Testing the Numbers

Anthony Perl: 00:00:01

Testing the premise behind the numbers.

2

: 00:00:03

Join passionate automotive trainer

and coach Andrew Uglow as he shares

3

: 00:00:07

a humbling lesson from his apprentice

days that reveals why your workshop

4

: 00:00:11

metrics might be misleading you.

5

: 00:00:13

In this episode, you'll learn why

financial tools are often incomplete

6

: 00:00:17

when managing a human-driven

business, and how to identify the

7

: 00:00:20

blind spots in your workshop culture.

8

: 00:00:23

Discover the importance of zeroing

your meter before you start diagnosing

9

: 00:00:27

performance issues, and along the

way, you'll hear stories about the

10

: 00:00:31

changing role of the foreman and why old

management keys no longer open new doors.

11

: 00:00:36

I'm your co-host Anthony Perl, and this

is the Frictionless Workshop podcast.

12

: 00:00:40

Let's get cranking.

13

: 00:00:44

Well, Andrew, hello and welcome to

another episode of your podcast.

14

: 00:00:48

And I love it when you tell stories,

and I'm gonna prompt you to go back to

15

: 00:00:54

some of the early days and a workshop

that you ran that I know you've got

16

: 00:00:58

a little bit of a lesson for people

from those early days that you learnt.

17

: 00:01:02

Andrew Uglow: It's funny how you can be in

a context and someone asks you a question

18

: 00:01:06

and it prompts something that you hadn't

recalled for a long time, and that was…

19

: 00:01:10

that's the case here.

20

: 00:01:12

We were doing an electrical class

with some people who were fairly,

21

: 00:01:15

like they were qualified, but it'd

been a while since they'd done

22

: 00:01:18

electrical, and so they needed a

bit of a refresh, bit of a touch-up.

23

: 00:01:21

And I ended up telling a story about one

of my first electrical diagnosis events.

24

: 00:01:28

Again, I come from a different world.

25

: 00:01:29

I come from a world where workshops

were fairly rough and ready.

26

: 00:01:32

Cars were largely mechanical devices

with a few electrical circuits,

27

: 00:01:36

not the highly networked electronic

things that we enjoy today.

28

: 00:01:39

And I'd been given the opportunity to do

some diagnosis for myself, and this was

29

: 00:01:44

sort of like, as a third-year apprentice,

it was like, whoa, this is really heavy.

30

: 00:01:48

It had a lot of gravity.

31

: 00:01:50

And so, you know, they, they've

sort of let me loose on this car.

32

: 00:01:52

There's an electric window that doesn't

work, and they said, "Find out what's

33

: 00:01:55

going wrong and come back and see me."

34

: 00:01:57

And so I go through all the things

that I've been taught from trade

35

: 00:01:59

school, and I'm using an ohmmeter.

36

: 00:02:02

Now, an ohmmeter measures ohms, which

is a electrical resistance in a circuit.

37

: 00:02:06

Anything that has too much resistance

either doesn't work or doesn't work well.

38

: 00:02:10

And it- typically in a circuit y- you

wanna be under an ohm, and less is more.

39

: 00:02:14

Less is better.

40

: 00:02:15

And so the circuit has three main parts.

41

: 00:02:16

I, I go to the first part and I measure it

and I get eight ohms, which is enormous.

42

: 00:02:21

And it's like, "Yes,

I've found the problem."

43

: 00:02:23

And because I've partly disassembled

the vehicle to get to where I needed

44

: 00:02:27

to measure, I thought, "Oh, well, since

there's a part, I'll just measure the

45

: 00:02:30

other two pieces just to be sure," right?

46

: 00:02:32

I don't wanna look like an idiot

and only find half the problem.

47

: 00:02:35

So I measure the second half of

the circuit, and it's also eight

48

: 00:02:38

ohms, and I've gone, "Whoa."

49

: 00:02:40

Like it's not just bad, it's doubly bad.

50

: 00:02:42

And so I go to measure the last half

thinking that I'm pretty much done,

51

: 00:02:45

but it's just a quick test and we'll

be right, and I measured the third

52

: 00:02:49

part of the circuit and it's also

eight ohms, and I'm kind of blown away.

