Training Tidbits #7

Many of you have noticed my “New Reality” take on business and the economy for the equipment Industries. The dislocations caused in 2008 have not been addressed completely as we transition once more to a new and better opportunity based society.

The challenges we confront have been broadly exposed and discussed from tax policies, to government regulation, to lending practices, to technological changes, and many more. And we need to address the four challenges exposed by Robert Gordon for our economy of; income inequality, debt, education and demographics. (You can see him on TED.com search for him by name Robert Gordon and the name of the talk is; The End of Innovation.)

You have also read me talking about the need for more job preparation coming from our educational options in previous blogs. I would like to expose to you now another element of the New Reality a short film from a Community College. Please watch it and then spend a moment thinking about how this might impact you, your family and your fellow employees.

Click on the line and watch. Make sure you have sound. This video is well done, it explains in pretty easy-to-understand terms why an associate degree or technical education might make more sense than a 4-year degree for people with certain skillsets. The video was funded by Perkins Grant money.  https://vimeo.com/67277269

The time is now.

Learning Without Scars is morphing

Greetings.

We are going to take this to another dimension. We are in the process of building a new website for learning and learners. It will be the new face of “Learning Without Scars.”

We will launch the new venture July 1, 2014.

We will offer a one stop shop for all learning experiences:-

  • Internet Based Self Study Programs
  • Streamed Content Offers
  • Webinar Registrations
  • Classroom Registrations.

We intend to offer learning streams for the Parts Business, the Service Business, Sales and Marketing for Operational Departments and Professional Selling.

The Parts Business will have Four Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over twenty hours of streamed subject specific offers. Registration to our Classroom offerings as well as a wide range of webinars will also be available through this new Company and this new website.

Similarly the Service Business will have Four Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over twenty hours of streamed subject specific offers. Registration to our Classroom offerings as well as a wide range of webinars will also be available through this new Company and this new website.

For the Sales and Marketing offerings will have Two Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over ten hours of streamed subject specific offers.

For the Selling Professions we will have Two Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over ten hours of streamed subject specific offers.

I would like to extend and offer and a request. Please let us know where you would like to have additional learning resources for your professional and personal development. We are seeking your input. Thanks in advance.

The time is now.

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Standards of Performance Wednesday April 16th @ Noon Pacific

Standards of Performance – WS8

 

What does it looks like when it is right? Performance in a Service Department must maximize efficiency, quality and satisfy customers. The first step to understanding and accepting what needs to be done is to have meaningful, measureable and achievable standards. How to develop your own standards and yet continue to reach for excellence is the theme in this webinar.

Individual employees want to do a good job yet many do not know what doing a good job entails. This is a fundamental requirement of good management, communicating performance expectations and measures to the employees. In this webinar we will cover the fundamentals exposed by Patrick Lencioni in his important book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.” Anonymity, Irrelevance and Immeasureability are the three symptoms of this disease which leads to the “Sunday Blues.”

Each employee can also deliver more than they think they are can yet each is fundamentally lazy. Leadership methods to entice or motivate employees to deliver good performance for coworkers, customers and the Company will be discussed in this extremely important webinar.

Everyone needs to understand what we are trying to do that is true. But it is equally important that everyone accepts that our understanding of what we are trying to do is complete. Without understanding and acceptance we will never get commitment.

The time is now.

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Shop Floor Scheduling – Wednesday April 16th @ 9:00 AM Pacific

Shop Floor Scheduling – WS7

 

The customers all want predictable consistent high quality service work. But equally important to them is a completion date for the work you are doing for them. You need to be able to provide a completion date and you need to meet that date. To do that requires very specific activities and deliveries. Parts, labor, supplies, outside purchases all are involved. Learn how to establish and manage shop schedules. To date in most surveys on customer attitudes they indicate that they want “honesty” in the top five. That should tell us that completion dates, which are rarely met is an area that needs a lot of attention.

This webinar leads to the items that are required in developing a schedule that can be met for all customers and internal departments. The typical rationales used to explain away why completion dates are rarely met are exposed and dealt with in a manner that allows acceptance of the need to change approach.

