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What you will learn:
• Training doesn't cost, it pays
• Sour attitudes can bring down the entire shop's morale
• A career-long commitment to learning will ensure continued success and efficiency in the workshop
Some of you may already know that I have been an automotive technician for over 23 years. Most of that tenure included regular training. Without the drive to better oneself, you will simply fizzle out over time and become less valuable as a technician. This doesn’t only apply to the service-technical side of the industry, but to the auto body repair/paint side as well.
Not only did I attend training regularly as a technician, but I now teach all over the world, both in-person and virtually. It pleases me to encounter such hungry and driven technicians. Some are seasoned veterans and others are very “green.” But I tend to see the same faces all over the country (and in other countries), at the most significant training events, and even private events held at a workshop. As happy as I am to encounter these men and women, I’m saddened at the same time.
Too many technicians do not attend training regularly (many times, not at all). Understand that technology advances consistently, and if you aren’t staying ahead of the curve, you are indeed falling behind.
The downside of not attending training
I’ve witnessed this first-hand at a shop I worked at for several years. This technician was very experienced (30+ years) and was indeed a talented technician, and typically a very efficient producer. However, he became complacent and discontinued training, more and more as time passed.
As a result, this technician became less and less familiar with the vehicles he was encountering daily. The vehicles he was comfortable with slowly disappeared as customers began to trade up. His productivity began to plummet and so to did his take-home pay.
Over time, his patience began to dwindle and so did the quality of his work. He placed himself in a position to compensate for his lacking productivity by shortcutting the work he performed. It’s no surprise that his shoddy craftsmanship caught up to him and his “comeback rate” went through the roof. Not only were the shortcuts he chose to take unwise, but many were even dangerous and sacrificed the integrity of the vehicle. This is where something needed to be done. I can only imagine the costs associated with mistakes and oversights in the auto body and paint arena!
One bad apple spoils the bunch
I agreed to help him as I was concerned for our customers, their vehicle’s integrity, and our shop’s reputation, as well. I genuinely felt bad for this technician because he simply lost his way. I offered to assist him in his diagnostics so he can get excited about learning again. This turned out to be a bad idea.
I was then spending a huge portion of my day assisting him. Over time, I quickly became the technician performing most of the work for him; meaning, I was doing the diagnostics, yet he was being compensated for it. This was clearly unfair, but it also hindered my productivity as well. This is where it all came to a head.
On one particular job, he was to replace an evaporator core. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he deliberately destroyed a heater box because it took less time to do than to disassemble, as per the service procedure.
I only found out exactly what he had done when the car returned later that same afternoon. The customer was complaining of low airflow out of the vents. After a quick visual inspection under-hood, I realized what had occurred. The destroyed heater box was pieced back together with "spaghetti" caulk! All the airflow from the blower output was leaking under the hood. I was instructed to disassemble/replace the airbox properly and immediately.
After completing the job, I was told I wouldn’t be compensated because we had to refund the customer his money. Now, this was obviously not the right way to handle this situation, but the point is, the warpath the technician was on kept him on it because of a lack of training.
How much annual training is prescribed?
I’m not trained in shop management, nor have I studied the effects of training and how much is sufficient on an annual basis. However, I can tell you my experience and what it has done for me, for the shops I was employed by, and how my career continues to advance.
I was initially trained at the dealership level, from 1999 through 2008 (with various manufacturers like GM, Saturn, and Honda). But after that point, I began to attend aftermarket training. I joined a private training group, and we held a four-hour class once per month (no summer training).
I attended training from various companies that periodically visited our region. Training companies included Automotive Training Group (ATG), CARQUEST Technical Institute (CTI), and Standard Pro Training (SMP). They would alternate and I was averaging 16 hours per month with these training companies. On the auto body and repair side there are training companies like Automotive Management Institute (AMI) and I-CAR.
I would attend a few of the larger nationally recognized training events in the country. Some required a couple of hours on the road (TST Big Event) and another required flight/hotel accommodations (VISION). However, that is almost 40 full hours of training (and additional networking) from those two events alone!