53

: 00:02:53

I've gone, "Wow, 24 ohms."

54

: 00:02:55

And so the OCD part of my brain

goes, "Andrew, why don't you

55

: 00:02:59

measure all of the circuit?"

56

: 00:03:01

And I'm expecting 24 ohms.

57

: 00:03:03

So I measure across the entire

circuit, and it absolutely confounded

58

: 00:03:08

me- Because I've got eight ohms.

59

: 00:03:11

And it's like, hang on a

minute, let me get out my

60

: 00:03:13

calculator and just double-check.

61

: 00:03:14

Eight plus eight plus eight,

well, that's, that's 24, right?

62

: 00:03:17

So wh- why do I have only eight?

63

: 00:03:19

And so I remeasure.

64

: 00:03:20

I do the first part, second

part, third part, same readings.

65

: 00:03:23

Do the total circuit, same readings.

66

: 00:03:26

And I'm not just, I'm not just a

little bit stumped, I am entirely lost.

67

: 00:03:30

I, like I, I, I, I go to my cupboard

of options and it is absolutely bare.

68

: 00:03:35

I've got no idea.

69

: 00:03:36

Anthony Perl: Love it.

70

: 00:03:37

I mean, that's the thing is that,

that that's, you get in that situation

71

: 00:03:40

and you think you've got an answer,

and then, uh-oh, it's not the answer

72

: 00:03:45

that you thought it was, and then

you start swimming out of your depth

73

: 00:03:49

Andrew Uglow: Yeah.

74

: 00:03:50

So I, I, like, my only option was,

well, just in case, 'cause usually…

75

: 00:03:55

And this is true, I think, of most

technicians, we have this fairly

76

: 00:03:59

negative inner voice that says, "Well,

you must have done something wrong."

77

: 00:04:03

And that's the first thing that we

assume, and so we go back and check to

78

: 00:04:05

make sure that we didn't do something

wrong, because if there's gonna be a,

79

: 00:04:08

some consequences on the end, we don't

wanna be receiving the consequence.

80

: 00:04:12

We want someone else to, or

the car or something else.

81

: 00:04:14

So I go back and check

again, and it's the same.

82

: 00:04:16

And so I end up losing, like, 30 minutes

rechecking, going, "Well, hang on.

83

: 00:04:20

How can this possibly be?

84

: 00:04:21

This is eight, and this is eight, and

this is eight, but I've still got eight.

85

: 00:04:25

I should have 24."

86

: 00:04:27

And so I do it backwards.

87

: 00:04:28

I It didn't change anything.

88

: 00:04:32

And so, like, like I say,

I, I, I'm, I'm just stuck.

89

: 00:04:36

And so I do what all good

technicians do when they get

90

: 00:04:38

stuck, is they call the foreman.

91

: 00:04:39

And so I call the foreman over and

I go, "Can you help me with this?"

92

: 00:04:42

And so he drops what he's doing

and, and, and comes on over.

93

: 00:04:45

And he says, "Right.

94

: 00:04:45

What's the problem?"

95

: 00:04:46

And I show him the first

part of the circuit.

96

: 00:04:47

I said, "Eight ohms."

97

: 00:04:49

And he goes, "That's huge."

98

: 00:04:50

And I said, "Yeah, I know, right?

99

: 00:04:51

But here's the second part of the

circuit, and it's eight ohms, too."

100

: 00:04:54

And he goes, "Hang on.

101

: 00:04:55

That's a bit weird."

102

: 00:04:57

And I go, "No, no, that's

not the weirdest part.

103

: 00:04:59

Here's the third part of the circuit,

and that's eight ohms as well."

104

: 00:05:02

And I go, "But when I measure the

whole circuit, it's eight ohms.

105

: 00:05:06

I should have 24, and I'm, I'm lost."

106

: 00:05:10

Anyway, the foreman goes…

107

: 00:05:12

You know how sometimes you come

across someone and they just ask the

108

: 00:05:14

perfect question at the perfect time?

109

: 00:05:15

The foreman asks, "So did

you check your meter?"

110

: 00:05:19

And I've gone…

111

: 00:05:20

You, you have that little

Microsoft blue circle moment.

