LAUREL, Md. — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI) expanded its Seal of Approval program to include the Masterminds Group. The creation of the group is an effort to unite Seal of Approval cleaners in a management group-style forum where they can share success stories and foster excellence among participating cleaners.
Al Lautenslager, spokesperson and marketing coordinator for the program, says the idea came to him during DLI’s Five-Star Seminar last February. “A speaker was presenting an idea when someone in the audience said, ‘I tried this and here’s what happened,’ then another person piped in, ‘When we tried it, we got this,’ and then it blew up into a full-on roundtable discussion in the middle of a presentation. It was magical to see all these people sharing ideas and comparing notes. I’ve often said you learn more in the hallway than in the lecture room when you go to a convention or seminar like this, but here they were having a hallway discussion in the lecture room.”
At that moment, Lautenslager decided the SOA program needed a forum for members to share ideas and compare notes.
“My job is to facilitate the discussions and provide a way to get people together once a month, or whenever, to have these hallway-type discussions,” says Lautenslager. “I am sure this will drive the success of the program because everyone in it will be helping everyone else.”
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