How to Develop and Mentor Product Support Leaders

Published: June, 2020 - The McDonald Group, Institute for Dealer Development Newsletter

Show me a company with a group of strong leaders, and you’ll see a group of satisfied customers, business owners and employees.   Identifying, attracting, developing and retaining leaders is a common challenge faced by most businesses.  As challenging as it may seem, there are solutions once you commit to make them a priority.  Tools such as McDonald Group training and their Dealer Excellence book series, dealer supplier courses and the sharing of best practices are very good places to engage in leadership development.    

Identifying future leaders - promoting from within

Future product support leaders are often a diamond in the rough and may be right under your nose.  By being in front of the techs or parts teams on a regular basis it gives insight into who potentially has leadership traits that just need to be honed.  Key initiatives such as performance-based compensation plans that actively engage the product support teams in the development, subsequent rollout and ongoing execution really gives insight into potential leaders.  “Being there” as a manager or senior leader enables you to spot a future leader quickly through direct interaction.  

Seeing a coworker advance their career into management stands a better chance of being viewed as a win for your company when the team knows that person has spent a day in their shoes.  Promoting from within with an educated and first-hand view of a candidate increases the likelihood of identifying a good future leader.  Spend time with your people  - “be there”.   

Identifying leadership potential

To identify leadership potential really involves identifying someone with confidence, intelligence and the ability to effectively communicate.   How are they when they are involved in strategy or tactic discussions or when asked how to overcome a challenge in the shop or parts department? This could be both technical in nature or even more business/customer related.  Again, by "being there" these potential leaders will be become very apparent.  How did they perform under their performance plan? How did they interact with customers? These are all great leading indicators of a potential future leader.   

We are in a people business and using aptitude test may provide a ground level assessment, however, how are they at dealing with people?   Firm, but fair? Inclusive and motivating?  Decision maker or procrastinator? Do they have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of others (customer and business owner, etc.)?   Think about it this way, all of us are a customer of someone, who do you like to deal with?  Who do you trust is looking after your business?   

Aiding the leadership transition

Making the transition from coworker to supervisor is always a challenge regardless of the function within the dealership.  You can help make the transition more effective by having a structured performance-based compensation plan that supports the culture you’re trying to build and having this well communicated.    

In the instance of a shop supervisor, having made the techs a part of the strategy discussion drives the engagement and buy-in.  Jealousy will exist but follow the "be there" culture and this can be overcome. Techs soon realize that a supervisor who is open, honest, direct, fair and inclusive is executing a gameplay that will benefit the customer, the company and ultimately the employees. The mistrust, jealousy and lack of clarity of "what's in it for me" is where part of the rift exists between leadership and the shop.  Driving clarity across all departments with strategies and performance-based compensation will help reduce negativity.    

I’d argue that most mid to senior level leaders rose through the ranks of the sales department which has created a challenge for general management to understand the intricacies of product support and the respective teams.  Having dealer leadership involved and focused on product support sets the expectation that the dealership is far stronger with a high-performance product support team than by just having a good sales team.  This focus, the accountability and the investment in the performance of the shop and its leaders will drive improved customer support, employee engagement and create the desire for product support personnel to grow into a leadership role.   I still believe active leadership from the top and being engaged with every level of the company including hosting information sessions is the #1 driver of leadership development and growth.   Think of it as a mentor program within the company.   

The other key development tool is having a new manager go and visit a successful leader at another location for a week.  Ride shotgun within their daily operations and learn what successful leadership looks like from a coworker.  This connection will exist long after the visit where the new manager can ask the veteran for ongoing advice - invaluable collaboration.  

The ongoing development of a new shop leader for example can be tailored around the key measurements and tools inherent to the service department.  Using the components of the performance-based compensation plan is a good place to start.  The plan is structured and focuses on what really matters within the department. In addition, it is the tool most understood by the techs if they were active in its development and execution.   In terms of performance tracking, having a very visible scorecard drives engagement around the plan.  Key metrics like productivity, efficiency, WIP aging, revenue performance to target and service operating profit are some important measures all driven by a satisfied customer and a well-run shop.   Making sure management and techs understand how their performance relative to a job or these metrics keeps them engaged -understanding their pay will be impacted.  Make sure the leader is a coach to help the tech maximize their performance.    

Leadership 101

In my experience with any department I was involved in, the benefits from the sharing of best practices with other dealers and businesses cannot be emphasized enough. It allows leaders to leverage the successes of others and to grow in their role.  

Whether it be through training providers like McDonald Group or through other industry affiliations, the amount of information to help grow future leaders is immense.  That said, you need to recognize the need, set the culture, build the structure and execute it across your company and leadership succession will thrive in your product support department.  

