How do you get resourcefulness?
Join us as we dive deep into the world of technical resourcefulness! We unpack the organised strategies and tactics that set apart the most resourceful automotive technicians. We kick off with a jaw-dropping tale of 196 fault codes on a single car and discuss how to cut through the chaos without breaking the bank . We also explore how workshop owners can break down barriers to resourcefulness and transform their teams into problem-solving wizards. Packed with real-life examples and expert tips, this episode is a treasure trove for anyone looking to master the art of technical troubleshooting.
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Discover if your workshop is Retention Worthy© here or visit his website, https://www.solutionsculture.com where the focus is on bringing reliable profitability to automotive workshop owners and workshop management through the Retention, Engagement and Development of their Technical Professionals.
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Transcript
Define again, technical resourcefulness.
[: [:And I know, and that's, so the whole idea is to be able to cut through some of that. So I don't know, you were telling me that you've, you've, there's been a new record for, uh, fault codes that you've come across recently. So tell me a little bit about that to give us some context of what people might be dealing with.
So I have , a silly hobby, , of tracking. The highest number of fault codes on cars. So I'm talking to technicians day in, day out, and often during either a casual discussion or part of the training, I'll ask the question, what's the highest number of fault codes you've ever had on a car? And, To put it in context, anything over a hundred is, is insane. It is a crazy number of fault codes. Uh, and I had a gentleman in my, my training just recently, and he said, Oh, I had 196. Now that's beaten my previous record of 192. And, and you go, well, okay, so it's only four more. Well, let me, let me try and give some context as to, to what's going on. Just how huge that number is. So if you were to presuppose that of those 196 fault codes, it would take you about 30 minutes to do the manufacturer's test of each one of those codes. fault codes. And so you multiply 196 by 30, and that gives you the total number of minutes, which is not far from 6, 000 minutes.
[:And, and really that's what resourcefulness, and more specifically, is about. what technical resourcefulness is, is, is all about. And so I'll explain perhaps when we get to the end of this, this podcast, just what the guy did, because the tech that was working on it was actually one of these really highly resourceful individuals.
Uh, and his, uh, his, his solution and resolution was, was really quite impressive.
[: [: [: [:It's it's just kind of happened somehow and we've got no idea how it is, of course The unconventional way which probably should be the conventional way that isn't Is actually training people on how to be resourceful, like giving them the tactics and the strategies to develop resourcefulness and, , to train that, to actually deliver that. Uh, it's somewhere about 12 or 14 weeks to teach them the structure of how to do that. , but at this point in time, being that it's taking 20 years to get that done, I'd argue that's a bargain as far as the time's concerned.
[: [: [: [:That was really important. And more specifically, um, a quality technical mindset. Everyone runs a mindset, but not everyone runs a quality mindset. Um, and even fewer people in the trade, I think, run a quality technical mindset. Um, the second one was method and, and more specifically, a dynamic method. Um, there are lots of different, um, sheets and processes that are published, and they're great, but being able to do a dynamic method that varies based upon what you find in front of you was absolutely critical to being able to be successful or be resourceful. And the last one was around meaning, and more specifically it was about mastering meaning. Often in life, uh, as in workshop, uh, meaning is, is, is all the difference in the world and, and those tiny distinctions ultimately determine what something means, you know. Does it mean the component is good or bad, you know, at a, at the big end? Um, but there's, there's, look, we could, we could spend weeks talking about all the different distinctions and, and, and perhaps, um, maybe that's something we could, we could talk about next.
[:So thanks for people for sending that in, which is fantastic. Um, heuristics, um, Talk to me about that a little bit more and explaining it further, because we touched on it in a previous episode. And this is what has been requested that we delve into that a little bit further, which is obviously attached to meaning.
[:What are you using? You know, we don't sort of see it show up like that. , so the definition, um, that they've used was that heuristics are effectively mental shortcuts, uh, that allow people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently. So it's, it's a way of reducing the, , mental load or the, the intensity of thinking when we, have to either solve a problem or make a decision. Another way to describe heuristics are mental rule of thumb strategies that shorten our decision making time. This was one of the things that we found when we did our research. Again, we weren't looking for this. We just wanted to know, well, how are all these gurus being so remarkably successful on these insanely difficult problems? And other people struggle, like, what is the difference that's making the difference? And we found that the gurus were using what I later found were actually heuristics. Um, and, and so there's a whole, a whole Raft of them right throughout the, the resourceful technician formula.
[: [:---
[:I don't think so. Uh, and so you actually need the number. Like what is it specifically?
And then of course,
[: [: [:technically means the same thing, but it doesn't help, does it?
[:You know, if it, if it was to go higher or lower, what are the consequences of that? And so having those four C's to test or to, to use to analyze your data, content, sorry, context, content, contrast and consequence, uh, are absolutely critical. Um, the other one that we teach, and this will play back into the solution that we found, uh, a solution that this technician found with those 196 fault codes. Um, we call it S3, but he was doing this, he didn't know that it was actually a heuristic that we'd tracked. Um, uh, we call it S3 sorting. And so we talk about, when we start looking at fault codes, you know, are they related to the source, are they related to the symptom, or are they a separate problem entirely? And, uh, he'd actually gone through those 196 codes, um, probably took him, uh, 10, 15 minutes to, to, to do, to do his analysis just on the codes. Um, and he'd worked out which ones were relevant, which ones were related to the source, um, and which ones were symptoms. And then there was a bunch that just happened to be in there that had no bearing or didn't look like they had any bearing on, on the actual fault that he was dealing with. Um, and so he was able to tie it down to about 30 different codes, which like, I don't know about you, but for me, I just go, that's insane that there's 30 codes describing the source. That's just amazing. Um, and, and then ran a, a bunch of tests and he was able to knock this thing over in, uh, about an hour and a half.
He was able to find the problem, which when you consider that it was going to take days of diagnostic time, just running linear through each fault, you know, starting at the top and working to the bottom, like that's an amazing result. Um, and, uh, so again, I point to the fact that, um, why let someone stumble over these heuristics?
Uh, and, and eventually develop them through trial and error over decades, wouldn't it make more sense to go, well, why don't we just teach people how to do this? Why don't we give them the heuristics, uh, and then teach them how to order them into a structure or a strategy based upon the context of the fault that they're working on? Um, and that's a far better way to do things.
[: [: [: [:So that relates to the individual themselves. There's environmental barriers, uh, which are the, the conditions and the, and the, the items and tools and, and, and physical resources. that we work with. And then of course there's, there's marriage, management and procedural barriers. And, um, I've worked in places that just make it so hard for you to be resourceful because of all of the policies, because of all of the stuff and the things that have to be ticked, uh, before you can do anything or limitations on, on what you can do.
So, um, asking that question rather than how do I get resourcefulness, that's important, but perhaps starting with. What am I doing that's stopping my people from being resourceful? , that alone can unlock an enormous amount of resourcefulness in your team. , just in and of itself.
