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A $25-an-Hour Technician Pushing a $5-an-Hour Broom Doesn't Add UpPosted 7/10/2002By Bob Cooper
Being “busy” means being active, and being “productive” means bringing a positive result. So I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say being busy doesn't necessarily lead to being productive. As a matter of fact, years ago I quickly realized many of my most productive technicians were the ones who often appeared to be the least busy. At the same time, the people who appeared to be the busiest were more often than not the least productive. Now for the purpose of clarity, I'm not suggesting that being busy can't lead to being productive, because it can. What I am suggesting is that in no way does activity assure productivity. We all have aspirations, and most technicians start out sweeping floors. They then spend their days developing their skills so they can eventually lay down the broom and move on to doing what they want to do, which is solving problems with automobiles. It's no different than the great doctors that begin their careers emptying bedpans, or the great builders that begin with a shovel in their hand. We start at the bottom with one, simple intent: Going to the top. I'd like to share with you an economic principle I learned from studying the life of Henry Ford. It's the one that says we must always use our time in the most productive manner, and we need to delegate tasks down to the lowest level of competency. It's the same secret of success that forces you to ask yourself why you would want to put a $25-an-hour technician on the end of a $5-an-hour broom. You may get a clean floor, but you're going to pay an outrageous price not only in money, but more importantly, in the loss of morale. So as one businessperson to another, it's important that I be perfectly clear with you. I'm not suggesting that any of us are above cleaning floors or emptying trash cans. Because in reality, none of us are, and none of us ever should be. And there is no question that technicians should be responsible for keeping their work area clean. Yet what I am suggesting is there are far more productive things a doctor can do with his or her idle time than emptying bedpans. What they can and should be doing is working toward becoming better doctors. Ladies and gentlemen, why would we think it would be any different with technicians? Just like the doctors, they too need to invest their idle time wisely. They need to work toward becoming better at what they do, and not at cleaning floors. So the next time you have an idle tech, rather than stepping on their professional pride and losing money by putting them on the end of a broom, what you should do is what Henry Ford would have done and delegate the $5-an-hour-task to a $5-an-hour person. Your technicians? You know the answer. Have them go to work on their technical skills by going online, reading technical bulletins and watching training videos. Your technicians are going to become much more successful, because they'll become better skilled at what they do. Your customers will win too, because there will be a far greater probability that their vehicles are going to be fixed quickly, and correctly, the first time. And without question, you too are going to win. Because you will have what your competitors never will have: You'll have more “productive” technicians that appreciate you for your willingness to empower them with information, and for the way you respect them for being the professionals they truly are.
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