Simply the best?

17 April 2024  

Are you making sure you have taken enough training to effectively run a workshop?

By Rebecca Pullan, Carmaster Garage

You are a business owner. You opened the doors one day, and there you were. The road towards this moment was long I imagine, but since then you have kept working, and you have managed to make a success of it.
Of course, all the business training you did made things so much easier didn’t it? Wait…what? You never did any business courses? Why am I not surprised? Well, probably because this is such a common story in this industry. Should it be this way though?

Let’s start by thinking about how many hours you spent learning to mend cars. You probably have done at least three years in college, maybe five, and after that many would say your learning had just started. You may have become a diagnostic tech and then a master tech, studying hard for each qualification. Then as you got a few grey hairs, some new technology came out and you had to start again learning from scratch. The motor industry is a constantly moving vehicle (pun intended, as always) and your learning will never stop.
I think most decent techs will agree with this. So, how many hours have you spent? Many thousands probably, and yes you can mend cars, and really well too. It was the many hours of mindful learning, plus the practice, plus probably some great mentorship and finally a personal drive that achieved this. Follow this reasonable recipe then you will become good at mending cars. Do all these things even longer and with more dedication, and you could become incredible, In the words of the great Tina Turner; “Simply the best.”
Are you training enough to have your own garage workshop though? We all agree that to mend cars amazingly you will be learning for a whole lifetime and spending thousands of hours. So, now I ask you why should it be any different when it comes to running a business? How many hours have you trained yourself to become amazing at that?

Key areas
Let’s take a look at the following, which are definitely key areas (but not exclusively, I hasten to add):

People skills: Learn how to ensure your team feels valued and trust you. You do not need to be a very large garage before the most important skill of team building is a make-or-break thing. Do not just assume it is enough to pay people wages.

How to keep the team safe: Ensuring best practice and perhaps actually keep your legacy safe from litigation. Is your HR knowledge up to date?

The numbers game: How many hours have you spent learning how to be good at the numbers? Have you spent enough time to even be just average at this?

I could go on. Do you go on training courses? Have you got a mentor? Do you read? Are you even trying to get better at making your business skills great? Or do you just assume you can do it, just like the guy who walked into your workshop and told you what was wrong with their car. They don’t need it diagnosing; They tell you that they are just short on time…and yet, you know they are actually short on knowledge. Do they know they are short on expertise? Do you know you are short on your skillset too? Unless you have spent at least one thousand hours, I wager you, the answer is yes you are. Please change this, decide today to be better.

Improve
There are not many industries that if you are good at your job, you think you can do it better than your current workplace. This is often when someone says to themselves “why not leave and give it a bash?” They then open your own garage and off you go. Will you do it better than your old place of work? Maybe you will, maybe you won’t, but you certainly can be more successful if you stop and think about creating a training programme for yourself. It’s not dissimilar to the recipe discussed above for being good at mending cars.
There is so much help out there and plenty for free. Tens of thousands of cracking books to read, or listen to, if you prefer. Podcasts and YouTube are awash with information and knowledge. There really is no excuse not to improve your skills, little by little, every day. Or do something weekly or monthly at the very least.
Book yourself onto a training course There are some fantastic courses that you will enjoy or at the very least love the outcomes. Find yourself a mentor, and even better if you are in a position to, consider putting yourself up to be one. The future of the motor industry will be so much richer if you do. If you are reading this and are employed and think you can do it better, start your new knowledge journey now and get yourself ready.

Finally, if this is not your thing, but you know someone who can do better, pop this article in front of them, and ask them to read it. Be like Tina Turner in all you do.