112

: 00:05:22

You go, "Uh, no I didn't."

113

: 00:05:26

And so he grabs the leads out of

my hands, and he holds one lead and

114

: 00:05:30

touches the other lead to it, which

we call zeroing the meter, right?

115

: 00:05:32

Anthony Perl: Mm-hmm.

116

: 00:05:33

Andrew Uglow: And guess

who didn't zero the meter?

117

: 00:05:35

Andrew, do you wanna guess how

much the meter was reading?

118

: 00:05:38

Anthony Perl: Was it reading eight?

119

: 00:05:39

Andrew Uglow: It was reading eight ohms.

120

: 00:05:41

So all of the f- all of the…

121

: 00:05:42

So, so here's, here's, here's

the, here's the crunch, right?

122

: 00:05:45

Not only did I not find the problem,

I've just spent 30-plus minutes going

123

: 00:05:49

around in circles where if I'd checked

the meter to begin with, I would've found

124

: 00:05:54

exactly what was causing my eight ohms,

and I would've known to either test a

125

: 00:05:57

different way or look somewhere else.

126

: 00:05:59

And so Andrew looks like a right peanut.

127

: 00:06:02

Now, to my defense, I'm

an apprentice, right?

128

: 00:06:04

This is my first real live job on a car.

129

: 00:06:06

And I just go back to, it struck

me the lesson from this, is that

130

: 00:06:11

the numbers weren't lying It

wasn't like the meter was faulty.

131

: 00:06:14

The leads had resistance

and they shouldn't have.

132

: 00:06:17

But the, what it was

displaying was correct.

133

: 00:06:19

What was the underlying problem that I

had entirely missed was that I hadn't

134

: 00:06:25

tested the premise behind the numbers.

135

: 00:06:28

And so I was just operating

off the numbers in front of

136

: 00:06:30

me going, "Oh, eight ohms.

137

: 00:06:31

Found it.

138

: 00:06:32

Yay."

139

: 00:06:32

And then when it didn't add up,

I didn't have a way of validating

140

: 00:06:37

that what's really going on

versus what the numbers say.

141

: 00:06:41

Anthony Perl: It's an

interesting one, isn't it?

142

: 00:06:42

Because you immediately went

down a path of trying to go…

143

: 00:06:46

I, I imagine your mind's going,

particularly when you get

144

: 00:06:48

the first reading, is going,

"Okay, there's a problem.

145

: 00:06:50

What is going to be the

problem in this section?"

146

: 00:06:53

Because of this huge amount of

resistance that you're seeing, and

147

: 00:06:57

you would obviously start trying to

diagnose what could be the fix for

148

: 00:07:01

that, and suddenly you're blown out

of the water and go, "Hang on, I may

149

: 00:07:04

not have found the problem at all."

150

: 00:07:06

Andrew Uglow: Right.

151

: 00:07:06

And so apart from being just a little bit

embarrassing , I think more humiliation

152

: 00:07:11

than embarrassment, but anyway.

153

: 00:07:13

And again, I go back to the lesson that

I learnt, it was like, ah, so I have

154

: 00:07:16

to, well, we call it zeroing the meter.

155

: 00:07:18

I have to make sure that what the

tool that I'm using to measure is

156

: 00:07:21

in fact the right tool for the job,

and it's being used the right way.

157

: 00:07:26

And one of the things that I hear

in technical training, I hear

158

: 00:07:30

when I've talked to foremen, is

that very often in workshops,

159

: 00:07:34

everyone is tracking the numbers.

160

: 00:07:36

We've all got the metrics, we've

all got the KPIs, and the, the

161

: 00:07:39

KPIs, the numbers are accurate.

162

: 00:07:41

But what's missing is the

premise behind the numbers.

163

: 00:07:47

And so we go, oh, well, you know, our

workshop productivity, our workshop

164

: 00:07:50

efficiency, our parts per RO, labor per

RO, all of the metrics that we track and

165

: 00:07:54

measure, and we should track and measure.

166

: 00:07:55

It's important.

167

: 00:07:56

But the numbers themselves don't

convey what's really happening,

168

: 00:08:02

that, that you're kind of measuring

the end of the assembly line, right?

