There’s a difference between managing work and leading people — and Mark Warner has spent 40 years helping the cleaning industry understand that distinction.

Warner is an ISSA CMI Master Trainer with four decades in the industry, a former ISSA Board of Directors member, and a longtime contributor to organizations including the IICRC. He leads ISSA’s Train the Trainer program, one of the most cost-effective pathways available for organizations looking to bring professional-level training to their frontline workforce.

The concept is straightforward: rather than sending every employee through individual certification, organizations send someone in a leadership role through the Train the Trainer program. That person earns a Certified Professional Trainer designation and returns equipped to train and certify their team as custodial technicians — a title Warner said carries real weight.

“You don’t have to have a formal education or diploma to be a janitor or to be a custodian,” Warner said. “But to be termed a technician is an indication that you’ve received some form of documented training and certification.”

The curriculum covers a broad range of topics critical to running a high-performing cleaning operation: ISSA’s Value of Clean program, industry standards from both ISSA and the IICRC, asset preservation, task frequency planning, and the fundamentals of leading people effectively. For independent building service contractors, Warner said, the program is ultimately about profitability and survival. For in-house service providers working within tight budgets, it’s about achieving results with limited resources.

Central to the program is a shift in mindset — from cleaning a building to caring for it.

“The building has needs,” Warner said. “It has to be cared for. The floors have to be cared for or they’ll fail. The carpets have to be cared for or they fail. If we neglect the care that the building needs, the results can be catastrophic. And expensive.”

The program is offered both as a live, on-site three-day certification workshop in cities across the United States and in a virtual format that has drawn participants from Canada, Europe, and Japan. Alumni include notable industry figures and, perhaps most compellingly, people like Kenneth Bell — who started as a custodian at a community college and went on to a leadership role at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus. Federal and state corrections departments, Goodwill, and other workforce development organizations have also used the program as a vehicle for building career pathways.

Warner’s pitch to anyone considering the program is simple: the industry needs leaders, not just practitioners — and this is one of the most direct ways to build them.

“Let’s drive some respect and dignity to the industry,” he said. “Let’s change the way the world views cleaning as a profession.”

Upcoming Train the Trainer workshops are forming now. Go here to learn more.