Just ONE Thing
Stop Managing Individuals—Start Building a Team That Wins
Episode 227
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ, and this is my Just ONE Thing. We’re a coaching and training company for independent auto and truck repair shops. We’re helping shop owners who feel like they’re just leaving a little bit on the table — we can help them get even more.
All right, so what are we going to talk about today? Today we’re talking about TEAM. And you know something? I don’t like the word employee because I don’t feel like that’s the correct relationship anymore. So, a lot of times I’ll call the employees team members.
But the reality is — and I was talking about this last week — there’s a difference between having a group of people that show up at the same location and a team, okay? When you’ve got a group of people, they’re each focused on their own goals and their own accountability, everything like that.
Whereas, you’ve got a team.
So here’s the thing that I heard from Simon Sinek, which is: a team is a group of people that agree to grow together, sharing the same values and heading toward the same destination.
So what I want to do real quick is talk through this.
A team is a group of people that agree to grow together — where they share a common purpose, they share values, they share beliefs, and they hold each other accountable. When you have a group of people that just show up at the same place, it doesn’t work.
The whole idea of a team — and I really want you to get this — is to mesh complementary skills. It’s not to have this one, then this one, and this one, and this one. It’s to have people mesh together so that it creates complementary actions and skills, and everybody’s doing what they could and where they should. That makes a huge difference.
The reality is, having the common destination is one of the core components of having a team. When they can form around something that really means something to them, and then be able to translate that into goals — that’s pretty freaking amazing.
So, you’ve got a common purpose — that’s the first part of having a team — and then there’s got to be performance goals. Something that’s specific and measurable and tied directly to the team’s purpose. This helps track their progress, and it helps to build momentum.
Because here’s the amazing thing about a team: they don’t feed on each other, they feed off each other. In other words, instead of being a vampire and sucking the energy out of somebody — and we all know people like that — these people actually feed off each other.
What I mean by that is, this person’s doing this, and this one’s stepping up, and this one’s stepping up, and this one’s stepping up. It’s just really, really amazing.
The next part is complementary skills. This is where they work together. I have someone on the front counter who’s really great with people and good at documentation. I have technicians who have a great skill set — or at least, we dispatch to their strengths, right?
We want to keep it so that we’re not trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. But if you give a mechanical technician an electrical problem, you’re not going to be happy. It’s not going to work well.
What I want you to understand is that as these roles become more and more complementary, the whole idea is to reduce friction. When you have a group of individuals coming to work every day, you have friction. But when you have a team where they have a common destination, common values, agree to grow together, and they complement each other — now you have something that starts to mesh together, and there’s less friction.
The other thing that’s really important is they all have a common approach. In other words, everybody agrees on the flow of things — how things are going to work, how you’re going to move through the day, and also through your decisions. And everybody contributes. That’s the amazing thing. They have clear roles and expectations, and it really works well.
Here’s what I love about a team — you guys are going to love this. You know how y’all feel like you’re babysitting? It’s because you don’t have what’s called mutual accountability.
Mutual accountability means they hold each other accountable. You have checks and balances set up where they hold each other accountable to achieving what they need to do. But because they’re all headed toward the same direction and destination, it really makes a difference.
This mutual accountability arises from those shared goals and that commitment to each other.
And you know what’s a really cool thing about accountability like this? It fosters trust. It really does grow this trust because you know you have each other’s back. You know you have each other’s back — and that’s absolutely amazing.
If you look at this, you’ll understand that as management, it’s not your job to form teams just for the sake of having a team — but only when it’s the best way to perform. That’s the problem.
Too many leaders, too many owners — you’re so busy putting fires out, you’re not setting the destination, you’re not defining and clarifying the values and the expectations.
When you do that, then you’re there to provide support and resources without micromanaging. Don’t do it. Don’t micromanage.
You’ve got to be able to set up and look at when team efforts are needed versus individual accountability. Most of the time, you really need a team more than you need individuals.
Can you all remember — and some of you might be too young — but the first time they came up with the Dream Team for the Olympics? For basketball? It was the first time you could let professionals in. They thought they were just going to sweep the Olympics, and it was horrible.
It was because they had a bunch of individuals. They didn’t have a team. Everybody wanted the glory.
Now, here’s the thing I need you to understand — please listen to this: teams, when you build them properly, outperform individuals every single time.
What do they say? If you want to go fast, go by yourself. But if you want to go far, go with many.
I hope this all makes sense to you guys.
Thank you. Listen — I want to challenge you this week to step back and look at the people in the shop. Do they actually work as a team, or are they all individuals?
So, what I want you to do is step back. I want to challenge you: look at the friction in your shop. Look at the frustrations you’re having in your shop. It’s because you don’t have a team. It’s because there are holes where you should have a team.
So step back and start to be the owner. Start to be the leader so that you can — not all day, not every day, but just a little bit, half an hour a day — and you’re going to be amazed at what you can do. Because you’ll have a group of people that have your back. They’re there to help. And they care.
So, everybody, thank you. Please share this video.
Remember, our Shop Owners Round Table is this Thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern, and we also have our webinar this Thursday at 1 p.m., and it’s all about standing out — really standing out in your market.
So, everybody, I hope I’ll see you there. That’s The Pocket Business Genius. Thank you, have a great week, and go make some money, everybody.
Take care. Bye-bye.
