One of the greatest challenges facing the shop owners and service managers I talk to is in their taking on the role of leader. We can have the very best of intentions, the most thoughtful of business plans and the very best staff within our service area, but until we are willing to lead our people, little of substance is likely to be accomplished. The automotive industry, in its many facets, is decidedly challenging and decidedly unforgiving. Creating the perfect shop process will not make our people follow it and will not make sure our standards are met. Only leadership assures the quality of the effort. Only you, as a leader, can make it happen.
The United States Marine Corps defines leadership as “The sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding and moral character that enables a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully.” I really like this definition. Leadership is all about moving people successfully and in doing this, using intellect, character and human understanding to get our people to complete a task or mission. Leadership is all about success.
To compare what we do in our shops every day to what that Gunnery Sergeant is facing in combat might seem a stretch, but as he successfully leads his fellow Marines against a determined enemy bent on his destruction, I am wondering why we as an industry have such difficulty in getting our people to do the most basic things we want them to do. Why is he able to get his people to willingly face death and wounding every day, while we have difficulty getting our people to show up for work on time or be consistently productive? Acknowledging that there are issues of training, peer pressure and esprit de corps, leadership is what allows all of us to rise up in any situation and do something above and beyond what we would have any reason to expect. Leadership has the ability to make all of us better. Of course the unfortunate other side of that is that a lack of leadership has the ability to drive down efficiency, drive down sales and literally drive us out of business. My advice is always to lead first, and ask questions later.
In becoming a leader it is essential that you take on the role in ways and practices that you can be comfortable with. Asking a Patton to be a Gandhi or a Gandhi to be a Patton will not work. There are leaders who are overbearing and directive; there are leaders who are incredibly hands off; and there are leaders who are somewhere in between. Before you have any chance of getting your staff to believe in you and what you are doing, you have to believe in it yourself. You need to be comfortable in that role or willing to grow into it. This is a tough journey, without a doubt, but you get to select the destination, choose the players, do battle on your terms and risk destruction on your way to that ultimate success. Isn’t that worth the risk? To flounder along as you have been would not seem to be an option, and it is far too late to turn back. Most important here is that you take on the role, decide where you are going and put that first tentative step forward. There is no doubt that there is someone waiting to stomp on your foot, but it doesn’t matter; it’s time to go. It’s way past time for you to lead.
It is an absolute truth that most of us would rather not lead. People are fickle; they do the craziest, most unpredictable things, and who needs that aggravation? My prototypical shop owner is a technician who somewhere along the way decided he no longer wanted a boss and having someone tell him what to do, so he did something incredibly difficult and courageous and opened his own shop. Starting out in this role, it was only he and his wife or partner, and life was good. He could handle the load, had nobody telling him what to do and leadership was the farthest thing from his mind. But as he did more and more good work and word got out, suddenly there was not enough of him to go around and he was forced to hire somebody. With trial and error he finally found someone who would do the things he asked. But more work led to more happy customers and before he knew it he had three techs, a lot boy, a receptionist and a part-time bookkeeper. Damn! And now he has to learn to lead. That, or possibly go out of business. Many seriously consider this option and go out of business rather than have to tell someone to do something. That’s frightening!
Like this shop owner, many of us are thrust into roles of leadership, and though we would much rather not, somehow we have to find a way to get our people doing the things we want and need them to do. Somehow we have to find a way to lead.
I am going to go to a second definition of leadership that will allow me to create what I hope would be a comfortable process for you to take those first steps toward becoming a leader. This second definition, provided by the U.S. Army, is the one I learned many years ago in Germany, where I was attending the Primary Non-Commissioned Officers Course (PNOC). The Army describes leadership as “the process of influencing others to accomplish the task or mission by providing purpose, direction and motivation.” This is the definition I cut my leadership teeth on, and I still like it today because it lets me define the task and relies on me to provide what I see as the appropriate purpose, direction and motivation to assure that the task is completed. If I am not comfortable yelling, I’m not going to yell. If I choose to give an inspiring speech or threaten bodily harm (which I would never do), I have that flexibility. Leaders are judged by their ability to get the job done. A good leader will use everything at his or her disposal to accomplish that. Remember, leadership is all about task accomplishment. If we fail in some kind of way to accomplish our assigned tasks, our approach to leadership has failed. It’s as simple as that.
I would stress to anyone interested in taking on a leadership role or interested in improving the results they are seeing that the most difficult part in all of this is that first, determined step. From that moment forward, leadership becomes easier, more comfortable. In that same vein, I’ll remind you that leadership is an action, not a thought, a goal or a philosophy. It doesn’t begin until you take on that role.
Like justice, leadership is one of those things that needs to be seen, heard and felt and in every way evident. It involves commitment, accountability and a willingness to make unpopular decisions. It need not be lonely, but it is solitary in responsibility or accountability and decidedly impatient of success. Not for the faint hearted or shallow, leadership is a rock — reliable, steadfast, substantial, strong.
It’s 9 o’clock; do you know what your leadership style is?
Maybe it’s time, or even past time, that you figured that out.
