I walk into a brand new store with an already established team in a week. I’ve been a tech, advisor and service manager before but it was always a team where I came up through the ranks. This time I’m new to them and they’re new to me.
If you had a new service manager coming in, on day 1, what would you want them to do? Open to whatever. I can feed them, gift them all a 10mm (ha!) Or something else useful. Or?
This is a team that didn’t like the previous guy. He didn’t trust his techs, didn’t quite understand the shop. Genuinely, I want their lives to be easier but for day 1, I just want an icebreaker. .
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Good support and communication.
I’m not a mechanic, just a guy who likes reading what the smart people say on this sub so I don’t have any advice. But I do respect what you’re doing and think it’s great
Don’t be grandiose about making changes or being different. Don’t do too much to introduce or seem like you rely on your experience because it’s probably a lot less valuable than you think. Try to take in the experience in front of you as much as your own.
For example, I’ve had a number of SVMs come in with experience at domestic or Japanese brands… German luxury cars and customers aren’t the same.
Don’t make yourself a big list of things to fix, but when small, but achievable fixes are possible, jump on them, check them off the list to show you take action.
This is going to sound goofy… but watch the first season of Ted Lasso.
We had rotating Saturday shifts at one of the shops I worked at, and if you had to work Saturday lunch was comped. We’d pick a restaurant and order and the porter would go pick it up. Always made the weekend shift a bit more tolerable.
In all seriousness though the only thing I want out of a service manager is someone who has my back and doesn’t micromanage me.
I think having a meeting with all the techs present could be a good start.
“Guys, I want you to enjoy your job here. What are some things that you feel we’re doing right? What are some things you think we could do better? What are some things that have you considering different employment?”
Don’t make promises to any answers you get. Log them all. Sleep on them. Implement what you can. And be open about what you can’t do.
This is a very good answer. Another thing you might do is ask the same questions to each tech individually. Maybe both approaches.
Totally agree. With this, you can also get a feel of whether or not beefs exist between techs. Not that I’d recommend intervening. But it’s good to know about.
Don’t change anything right away. Give it a few weeks of watching to get the lay of the land before attempting to make improvements.
If there’s a policy in place, no matter how crazy the policy sounds remember that it was created for a reason. Learn the background on it and why it exists before trying to change it.
Listen. You don’t have to do as requested but listen and take under advisement. Ask ask why things are done certain ways. Maybe there is a tool lacking or a resource you can provide. Ask how the crew would fix a situation the bring to you. Sometimes the budget won’t allow; but if you are willing to try that will get more cooperation. Don’t fire a shit ton of people just to prove a point What I found made the best managers were the ones who made what resources could be, available; ran interference between higher ups who don’t know what it takes to get job done. Stand up for customer, employee when needed. Don’t screw over customers, employees will know you will do them over too. Check in with how things are for the employees especially new ones. Notice if people have low affect for more than a couple days.
Know that things won’t EVER run perfectly. But if you do a good job they will run with less stress on everyone.Lunch and a short meeting of what you’re expecting from the team would be a great start.
This is more like what I’m needing. I want an icebreaker for Day 1.