The amount of attention required to operate a body shop’s repair process requires recruiting people who easily see the bigger picture and who understand how to manage details of complex systems, but even successful shop owners and managers can overlook one of the most important factors of running a successful operation—fostering company culture.
Creating a culture of inclusion that emphasizes goal setting and teamwork to achieve short-term benchmarks and goals is a crucial business function for body shops. Well-nurtured company culture is the No. 1 contributor to a body shop’s employees feeling happy and excited about coming to work every week to work for a company that is succeeding.
A study by Deloitte finds that 94% of executives divide company management into two distinct operations: culture and strategy. Yet the same study found that just 62% of executives said that “clearly defined and communicated values and beliefs” substantially contribute to a company’s success (76% said a clearly-defined strategy is key).
Deloitte’s findings also show that 83% of executives rank “engaged and motivated employees as the top factor that substantially contributes to a company’s success,” and that “there is a correlation between employees who say they are happy at work and feel valued by their company and those who say their organization has a clearly articulated and lived culture.”
Jim Keller, president of Milwaukee-based auto body and collision repair MSO 1Collision Network, said company culture should focus purely on team-building exercises. Expecting managers or employees to focus on the company’s long-term health or on planning for the future should not be part of an individual’s job duties.
“Employees are there for a specific purpose and most of the time that’s earning a living,” Keller said. “Most employees come to work every day expecting a great place to work and a culture that makes them feel part of a team. They shouldn’t want or need to think about five or 10 years down the road. It’s up to owners to do that and to make sure their managers are setting and achieving short-term goals to keep the company moving forward toward overall success.”
Jim Huard, owner of Phoenix-based Painters Collision Centers, said creating the foundation for a company’s culture begins during the hiring process. Shop owners and managers should surround themselves with people who meet their level of standards and who are adept at encouraging employees to work together for the betterment of the team.
“I have high standards and want to surround myself with people who meet my standards,” Huard said. “I want people who will seek out help from the avenues available to them, like talking to paint company people or consultants, and I want them to know how to inspire their team.”
Helmuth Mayer, Jr., a Dallas-based owner of multiple Maaco locations, said that although he benefits from an existing corporate structure—the Maaco mentality—there are examples from it that independent shop owners can apply to their own business through pay incentives.
“You have to emphasize teamwork among your employees—one goal, one mission, and incentive pay that ties everyone together,” Mayer said. “It usually makes sense that if someone has done half the work they get paid for half of the job. In the body shop world, typically 70 to 80 percent of the work is completed by people up front but only 50 percent of overall pay goes to those people. We incentivize people for operating as a team and also offer bonuses for meeting the overall goals of the line.”
Mayer said from Day 1 of the interview process he talks about how his shops handle company culture to be very clear up front about how the business operates as a team.
“I want to empower my general managers at each store to essentially run that shop with the same mentality that we use across our organization. I own seven locations across Dallas-Ft. Worth and I’ve hired seven mini owners and given them autonomy. The only thing I tell them is they must fulfill a strong company culture by celebrating teamwork, which kind of lends itself to reinforcing a family-type mentality.”
Keller said culture is everything to do with business—the nuts and bolts of it—and it’s why people who work for an organization want to stay. He offered a few ideas for laying the foundation of a company culture that will stand over time.
Keep employees motivated by celebrating success.
Holding regular manager meetings and separate employee meetings is a great way to bring your team together to discuss short- and long-term goals, especially goals for the week or month.
Running numbers and talking about strengths and weaknesses in the repair process also allows everyone in the organization to be on the same page and to clearly understand what each individual needs to accomplish to help keep the repair line moving.
Quarterly celebration meetings, where individual employee achievements are discussed and recognized with the entire organization present, are a great way to maximize team building and to reinforce company culture. Awarding people with bonuses or unique gifts for meeting goals, big or small, makes positive impacts on overall morale and keeps individuals and teams within the organization moving together in lockstep.
“Employees want to win at work and they want to do something right and be recognized for it just like an athlete is recognized for their achievements through statistics and news coverage,” Keller said. “Emphasize intrinsic value over extensive value. The power of saying ‘thank you’ and celebrations and gifts is arguably greater than a base salary and compensation plan.”
Focus on training and re-training.
Forcing employees to focus only on their department’s goals and not constantly reverting to cross-training can and most likely will hang up the entire organization’s workflow because you won’t have individuals who can step over and help out wherever it's needed. Training people to complete tasks across the company contributes to team spirit, which reinforces company culture, Keller said.
“When an employee—a manager, a shop tech or whoever—has an issue or when something goes wrong instead of finger-pointing and calling them out on the floor, find out what went wrong and coach that person how to do it properly the next time,” he said. “Forget about the fact that something went wrong. Just talk about how to make that turn into a positive.”
Unhappy employees may signal problems within.
Looking under the hood of your organization may reveal that the reason an employee is unhappy is due to a larger issue within the overall company culture. Shop owners and managers should pay special attention to individuals who seem to be unhappy with the company or with their job’s processes.
This often manifests when an employee is repeatedly told they are doing something wrong without training or re-training that person to help them find solutions.
“When there are people being criticized at work and they are complaining about things, perhaps it’s not the individual as much as the problem rests within the company culture,” Keller said. “Privately meet with these individuals to understand clearly what they are unhappy about and help them find a solution. There are of course people who fear other people doing additional steps that they are supposed to do in their job, and these individuals should be encouraged to rely on the team and re-trained with special emphasis given to the teamwork that is expected in their role.”
Happy employees lead to company success.
Not focusing on fostering a strong company culture clearly has consequences, and not putting the time into nurturing an employee-friendly workplace negatively impacts loyalty, job satisfaction, collaboration, and company-wide morale.
Building a positive company culture does not require a big spend, but it may require refocusing efforts on building a foundation of teamwork and making sure to celebrate employee successes. Both will contribute to employees feeling happy and excited about coming to work so that short- and long-term goals are achievable.
