Trade Secrets

Motor, Oct 2006 by Cerullo, Bob

Successful businesses depend on the flow of information and ideas between employees and management. Regular shop meetings guarantee that everyone has a chance to be heard.

When it's just you or you and a partner working to build a business from scratch, there isn't much need for meetings. You're always in close contact and may even be able to finish each other's sentences. You know what your goals are and how you want to achieve them.

However, there may come a time when your business grows large enough to require that you communicate your goals and rules to your employees. Be it four, ten or more, it's important to your business that you have regular meetings, or what I like to call a "sit-down."

The idea of having a sit-down is to create a time and a place to discuss those matters that affect everyday life in your shop. It would be a place where you as the boss might talk about a new piece of equipment you're considering purchasing. You might want to open up a discussion to get the opinions-pro and con-from the people who'd be using that equipment. Very often employees harbor resentments because they feel their boss isn't interested in them or their opinions. The sit-down offers a monthly forum where opinions, suggestions, pet peeves, etc., can be discussed.

The atmosphere you create at a sit-down is very important to the success of the meeting. You need to create a relaxed and open environment where employees will be willing to share their feelings without fear of a reprimand or reprisals. It's not a place to encourage tattling on other employees. It should be a time for open discussions on anything from uniforms to workloads.

I recall an incident in my shop where the technicians who happened to spill grease or thick motor oil on their uniforms were not happy with the cleaning job the uniform service was doing. They felt as if they were being punished and forced to wear uniforms with black stains on them when they came back from cleaning. Prior to the sit-down I was not aware of the problem. We discussed the matter and called in the salesman for the uniform company. He agreed that the uniforms didn't look clean, and another process was used to clean them. It might have seemed like a trivial problem, but for those men who had to put on stained uniforms, it was a serious matter.

The sit-down is a time to bring shop problems to the attention of your employees. For example, we had a growing number of complaints by customers that their steering wheels were oily when they picked up their cars. Rather than talk to any one individual, who might assume he was being accused of causing the problem, it was one of the topics for discussion at a monthly sit-down. None of the technicians were aware of the problem but all were very eager to eliminate it. In fact, one of the techs suggested that a routine should be created to check every car before it's returned to the customer, not only for an oily steering wheel but also for an oily door release handle and dirty footprints on the floor. We had always used paper floor mats, but the meeting resulted in their being used more conscientiously. The discussion led to a heightened awareness by techs of the need to keep customers' cars clean. This was done without accusing anyone of anything, but rather enlisting the aid of everyone to try to solve the problem.

Looking back, one of the most productive discussions we ever had at a sitdown had to do with complaints from the parts counter man. He complained that he was wasting a lot of time because of inadequate information on the work orders he received. He pointed out that many of them did not list engine size. This, he said, wastes his time and the time of every technician who has to go back to get the information. He explained that he often needs the letter designation on the VIN number and, in the case of imports, the country where the vehicle was manufactured.

The parts guy had been telling our techs about the problem for a while, but it was not until the sit-down when it was discussed that we came up with the solution. It was resolved there and then that VIN numbers and the engine size would be put on every repair order. It was the write-up person's job to do that and to make sure it was entered into the computer for future reference. We had not been using that part of our computer work order menu that specified where the vehicle was manufactured. We started using it the next day. It was also determined that the tech had the responsibility to double-check the information on the work order with regard to engine size and other pertinent information before taking it to the parts department.

Yet another complaint from the parts counter man was that all too often techs ask for parts without having the repair order. That practice was outlawed at that sit-down.

Rules need to be established for the sit-down. There cannot be any name-calling, shouting or accusing of anyone of anything. It's kind of an in-the-shop think tank where new ideas and old problems are discussed in a calm, informal way. All sorts of ideas may surface, from a way to save money on paper towels in the washroom to a new service to offer customers.