Each day, each technician needs to be given eight hours of labor, but no more than eight hours of labor. This requires each job have work elements that are never more than eight hours in length so that the answer to the question “will you complete everything I gave you to do today?” will be either yes or no. If yes the schedule is intact. If no – that will be dealt with in this webinar.

If you could guarantee completion the work for a customer on a specific date and meet it…. how much do you think your service business would increase? This comprehensive webinar does just that. It exposes everything you need to do to succeed at meeting your “promise dates” or completion date.

The time is now.

 

 

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Flat Rating/Standard Jobs Tuesday April 15tht at Noon Pacific time

Flat Rating/Standard Jobs – WS6

 

Customers want to know how much the repair work will cost before they approve the job you will perform. We have to provide this important information. In order to do this we must manage our repairs with job codes. We must determine standard jobs and then track them everything time we perform them. Then we can develop a “standard time” which is different than average time. Learn the secrets of flat rating in this very detailed webinar.

The job code structure is where this starts. The manufacturers provide a job code for use with warranty jobs. It is the same logic that dealers must use to manage the repair and maintenance jobs. The code needs to be easy to understand and search out in a file or on a system. Once we have the job codes then the inspections and job structures need to follow the same logic. How to develop the job codes and then utilize them to develop and manage history is a critical element of this webinar.

The determination of the standard time is also misunderstood by most. It is NOT about the average time to perform the job. Learn the perils of assuming all the risk on jobs and how to provide for those risks with standard times. This webinar will be of value to anyone in management who wants to move away from a job shop structure.

Until you satisfy your customer needs you will constantly be explaining things.  They want to know the price before they approve the work. They want to know when it will be ready for them to pick up. You cannot answer either question accurately unless you operate with standards jobs and flat rates. Don’t miss this comprehensive review of these two critical elements for service management.

The time is now.

 

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Labor Efficiency – Tuesday April 15th at 9:00 AM Pacific

Labor Efficiency – WS5

 

Efficiency and quality are the two most important performance measures for supervision of a service department. How you measure labor efficiency leads you to be able to manage labor efficiency. The detailed definitions and calculations as well as tried and true methods to achieve high labor efficiency are the hallmarks of this webinar.

When employees are given specific direction the results are impressive. Without it they can be disastrous. The billing efficiency, the amount of time that can be billed versus paid is not the same as labor efficiency. Labor efficiency is owned by the technician but is directly influenced by the methods used to schedule work by the first level supervisor. This brings together inspections, job segmentation, standard jobs coding, and standard job times. Fundamentals of scheduling then can be applied and allow the performance of the work by a service department to become predictable.

Finally the elements that interfere with good labor efficiency are exposed and suggestions developed for each so that they can be overcome. The customer will benefit greatly from predictable completion dates which will be the “intended” consequence of this webinar for all service management and supervision.

Concentrated information that will make a difference if how you operate your service business.

The time is now.

 

 

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We start in 3 hours

Time is passing by quickly now. It is time for the stragglers to register for our webinars.

The time is now.

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24

That was a terrific television series over the years. And a lot happened in 24 hours.

Tomorrow – 24 hours from now – the start of the last four parts webinars happens. Does miss out.

The time is now.

 

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Warning

Time is running out for you to register for the four webinars next week. Don’t miss out on these informative learning opportunities.

The time is now.

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Wednesday April 9th, 2014

Don’t miss out on this important webinar. Noon Pacific time on Wednesday.

Standards of Performance – WP8

What does it looks like when it is right? Performance in a Parts Department must maximize productivity, manage assets and satisfy customers. The first step to understanding and accepting what needs to be done is to have meaningful, measureable and achievable standards. How to develop your own standards and yet continue to reach for excellence is the theme in this webinar.

Individual employees want to do a good job yet many do not know what doing a good job entails. This is a fundamental requirement of good management, communicating performance expectations and measures to the employees. In this webinar we will cover the fundamentals exposed by Patrick Lencioni in his important book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.” Anonymity, Irrelevance and Immeasureability are the three symptoms of this disease which leads to the “Sunday Blues.”

Each employee can also deliver more than they think they are can yet each is fundamentally lazy. Leadership methods to entice or motivate employees to deliver good performance for coworkers, customers and the Company will be discussed in this extremely important webinar.