Unlocking Technical Excellence: The Power of Resourcefulness

Andrew Uglow: [: 00:00:00

, and that horizontal axis, uh, I call technical ability. We teach technical ability, which is, uh, skilled times. Knowledge, uh, is how I, uh, how I define technical ability. So we've done skill and knowledge, uh, and that's given us technical ability. And that's been good that has, that has developed people that has given us some very intelligent, capable technicians.

And it's also taken a long time. And when we think about the time part of it, we go, well, why does it take so long? Well, there's just so much to learn and there is. You start looking through all of the different things that someone needs to know as a technician. I've got to know petrol fuel management, diesel fuel management.

mechanical. I've got to know [: 00:01:00

Uh, and then of course, now we've got all the electrical drive that's coming. And then on top of that, I've got all the customer convenience and safety systems and screens and, and, and the volume of information that I need to know. And this is an addition to all of the other bits and pieces that I'm supposed to do around window and body, body mechanicals and sunroofs and panel fit and all these sorts of things that, uh, end up getting lumped on, on technicians at some point for something or other.

Oh, can you just have a look at my door? Can you just have a quick look at this? And so we learn all of these skills. I have to know metals. Sorry. I have to know fluids. I have to know, uh, oil grades and types and all sorts of stuff. And at an engineering level, like that's a four year degree, uh, but I've got to know just enough to be able to work on it, to fix it, to diagnose it, et cetera.

e've gone, well, this is why [: 00:02:00

The problem is, there's actually two axes, and I would argue that the reason that it takes so long is because we've only been working with one when we should have been working with two. But we didn't know there was two, just like I didn't know that that CD ROM meant something else. And I didn't even know to ask.

And so the, the, the other vertical axis, and when you start to talk about this with people in the, in the trade, you go, well, what would the vertical axis be? And usually they say experience, it would be experience. You know, we've got ability across the bottom. We've got experience up the side. And then we go, well, doesn't experience come from ability, right?

en this problem before. I've [: 00:03:00

Anthony Perl: like another, it's another layer to the same access rather than a separate access.

Andrew Uglow: right, absolutely it is. And then we see things like, well, maybe it's mindset, maybe it's, uh, attitude, maybe it's, um, And look, we could go on and speculate a dozen different things, but it's actually not those. Um, and the reason I say that is because I went and went and researched and found out what it was.

I spent two years discovering what it was and probably spent another six months trying to define it in a word. And here we go, drum roll, uh, brace yourselves. If you, if you're not sitting down, sit down. Uh, and if you're driving, you know, maybe just pull over. So you, you don't have a moment, the vertical axis.

Is resourcefulness. And you're going to go, well, thank you, Andrew. That is a massive anti climax.

Anthony Perl: Hmm[: 00:04:00

Andrew Uglow: Uh, and I'll explain why you think that in a minute or why I think you think that in a minute, but resourcefulness is actually the vertical axis. And so when you think of the two axes, right, I've got, I've got ability or technical ability across the bottom.

I've got technical resourcefulness up the side. And so that now gives me four quadrants. I've got a bottom left, a top left, a bottom right and a top right. And so we want people to be in the top right. We want people to be highly resourceful and highly technical skill, technically skilled because those people are massively, massively brilliant for my business.

They're the ones that make me the money. They're the ones that deal with the customer concerns. They're the ones that solve problems before they even become problems. Because they're so resourceful and so, uh, have such great ability. Uh, we call them gurus because they are. But when we step down from that, we come down a level in resourcefulness.

killed people that get stuck [: 00:05:00

iagnosis says that for a, uh,: 2022

at's in my workshop, that's a: 2022

And so, so this is, this is how we've, we've done a diagnosis because we have low resourcefulness. Come across one to the left, and now I'm in the quadrant where I am low technical ability and low resourcefulness. Um, I think the, the, the technical term for this is professional attendance, right? People show up and get paid, but they don't really do much.

um, um, I've described these people in the past as mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, forehead sloping individuals. Um, they have to be somewhere, and they just happen to be in your workshop today, you know. Um, And, and they don't really offer a lot and you've got to hold their hand and wipe their nose and give them a hug and tell them it's okay.

ll break something or injure [: 00:07:00

Um, And, and with, with respect, and I don't say that as a criticism, but I know when I was an apprentice, I was a little bit like that. Um, perhaps a little bit higher on the resourcefulness scale, which is arguably scarier because they try things, I did, and, and then set things alight. Um, as opposed to just, just, standing there waiting for someone to push me in front of a car and go, look, you know, take this apart.

