A good team morale directly impacts productivity, customer service, and retention!
How can I boost my shop’s morale?
staff
Burning questions about staff:
- How do you know when it’s time to dismiss and employee?
- What would you do if you caught a key player stealing?
Shop owners share pay plans for the front of the house as well as back of the house. How are associates being incentivized to produce?
As an auto repair shop owner, you wear many hats. Often, you have to be the head mechanic, the marketing manager, and the CEO all in one. However, if you want your business to grow, you need to learn how to delegate effectively.
Delegation is the key to building a successful team and freeing up your own time in order to focus on high-level tasks that will help your business thrive. In this article, we’ll show you how to delegate and deliver effectively as a leader. You will also learn how to build a team that can help you achieve your goals.
The Importance of Knowing How to Delegate Effectively
Delegation is an essential skill for any leader, but it’s especially important for small business owners. When you’re running a small business, there are only so many hours in the day. You can’t do everything yourself, and trying to do so will only lead to burnout and frustration. Effective delegation allows you to leverage the skills and talents of your team members, so you can focus on the tasks that only you can do.
Why is Delegation So Hard?
Delegation is not always easy. As a business owner, you’ve probably built your business from the ground up, and you may have a hard time letting go of control. You may worry that no one can do things as well as you can, or that delegating will take too much time and effort. However, if you want your business to grow, you need to learn to delegate effectively.
The Benefits of Knowing How to Delegate Tasks
Effective delegation has many benefits for your business. It can:
- Free up your time so you can focus on high-level tasks
- Help you build a more productive team
- Develop the skills of your team members
- Increase job satisfaction, as well as employee engagement
- Reduce both stress and burnout
How to Delegate Effectively
Delegating effectively is not just about handing off tasks to your team members. It also requires careful planning, communication, and follow-up. Here are some steps you can take to delegate effectively:
Step 1: Identify the Tasks You Can Delegate
The first step in effective delegation is to identify the tasks that you can delegate. Look for tasks that are:
- Either routine or repetitive
- Time-consuming
- Not critical to your core business operations
- Within the skill set of your team members
Step 2: Choose the Right Team Member
Once you’ve identified the tasks you can delegate, then you can choose the right team member for the job. Look for team members who have the right skills and experience, and who are motivated to take on new challenges. Consider delegating tasks as a way to help team members grow and develop their skills.
Step 3: Provide Clear Instructions
To delegate effectively, you need to provide clear instructions to your team member. Be specific about what you want them to do, when you need it done, and what resources they have available to them. Make sure your team member also understands the importance of the task, and how it fits into the bigger picture of your business.
Step 4: Set Clear Expectations
Set clear expectations for your team member. Define what success looks like for the task, as well as the metrics you’ll use to measure progress. Make sure your team member knows how to report back to you on their progress, and what to do if they encounter any challenges.
Step 5: Provide Support and Feedback
Provide your team member with the support they need to succeed. Check in with them regularly to see how they’re doing, and offer guidance and feedback as needed. Celebrate their successes and help them learn from their mistakes.
Conclusion: Delegation is Key to Leadership Success
Remember to identify the tasks you can delegate, choose the right team member, provide clear instructions and expectations, and offer support and feedback.
With these skills, you can become a more effective leader while growing your business. Don’t be afraid to let go of control. Trust your team members to help you achieve your goals.
You Net Results
Contact You Net Results today, and let us help you begin the process. Book a complimentary consultation. Brian Gillis and his team will help you build your leadership foundation and plug you into a vast network of auto repair shops. We all work together to strengthen the automotive industry! Let’s make June the best month of your business life!
Auto Repair Staff huddles are a crucial factor in encouraging employee teamwork. Listen to our YNR roundtable discussion on regularly rounding up your Technicians, General Managers, and Service Advisors to make sure you are all on the same page.
Why Are Team Huddles Important?
Brian kicked off the clip by outlining why we don’t want to neglect staff huddles. When we do not meet hourly with our employees, the negative effects can trickle down to customers. Not communicating with your Technicians and Service Advisors? Then get prepared for chaos! Gaps in your customer service game, missed opportunities, and, ultimately, a loss of revenue will occur. Brian noted that when customers complaint about pricing, the issue usually starts with poor customer service experiences.
Second, Brian gave examples of key components from our Huddles SOP. When huddling, you may want to work with a board system. Of course, the General Manager must call the meeting to order, and employ a timer so the meetings do not last too long. Primarily, these meetings involve Service Advisors at the front counter. Occasionally, you may want to call together your technicians in order to resolve issues, or make sure everyone is on the same page.
Next, Brian asked YNR Member Leon’s take on staff huddles. Leon, an experienced shop owner, recognizes the value of this ritual. It allows him to stay in the know about how each job is progressing. Understanding such details as the need for more parts and the timeline until he can report back to the customer is crucial.
