Episode 27

full
Published on:

30th Jul 2025

Talent Development in Auto Workshops: From Recognition to Reward

We explore the final piece of the 'three R'S' in talent management: recognition to reward. We discuss transforming criticism into constructive feedback, effective recognition programs, and the importance of budgeting time for learning. We highlight practical tips and shares personal stories to illustrate the unique development paths of different technicians. Key topics include formal and informal rewards, the need for targeted training, and the importance of understanding the individual needs of each team member.

Andrew has a variety of free downloads and tools you can grab.

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.


This podcast was produced by 'Podcasts Done for You' https://commtogether.com.au .

Transcript
::

Discover practical ways to implement recognition programs and understand why budgeting, time for learning is crucial. Full workshop success. Along the way, Andrew shares some great stories about transmission troubles and learning curves that highlight why everyone develops skills differently. I'm your co-host Anthony Pearl, and this is the Frictionless Workshop podcast.

ey, you did this well. Yeah, [:

It's a these are the areas you can improve on. Let's help you. Yeah. It becomes a, a correction rather than a criticism. Yeah. And the di the difference between those two things are all the difference in the world. And so if someone wants to correct me, Hey Andrew, you, you've been great on these things, but you miss this one.

This is how you solve it. Oh, okay. Well I can do that. I can make that correction. As opposed to Andrew, you're a mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, forward sleeping individual. And we just, only the fact that we can't find anyone marginally better than you, that you're still here, you know, that's, well yeah, thanks.

That'll help me perform. That'll get engagement guaranteed. Um, and the last one is reward and, and reward comes outta the recognition. And the recognition is a management piece. If you don't, if you don't deliberately put on your to-do list, I'm gonna go around and recognize people who are doing the right thing.

for where things were done. [:

But that reward does, it can be formal, and I recommend doing formal rewards for certain things. Um, but informal reward is arguably as, and in some cases more important, and it doesn't have to cost money. Just simply the very fact that someone saw me do something right and go, Andrew, so thrilled that you're doing the wheel nuts correctly.

That is such a reassurance to the customers and to ask, keep that up. It's like, yeah, okay, I, I'll keep doing that because that there's reward in this. Um, there's some businesses that do that so well, it's kind of the, you know, it's almost, you know, the simplification of it is the employee of the month.

e to, you don't have to in a [:

Never. Um, but, but it is that kind of idea though, isn't it? It's the. It might be an opportunity, it might be an opportunity in a team meeting to to, to reward them and in, in calling people out for something positive They did. Yeah. Absolutely. I, I often get pushback on this and people go, but they don't do anything.

Right. Gone. Okay. I have two questions. Firstly, are you actually looking? And secondly, if it genuinely is they're doing everything wrong, can I highly recommend that you help them find a job in someone else's business and drag that business down rather than your business. You know, give, sell them to your opposition, you know, and, and let them go through the pain and anguish and frustration of having someone who's doing everything wrong and not you.

orking in automotive is not. [:

And I recognize there's a variety of reasons why people do it, being paying the bills, being one of them, but like maybe there's something else in the automotive dealership that would suit them. Maybe they're better at selling used cars. Maybe they're better at at spare parts. Maybe they just simply need to go off and be a butcher or a tradie, or a customer service representative or a.

Oh, I don't know, a brain surgeon or something. Goodness knows. Like it, it just, the automotive industry might just not be for them, and so, you know, help them out. The Frictionless Workshop podcast is brought to you by Solutions Culture. For details on how to get in touch with Andrew, consult the show notes below, and don't forget to subscribe.

So you don't [:

I'm gonna charge the clients, you know, a few thousand dollars for you doing this course, because that's not practical. But there is some allowance that you can have, isn't there for, for a, allowing that training of people along the way? Absolutely, and I, I certainly think that this plays out with apprentices the way that we do apprentice training.

So they do with apprentice training, they do training out of place and in place. There is opportunity to improve the training in place. I think in some places people just get signed off when they don't have competence, and that is profoundly damaging for the individual, first and foremost. And secondly, it doesn't help the business.

paper that says that they're [:

It would be better off if he wasn't here. 'cause then we don't double work, you know, and, and pay me extra, you know, I'm doing his job and my job when I get paid for it. So there's a couple of things that are worth, worth considering, and I think the first chunk is to actually think about budgeting some time in your work.

And you can do this on like, maybe not for services, but for certain other jobs you might go, you know, when we quote for this job, we're gonna add 5% for learning, um, 5% of time. So that may or may not be charged to the customer that might come off the business, but I'm gonna argue that the customers are paying for the skill of the individual.

cilitating. Or benefits from [:

Or maybe this is the second time Andrew's doing it and he's still not quite competent. He's okay, but you know, and so I'll allow, make an allowance for that instead of. Jumping on Andrew's back and going, come on, Andrew. The, the, everyone else is doing this in 25 minutes. Why can't you? And it's like, well, this is the second time I've ever done one of these things.

