

Mayo credits his time traveling out west for teaching him the fundamentals of training.

“There’s no better way to learn the ropes than to jump into the trenches,” he added. “Trial and error.”

Staying Focused Is Key

The rapid pace of preparing, and then training, showed him the importance of staying on message and finding ways to engage with his audience.

“When I’m teaching something, I try to teach it the way I would want it to be taught to me. If I’m going to receive something from somebody, it’s got to be credible, and compelling,” he continued. Mayo recalled his first training sessions where he stumbled over words or terminology, which taught him to give accurate answers to questions. If he didn’t know the answer, he could find out, and he gained confidence.

“You can’t know everything, and don’t be afraid to say so. Save yourself the embarrassment if you don’t have the answer; don’t make it up. It’s OK to say, “You know what, I’m unsure about that. Let me figure it out,” he said.

John Barba, Taco’s director of training, he’s going to miss Mayo’s friendship. “He’s made me a better trainer and he has consistently raised the bar for our department,” Barba said. “The man never met a challenge or an assignment that he wouldn’t tackle with enthusiasm, and he was always willing and eager to help others in the department with projects.”

Like Mayo, Barba believes Taco’s training programs — whether taught on site, or through visits to Taco’s training facility in Rhode Island — demand that trainers understand equipment, how to use the technology, and how to convey the message in meaningful and engaging way.