169

: 00:08:05

But that doesn't necessarily give

you insight into the health of the

170

: 00:08:10

assembly line or what's actually

happening on the assembly line.

171

: 00:08:14

You just measure what it produces,

and that's kind of what stumped me.

172

: 00:08:18

It's like, oh, well, how

can this possibly be?

173

: 00:08:20

And I didn't have a way of

being able to test my premise.

174

: 00:08:26

I didn't have a way to be able to

reverse engineer what the numbers

175

: 00:08:30

meant other than it was bad

176

: 00:08:33

' Anthony Perl: Cause the lesson that

people mostly would learn out of that

177

: 00:08:35

situation is probably going, "Ah,

okay, I forgot to do the thing at the

178

: 00:08:39

beginning to get it back down to zero."

179

: 00:08:40

And-

180

: 00:08:41

Andrew Uglow: Right

181

: 00:08:41

… Anthony Perl: and that's an

import- that's an important lesson,

182

: 00:08:43

but it's not the main lesson.

183

: 00:08:46

Andrew Uglow: Yeah.

184

: 00:08:46

And again, the, the crunch is in

the industry, we love to use fairly

185

: 00:08:51

vague generalizations because it's

convenient and we're always time poor.

186

: 00:08:55

So if we can say it quicker

and faster, the better.

187

: 00:08:57

But we talk about the skills gap.

188

: 00:08:59

Oh, it's the skills gap.

189

: 00:09:00

Why, why is my workshop performing?

190

: 00:09:01

Oh, it's a skills gap.

191

: 00:09:02

It's, it's a productivity issue.

192

: 00:09:04

It's an efficiency issue.

193

: 00:09:05

It's…

194

: 00:09:05

And it could in fact be, but we

haven't actually done meaningful

195

: 00:09:10

calibration, meaningful diagnosis on

the premise behind the skills gap.

196

: 00:09:16

It's just like me getting eight ohms.

197

: 00:09:18

Oh, it's eight ohms.

198

: 00:09:18

That's the problem.

199

: 00:09:19

Should be zero.

200

: 00:09:20

Yeah, but where did that

eight ohms come from?

201

: 00:09:23

How do you know that you've

measured that eight ohms correctly?

202

: 00:09:25

How do you know that you haven't got an

inaccurate calibration to start with?

203

: 00:09:29

And we go back, well, what

about your efficiency numbers?

204

: 00:09:32

What about your productivity numbers?

205

: 00:09:33

What about all of the things

that we test and measure?

206

: 00:09:36

How do you know what that's meaning?

207

: 00:09:37

You're, you're just measuring the outcome.

208

: 00:09:38

You're not getting any insight

into what causes that issue.

209

: 00:09:43

And the issue is deeper, I think, than

what most service management realize.

210

: 00:09:48

But the only tool they've

got, like me, is the KPIs.

211

: 00:09:52

They don't have an effective

way of being able to calibrate

212

: 00:09:56

other than using financial tools.

213

: 00:09:58

And if the financial tool isn't the

whole story, well, where do they go?

214

: 00:10:03

They do what I did and, and just repeat

what we've done with the financial tool.

215

: 00:10:07

Well, let's check it again to make

sure we got it right, you know,

216

: 00:10:09

because the numbers don't lie.

217

: 00:10:11

And that's true, they don't.

218

: 00:10:12

But

219

: 00:10:14

Anthony Perl: And I imagine it's

exactly the same as completely believing

220

: 00:10:17

a customer who, when they drive

in and say, "The engine's broken."

221

: 00:10:21

Andrew Uglow: Mm-hmm.

222

: 00:10:21

" Anthony Perl: And it's not performing."

223

: 00:10:23

Andrew Uglow: Or, "Engine

missing," is my favorite.

224

: 00:10:25

Anthony Perl: Yeah.

225

: 00:10:26

"It's not performing like it

should, and I'm pretty sure that

226

: 00:10:29

it's 'cause this is broken."

227

: 00:10:31

If you operate on that assumption-

Mm-hmm … you're only gonna look

228

: 00:10:34

for that problem, but that may not

have been the cause of the problem.

229

: 00:10:38

It may not be the only problem.

