You’re not just their boss – you’re their mentor. At least, if you want to be.

Whether you’re employed as a service manager, fixed ops director, parts manager, service advisor, parts advisor, sales, or in any other position in the dealership, you’re hired for a role that involves one overriding factor – productivity. Your main purpose at the dealership is to generate income for the owners and dealer principals that sign your checks.

Part of every role, management or not, is developing the people who are below you. You’re expected to be an example of how to conduct one’s self at the workplace. You’re the utmost of professionalism. You’re courteous and friendly. You’re helpful and supportive. And you’re like that without fail…right?

None of us are the consummate professional at every moment of every day. We blow our tops. We do things that we hope no one notices, and especially hope that no one mimics. Striving to be better in our work environment is plagued with failures and mistakes. What makes you successful – what makes you true management material – is the ability to pick yourself up and resume your professional demeanor.

Providing an example of professional behavior is a great start and probably the most important step. It tells your team members that you value and encourage integrity in the workplace. This integrity translates into productivity in your department as your staff are more focused and driven to succeed.

What can you do to mentor your employees?

These are just three quick points that I’ve discovered personally during my 15-year journey in the automotive industry. It’s not an exhaustive list and I’d welcome any additions. Feel free to weigh in with comments below.

Encourage Clean Living

I think we all know someone in the automotive industry that has been negatively affected by alcoholism or substance abuse. According to SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), nearly one in ten people suffer from addictions to drugs or alcohol in the workforce, and that number climbs in high-stress environments. I think we’d agree car dealerships are higher stress than an average job, so it’s more likely that one in seven or eight of your employees have some form of substance abuse problem.

You’re kidding yourself if you think substance abuse is only an after-hours problem. It affects work performance along with attitude. It also sets the bar low for your other employees, letting them know what they can and can’t get away with.

Encourage your staff to find alternate ways to blow off steam. Ways that don’t involve alcohol or drugs. Ways that build them up as people and develop character. You’ll find productivity is improved and your workplace atmosphere is much more positive.

Here are a few ideas:

• A workout group that hits the gym after work
• A book club (fiction or non-fiction, doesn’t matter)
• A walking group during lunch breaks or a Fitbit step competition
• Amateur art classes

Promote Family Life

Those who have a family want to go home to them, especially if there are kids involved. There are evening sports, errands to run, dinner to eat together, and spouses who want to hear about the day’s events. These are all positive activities that ground a person and provide a stable foundation which you can build productive employees on.

You probably don’t know what each of your team members goes home to every night, but you know they go home. You know personally that work takes up more time than any of us want, so when the clock strikes home o’clock, try not to keep your staff members behind. Limit the number of after-hours meetings. Staff appropriately so overtime is rarely essential. 

Harbor Professional Development

Ideally, you’d like everyone in your department to be of the utmost character – the perfect little soldiers for a strong, cohesive army. But, like author Dan Waldschmidt says, “People are messy.” They make mistakes and bad choices. They don’t always do as they are instructed. But desiring to do better and be better is the best characteristic you can have in an employee.

When you recognize in one of your staff members that they have ambition or a quality that sets them apart, whether leadership, influence, or otherwise, you have an opening to introduce developmental practices. You can spend some time mentoring and providing positive criticism, encourage them to read a good book, or follow inspirational people on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

To that end, the options are limitless. There are so many professional development resources on the market that provide insight, motivation, and inspiration. By no means is this list complete, and feel free to add your favorite resource, but here are a few great sources for professional development.

• Dan Waldschmidt – ultra-athlete, keynote speaker, author of “Edgy Conversations”
• Joe Verde – Sales and Management Trainer, author of several auto industry resources
• Kevin Nations – mastermind mentor and coach
• Grant Cardone – real estate investor, speaker, author of “Sell or Be Sold”
• Robert Herjavec – star of Shark Tank, businessman, renowned author

It could serve you well to have a bookshelf full of resources that you share with your staff. It’s inevitable that, with your encouragement to flip the pages, your staff will benefit from what they read between the covers.

Again, expecting your employees to desire and do better for themselves needs to start with you. What you ask of your staff, you’ll need to be prepared to demonstrate for them. No one expects perfection from you, just the desire to continuously improve. Your department will undoubtedly become more productive and your work environment will be so much more positive.