Many workshop owners open auto repair garages because they love cars, not because they’re business experts. But as they grow into the job, they come to understand business and become really good managers, built by everyday experience.
Being a mechanic gives you a head start in business because it teaches you how to solve problems. Take these skills with you and you can become a great team / business leader.
Here are seven things you can do in your daily work that will benefit you, and the workshop, and help make you a natural leader.
We sometimes wrongly think of leaders as great visionaries who constantly have amazing ideas that they pass on to others to carry out. In reality, great ideas come from people at every level of the business. The best leaders are not ‘geniuses’; they are ‘builders’ and ‘facilitators’ who create a culture that welcomes both hard work and ideas. To develop this kind of culture in the workshop you need to set the tone through your own personal attitude and actions.
A mechanic meets and solves challenges on a daily basis – every customer that comes into the garage (unless perhaps they come in for a routine MOT or service) has some kind of problem with their vehicle. Sometimes they are easy fixes; often, however, they are complex problems that the customer struggles to describe, such as, “Something is wrong with the engine,” or, “There is this funny sound when I accelerate.”
As a mechanic you learn that, one way or another, you always get to the bottom of the problem. If you keep this attitude, you’ll be seen as a leader, and if you are (or want to be) a workshop manager, you can apply this same thinking to business challenges.
It’s human nature for a little panic and anxiety to set in when things go wrong, but great leaders are the people who keep a clear head when things go wrong. It’s not easy, and it’s a skill you need to acquire and work at, but it is absolutely a skill that can be honed and cultivated. One way to do this is to ask yourself, when challenges arise, what are the one or two top things to prioritise? Then decide how best to organise your team to solve the problem. As Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, once said, “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” When faced with a problem, don’t take on too much. Take a deep breath. Focus on the one thing you can do immediately that will have the biggest impact. And when that’s done, apply that same thinking again and again until the problem is sorted.
However talented you are as a mechanic, however good you are as a leader, your effectiveness will always be limited if you don't have capable people around you. Great leaders understand the business they are working in and figure out where their company needs to go - this enables them to build a team around them that plays to people’s strengths and complements each other. You’ve perhaps heard this phrase before: ‘The whole is greater than the sum of the parts’.
You don't have to start every day in the workshop with a stirring inspirational speech, but a leader should always try to be positive. If you’re the leader of a team, or if you’re a member of the workforce who wants to hone their leadership skills, you should try to motivate your colleagues and keep staff morale high – studies by Warwick University showed that happy individuals were 12% more productive.
The ability to effectively delegate tasks to the right people within your team will ensure that your workshop runs smoothly and, crucially, this frees up more time for you to actually lead your team – you should avoid getting bogged down with less important tasks. This means you should carefully consider who makes up your workshop team – do you have people you can effectively delegate to, should this form part of your recruitment strategy?
Finally, to be a successful leader, you must be able to communicate your thoughts, ideas and instructions clearly – your team will be unable to follow you if they are unclear on what you are asking them to do. People understand better when you take them aside and talk to them on a one-on-one basis. Ask the person to confirm the request back to you, this will allow you to confirm they genuinely understand the task.
Whether you're already a team leader, or would like to be in the future, there’s a lot to be gained by developing leadership qualities – both for you personally and for the business you’re working in.
What leadership qualities are required for a successful business?
