I've always believed organized sports imitate life. I still do.
This may be difficult to believe for those of you who know me, but I was a semipro football player for about five years. I wasn't a star, but what I learned by being part of a team was invaluable to me in other areas of my life, especially in my career. If any of you have played organized sports, you know there's nothing that works as smoothly as a well-run sports team. All the players know their assignments, and everyone on the team helps everyone else. It's amazing when all team members comes together as one.In life, champions are made, and championships are won. But unfortunately, getting to the championship level is difficult. It takes lots of hard work, dedication, sacrifice and effort. Most owners and players aren't willing to give the proper amount of effort needed to reach the championship level. Are you? If you want to build a great team atmosphere and get the most out of your employees, you have to.
Look around your shop, and ask yourself, "Are we all working as a team?" Do I have the right players?" In most cases, the answer will be "no." So let's try to fix that.
Picking the right players is critical to building a solid team. There are so many aspects of this process. You need to have the right people for the right job. (Read the October 2009 article I wrote in ABRN about hiring.)
The next most important aspect of team building is you. How are you perceived? How do you manage? How you rally the troops is extremely critical. You must display the five critical building blocks of a strong team at all times: respect, trust, integrity, honesty and compassion.
Respect
Respect always goes both ways. As a manager, you have to learn to respect your people as important parts of your team. Each team member, no matter what their stature or knowledge level, deserves respect as a valued member of your team and as a person. No one employee should be treated better than any other. This doesn't mean certain team members can't earn more than others, just make sure these benefits are based on a solid foundation of achievements that warrant them.
As an example, a higher level of schooling or an ASE certification warrants additional perks or a higher salary for those who've attended the classes and worked hard to earn the certificates. Also, make sure all employees have the ability to achieve rewards in the same manner. Don't send one person to school all the time and never send another. Every employee needs to know he has the same opportunity the others do. It sounds simple, but the reverse happens all the time.
Your employees need to respect you. Remember, you can never demand respect; you have to command it through your actions. You have to earn it.
A great coach leads by example. For example, your shop opens at 8 a.m., and you expect all your employees to be there on time, ready to work by 8 a.m. Yet, you sometimes roll in 15, 20 or even 30 minutes late. It's no big deal because you run the place and have a right to come in when you want. But what would you think as a sports fan if the manager of your favorite team acted that way? All the players were at a game on time, but the manager strolled in a few minutes after the game started. You and every other fan would be calling for his head.
If the team players see the manager doesn't care, they won't either. Make sure everyone sees your dedication and enthusiasm about your job. It'll spread because it's human nature. A smile and hard work bring more smiles and hard work from those around you.
If you show dedication and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done, your employees will, too. Manage your employees the same way you want to be managed. You have to provide direction, praise, tutoring and discipline to correct improper behavior when encountered. This is can be a difficult tightrope to walk, but it's a skill a great manager learns.
Trust
Trust is a cornerstone of any good team. Your players have to trust you, and you them. Trust takes a long time to earn, but can be lost in an instant. But if you do what you say you're going to do, you'll always be on sure footing.
I worked for an MSO that had a bonus plan in place when I began working for it. The plan called for all the shop employees to be awarded certain bonus amounts if specific sales were achieved. Everyone in the shop knew the levels needed, and the potential bonus payouts for hitting the number. In one month, the shops hit the goal. Everyone was excited they had done well and were looking forward to receiving extra money in their checks. When the employees received the checks on Friday, the extra pay wasn't there. It wasn't there next Friday or the Friday after.
Finally, one of the employees stopped me and asked if I'd look into the issue and I said I would. When I confronted the owner about the bonuses not being paid, he mumbled, made up a new bonus plan and said the new one was the correct one all along. Nobody earned a bonus, so no one was getting one.
The owner didn't live up to his word and lost his employees' trust. Later I found that after that incident, the office employees actually turned work away when it came in, and the store lost a great deal of revenue during the next several months. The owner lost thousands of dollars because of his unwillingness to pay a few hundred.
If you promise someone something, do it. If your employees know you can be trusted to do what you say, they'll act the same way. Strong teams trust one another implicitly.
Integrity
The dictionary defines integrity as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. There are few things in life more valuable than your integrity. Once it's lost, it's almost impossible to find.
The automotive industry has endured a terrible reputation for many years as being underhanded and cheating. As a manager, you have to be doubly aware of that. When building a great team, the goal is for all its members to have high moral and ethical principals. That standard starts and ends with you. Be fair in your daily decisions. Lay out ground rules for all the expected job duties for all your staff and hold them accountable. People want to be led and want a strong, fair, leader with integrity. Once you begin to build a team built on this standard, much of the rest will come easy. Once set in motion, your team will hold itself to a higher standard.
Honesty
It's important for your staff to see you're extremely honest. You must set a standard and lead by example.
Think about pulling out a quarter, and during the process, finding it doesn't need to be replaced. Do you notify the insurance company or customer paying the bill that you don't need the quarter and issue them a refund? Yes. Within in seconds of hearing the question, the answer should be yes. What kind of a message does not refunding the money send your team? Will they be able to trust you when you tell them something that might not be pleasant sometime in the future? You're being a bad example.
Make sure your staff knows they can always come to you with an issue and tell you the truth, even if it isn't pleasant.
Compassion
Sadly, in business, this important trait often isn't included in the course of daily operation. Remember, you're in a people business; you just happen to fix cars. Don't try so hard to be successful that you lose your humanness.
If someone on your team needs a boost, give it to him. Be understanding when problems arise in your employees' daily lives that affect their work performance. Often, problems outside the workplace are the source of poor performance. Again, you have to set guidelines for attendance, etc., but you have to be flexible, and understanding with your team. Sometimes it pays to go the extra mile for a great employee.
For example, maybe one of your employees loses a parent to cancer. This employee has used all of their vacation time, but obviously needs to miss work for a few days. If you have the financial wherewithal, pay them as if they were there working. Doing so will build tremendous loyalty among all your crew, not just the person for which you're doing it. Going a little out of your way and showing true compassion for your team when in need will reap huge rewards.
The art of building a strong, loyal team has many aspects. Much like building a home, you have to start with a solid foundation of like-minded, well-trained and talented team members. That foundation is strengthened and fortified by quality materials and the five strong building blocks that are put into it as it begins to take shape. If you work at it, you can build a champion.