230

: 00:10:39

Andrew Uglow: Yeah, absolutely.

231

: 00:10:40

And so I go back to when I see technicians

in training classes, very often they

232

: 00:10:45

turn up and they have pretty good

foundations, generally speaking, but

233

: 00:10:49

they often miss the meaning piece.

234

: 00:10:53

And so they can use the tool correctly,

they can get the number correctly,

235

: 00:10:56

they can read the scan tool correctly.

236

: 00:10:58

But when we actually get down to the data

and we go, okay, what does that data mean?

237

: 00:11:03

What's the pieces that are

resulting in that number?

238

: 00:11:08

Very often we come across that Microsoft

blue circle, where it just spins and

239

: 00:11:11

spins and spins and, and, and they don't

have a means or a tool or a strategy or

240

: 00:11:18

a structure to be able to go and unpack

what's really happening behind that.

241

: 00:11:24

And part of the reason for that is

that we run a human business with

242

: 00:11:28

financial tools, and financial tools

are awesome, and they're necessary,

243

: 00:11:32

and they're important, but they're, in

and of themselves, they're incomplete.

244

: 00:11:36

And so where the driver is a

human driver, you know, we look at

245

: 00:11:38

people's behavior in here, they're

lazy, they're this, they're that.

246

: 00:11:41

Well, okay, what's causing that?

247

: 00:11:43

What's driving that?

248

: 00:11:44

Because at the end of the day, it's

the humans that get you your KPIs.

249

: 00:11:48

It's the humans that get you your metrics.

250

: 00:11:50

And so if we don't have

good human diagnosis of…

251

: 00:11:53

And better, if we don't have good

human intervention, if we don't

252

: 00:11:56

have the equivalent of sticking

my two leads together and go,

253

: 00:11:59

"Oh, what's really going on here?"

254

: 00:12:01

And getting a good baseline, a good

calibration to start with, we'll

255

: 00:12:05

just keep measuring the metrics.

256

: 00:12:06

We'll just keep measuring the financial

outcomes and do what we've always done

257

: 00:12:10

faster, harder, longer, quicker, more.

258

: 00:12:12

And it can work, but

it's also very limiting.

259

: 00:12:15

Anthony Perl: What's the big message

if you're listening in to this

260

: 00:12:18

now and going, "Yeah, that's me.

261

: 00:12:20

We're, you know, in our workshop,

we are pretty much driven by

262

: 00:12:24

bottom line only, and so if we're

seeing, you know, this happening

263

: 00:12:29

financially, we move this way or that"?

264

: 00:12:32

You know, 'cause the message

isn't abandon all of that

265

: 00:12:35

Andrew Uglow: No.

266

: 00:12:35

No, that would be insane.

267

: 00:12:37

That would be quite literally throwing the

baby out with the bath water, wouldn't it?

268

: 00:12:41

At the end of the day, if you don't

make a profit, you're in a world of poo.

269

: 00:12:44

And if you don't have good insight

into the numbers and tracking them

270

: 00:12:50

daily, weekly, as we do, like test

and measure everything, you're

271

: 00:12:53

at a significant disadvantage.

272

: 00:12:55

But we stop there.

273

: 00:12:56

We just stop with those tools.

274

: 00:12:58

And I go the industry, generally speaking,

hasn't been given good human tools.

275

: 00:13:04

Like, we have human resources, and that's

okay, but HR is really about compliance.

276

: 00:13:10

It doesn't really delve into performance.

277

: 00:13:12

Good HR does, but I'm not convinced

that the automotive industry

278

: 00:13:16

generally and most dealerships or

workshops have access to good HR.

279

: 00:13:20

And so because we were never given the

tools, 'cause we don't have the faculties

280

: 00:13:26

for being able to install good human

performance, we do what we've always done.

281

: 00:13:32

And because in the past it's

worked, we keep doing it.

282

: 00:13:35

But the things are dynamic,

like in any business.

283

: 00:13:38

Not just the business being

dynamic, people are dynamic.

284

: 00:13:41

Culture has changed.

285

: 00:13:41

People have changed.

286

: 00:13:43

Drivers have changed.