Leadership – Building a Customer-Focused, Process Driven Passionate Business

Published: April 11th, 2020 - The McDonald Group, Institute for Dealer Development Newsletter

Over my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with and learning from many great entrepreneurs and leaders.  As I write this article, we are in the midst of trying to navigate our way through the COVID-19 virus and the impact it will have on family, friends and business.  My hope is that many of the principles of leadership that I have learned will not only help guide any business through trying times, but also enable them to regroup, rebuild and succeed.  I just can’t think of a better time to write an article on leadership.

I have learned that leadership comes in many forms and there is really no one size fits all.  What appears to be the common denominator between average and highly successful leaders is the ability to engage and motivate individuals and teams.  If I learned anything from successful leaders is that most businesses are in the “people business”.   Peel back what you manufacture, sell or service and there is a customer (or employee) at the other end who usually has a choice whether to do business with you and whether it is at a premium or discounted level.   

I’m an admirer of Richard Branson and all the success he has earned by simply placing immense focus on his own people.  His belief that “If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers” carries a powerful message for all leaders as we look to drive engagement, loyalty and profitability both with our teams and our customer base.   It’s really about trust – trust in your vision, trust in your actions and ultimately, do you as a leader care about me as an employee.  

There are countless books and articles on this topic, so I’ll just share what I feel has had the biggest impact on businesses I’ve worked with and learned from over my career.  Executing on these will help any leader build a customer focussed, process driven passionate business.

Top 5 Leadership Success Principles

#1:  Be There.    There’s a great leadership video based upon Pike’s Fish Market in Seattle.   Successful leaders are active and visible with their team.    Get to your operations on a regular basis and get in front of all your people whether it be a yard or parts person, a technician or a salesman.  You want to get a pulse on the attitude and engagement of your team. There’s no better way.   Also, have look at things through your customer’s eyes and experience what they see and hear.  Want to build trust and loyalty throughout your organization? Be visible and…. Be There.  

#2:  Expectation Management.   Expect to be disappointed if your people don’t know what to expect.  This was a very impactful leadership lesson from my former CEO.  I was always amazed when I interacted one on one with teammates with how many didn’t fully understand our vision, our strategies and the tactics we all collectively needed to execute on to win the battle for the customer and to run a great business.  Assuming everyone understood where we were relative to our goals and objectives, where we needed to be and how we were going to get there was a failed assumption.  More on this on the next topic.

#3:  Strategic and Tactical Development.    My eyes usually glaze over when I hear leaders use these terms.  From my experience with successful leaders, it’s in part “the what” each strategy or tactic is, but more “the how” they were developed and will be executed on.   Expectation management and this topic are tied together.  Most leaders cannot perform each function within their organizations to the level of competency that the individual in that role can.  The individuals are at the sharp end of the stick when it comes to customer satisfaction or presenting the company brand in the light you expect as leader or owner.  

Identifying the business challenge or opportunity (the what) and engaging those involved in the execution, regardless of the level within the organization, will drive personal ownership at the employee level, engagement, alignment with strategies and tactics, and ultimately, customer/employee satisfaction and results.   Brainstorming sessions involving individuals, management and even customers, tend to identify what really matters, the strategies, tactics and what solutions need to be executed on to address the issue.  Brainstorming is one very powerful tool to use.  Regardless what you call it, get those impacting the outcome involved in creating the strategies and tactics (the how).  

#4:  Effective Communication.    Note the term “effective.”  The successful leaders I worked with and for all had this figured out.  Transparent, fact based, inclusive style leaders had the hearts and minds of their teams by following #1, #2 & #3 above.   Customers felt this when they walked into any operation and felt confident that the people they dealt with cared.   

More about “the how” here – if you want full engagement, give full engagement.   Emails won’t cut it.  Leadership at every level needs to nail the communication process through employee meetings, one on one chats, scheduled strategy/tactic progress reviews.  Effective communication keeps strategies and tactics as live, working initiatives that creates ownership and results.  It takes hard work and time to communicate effectively, but this drives results.  

#5:  Share the Success.  Transitioning your teams from a “what’s in it for me” to a “what’s in it for us” will drive loyalty, lower turnover and better engagement, within the organization and outside with the customer base.  Caution however, addressing the personal needs cannot be ignored.  We’re all motivated by personal fulfillment and money at some level.   Executing consistently on #1 through #4 coupled with a clearly understood and communicated individual (job function) performance plans addresses the “what’s in it for me” need. 

Some form of these top 5 are likely part of your everyday leadership style.  And, when executed on a consistent basis, have helped you build a customer focussed, process driven passionate business driving the long-term financial returns you expect and deserve.  As noted earlier, there is no one size fits all with leadership success.  Hopefully these Top 5 are a part of your success today.  If not, what a great opportunity to learn from others.