My friend, Marc, invited me to sit in on a private mastermind group with the coaches he coaches (Yes, he’s a coach who coaches coaches). During one segment of the meeting, they were discussing workflow and delegation. As one of the coaches was seeking input on how to solve a problem he was having in his business, another chimed in and said when challenges arise in his business, he doesn’t ask how, but who. Since he knows his time is precious and he’s aware that he can’t and shouldn’t try to solve all his business problems, his first instinct now is to find out who can do it for him.
That was profound for me. As someone who is more than willing to invest whatever time I need to pick up the skills or abilities to solve my challenges, the idea of delegating more often—something I wasn’t unfamiliar with but often fight against—hadn’t crossed my mind recently. Then the old Socrates quote zipped across my mind, “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” And he had me thinking about how I could create more efficient workflows and systems for myself by asking others how they managed theirs and delegating tasks when necessary. Not how will I get this done, but who can do it for me?
In this issue, we're looking at retention and hiring, where the who trumps the how—who to hire, who to promote, who to train. In “Recruit and Retain”, Ryan Hillenbrand of Urb’s Garage and Mike Allen of Carfix talk about retention through the lens of rightly hiring and developing team members and Joelle Pollak of Promotive pulls back the curtain on what her company does to help shops find and hire qualified auto technicians—the who in this equation.
As you think about the needs of your shop and what needs to be done to attract new hires, train existing hires and build a culture where your team thrives, think about the who when it comes to your shop’s vision. It’s never a matter of how you’ll reach the goal, you’ll will it if you have to— you’re an entrepreneur—but a matter of who can help you get there. That’s where you get the momentum.
