26 GEARS March 2004

T raditionally the month ofNovember, and specificallyThanksgiving, is a time to givethanks for all that we have. In keepingwith this tradition, I would like toexpress my thanks. Thanks, that is, thatthis past month of November is over!Far and away, it had to be the most dif-ficult time in the short life of my busi-ness.

Im not sure if anything went well.There were so many factors that creat-ed this miserable month I do not evenknow where to start. First off, businesswas slow. The work barely trickled in,and this of course created some cashflow problems. But this alone was notthe real problem.

The real issue was comebacks you know, work you liked so much thefirst time, you did something to see itagain. I dont care what you call them;do-gains, bounces, never-lefts, theyrea @%!*%$ pain in the posterior.They were killing me. I did more returnwork in the month of November than Idid during the first twenty-three monthsthat my shop was open.

I can tell you that in business, Ireally pride myself in my ability to rec-ognize and fix problems. But this wassomething that was truly kicking myass. I couldnt put my finger on whatwas really causing the problems. Sure,we had a few technician-caused errors.A few converters failed. We had a fewof those mystery comebacks thatmade no sense at all. I even had areverse band break on a 727 that was

out for almost 12 months. I was goingnuts; I literally was spending money asfast as I could make it.

Let me make a point up front. Iknow that my crew really cares aboutthe quality of the work they produce.My standards are high, but they workhard, and for the most part meet myexpectations. And frankly, I know thatat times Im not the easiest person tosatisfy. I knew that the only way for usto get through this stressful time was toput our heads together and try to hashout a solution. But this brought upanother problem.

I could tell there was some kind ofdisconnect going on. Im not sure if itwas between the guys and me, or if ithad something to do with their role inthe company. Either way, I was havingtrouble communicating. When I triedto talk with them about what was goingon, the majority of the time I just got ablank stare in return.

I was so frustrated I was almostcrying out for the help I needed. As Ilooked at their faces, I thought tomyself, just talk to me! Offer an idea orsuggestion! Even a go to hell Raywould have been a start.

Looking back I realize that duringthis stressful time I never felt morealone. The bottom line is that nobodywould or could help solve this problem I had to find the solution.

I knew this was going to be one ofthose defining moments in my career. Iknew that if I was ever going to be thekind of business leader I wanted and

needed to be, I would have to rise abovethe problems I was having, regardlessof their nature, and create a solution.

One of the first things I did was tolet the guys know that I had not lostconfidence in them or their ability, andthat I truly appreciated their efforts.Then I assured them that their jobs weresecure. I also made it clear to them thatthis was a two-way street. If I was totake care of their needs, they needed totake care of mine. If things continuedas they had, we would all be out ofwork, so it was time to address anyissues or problems personal or profes-sional that may be affecting produc-tion.

As for my part, I also made somechanges. I had to take a hard look atsome of the decisions I had made con-cerning our suppliers. Let me be clearabout this. It wasnt as though Ithought my suppliers were doing a badjob, or providing me with defectiveparts. What I was hoping to do was sim-plify the process of obtaining goodparts that also represented good value. Ihad recently read a book that empha-sized using consistent procedures inyour shop to produce a predictableresult.

To my way of thinking, our indus-try requires us to make so many deci-sions during the course of a transmis-sion repair, that this would at least sim-plify the parts ordering process. Improbably similar to a lot of shop ownersin that I know what suppliers to use fordifferent parts. Some decisions are

by Ray Warner

JourneyJourneyPART 11MyMy

A Case of S.O.S. (Shop Owner Syndrome)

GEARS March 2004 27

based on price, but more importantly,the majority of my supplier decisionsare based on the quality and availabili-ty of the parts I need.

The decision I made to open upand tell you this stuff was difficult, butthese types of problems happen every-day in our industry, and I need toaddress the problems I experiencealong with the successes.

The rifts that sometimes occurbetween management and employeescan run deep at times, and when every-ones frustration begins to peak, itsimportant to take a deep breath andstep back. As difficult as it may be forthe shop owner, sometimes you have tosearch your soul to discover what roleyou may be playing in the problem andbe willing to do whats necessary to fixit.

In previous articles I indicated thatI want to hire a service writer/centermanager as soon as the business war-ranted such a move. This last monthconfirmed some of my thoughts aboutthis. I believe in order to be effective inthe owners role you need to separateyourself from the day-to-day strugglesand stress of selling work, and focus onmanaging the workflow.

I also believe that by doing this Iwouldnt have so much of an emotion-al investment in the necessary day-to-day decisions, and I could make themajor decisions with more objectivity.Maybe by doing this I can also avoidthe inevitable burnout that comeswhen one is spread too thin. Thatwould allow me to focus on what I loveabout this business, instead of becom-ing another casualty of it.

...sometimes you have

to search your soul to

discover what role you

may be playing in the

problem...