287

: 00:13:44

You know, we hear the lament from

pretty much everyone in any sort

288

: 00:13:49

of leadership position in the

dealership, "Oh, kids these days.

289

: 00:13:51

Oh, apprentices are terrible, da, da, da."

290

: 00:13:53

Yeah, yeah, that's … Yeah, take a hint.

291

: 00:13:54

The- people have changed.

292

: 00:13:56

They're not the same.

293

: 00:13:57

And so trying to use old keys to open

new doors, well, it's just not effective.

294

: 00:14:02

And so essentially what we need

is new tools, and the new tools is

295

: 00:14:06

really what we're gonna be talking

about in the next couple of episodes.

296

: 00:14:10

Anthony Perl: I'm just imagining that

very young Andrew there and talking

297

: 00:14:14

to the foreman, and even then there

are a few different things that

298

: 00:14:17

could've happened at that point.

299

: 00:14:18

I mean, I could see that the foreman

just walks over, takes a look at a couple

300

: 00:14:21

of the readings, clips you over the

head and says, "Andrew, go work it out.

301

: 00:14:24

You're being stupid."

302

: 00:14:24

You know, "Get back to the basics."

303

: 00:14:26

But that's not what happened, which is

a good thing, uh, you know, obviously.

304

: 00:14:30

You had a really

305

: 00:14:30

Andrew Uglow: good foreman.

306

: 00:14:32

Yeah.

307

: 00:14:32

No, I was fortunate- Yeah … to have

a really good foreman at that time.

308

: 00:14:34

I've had others that had

opportunities to improve.

309

: 00:14:37

Anthony Perl: And, and … But

I think that's the important

310

: 00:14:38

thing here, too, isn't it?

311

: 00:14:39

That when you've got people … And

we were talking about it a little bit

312

: 00:14:43

before we started recording today,

is that it's easy to assume a level

313

: 00:14:49

of knowledge that people have, and

you want them to have some basics.

314

: 00:14:53

But sometimes, for whatever

reason, there's a gap.

315

: 00:14:57

And you can embarrass them or

you can show them and get them

316

: 00:15:02

to move forward and to learn

317

: 00:15:04

Andrew Uglow: Yeah, and this I think

is one of the pieces that has been,

318

: 00:15:07

what's the word I'm looking for?

319

: 00:15:09

Been, I don't know,

overrun or lost perhaps.

320

: 00:15:12

Certainly in my early years as

an apprentice, the foreman's

321

: 00:15:15

responsibility was really about

making sure I knew what I was doing.

322

: 00:15:19

And so there was a lot

of transfer of knowledge.

323

: 00:15:22

There was a lot of, "Are you sure, Andrew?

324

: 00:15:25

Show me how you're doing this test

and measure," at a skill level, at a

325

: 00:15:28

knowledge level, at an ability level.

326

: 00:15:31

And we see less of that now simply because

the foreman has so much on their plate.

327

: 00:15:37

And so the opportunity to actually

go and do that, and let me back the

328

: 00:15:41

foreman a little bit, when did we

last teach foremen how to do that

329

: 00:15:45

effectively with kids these days?

330

: 00:15:48

That they just do what we're

taught and it works fine for

331

: 00:15:51

them, but kids aren't the same.

332

: 00:15:53

They don't have the same

references to draw on.

333

: 00:15:55

They don't have the same experiences.

334

: 00:15:57

They don't have the same value set.

335

: 00:15:59

And so I go back to the

idea of old keys, new doors.

336

: 00:16:03

You know, it's like using an old skeleton

key on a swipey passy pad on the…

337

: 00:16:07

It's, it's not gonna work

338

: 00:16:09

Anthony Perl: I think you only start to

realize some of these gaps that occur

339

: 00:16:13

when you have incidental conversations.

340

: 00:16:15

I recall years ago employing someone and

huge age gap difference, and there was

341

: 00:16:22

a third person that was working my team

who was similar age to me, and we were

342

: 00:16:24

having a conversation about old TV shows.

343

: 00:16:28

And the person that we-- that was newly

hired is looking at us completely blankly

344

: 00:16:32

at all of these references that we're

making and suddenly realize, yeah,

345

: 00:16:36

they're not growing up with the same

kind of things that you've got going on.

