The Brawn and the Brain (September 01, 2006)

Calgary is booming. All of Alberta’s economy is going at a frantic pace because of the oil industry. The oil sector is scooping up good people and paying them a fantastic wage to work for them. Little do they know this boom is for the short-term.

In the past, parents have looked at the automotive industry as a “last chance” career for their children. No one wanted a greasy, poorly dressed son to show off to their friends and family. Parents always want the best for their children and have not viewed this avenue as a satisfactory future. This is about to change. As everything returns in cycles, this industry is back on the rise. We have just passed the bottom of this cycle, and I am confident the automotive industry is on its way up, elevating the professionalism of the automotive technician.

Associations and ISPs need to ask the local government to start educating students at the high school level about how a career as an automotive technician can benefit them. Further to that point, we need an ongoing skills program that should be mandatory to keep a technician’s/apprentice’s automotive knowledge up to date. These skill programs should be offered by the local institutions and be sponsored, not branded, by the jobbers or dealers supporting them.

Our industry also faces an image problem that needs to be further addressed. Improvements will occur when everyone in our industry (independents and dealers included) understand that we are a group of professionals. And the first step is changing how we see those we work with. There are many different roles of professionals in an automotive shop. But it seems to me that some individuals in a shop tend to view themselves as “superior” to the others. For example, some technicians view themselves as superior to the apprentices. I believe that apprentices need to be treated with the same respect as a technician and not be treated as “oil changers.” Technicians have equal levels of knowledge and intelligence to an owner, just on a different topic. In short, everyone in the shop has to treat each other with the utmost respect. This will affect how the customer sees us. Employers and employees need to start talking to each other and realize that there are no levels, only roles.

Get everyone involved with the business. Show your employees the financial statements. Make them understand where the money is going. Remember, just because an owner has his name on the legal title, this does not mean that the business is his to do with as he wishes. An owner does not have the right to pillage and plunder his own organization. An owner has a duty to the employees and the industry. The business is only as good as the people you keep and the ethics an owner and his employees possess. Quality of life for employees is a must, no one wants to work 50-60 hours a week. All that does is cause a burn out. These ideals should be filtered down from the owner through a personal vision statement and a shop mission statement.

Shop owners also have to reinvest the profits back into their business on a continual basis, which means upgrading equipment and information, training for technicians and management staff. Pay the wages that professionals, like technicians and service advisors deserve, they will show you what they can do with just a little respect. Some owners also need to think about the future of our industry instead of continually bleeding the company just to line their pockets for the short term. This will ultimately create a poor image of the owner and his business, and a ghastly image for the industry. When it comes time to succeed the business in the future, that business will be worthless.

Ultimately, if the automotive industry starts working together at all levels we will begin to gain a whole new focus and succeed. This is one reason that an association such as the Canadian Independent Automotive Association was founded, to speak with the voices of technicians and owners and not have it “branded” by the supply side. It does not matter who is implementing the changes. The AIA can do it, the CIAA can do it, provincial associations can do it, provincial regulatory bodies can do it, but we need to grab the bull by the horns and get it done.

Richard Dansereau

General Manager

L.A.D.’s Auto Repair Ltd.

Calgary, Alberta