I'm still figuring it out. Oh, well that's, you know, well, no, that's an unreasonable expectation yet, should I know? Yeah. If it's second time out. Yeah. Nah. Just not. And so there's a whole variety of different things that, that we can use around this. And this comes back to your foreman, this comes back to your senior technicians.

riety of really useful quick [:

And so this is what I'm saying, budget the time. Because if you've got a budget for it, well, well now, now it gets allocated correctly and there's the space for people to do learning in place as opposed to, oh, Andrew, you took 20, 20 minutes too long on that job. What's wrong with you? Well, I was freaking learning it.

It's the first time I've done it or it's the third time I've done it and I'm still finding my way. Um, the other one of course is we use this in training all the time, but is format is this is what we're gonna do. This is why it matters. Because I think sometimes that gets left. Shut up, Andrew. Do this, do this, do this, do this right.

Why is it important to do it [:

I don't have all the pieces here. You know, I, I can't figure out what this puzzle is. Okay. So I'll just do what I'm told and then when I do it wrong, because I didn't have all the pieces, they jump on me. It's like, well that's, that's unreasonable. Um, and so. What are we gonna do? Why are we gonna do it? How are we gonna do it?

And now that we've done it, this is how we know it's right. So what's next? What follows on from that format is the you Google format, the number four, and the word MAT. Um, that that's the thing. So teaching people how to teach people using that methodology would be profoundly useful in a business like crazy useful.

know, that they should, you [:

You people do this, you know, da, da da. Very linear. And the reality is that it's not human, it's organic. And anyone that's worked with anyone would know that organic is messy. It's non-linear. It's weird. And so understanding that sometimes some people need to see things 3, 4, 5, 6 times before it sinks in, before the pieces in their brain go thunk.

And it makes sense. And, and now you're right. Now you're in a position where that person can perform, but until that point, you just. Gotta keep at it. You know, I, I, I can think of a dozen different things that I really struggled with as a tech. You know, transmissions were a mystery to me, absolute mystery, and kept giving me transmission work and expecting performance and just, you know, admittedly they knew that technician that I hated transmissions.

But it [:

This now how makes so much more sense. And, and now I started to be able to do, eat my soup with a spoon, do my transmissions more efficiently. Um, but some of that was my attitude. I hated transmissions, hated them. I had rather you gave me a butter knife and said, saw your leg off, because it would be less painful than having to work on transmissions.

here you finish right now. I [:

You know, go, yeah. Bang. We set that expectation in the workplace more often than not, right? And we don't think of it in those terms. That athlete has taken years to get to that point where they're that good and yeah, absolutely. You know, it's not going to be the first, second or third attempt that they're going to get there, that they could happens.

But I'm gonna argue that is not the majority of people. And so that whole concept of understanding that people need to see things more than once. Um, and, and they might, certain people might need to, maybe it's just not their thing. They, they need to see things and be taught in micro steps. Some cases, and we see this in the training classes, you know, we'll go, does everyone know how to do this?

And there'll be a couple people that don't, and you show them and they look at you. The boom gates are down, the lights are flashing, but that train's not coming. It's just, just, yeah, nah. It's like, okay, no problems. Because this is one of the luxuries you have in, in taking people outta the work environment.

me show you this way. Let me [:

Capacity for helping people to do the micro learning to do those steps is a worthwhile investment. Thank you for listening to the Frictionless Workshop podcast. For details on how to get Andrew working with you and your technicians, take a look at the show notes. There's also a link to some special content you can access.

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About the Podcast

The Friction-less Workshop
For automotive dealerships and aftermarket teams
If you own, manage or work in an automotive workshop – this podcast is for you. Andrew Uglow has followed his passion for discovering the secrets of how things work and how to fix them,
since falling in love with all things ‘cars’ as a teenager,

Always ‘hands-on,’ whether as an apprentice, working in national roles for global manufacturers, or running his own business, his quest for the how and why of both people and technology has given him a unique and important perspective, especially timely for the challenges facing today’s workshop owners, managers, and their teams.

Hear from someone who has spent decades training thousands around the world on how to succeed in their roles despite all the obstacles. You will learn new insights and stories about what works and what does not, including the simple tips and tricks that will make a massive impact

This is a unique podcast for the automotive industry with a perspective born from decades of hard-won experience.

Andrew has a variety of free downloads and tools you can grab.
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.

This podcast was produced by 'Podcasts Done for You' https://commtogether.com.au .

About your host

Profile picture for Anthony Perl

Anthony Perl

Anthony is an engagement specialist, building a great catalogue of podcasts of his own and helping others get it done for them. Anthony has spent more than 30 years building brands and growing audiences. His experience includes working in the media (2UE, 2GB, Channel Ten, among others) to working in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, and for the last 13 years as a small business owner with CommTogether. The business covers branding to websites - all things strategic around marketing. Now podcasts have become central to his business, finding a niche in helping people publish their own, making it easy.