Setting The Standard
By George Zeeks
My dad received his GED while serving in the Army which he
had joined to escape his family of fifteen brothers and sisters. His departure
was one less mouth to feed, but he was still loved and missed. His eighth grade
education drove him to years of introspection and forced learning. His many
attempts to share his gained knowledge with me lead to much frustration and
angst. My father rose to the rank of Sergeant Major, which is the highest rank
anyone could possibly attain as an enlisted serviceman. He lead multiple units
of men through firefights in two wars, yet could not figure out how to get
through to me.. his hardheaded son. One of his favorite sayings was, “ Why are
you trying to push that Rock uphill?”. First, I didn’t see any hill and
secondly what rock was he talking about? I thought his sayings were the result
of a long forgotten explosion and blunt force head trauma. He never explained
it to me, but said one day I would understand. What a typical parenting
response, especially from a man without a proper education.
I managed a solid crew at a good shop and had
always done very well with them. Then one day it hit me! I was frustrated at my
crew for not being able to perform one basic task. Kind words, bribes, high
volume conversations and physical threats just weren’t working. I neglected to
look at the problem from any view point other than mine. I was way too busy
pushing the Rock up the hill.
It seems as if every shop I have ever talked too has
shared this moment. The biggest difference is if and when they realize who is
actually at fault. Have you ever felt the hope and optimism in hiring an
employee you just know is perfect for the job? This person is going to be the
answer to all of your problems right? Just plug and play and we’re off to the
promised land right? If you feel what I am talking about than you have
obviously had your hands on the Rock. Too often we plug a new employee into a
faulty system and sit back while they fail.
A couple of key items to cover so we keep on
track. First, it never gets better than the interview. The new broom may sweep
clean, but will eventually become an old broom. Experience comes from time,
wisdom from pain, and excellence from learning to forgo the things that caused
you pain.
When you hire a new employee do you set the standards
too high for them? Do they know what is to be expected of them? Do you even
know what those standards should be? Failure to clearly explain what you expect
from them, will leave them to their own processes and forming of standards.
They learned many of these standards from past shop experiences. Do you as a
manager want to leave these loose ends hanging? Having clear cut standards and
expectations start with you, the shop owner, and they echo down through the
staff. Standards as basic as showing up for work, on time performance and
complying with the uniform policy. One of the biggest mistakes is see is owners
forgetting to explain the reasons behind their processes. I want you to take a
second and think of why you have your staff come in at the time they do each
day. What is the purpose behind it and can you explain it to your staff in a
way in which they can rationalize? Give up?
Try something like this:
“Bob, the reason we have you come to
work at 7:45am is so that you have time to prepare for your 8am workload. We
know that you only have so many hours in a day to be able to turn the hours
that you need. This ensures that you make enough money to support your family
and pay your bills. We want to make sure that you have the opportunity to make
a decent living and do well financially. To make sure you have this
opportunity, we make appointments for our customers starting at 8am. We make a
promise to our customer, so we can keep our promise to you.” It may seem a bit
wordy, but I promise that explaining the rationale behind it will reach them.
It also sounds better than, “ You’re late Dirt bag!” I promise you will have
better results.
