Throughout my time in the automotive industry, I have visited hundreds of dealerships. I have seen every type of company culture imaginable. There are dealerships where everyone loves each other and others where there is such a disconnect, it shocks me that management keeps people employed.
Watching this and experiencing different work cultures throughout my career, I have learned that in order to have an impactful company culture, you need to empower your workforce.
As a manager, my goal is to make sure each employee’s answer to the following three questions is “yes:”
- Am I happy here?
- Am I making enough money here?
- Do I have a future here?
If you take care of these three areas as a manager, your employees will do their best work and you will create a company culture where everyone is working together to drive the business’ success.
Let’s first explore how to make sure your employees enjoy what they do. Look no further than your customers to find out the answer to this question. If your customers are giving you glowing reviews about your employees’ professionalism, rapport and integrity, it speaks volumes to how your employees approach their work.
This does not happen by chance. You need to provide your employees with the tools and resources to be successful. You also need to provide an open feedback channel for employees to communicate issues, questions and concerns, as well as share achievements. Feeling empowered, well-resourced and heard by management are some of the most important factors to feeling fulfilled professionally.
This leads to paying your employees what they are worth. If you are not compensating your employees competitively, they’ll leave you sooner or later, and they will not work to their full potential while they do work for you. Compensation should not be the only driver of employee retention, but it is an important factor in getting top talent to stay and build your culture.
Now, this leads to my final question: Do your employees see themselves growing with the company? As a manager, you need to provide constant feedback to your employees and let them know that their contribution is valued and they have a future with the company. Your employees need to know that they are not in a dead-end job or a vicious cycle of non-recognition.
I’ve seen culture both build and destroy dealerships. If you want to be successful, you can’t do it alone. Businesses thrive where there is an employee-centric culture where everyone enjoys what they do every day. I have seen this simple formula work miracles firsthand and know it works for anyone committed enough to make it work.
I invite you to join me for the Digital Dealer 24 Conference & Expo (April 10-12 in Orlando, Florida) where I will be covering this topic further in my session: Improving Employee Retention Strategies to Increase Profitability. The presentation will focus on best practices in talent retention management (TRM), including innovative ways to use a CRM to manage millennials, and key steps in creating a strong recruitment and retention strategy.
A version of this post originally appeared in Digital Dealer.
Are you an enforcer? A flip-flopper? An easy-goer? Find out how you hold your team accountable with our quick assessment.
Start the Assessment