This is how you do it. You know, um, and so moving then from that point of low resourcefulness and low, uh, technical ability upper level. And really, you know, This is what we find. I think a lot of, uh, businesses look for in people that they want to start is someone that's reasonably high in resourcefulness.

out their phone and surfing [: 00:08:00

Uh, so rather than just stopping and doing social media, they actually go back and go, well, I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. Um, or I think I should be doing this. Is, is that right? Uh, and so the irony is, and here's, here's the, here's the, here's the, here's the kicker. If you have to develop a person and move them to that top right hand quadrant where you're highly resourceful and high, high ability, it is faster to move them via resourcefulness to that position than it is to move them via technical ability to that position.

hand corner. You will do it [: 00:09:00

Anthony Perl: Yeah. I mean, they start to look for solutions that they, I mean, that's the, that's the key, isn't it? That's when you add resourcefulness into it. You're, you know, looking for solutions that may be a little bit more creative at times, but they're solutions.

Andrew Uglow: Absolutely. And. They have, they have, um, some faculty to learn from mistakes, whereas low resourceful people just make a mistake and go, wasn't my fault. I followed the book. The book said to do this. I did this. You know, and they, they they are very good at butt covering and don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with a good butt covering.

et me tell you. Um, and, and [: 00:10:00

Too much risk and have a go at something because most of the time they'll solve it, they'll fix it. Um, and that is way more productive, way more efficient, and certainly way more profitable than people that just stop and, and go, well, I don't know. You know, why isn't that car finished? Oh, I'm stuck. Well, why didn't you come and see me 20 minutes ago when you got stuck?

as importantly, well, how do [: 00:11:00

At least potentially relieve the, the strain on the, the skill resources that are available to the industry.

Anthony Perl: So before we, uh, before we finish up for this episode, you got to tell me, how did the, how did you finish up? How did you go back into the classroom after you,

Andrew Uglow: You know,

Anthony Perl: this? Because, uh, I'm trying

to picture what young Andrew was doing at this point in time.

well, how do you, there was [: 00:12:00

Workplace trainer assessing on, on what to do when this happens, right? This, this wasn't even a subject line in there. So I've gone into the room and the room's weird, right? Cause it's still up on the board. Like what I've written is still up on the board. And, and so I walk in there and I've sort of tried to do a bit of a test, a temperature, take the temperature of the room and to go, well, where are we now?

And it was, it was sort of. Less bad in that everyone had got past the people that had hit rage and got past rage and could now see the humor in it. And so of course, I can't say because every other class that I've taken where I've been teaching this, I've just used the acronym and it's habit, but I can't say the acronym.

d it's just like, Oh man, it [: 00:13:00

We got through the class and, um, I think people. Being that I was dealing with trainers, there was a bit more maturity and I think they realized that, you know, poor Andrews walked into this whopping great pile of brown stuff entirely unknowingly and, and, um, and we kind of feel a little bit sorry for him.

So they were really good. And so we ended up becoming really good friends and they would stir me like, like, To the nth degree about this, you know, you'd be at da, da, da, talking about something and someone would go, Oh, so what's the name of that disc again? You know, anyway,

Anthony Perl: the good news is they've never, they've never forgotten you

because they're still all telling this story. I'm sure as well.

Andrew Uglow: The, um, the, the particularly amusing thing was, um, they, they had a driver that would take you to and from the hotel.

days later, and there's this [: 00:14:00

And I would just introduce myself because that's what you do, right? Hi, I'm Andrew, you know, and I introduced myself to this guy. He's from Germany. His name's Carl or something. I'm not sure. And he goes, ah, yeah. You're the Australian and my spider sense picks up. I've gone, oh, here we go. So this guy is like the super duper senior second in charge president for the entire region.

He's like one of the top guys and he goes, I heard about you. I've gone, oh, here it comes. And he goes, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. So in terms of building rapport, it was gold. Can I recommend that it's probably not a method I would ever repeat? But it turned out to be, it turned out to be a real win.

Not by anything on purpose that I did, just dumb luck.

in the future, whatever the [: 00:15:00

Andrew Uglow: I just, I look at it, I just think, how would you ever know? Like, how could you ever predict that? Um, and because like no one in country had really seen this, this was like brand new, new to them. Like, if they'd had it for a week, they'd have said something. Oh, we might just put a new label over the top of this disc and just call it the technical disc.

But, nope. And that got back to my boss, too. Like, so, like, the people in the company that I worked for, We're going, so how's the disc?

Anthony Perl: I'm

Andrew Uglow: So, uh, how to win friends and influence people, right?