At long last, 2021 is here and many of us can’t put 2020 in our rearview mirror quickly enough. As we establish goals and resolutions for 2021, we may ask ourselves questions: “What am I going to accomplish this year?” or “What will I do differently this year?”Better organization is a common resolution. If you’re like me, better organization may have made your list in prior years, only to find its way back again this year because it’s yet to be conquered. But I know that THIS is the year I’m going to stop managing one fire drill after another! Perhaps you share this goal or just want your shop to be more productive; either way, CCC can help you put a plan in motion.
In order to get organized, we need a specified process. Describe the actions that need to occur, and perhaps more importantly, who will complete them. That includes every milestone in the repair cycle from first notification of loss, through the repair and customer interactions (including post-repair satisfaction surveys) and ending with management of receivables and profit. After you define your process, the next step toward your overall organization is a plan to implement your process that includes incremental goals with target dates.This may sound like a lot, but here’s why it matters, and why a defined course of action should be topping your resolution list:1. A documented process as listed above provides your staff with expectations. People inherently want to do their jobs well and understand why their actions matter. There are countless articles and books written about the positive impact of a process on your organization. The Process Matters: Engaging and Equipping People for Success by Joel Brockner is just one example. When you give your team clearly defined steps and associated actions required to do their job, you are setting them up to succeed. People work better when they know what’s expected of them, understand why it’s important, and have targets to work toward. Process is the foundation of a high-performance culture of accountability.2. Your process allows you to lead and foster your culture through coaching and by holding people accountable. If you’ve clearly defined the steps, provided your team the right training and tools to perform them, and they know you believe in them, you’ve empowered them. When people are empowered, they are engaged, and they will act. You are then less likely to have to micro-manage and put out fires.Here's where the magic of possibility happens:3. Once you’ve defined a process, built your culture of accountability, and aren’t surviving your days running from one fire drill to the next, you can grow. If that means growth within your current shop, you have more time to develop your staff’s talent with a greater focus on capture. If growth means additional locations, you’ve got a documented, repeatable process to start with.CCC's ELEVATE Team has worked with numerous clients to help define processes and maintain accountability and have seen committed operators achieve anywhere from an average of 10% same store sales to best-in-class sales growth of 25-30%.Your investment in process development is worth it. As with achieving any goal, start small to get going and build momentum. First identify your steps, the actions around them, and go from there. If you’d like guidance, CCC ELEVATE™ Services can help.
