I remember vividly my first experience in being hired for a sales position in the early 80s. The dealership I interviewed with hired eight people, threw us a week's worth of training, and cut us loose (vivid memories of step fourteen in training come flooding back. Step fourteen-low ball and shut up! I always loved that step). Little did I know at the time that the real plan was to hire eight, fully knowing that most of us would be gone in a short time.
I knew I was in trouble when I attended our first real sales meeting about two weeks into the deal. I'm not sure if I was more impressed by the phone throwing skills of my manager or by the way the veins on his neck resembled a leather road map during his weekly screaming fits. I had no idea the business was going to be this much fun. We were also informed that at the end of every month, the two people at the bottom of the totem pole were history.
Needless to say, at the end of the first month we were down to four of the original eight. At two months there was me and my office mate, Bob. It was pretty clear that Bob was about to make the hit list. His daily ritual of Molson and speed for breakfast were about to catch up with him. At the end of three months there was me, questioning my own sanity. Although we've come a long way in becoming a civil business, we've still got a long way to go. I recently listened to a dealer compare training his employees to training his dogs. His dissertation on how to praise and scold brought back memories of the early Eighties.
The point of the story is to illustrate a couple of things. First, although this is a fairly radical story, it does reflect how the industry has ended up in the position that we're currently in. There was a time when people were not considered human resources. Secondly, it will take a long time to change the way people view the auto industry. I've developed a standard reply for "We just can't hire anybody that's any good!" It's not that we can't get good people. If we're having a tough time, it's because we don't know how. So the question becomes both "who" and "how."
To me, the number one critical issue is the mindset of the dealer principle and how they view both their current and potential employees. In his book A World Waiting To Be Born, M. Scott Peck discusses several different ways people view one another. It seems to me that these mindsets apply to both business and personal relationships.
The first way a person can be viewed is as an "It." When we view someone in this way they are basically seen as a tool. What will the tool do for me? What will it produce? What will I gain? There is little concern for a person's humanity, very little concern for who they really are. I can assure you that in the story I just told, we had a room full of "its" when we started our training. Having worked in several organizations with "it" mentality, I can easily predict high employee turnover and inevitable long-term failure.
The second way is when we view an individual as one of "Them." Although this word does seem to have some level of humanity, it demonstrates a separation. If there is a "them," there has to be an "us." Any time "us" and "them" is built into a relationship, you have created a natural conflict. Although it does acknowledge that "them" is a person, it puts "them" on the other side of the fence from "us." If we're all supposed to be working together toward a common goal, it's difficult to get there from "us" and "them." The "them" mindset manifests itself many times from management to the front line. "If only my salespeople would do a better job." The sales staff becomes "them." It also shows up from department to department: "If our Service Department didn't blow out so many customers." "If the sales department..." The "them" mindset becomes the culture of the dealership.
The third way in which people can and do need to be viewed is what political scientist Glenn Tender calls "the exalted individual." As Tinder puts it, "The concept of the exalted individual implies that governments-indeed, all persons who wield power-must treat individuals with care."
I don't want you to think I'm going soft here and that viewing people as the exalted individual means that people in our businesses should just do whatever they want. What I am saying is that we need to pay particularly close attention to what our motives are before we hire someone. If they are going to be hired and viewed as an "it," nothing more than a tool to be used and disposed of, the outcome speaks for itself. If we are to set up an "us" and "them" relationship within our business (I see a lot of this), results are still diminished. If we truly get to the point in the industry where people do become "the exalted individual," we will turn a corner that desperately needs to be turned.
The thing that I find most interesting in the current market place is the realization that the dealerships that are truly growing understand what "the exalted individual" is. Whether or not they define them as such, they are treating their employees as exalted individuals.
George Pavlyak is a Business Process Consultant with MSX International, a global consulting firm based in Auburn Hills, MI. If you have specific questions or require more information about this subject, please check the appropriate box on the reader response form on page 3.#