There’s an old adage: “There aren’t enough hours in the day”. For some, that applies to recreation, like trying to stretch a fishing expedition out a little longer. For others, it’s all about family time. Who doesn’t want to spend more time with their kids and spouse? And for many, many more, it’s about getting all their work completed.

You have a purpose for the career you chose. It’s not all about the money; it never is. It’s about the things you use those greenbacks for. It’s about buying a bigger fishing boat and better tackle. It’s about taking a week off for a family vacation in the Caribbean, or buying a new swing set for the little ones. It’s about saving up for college educations at Ivy League schools for your kids.

For me, it’s about being able to spend time away from work. I love to hunt and fish. My wife and I enjoy heading out of town to our little hideaway in the woods where the crickets lull you to sleep at night and the bustle of the city can’t be heard. That’s why I work.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve said that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done at work. That’s especially true of when I was a service advisor for a major domestic dealership. I would fret and get myself all worked up, trying to leave my desk at the end of the day with all my loose ends tied up, often getting home late, and even more often getting home stressed out and grumpy.

I discovered the problem wasn’t the clock, and it wasn’t my job. It wasn’t my supervisors or skill set either. The problem was my time management, and it’s painfully obvious to see now.

My Achilles Heel

I’ve always worked well under pressure, and that could be part of my problem. When things are quiet and relaxed, I have a tendency to procrastinate my duties until later or even another day. When the environment is fast-paced, I excel. I gather that’s because I don’t have a choice in the matter to be lazy and complacent. Obviously, that can lead to poor communication or follow-up which the creates its own stress later on. But that’s not my main issue.

I’m a self-proclaimed tech genius. If you need someone to help you figure out your infotainment system, how to pair your new phone to Bluetooth, find a wiring schematic for a 1970 Dodge Dart, or track down a discount on a pair of sneakers from a retailer in Hong Kong, I’m your guy. I was almost always the person who was called upon to fix printer issues, install software programs, or virtually any other task when the IT guy wasn’t around. That was always a reliable go-to excuse for poor performance – “I’m too busy doing other things” -- but was never truly my worst problem.

I know now that I was never good at time management. I’m still not. It’s something I was never taught on the professional level, and it became my Achilles heel. If you want an expert procrastinator or excuse maker, I’ve got that mastered. But time management? Nope, not me.

My day would start like everyone else, writing work orders and performing walkarounds (on MOST cars). I would fall behind as soon as the morning rush slowed down, right around time for a coffee run. I’d return to a mess of estimates to call, customer phone calls I’d missed, and the late morning customers that just arrived. Being commission-based, I’d grab another customer and postpone the phone calls. Finally, late morning, I’d get around to calling the impatient customers who’ve left messages and selling estimates for the impatient technicians who’ve already kicked the vehicle out of the shop.

That would be the case once again after lunch hour. By the end of the day, I’d have to scramble to get all the work out the door, be there for customers arriving late (because of my poor time management), and apologize to my wife yet again that I had to stay late to get things complete.

Perhaps the worst part is the following day. When a customer is upset about the lack of follow-up, poor communication, or unmet expectations, their comments have a way of reaching the ears of management. Being called into the office to account for a customer’s poor opinion of your service has a way of reducing your self-worth to rubble.

If I had to do it all over again…

I would absolutely ask for more structure to my workload. Not everyone has the same needs for time management training, and you’ll notice the people who have it mastered already. Speaking from personal experience, more people need help with it than not.

Unlike other professions, even among the auto industry, service advisors usually don’t have any certifications. Some may have been technicians first, but most have very little post-secondary schooling if any. That leaves a gap in real-world style training. Universities expect students to manage their own workload, teaching an important skill for life after the classroom. Without that taught structure, some people, like me, flounder.

How you can help

If you’re a service or parts manager, fixed ops director – or any other manager, really – you probably have an employee’s face in your head already. It likely rings true for someone in your dealership, and you can help them out.

If they’re at all like me, they truly do want to succeed but haven’t learned a few fundamental skills to do so. Here are just a few tips you can use to help them flourish instead of falter.

• Help the employee develop a point-by-point timeline for daily activities. Laminate it so the employee can use a dry-erase marker to tick off completed tasks every day. A visual list can help someone like me assess the workload still remaining before home time.
• Check in with your staff member throughout the day. Someone who just manages will just look to discipline mistakes after they happen. A leader such as yourself will help prevent the mistakes in the first place.
• Eliminate distractions in the workplace. I’d often follow a rabbit trail on Facebook or Google News, and my work would fall behind. Some sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram aren’t required for your staff to do their job unless managing the dealership’s social accounts is their role. Block those sites from work computers to minimize time-consuming distractions.
• Coach your staff when complaints come in. Ask what they are prepared to do differently to avoid a time management problem they’ve been called out for. Give suggestions for improvement instead of ultimatums for employment.

Time management is a learned behavior. It’s a skill some of us are great at, while others (like me) may struggle with it for the rest of our lives. Remember that it is a coachable problem. Helping your staff through their time management issues doesn’t just help them today and for their entire future, it increases your dealership’s productivity. Everyone wins.