For many years, we managed our business with the mindset of just a few leaders involved in carrying the burden of making sure the company achieved its goals, ranging from cycle time, capturing sales, revenue, managing average repair order sales and many other key performance indicators. If things were going well and we were meeting goals, we communicated it to the team. If we were under achieving, management would push the team to get more cars out or capture more jobs. It was one of two meetings: either rallying the troops to get more cars through production or a celebration of meeting goals. If you asked any member on our team what our goals were, they would most likely give you a cycle time goal but could not tell you how to arrive at it. Most team members thought the sales goal was simply an arbitrary number that was made up to shoot towards.
We came together as an organization and determined our core company values.That is the basis of how we operate our business, the things we use to hold each other accountable. However, we realized there was a disconnect between what we saw as a vision and what those who were our partners in the work saw. It was not their fault…we just had not communicated, trained, and connected them to this vision. What was missing? Vision, transparency, trust, as well as clear, measurable and manageable goals that each person understood their impact and how it relates to a positive, successful outcome.
We realized sitting around a conference table with only the owners and a couple people from management discussing budget, gross profit, sales mix, cycle time and the other key performance indicators was not the path to effect change. If we wanted growth, change and improvements, we must begin by including our team in these discussions. We must communicate effectively and consistently the vision of our organization. The foundation of the “why” we are in business. We must be transparent about the current state of the company, where we want to go, and how we can get there.
First, we started with vision, making sure it is clear, easy to remember, compelling and consistently communicated. Our company vision is:
To Provide an Exceptional Experience for all our customers based upon Integrity and Quality. Building a team that is characterized by growth, learning, and respect as we create a solution-driven environment with a passion to serve our customers and community, determined to the be the best in the collision repair industry
Vision is one of the important ingredients to a successful organization. The vision should be where each leader, manager and team member can see the big-picture goal of providing an exceptional experience for customers, a positive environment for our team members to grow and be fulfilled in what they are doing and bottom line, do everything with excellence, striving to be the best.
Transparency was the next piece of the puzzle that was critically important for change. For us, that meant holding weekly to bi-weekly management meetings to include leadership from all departments. There is a set agenda for these meetings that always starts out with goals in a clear, concise manner. The first key performance indicator on the agenda is sales review. We review what the sales goal is for the month, week and day with an explanation of how that number was set, which includes break even analysis, etc.
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We were no longer operating under the concept of sales review behind closed doors. It was important for us to be transparent, which in turn led to greater trust. With transparency, everyone was confident there was no manipulation. No one focused on self; rather a team focus with a clear plan of what it takes to reach our goals and why they are important to the organization. During these meetings, we also review cycle time, SMART goals, CSI and current events.
This change led to engaged team members who now had a greater sense of purpose and direction. An engaged team member is just as important if not more important than an engaged customer. We talk all the time about providing an exceptional customer experience; yet we must also provide an exceptional learning environment for our team. If you have employees who are not engaged, or worse, actively disengaged, they are draining the life out of the organization.
A Gallup research study indicates “A highly engaged workforce means the difference between a company that outperforms its competitors and one that fails to grow.” Their research shows companies with highly engaged workforces outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share.
Engaging your team does not happen overnight. It includes a combination of things including communication, transparency and a relationship built on trust. We have been “scorned” on more than one occasion because of the level of relationships we have with our team members. We have been told not to get close to people because if we do they will take advantage of the relationship. However, we have found just the opposite. We as humans are made for relationship; that does not exclude business.
Relationships do not develop without being intentional. We can get so caught up in all the tasks that must be accomplished that we leave little or no room in our calendar for development of our relationships. It is important that every manager and leader of your organization understand the importance of relationship building. The larger the organization, the harder it is for upper management to have relationships with all the team members. Each manager and leader must develop this within their team. Creating relationships and developing teamwork must be a priority.
One of our core company values is Gratitude. Showing appreciation is an important part of our culture. As humans, we all have the need to be appreciated. As Mike Jones says “Find someone doing something right and point it out.” We are all quick to point out when someone is doing something wrong. Be intentional, find opportunities to say thank you, and publicly recognize your team members for small and big wins. As Jon Gordon writes in his book Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture “Businesses that delivered legendary service also had the strongest, most supportive cultures in which employees were valued, listened to, cared for, served, appreciated and loved; in turn these employees valued, cared for, served, appreciated, and loved their customers.”
