As a Field Service Engineer – what motivates you the best? In this article Frank Pemberton gives his answer to – What motivates me the best?

Frank Pemberton works for BD Biosciences as a Field Service Engineer and also Co-chair of their Field Advisory Board. He has over twenty years in medical equipment field service and management and over fifteen years in semiconductor field service and technical support. He has worked directly on imaging systems, flow cytometry, radiation oncology, and gamma knives. He has functioned in field service and field service management. Frank has over thirty-five years in customer facing roles and his customer service skills are top notch.

Frank Pemberton and family author of blog What motivates me best as a field engineer

To be the best Field Service Engineer – what motivates me?

Introduction

I am not going to sugar coat this; being a field service engineer is not for everyone. We have our good days and then our bad days. We are constantly dealing with problems, issues and equipment that is not working right for our customers.

I am thinking about the answer to these three questions:

How do you maintain your motivation day in and day out?

What motivates each of us each day?

How do we maintain a sense of pride and importance in what we do, even when we have a bad day?

The answer is that we do this by seeking the positive reinforcement that this job provides.

An example

I love to give an example.

Once, years ago, in El Paso Texas, I was working on an old Linear Accelerator for Elekta. I was at Del Sol Medical Center. It had taken me most of the morning to get it working again, and then I wandered out to the lobby to get a cup of coffee. In the lobby, I saw many patients patiently waiting for their treatments.

I asked the nurse on station:

“Why didn’t you send these patients home? You knew the machine was broken right?”

She simply replied:

“Yes Frank, but we knew you would fix it.”

I was stunned by her response, and then a great amount of pride swept over me. My confidence and outlook were immediately energised and I felt uplifted. My work does make a difference, and I am helping people, patients, one by one. It was an enlightening moment and one that I never forgot.

Examples from your experience of what motivates you

Can some of you give examples of what provides you positive reinforcement and motivates you on your job as a Field Service Engineer?

Remember, whether you are a medical Field Service Engineer, or another type of Field Service Engineer, you are helping someone or something at the end of every instrument or system that you repair.

For medical Field Service Engineers, it is the patient. The patient is at the end of everything we do. So, we are directly helping people each day.

Conclusion

So, when you have those days that are tense, the parts you need don’t arrive or are broken, or you are faced with a difficult customer or a difficult customer situation. Remember WHY we are doing this. To help the patient and people, each and every day. Take pride in your work, stay focused and remain calm and keep these things in mind. It helps me always!

To all the Field Service Engineers out there – thanks for all that YOU do!

Frank Pemberton – previous articles

Frank is an active member of The Field Engineer community and has shared his experience, the skills he needs and what motivates him in previous articles.