Leadership is essential for success and succession. Having a plan to secure team members who are strong leaders starts the day you hire them or the day you recognize that doing things the way they’ve always been done won’t be enough for you to successfully hang up your keys to the shop.
History books are rife with references to strong leaders. Ghandi, President Reagan, President Obama, General Patton were all strong leaders. Unfortunately, there have also been leaders who simply wielded power, doing damage to the world and to generations that followed: Genghis Khan, Ivan The Terrible and other, more recent, examples come to mind.
This proves, of course, that all leadership isn’t always positive, edifying or profitable. Leadership can take a nasty turn if it’s not fostered early on. As a shop owner you will eventually sell your shop and the core of your succession plan’s value will be centered on the leadership you have in place.
How do you develop good leaders? It all starts with you. You simply can’t give what you don’t have and you can’t groom anyone to be an effective leader if you aren’t one yourself. As a leader, you should always be willing and ready to “Level Up” your leadership skills. Books, training courses and mentoring groups should all be a daily component of improving your leadership abilities.
The Farm Team Approach
Just as with sports teams, you might already have potential leaders within your current staff. Do you have someone on your team who is a good follower and has great potential? Attitude is key – a willingness to listen, learn and adapt are vital. The most important thing is that they know how to follow instructions and submit to the leadership above them.
Too often I have seen heir apparents who aren’t effective and lead in the direction other than what the owner wants. Simply put, the newly minted successor didn’t know how to listen and follow their leader. When this occurs, confusion and dissention take root. Employee and customer satisfaction suffer, and no one is happy.
As you look and identify key employees to bring up behind you, make sure they are great at following your lead. That is the first step!
Grooming comes next
All leaders, no matter their position today, started out as followers. Follow the lead of the great philosophers of Ancient Greece as they set the standard. Socrates was the teacher of (groomed) Plato; Plato was the teacher of (groomed) Aristotle. Aristotle eventually was the mentor (groomer) and tutor for the only general said to have never lost a battle, Alexander the Great of Macedonia. As you can see, greatness begets greatness, just as great leaders beget great leaders. Who in your shop will you teach and groom as part of your succession plan?
Identify training and development opportunities that you should provide to potential successors. At the top of the list of any leadership development plan should be providing communication and emotional intelligence skills training. Next in line is taking in-person or online leadership development training with a proven track record. John Maxwell and Dave Ramsey both have amazing training curriculum that gets results.
Live classes, whether they are virtual with a limited number of participants or in-person sessions, are a game changer with developing leaders. By getting out of the shop they can focus on the material presented instead of the distractions at the shop.
An additional benefit is that working alongside peers and leaders from other industries brings a perspective you can’t get from a book, Ted Talk or YouTube presentation. The mind works differently when engaging other perspectives – discussing the reason why someone has an opposing view can change or reinforce the belief set.
Think of it this way: if we always look at the world from ground level, we’ll never see how vast the world is. The view from the top of a 30-foot ladder, not to mention from an airplane at 30,000 feet, shapes our world view more dramatically. The same goes for growing as a leader with peers who offer a different perspective.
Over my career I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand the power of a different perspective. Northwood University offers a program, Leadership 2.0, which is targeted directly at developing leaders in the automotive aftermarket. Our class of 25 people had a cross section of our industry. In my class we had representation from large oil companies, parts manufacturers as well as distributors, associations and service centers. While we all technically worked in the same industry, we each had our own“world view” of it. The leadership lessons we learned were invaluable but the perspective we gained was even more so.
Be Intentional About Sharing Your Wisdom
The wealth of knowledge you have regarding your shop’s operation is vast and it’s critical that you pass it on to the successor of your shop. From handling customers, shop operations and even such fundamental basics as to how the shop is opened and closed each day has a process tied to it. It’s key to pass this knowledge on. Invest some time and write up a list of the aspects of your role, then document the details of each. This knowledge transfer will be a key guide as you begin the transfer of actual tasks.
The timeframe to full operation control from former to new owner can take some time – years in many cases. Remember, you’ve developed most if not all the processes, yourself, so complete education of your successor will take time. Plan accordingly!
Mentoring your successor
You can improve the chances of a smooth transition without worrying about being relied on for years after your last day at the shop. Mentorship needs to be a part of the deal and it starts with your mentorship and outside mentoring resources.
One of our coaches, Randy Anderson, is a former shop owner who sold his shop to his nephew Tyson. Randy says coaching and mentorship should be a mandatory part of your sales agreement.
“It is crucial that the person you choose as your successor is mentored before and after he or she takes over,” he explains. “You should be enrolled with a coaching company well before the transition and your successor should be attending the coaching and training sessions as well, probably for a minimum of a year before they take over. Not only does it give you people to lean on when you have a problem or you have a question, a coaching program will help them develop their skills where they’re weakest.”
In fact, Randy says, it’s important that they stick with coaching even after they’ve taken over. It will definitely help them in the future when you’re not there to answer the question immediately.
In his case, his successor was his nephew, so he had a familial incentive to remain active as an advisor.
“Remember, many owners just want to step away,” Randy says. “For me, I stayed very available for the first year and anything he needed, I stepped in to answer any questions – after all, he was family. But I also, in our sales agreement, stipulated that he had to maintain the coaching program I was involved in for a minimum of three years. After that he could decide if he wanted to stay in or not. But that helped guarantee his success and now, more than a dozen years later, he’s still involved with the coaches and still growing every month.”
You never know where the next generation of shop owner will come from. It might be a son, daughter, niece or nephew; it might even be the general service specialist you just hired. No matter where they come from it crucial that you have a plan to mentor, lead and cultivate their leadership once you have identified the potential. Along with setting them up for success you will learn and grow as they do.
Vic Tarasik has been an independent auto repair professional for more than three decades and is the former owner of Vic’s Precision Automotive in The Woodlands, Texas. He is the founder of Shop Owner Coach, a coaching and training organization that is committed to helping independent repair shop owners achieve their dreams through the intentional application of best business practices.
Ready to talk about your succession plan? Connect with us and we’ll help you navigate the steps along the way to succession. Book a complimentary coaching session by simply emailing us to set it up!