346

: 00:16:40

Mm-hmm.

347

: 00:16:40

And they don't remember it.

348

: 00:16:42

You know, younger people don't

remember a time when there

349

: 00:16:43

were no computers, for example.

350

: 00:16:45

Andrew Uglow: Or no internet.

351

: 00:16:46

Anthony Perl: Whereas you and I do.

352

: 00:16:48

Andrew Uglow: Yeah.

353

: 00:16:48

Anthony Perl: So Andrew, just as we,

uh, wrap up this particular episode,

354

: 00:16:52

I think it's important that we set the

scene for what's to come because we're

355

: 00:16:56

going to get into a few different things

that's gonna relate from all of this.

356

: 00:17:00

So do you wanna just set that up

a little bit for people because

357

: 00:17:03

we've got a few good topics to go

through in the coming episodes.

358

: 00:17:06

Andrew Uglow: So essentially what I want

to talk about is, is the things that cause

359

: 00:17:10

resistance, if you like, in the workshop.

360

: 00:17:11

You know, we talked about ohms being

a- an obstacle or resistance to

361

: 00:17:14

electrical flow, and when you have

resistance, it's harder or it doesn't

362

: 00:17:18

work properly or it doesn't work at all.

363

: 00:17:19

And so there is a gap.

364

: 00:17:21

It's almost a blind spot, can I offer,

in most workshops where we talk about

365

: 00:17:26

the foreman capability gap and i-

it isn't measured, it isn't tested.

366

: 00:17:30

We don't have a KPI for it.

367

: 00:17:31

It doesn't sit as a, a line item in our

balance sheet, but it has some really

368

: 00:17:35

significant impacts, and I know that we've

mentioned this before, but what I'd like

369

: 00:17:39

to do is to go and unpack some things that

we can do that are going to firstly give

370

: 00:17:45

us some clarity about what's really going

on because how do you fix a problem if

371

: 00:17:48

you don't know what's really happening?

372

: 00:17:50

You can throw parts at it, get

lucky, but that's not the most

373

: 00:17:53

effective way of doing things.

374

: 00:17:55

So the first thing we're

gonna cover is awareness.

375

: 00:17:57

The second thing we're gonna cover

is, well, here's some strategies

376

: 00:18:00

and then let's get into a couple

of hands-on brass tac- tactics for

377

: 00:18:05

what we can do, like first steps.

378

: 00:18:07

And very often first steps give me

more-- give me a good bit of leverage.

379

: 00:18:10

They don't solve everything,

but it's a great place to

380

: 00:18:12

start and positions me better.

381

: 00:18:14

Anthony Perl: Well, that's all

for this episode of the podcast.

382

: 00:18:16

But if you realize today that you've

been measuring the outcomes of your

383

: 00:18:20

workshop without testing the premise

behind the numbers, it's time to

384

: 00:18:24

calibrate your human diagnosis.

385

: 00:18:26

To help you put these ideas into

gear, we've put together a dedicated

386

: 00:18:29

workbook that includes a breakdown

of today's episode and specific

387

: 00:18:33

activities to help you identify the

resistance in your own workshop culture.

388

: 00:18:38

You can download a copy right now

via the link in our show notes.

389

: 00:18:42

And as we discussed in this episode, the

numbers themselves don't convey what's

390

: 00:18:46

really happening because you're just

measuring the end of the assembly line.

391

: 00:18:51

So take the time to look at the

human drivers behind your KPIs.

392

: 00:18:55

Coming up next time, Andrew explores

the profoundly cruel reality of

393

: 00:18:59

promoting technical experts into foreman

roles without proper preparation.

394

: 00:19:04

We love your comments as they help

us frame future episodes, so don't

395

: 00:19:08

forget to also like, share, and

subscribe so you never miss an episode.

396

: 00:19:13

Please check the show notes for

contact information for Andrew

397

: 00:19:16

and his team at Solutions Culture.

398

: 00:19:18

This podcast is produced by my

team at podcastdoneforyou.com.au,

399

: 00:19:23

helping professionals share

their expertise through

400

: 00:19:25

powerful podcast content.

401

: 00:19:27

Until next time, keep your workshop

running smooth and frictionless.