When looking for a new position or job, what is the most important factor that you look for?
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When looking for a new position or job, what is the most important factor that you look for?
View full poll questionHey Technicians! What’s your favorite vehicle to work on?
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Great review for Sales & Leasing Consultant; Nick Wade.
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What are some fun activities you like to do in the fall?
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Food Truck time to celebrate some special events! One tech celebrated 36 years of being here at Tom Wood Toyota. Another tech reported a first known issue found to Toyota and was awarded a special medallion.
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Air Tools or Electric tools?
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Minnesota roads can be unbearable in the snow, but this winter car workshop could be a game-changer for new drivers
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Happy anniversary to our Shipping & Receiving Clerk; Sam Lynch
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Great review for Service Advisor; Michael Manns!
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🎉 C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S 🎉 Congratulations to Garrett for being our BEAST of the week.
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If you could work on cars from any era, which would you choose?
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What's the most satisfying part of being an automotive technician?
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Thank you to everyone that joined us for the PenFed Racing Simulator Challenge on August 30-31. It was a pleasure to host Sabré Cook and showcase the Porsche GT3 Cup racecar while enjoying time with our amazing community and team. We hope you had a great time meeting Sabré, testing your skills in the racing simulator, and joining the scenic rally drive.
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Junior Technician, James, replacing a drive shaft on a 2022 Tiguan.
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How do you manage a Technician that's not living up to expectations?
Technician
It all depends on the situation. However, the solution starts before there is ever a problem, and that is to know your people. If you know your people, you already have a feel for the pulse of the shop, you can catch issues before they blow up, and you'll know what motivates each person. (edited)
Completely agree, Russell. I do think there are times where we make bad hires regardless of how hard we try. When I say bad hires, I'm not meaning that they are bad techs or bad people. Sometimes there are just issues with personalities clashing that are hard to overcome. Sometimes knowing your people can lead to an understanding that they just aren't a good fit. The opposite can be said, too. Regardless, I'm a big fan of really getting to know your people.
Technician
Jay if that's the case and they just aren't a good fit. Extend an olive branch by helping them get on at another shop that may be a better fit. I would call a service manager I know in a heart beat if I felt it was a better fit.
Technician
Oh man, Jay, this is such a great topic and so many good answers already. Let's say the shop employees 3 techs and one is a high performer. Losing that high performer and their toxic attitude is going to kill you because two mid range performers aren't going to cover what that one high performer can do. On the other hand, if your shop has 10 people and one high performer is dragging down the attitude of the whole shop, what is going to happen if you cut that high performer lose. Say he performs the work of any two of the other techs, but he's always sucking the gravy off a ticket and passing the crap on to other techs, going around souring the mood in the whole shop, etc., what's going to happen if you cut him lose? I bet you are going to see no change in overall shop production because your other techs are going to be happier, healthier, turning more work, and making more money. In Aug 2019 I worked in a shop where I averaged 26 hours a week. The gravy hound and two other techs took vacation over a 3 week period. During that time I turned 50, 40, and 42 hours. When they all came back I went back to 26 hours. My attitude went in the crapper and I found a new job within 2 months. In the case of that shop, the high performer had the SM's ear, and there was no strong leader in the shop to keep the attitude of the other techs in check, or to make sure there was a fair distribution of work. Advisors dispatched so they played favorites and let things happen that shouldn't have. This is a case where knowing the people would have made a difference. Having one on one conversations with all the techs individually, not just the high performer would have opened the SM's eyes to problems before people started leaving.
Such a solid point, Russell. So much of it is based around the environment. If you really don't like the people you are working with, it can be very challenging. Every situation is different and having a good enough relationship with your people to understand what they are going through can be hugely effective.
Technician
Lets approach this from a few angles. First angle, underperformer. Thats me right now, not flagging the hours I could (due to car count and service advisors doing the dispatch to their desires, thats slowly improving). Getting everyone involved in a conversation (with the selective dispatch issues) can help, and has to an extent. It really takes communication to get to the root of the reason for the under performing of said tech, in this case myself. The bad egg/culturally toxic employee. I have worked with this type of person in every shop I have been in. Unfortunately, it usually is one of the best performing techs as for turning hours and generating revenue. Some can be reached and brought around, some cant. Thats a case by case situation, especially with the ongoing shortage of capable technicians. The tech that doesnt like to remember where the shop is/come to work. That one can be tricky for the aforementioned reasons, on both ends. It may be due to outside circumstances, or even their personal lack of punctuality. much of this comes from knowing the technicians and trying to get to the root of the issue and maybe push toward some common ground at the minimum. The facts are, there are fewer technicians floating around these days, even fewer that can be relied on for most things. Unfortunately the ones that are floating around, know that they are an in demand commodity of sorts, and that really throws a flag on the play with the entire process.
Paul - So cool that you put yourself in your own example and gave both positives and negatives. I truly believe that bad communication is at the root of a lot of our problems. I also really like that you isolated the different scenarios. There is a difference between an under performer and somebody that is a cancer to the shop culture. Understanding why somebody is under performing is huge and you can uncover a lot with a simple conversation. Thank you for the incredibly transparent comment. Love this conversation!
Technician
I think the management team could look themselves in the mirror in most cases. Bad fit? They should know their current people and be able to make that call. Good performer now a bad performer? Likely a management issue. Poor performer in general? Did they properly train and mentor them?
Can't disagree with you there, Marshall! Always good to take a look in the mirror. We talk about it a lot but so many managers make bad hires because they are in a rush to hire somebody. On top of that, our industry continues to struggle with mentorship and properly onboarding. Certainly plenty of opportunities for managers in our industry to get better.
Other than productivity, what is being measured? I find in coaching that Technicians who don't have goals outside of pure productivity feel they've become a number. The only way to set these kinds of goals is to have active communication between the individual and their leadership. Out of nearly 200 Technicians through coaching, only 5 had pre-existing training goals, as well as productivity goals. None had personal development goals at all. Everything comes back to communication, or the lack thereof, and both parties (leader and staff member) are guilty of not making the correct amount of effort. j. (edited)
Training progression. FFV. Time Stayed Late or Times Late. Unapplied Time for shop repairs or maintenance. Some form of "staff satisfaction". Leaders can get creative with what they track, if they know the goal of the individual. Once you know their goals, you can apply your business savvy to an appropriate and measurable result for the shop. IE, if you have a regular "staff satisfaction" measurement, however that's measured, you can apply that across your "employee churn". Which then becomes a marketable number for hiring.
Technician
10 mill team shredding this thread! Love it
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