Those events mentioned above are ones I attended regularly. However, some would surface locally, and if they were of interest to me, I would attend those as well. But to be fair, I will simply recap on the aftermarket training listed above:
- 36 hours of private group training
- 192 hours of training with training company subscriptions
- 40 hours of training at national events
Doing the math above, that is a total of approximately 260+ hours of training annually. What I have not mentioned yet is the reading I do (from many different magazines) on a monthly basis. Most importantly, taking the time to practice on known-good vehicles.
Putting what was learned into practice
Simply attending class and understanding what is being taught is just not enough. You must set aside to practice these techniques with the tools you currently own- or the ones you intend to purchase. I will tell you that the time to learn IS NOT on the improperly functioning vehicle in your work bay currently. The reason is, that the test result you will interpret may be due to the fault the vehicle is experiencing or simply because you didn’t perform the test (or use the tool) properly. This goes for any type of technique, regardless of which area in the automotive repair industry you work in.
Implementing a new tool or a new test procedure should first be performed on a sound-performing vehicle component/system. This way, if the result you are interpreting is not as expected, you can count on the fact that you are unfamiliar with the limitations of your tools or you simply must figure out what you have done incorrectly. There is no better feeling than seeing a test result that reflects what you have expected to see. The confidence comes from that but can only be obtained with practice, on known-good vehicles.
Spend time after hours or on weekends with other like-minded technicians. I did this frequently and we grew together. Two heads are better than one, and you will learn from each other’s mistakes and oversights, as well as your shared successes. Choose an evening once per week and plan to stay for an hour or two. Write your ideas down on paper and ahead of time. Staying organized will allow you to maximize your applied time performing the tests and interpreting the results.
As your start to improve, slowly begin to introduce these new tests and tools to your diagnostic approach. In time, you will find that the newer, more efficient testing techniques will replace your older tried-and-true ones.
Who’s paying for all of this?
I’m not here to put anyone on the spot, but if you are a shop owner, you need to hear this. If you want dedicated technicians; ones that are confident, efficient, happy, and true teammates, you need to invest in them. Yes, this will cost you money, and lots of it. But whether you wish to pay for training or not, it will cost you, either way.
However, this is the cost of doing business. If you expect your teammates to train during the workday, you should be willing to pay them for their time. You should also be paying for their tuition. Regardless of how it will help them personally, you as the shop owner will benefit many times more.
I understand that not every shop owner is in the financial position to send techs to training. Well, consider online virtual sources. A subscription for a couple of hundred dollars monthly will allow your entire shop to train, after hours if desired (pay them!) or throughout the workday. This applies to the technicians on the auto body repair and paint side as well. In fact, if you are a qualifying customer, much of the available training is free; put on by the paint manufacturers.
Many of these classes are interactive so it’s almost like being in class. Many are also recorded so the techs can view them on particularly slow days (again…pay them for their applied time!). This becomes incredibly important now, more so than before. Technological advances like ADAS (advance driver assistance systems) affect all of us (service-technical, auto body repair, and paint). A mistake could lead to a very dangerous situation or even fatal accident; proper training is crucial.
To be fair, I have made deals with my shop owners. If there was a particular event I wanted to travel to and attend, I would forgo my pay (for time applied) but instead, ask my shop owner to cover travel costs/tuition. However, I only had to do this with one shop owner.
Many of the shops I worked for easily recognized the value of training and networking. So much so, that they shut down the shop and pay for the entire team to attend (all associated costs). Again, training does cost, but it does pay huge dividends.
We all recognize there is a technician shortage. Why not grow your own? Invest in them and they will invest in you and your business. Hiring a retaining technician is not as easy as it once was. Keep that in mind before you tell your technician that you don’t wish to pay for training and related costs. I can promise you, that another shop in close proximity would be more than happy to gain a hungry tech that is happy with continued growth and refinement.
