REPAIR SHOP MANGEMENT; MANAGEMENT STYLES… TOO HEAVY, TOO LIGHT, OR JUST RIGHT?

By Terry Keller

This issue keeps coming up! Last September I wrote a blog on Holding Your Team Accountable and David Rogers recently did a great class on the Two Critical Faces of Leadership.

For the majority of shop owners, this issue is THE biggest problem they have in their business. If you are one of them (and even if you are just average at leadership), I highly recommend you read that blog and listen to David’s podcast in addition to reading this!

Because we see a huge need out there, I wanted to dig much deeper into this subject. If you are honest with yourself while reading this, it might hurt a bit. But as my fellow Marines say, “Pain is weakness leaving the body!”

Ready to start?

Ask yourself: are you a controller, a weakling, an esteemed, effective leader, or…? Let me clarify. What is your main style when it comes to operating your shop?

There are many styles or approaches shop owners to demonstrate when it comes to running their shop, but most have a predominant style.

What are some of those styles? What is your style?

• Over-controlling: using anger, intimidation, manipulation, threats, big promises, rigidity (unyielding dominance), dictatorship, insensitivity, ruthlessness, guilt, or withholding things…

• Complacent: Don’t care attitude, burned out, leave it up to whoever will take charge, go with the flow, adverse to change, irresponsible, ignorance…

• Timid, Fearful: Avoid confrontation at all costs, adverse to change, owned by one or more employees, a victim, guarded or secretive…

• Too Nice, Too Trusting: Don’t want to impose on others, will avoid confrontation at all costs, slow to see improper motives or actions of others, willing to let others lead or buck the system, allows certain employees to break the rules without consequence…

• Don’t Really Believe Success is Deserved: it’s just the way it is, resigned to poor organization and profits, don’t know or believe in a better way for themselves…

• Effective Leadership: sets a good, consistent example, complies with all company rules and systems, teaches correct principles and systems, holds self and employees accountable for conformance to procedures and for good sales/production performance, empowers the team through:

• Setting clear expectations
• Buy-in and commitment by team
• Good, consistent training
• Delegates authority to supervisors to do the job
• Measurement of performance to targets
• Daily accountability reporting
• Incentives
• Follow-up
• Discipline (as necessary)
• Building trust

There are other styles and combinations that I could spend hours discussing. However, the above contrasts will facilitate the discussion I want to have here.

Think about these statements:

“You can’t push a rope up a tree.”

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

“The only trait of a leader is that others will follow.”

“Performance can be demanded and controlled up to a point, but RESPECT must be earned over time.”

“Employees will do what the boss does much longer than they will do what he says.”

“Training will never stick unless the ‘Why’ is understood and embraced above the ‘What’ and ‘How.'”

The whole concept of leadership is to be out front setting the vision, meaning, pace, standards, and attitude toward the work at hand – the mission. Most “would-be” leaders understand this at some level. Great leaders live it!

Out of all the things I teach our clients, this point may be THE MOST IMPORTANT and the most difficult to get across.

WHY?

• Denial or Ignorance! None of us likes to be shown a personal weakness we do not recognize that others see clearly!

• Arrogance! It can be embarrassing and humiliating. “How dare you?” “I own this business!” “I am the Boss!”  “It’s my way or the highway!”

• Resignation to mediocrity. It’s just the way it is. I’ve tried to get them to do things right, they just won’t do it.

• Just not built to lead. Recognition of weakness but not sure what to do about it.

• Burned out (or complacent). Just don’t care any more.

• Can’t make decisions to change stick. Cynical or have just given up.

• Can’t afford to change or upgrade personnel. Poor performance results in poor profits and inability to invest in organizational and systems improvement.

As you read through this list, did you recognize your main obstacles or weaknesses? If so, there is hope!

If not, and if your business is not running well or is not as profitable as you would like, you are probably in denial or worse – unaware or ignorant of what is causing your problems.

A good acronym for D-E-N-I-A-L is “don’t even know I am lying.” This first and foremost means lying to yourself. How can you change if you don’t accept responsibility? How can you fix something if you don’t know it’s broken?

YOU CAN’T!

Can People Change?

What if you believe the personal traits you have that are contributing to poor performance and possible business failure cannot be changed? What if you’ve already really tried to change and it didn’t work?

Then you have to openly and honestly ask yourself:

• Do I understand the problem?
• Am I really willing to change?
• Have I done everything I can to change?
• Why am I still stuck?
• Should I continue to be a business owner?

There is much proof in human history that change is possible. If after doing all that is possible you still have fatal leadership flaws, then you must consider hiring around those flaws and filling those duty positions with new or existing employees or outsourced resources. Or…you must seriously consider getting out of business ownership.

This is what I finally had to do almost 12 years ago.

My leadership skills had some big holes in employee relations, customer service, and marketing strategies. After 27 years of suffering, I recognized this and delegated some things to a young service advisor named David Rogers.

I was too intense or aggressive in some areas and too weak in others. I did not clearly understand what people (customers or employees) wanted or expected. And I had a very hard time holding my people accountable and using consistent follow-up.

On the other hand, David had the perfect skill-set to manage and lead these areas and many more. It took lots of soul-searching and ongoing introspection for me to evolve into the type of person who could delegate and lead others who were even better than I was at their duties.

Are you getting the picture? You don’t have to know it all and be it all to be successful! In fact, I don’t believe anyone can be it all!

You just have to make sure all the bases are delegated and covered with good people (see my blog on Hiring and Retaining Quality People) and that you empower them to do their job and report their performance daily!

So, do you recognize your style yet?

Do you have more than one contributing style? What are your strengths? Where are you weak? What are you going to do about it?

We all know it’s one thing to understand something and quite another to use that knowledge to do something to improve. That’s the nasty part of it: once you gain an understanding of a correct system, principle or law, you are now accountable to follow it.

You can no longer live in the bliss of ignorance or denial or be a helpless victim! It’s now up to you to finally change the things that have held you back, that sabotaged you (maybe with your permission) for all these years!

One Suggestion for Change

Take 10 minutes a day during a quiet time to reflect and ponder on this issue. If you don’t feel you have time, turn off the stereo while you drive to work and make that your quiet time of reflection and decision making.

You will be amazed at how powerful this tool will become for you! I have done it for years early in the morning and can tell you it absolutely works!

If you have questions or comments on this blog, give us a call at 866-826-7911 .

Good luck and much success!