A good credential is like a good ladder. It should be on a firm footing or foundation, against the right wall, with rungs or steps placed and spaced for safe upward mobility. It’s helpful to have a spotter to steady the ladder, keep an eye on your position and balance, alert passersby, and increase safety. A proper ladder enables getting the job done—i.e., accomplishment—as climbing a ladder without reaching your goal is like having a Ph.D. in physics and working at a burger joint (of course, there’s nothing wrong with that if you love it).

Credentialing can boost competitive advantage, business performance, and profitability. How so, and how is it like a ladder?

Foundation

A career ladder has a solid foundation when associated with a respected nonprofit or trade organization that provides upskilling, certification, and licensing opportunities. Some examples include:

• ISSA’s Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and Green Building certification (CIMS-GB) certify managers to professionally handle operations based on a 360-degree systems approach to include sustainability.
• Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s (GBAC’s) GBAC-Trained Technician provides the knowledge and skills needed to respond to a biohazard crisis (e.g., a pandemic).
• Indoor Exposure Index™ (INDEX) [501(c)(3) status pending] is building a science-based program to certify and license individuals and businesses with the knowledge, skills, and operational practices needed to reduce indoor exposures and better define and meet cleaning for health goals.

Wall (the right one)

Like a ladder leaning against the right wall, credentialing can directly help your business when it involves upskilling to improve the quality and professionalism of your work. An example of this is:

• The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) offers certifications in carpet cleaning, floor care, leather cleaning, and much more. If you clean restaurants, check out IICRC’s Vent Hood Cleaning Certification to develop and showcase skills to remove grease buildup safely and effectively.

Rungs

Each class you take or certification you achieve is like the sturdy steps of a ladder. Create a visual representation of your career ladder. Label the rungs or steps and your position on the ladder as you navigate your career.

How high you go depends on where you place your ladder and when you take the steps.

Spotters

The safest way to use a ladder, beyond placing it on a solid surface and at the proper angle, is to collaborate with consultants who can guide and encourage your progress. Think of them as your spotters who observe and steady your climb while encouraging you to carefully take the next step.

There are consultants trained in indoor air quality exposures related to cleaning for health (ideally, INDEX-Certified), just as there are consultants trained in CIMS Certification and IICRC Accreditation.

Accomplishments

Credentialing provides a way to showcase professionalism, accomplishments, and compliance with regulatory, safety, and health requirements—while building worker and customer confidence.

Credentials look wonderful on your resume, in your email signatures, and online, which brings us to the importance of promoting accomplishments related to your place on the career ladder.

Earnings

The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW)—an independent nonprofit research and policy institute that studies career paths—found that persons with certifications or licenses earn more than those without them, while increasing credibility and leading to more significant career advancement.

It sounds obvious, even basic, but how many cleaning professionals have credentials, and if they have them, do they promote them effectively?

Promoting your credentials

It is a beautiful sight, those framed certificates hanging on your office wall as a backdrop for your online Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings.

Digital credentialing and badging make it easier, more powerful, and pervasive to promote your expertise and build client trust.

According to EDUCAUSE—a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance the strategic use of technology and data to further education—digital badges are validated indicators of accomplishments or skills, and “represent [credentials] in the way that a diploma represents a degree.”

Digital badging should be part of a long-term credentialing strategy. They may feature a QR Code that, when scanned, takes the person to a validation or home page. Incorporate them into websites, social media, and email signatures.

Incorporate credentialing into your business

Meet with your team to decide which certifications will help you perform with greater skill and consistency, where to place your ladder or ladders, and how you will climb each one.

Credentialing builds customer trust, competitive advantage, and business profitability. It also builds people, as step by step, workers ascend the ladder and become self-confident.

Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy once said, “No goal is too high if you climb with care and confidence.”

Allen P. Rathey, director of the Indoor Health Council^TM (IHC) and founder/executive director of the 501(c)(3) [pending] Indoor Exposure Index^TM (INDEX), is an educator specializing in healthy facilities. He has assembled an advisory group of scientists, Ph.D.s, and facility and public health experts who share his passion for helping people everywhere create and maintain safe and healthy indoor environments.