Ready For The Next Step? Book Your FREE Strategy Session!
Your auto repair shop lacks direction. Maybe your business plan has stalled out, and you aren’t meeting your goals. You need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with You Net Results guide Brian Gills? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
How to create the General Manager Position as a Process
- Six Balls a General Manager juggles masterfully
- Must items for a General Manager
- Attributes for Success
See “Top Ten” SOP 307 below as a reference.
- Being and Becoming a Crushing General Manager “CGM”
- Six Balls / Must Items / Top Ten / Attributes
- General Manager Sample Duties List See DropBox SOPs
Downloads
Mastering Your Results as a MOCC
- Management Levels / MYR Power Six / HTM / People / Systems
- Management on Cruise Control
Wouldn’t it be great if Your Management was a process? Wouldn’t it be great if it were that simple? It is. you can do this. It’s proven to work.
- People and Systems
- How-to Manual quiz
Downloads
- 0601 – SOP – Recruiting
- Recruiting Process for People
- Keeping Your Bench Process Full
- Finding the Best Fit Process
Downloads
Are your auto repair staff members just order takers? Or are they truly difference makers for your customers? Technicians and Service Writers must work together in order to educate customers on their vehicles’ needs. Only then can automotive repair employees make a difference for your shop’s finances, as well as your customers’ safety and vehicle life.
How Can Your Auto Repair Staff Make a Difference?
Brian begins by presenting us with a customer entering the shop. Their vehicle is not riding smoothly enough, so we sell them a new set of sway bars. Big deal! Think of a waitress who only sells a chicken dinner to you. She doesn’t suggest a cocktail, an appetizer, or a dessert. Those items may have just brought our dining experience from good to great!
Just like the waitress in that story, the service advisor hasn’t made much of an impact. That auto repair staff member is just an order taker. They are not doing the most they can to help the customer, and they certainly aren’t making a difference in your shop’s bottom line.
If your auto repair staff want to be difference makers, they educate themselves about the make and model of the customers’ vehicle. They also take notes about the status of the customer’s car or truck. When they do this, they can inform the customer of necessary repairs they might not have even known they needed. Demonstrating the knowledge, then showing concern, is what gains a customer’s confidence. Only then can you rack up those “yes” answers, and earn the trust of a lifelong customer.
Learn More – Get Your FREE Strategy Session
Does your auto repair staff lack direction? Perhaps your business plan has stalled out, and you need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with Brian? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
Gary Gunn, AAM shares some examples of flexible auto repair hiring processes and how they can benefit automotive repair shops. Would you consider changing to four day work weeks, or even hiring only technicians who hunt or have farms? Gary provides examples of shops who did – and, believe it or not – these hiring practices for employees were huge successes for decades!
How could being more flexible in your hiring practices benefit your mechanics and service writers? What about you? Couldn’t you use less stress in your daily life as an auto repair shop owner? Can you think of any other benefits to attract quality mechanics and front of house staff? Don’t miss this video – it could save your automotive shop!
Hiring Process Discussion Recap
When this Working On It Tuesday clip opens, Gary quizzes Brian Pickens on what he’s learned from the class. Brian listed several areas of his automotive business that needed work. He admits he is currently understaffed and his people are burnt out. His previous hiring process proved ineffective and he needs to become more flexible in order to attract the right people.
When Gary polled the class about whether changing hours to help employees’ work-life balance would help, they agreed. Perhaps they should poll staff to see what would work for them. Brian added that he needed to put his foot down, because the current work environment was leading to squabbles between coworkers and grumpy customers.
Hypothetical Candidate Interview
Gary then paints a picture of an interview with a potential new technician. The candidate required a four day work week before he would accept the position, and that is unprecedented in your shop. Otherwise, he is the perfect candidate, and you need him. The next step is gathering your staff and making that four day work week possible. Gary and the callers all provided examples of how to make that happen, including many nurses’ three day work week working 12-hour days.
Flexible work schedules in auto repair are not a new phenomenon! Gary told a story about a shop he used to sell lifts to in Texas. They implemented a four day work week, and employed staff who only liked to hunt. Hunting was an important part of the culture in that area. Since the staff knew they wouldn’t have to work on certain days, they could all relax and bond over their common interest. Some of you reading may think that’s crazy, and it gives employees too much power. It worked out fine for the owner of that shop, who sold it after 27 successful years in business!
Learn More – Get Your FREE Strategy Session
Does your auto repair shop lack direction? Perhaps your business plan has stalled out, so you need an experienced automotive industry coach to help you. Then why not schedule a FREE business strategy session with Brian? You’ve got nothing to lose, so sign up today!
