The first part is getting all of your managers on board, and that involves getting them together in the same physical space, or at least that’s what I do. I start every Monday morning with what I like to call my “Leadership Meeting,” which involves every department head and myself.

I set the agenda for the week, looking at the calendar to confirm visits from any guests from corporate or our vendor partners, in-store or offsite training, vacations or other items that everyone needs to know about. Here I’m trying to avoid the “no one told me” response later in the week when something important is about to happen. No surprises.

Next, we move on to general business items

…including where our results stand for the month. In this business, we’re measured on a month-to-month basis and I think it’s important that all department heads know how each individual department is doing. If we’re having a good month in a particular department, I want to call out that manager in front of their peers (but in a good way), encouraging them to keep it up and finish strong. If we’re lagging, I want everyone to know so that they might be able to lend some brainpower to improving the situation. Let’s say the new car department is behind the forecast and we talk about it. Maybe the service manager has heard a couple of technicians talking about needing a new car. He or she can inform the new car manager and they can plan a follow-up discussion after the meeting to go over new car incentives and talk with the employees. The point is, every little bit helps.

The last part of the Leadership Meeting is the most important, 

…as we go around the room and everyone gets to speak whatever is on their mind. This is meant to foster a sense of collaboration between the managers and work out any conflicts that may arise departmentally during the week. Let’s say the used car manager thinks his department pays too much in reconditioning the cars and getting them ready for sale (don’t they all think that?). The service and parts managers will, of course, be very protective of their turf, but maybe there is a discussion that can be had about ways to lower costs. Even if it only results in a plan to meet separately later in the week, hopefully, it provides a forum where managers can interact and not feel threatened. I am the moderator, however, and have to make sure things don’t get out of hand. In the rare instance where people are too emotional or argumentative, I shut off discussion and plan a follow up with the affected parties after the fact.

One more thing: the meeting doesn’t take that long, typically lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Any longer and you’ve lost their attention anyway and people won’t think it’s a valuable meeting. The key is to keep it short and meaningful in your managers’ minds.

After this meeting, the rest of the week can be spent making sure the department heads are disseminating any required information to the rest of the team and my working with them individually. Going around the store and observing what is or isn’t happening gives me the opportunity to work with that manager and employees further, and it also provides potential topics for general discussion at next week’s meeting.

Getting the rest of the staff on the same page only occurs when they see the managers do the same. I’ve seen cultures where the managers say things to their particular employees that take away from our mission. It does no good to have the service or parts manager tell a technician that the used car manager is “cheap” and “doesn’t want to spend a dime” or have the new car manager tell a salesperson that service and parts are “ripping them off” on accessories and installation. It sends the message that the departments don’t (and can’t) get along and that ultimately gets back to the external customer. Trust me, our guests don’t care about internal conflicts, they just want their problem solved.

And that’s really what it’s all about, right? We have to have our stuff together to provide a unified front to the guests. For example, we don’t want salespeople promising something for a customer, only to not tell service what’s going on and have the customer show up on the service drive expecting to be taken care of, do we? How unprofessional do we look there? Whereas if we develop a system or process to communicate “we owes” internally, we can provide a much smoother experience for the guest. That’s what earns us repeat business from guests. Not low prices, not 10 minute, $9.95 oil changes, but an actual, factual good customer experience.

What do you do to get your people on the same page? Do you do something different to internally set yourself up for success? I’d love the feedback.

Make it a great day!

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So, who showed up for work today? The visionary or the arsonist?

On my recent vacation I read a book named DO/SCALE by Les McKeown which increased my awareness of this dichotomy. Generally speaking, the book is a practical guide to scaling an organization. For me, it quickly became a practical guide in self-awareness as it introduced some common traits of visionary leaders. 

Of course we can all think of those mega-stars like Jobs, Bezos, and Musk… but I think there are many more of us in this boat who indeed fit the description of “Visionary Leader”; Most of us are just too hesitant to give ourselves the title. So, for the purpose of this exercise, I’m letting your humility off the hook and grouping you in if you are the type of person who leads with your head up, looking for opportunity to improve the lives of yourself and your team. 

The Blessings

There are plenty of reasons that you make a positive impact for your organization: You are willing and able to see new opportunity, for starters. Once you do, you know how to believe you can wrangle that opportunity and can inspire your team to do the same. You don’t listen to the outside nay-sayers and embrace the pivot. Truth-be-told, young companies would ALL die if it wasn’t for the blessing of your abilities. Yassssss!!!!

The Curse

Here is where the alter ego takes over: Things are going as planned aaaaaaaaaand maybe a better opportunity comes into view… Maybe some discouraging news comes in… or maybe all the routine of life and business are making you feel “boxed in”.

Enter the Arsonist. The Arsonist burns those mundane or less opportune items to the ground. And they do it in the name of pivoting, progress, or some other justification. And while this is happening, you are burning out your team, family, and losing credibility along the way. Nooooooo!!!!!

The Fix

The fix is, as I say, simple but not easy. The simplest fix is knowing the truth about which person showed up for work today. Which persona are you acting out of? Sometimes the right decision is to pivot. Self awareness is your friend here. For me, simply asking myself the question of “who” is making the decision is all it takes. Better yet, share this post with someone you trust and allow them to ask the question every time they suspect the Arsonist has the matches out. 

In my business, I have pivoted many times over the past 17 years and can argue that my mentality in doing so has made us a more successful company. However, when I really look closely, I see that half of those pivots were made by the Arsonist and stunted our growth, burnt out my team, and decreased opportunity.

Recently, I had a moment of clarity about our current business model and began going through the Visionary Leaders’ toolkit of excitement and vision casting while proposing a new business model that I believe will be rocket fuel; creating big opportunity for everyone on our team. I stopped myself and considered that this might be the Arsonist. I landed on the belief that it was not, but I didn’t stop there.

I then explained the Visionary/Arsonist principle to some of my leaders and asked them what they thought this was. They agreed that it seemed like the Visionary, confirming for me that the Arsonist’s matches were nowhere to be found. 

So for all of the Visionary Leaders reading this, and also all who work for, or are married to one, today is a great time to understand the blessing, the curse, and most importantly, the fix to determine who showed up today. The Visionary… or the Arsonist?  

Pursue clarity and respond accordingly  

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I talk about this topic and others on my weekly Clarity Compressed Podcast. You can also listen on the platform of your choice: iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Castbox. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And if you want to learn more, you can check out my website pauljdaly.com

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