Effective, positive employee feedback is one of the best tools automotive shop owners and managers have to boost team engagement, performance, and skill development. If you want your shop to meet and exceed your business goals, you must communicate with employees regularly, consistently, and constructively on a team and individual level.
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It's pretty easy to give feedback, but much harder to deliver it in a positive, constructive way that doesn’t make the recipient become defensive or lose motivation. Constructive feedback is communication that provides specific, actionable suggestions aimed at improving performance. Regular, effective feedback serves as a roadmap for your team, helping them build on strengths and identify weaknesses.
The importance of creating a shop culture where constructive feedback is open and continuous can't be overstated. Here are just a few of the benefits of feedback via one-on-one or team meetings:
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Benefits |
How It Helps |
Long-Term Impact |
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Reduced Errors |
Timely feedback can help correct mistakes quickly, reducing the likelihood of recurring issues. |
Fosters a culture of accountability, leading to consistent quality improvements over time. |
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Increased Morale and Retention |
Constructive feedback, when balanced with positive reinforcement, can boost employee morale and job satisfaction. Employees who feel supported are more likely to stay. |
Creates a more engaged workforce, lowering turnover rates and reducing the costs of hiring and training new staff. |
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Improved Performance |
A culture of continuous feedback encourages technicians and service advisors to learn and improve their skills. Managers' communication and leadership skills improve through giving and receiving feedback. |
Helps develop a proactive team that anticipates challenges and continuously seeks ways to refine their skills and contributions. |
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Enhanced Communication |
Open feedback fosters a cohesive team environment where all members feel empowered to learn, grow, and share their input. |
Builds trust and transparency, encouraging innovation and problem-solving through better collaboration. |
If feedback is so important, why doesn't everybody do it already? In conversations with shop owners and managers, we've heard many reasons why they're not giving their techs and service advisors regular feedback. The most common are:
Let's address these concerns one by one:
Giving constructive feedback doesn't need to eat up hours of your already busy day, but you will need to schedule time and stick to it. Set aside 15-30 minutes for regular check-ins with your techs -- at least weekly, if you can -- in addition to team meetings. This is an investment in your people that is absolutely worth the effort! Ultimately, you’ll reap the benefits with an engaged, motivated team that knows you value them.
One way that employee feedback can actually save you time is that you can address errors in the moment instead of waiting months for an annual performance review. When you communicate with your technicians and service advisors regularly and consistently, small issues don't fester and become big headaches, saving time for everyone in the long run. Best of all, your team feels valued by shop leadership, increasing team morale and retention.
Many managers and automotive shop owners are concerned that giving feedback will create conflict with their techs. This is a common fear, even for seasoned shop leaders. Creating a shop culture where everyone feels heard, understood, and valued will go a long way to mitigating conflict, but first you might need to have honest conversations with frustrated or defensive techs.
Make it easier on yourself and your technician by being a coach, not a critic — focus on how you can help them improve. This doesn't mean you should ignore errors; instead, think of them as opportunities for learning. Give constructive feedback as soon as the mistake occurs or as soon as you can, and be kind and empathetic.
Listen to the tech and help them develop steps to correct and avoid the error in the future. By highlighting specific areas for improvement and offering actionable suggestions, you can help individuals feel supported and encouraged to develop their skills. Help your techs create an action plan for improvement, give them achievable goals, and check back in regularly to keep them on track.
While it's true that experienced technicians should have a solid grasp of their responsibilities, continuous feedback is essential for everyone's growth and improvement. Even your veteran techs can benefit from one-on-one check-ins to discuss accomplishments, goals, and pain points. Consider asking questions such as:
Some managers feel they lack the necessary skills to deliver constructive feedback effectively. If this is you, you're not alone! Years of surveys report that managers across all industries struggle with communication skills.
While you might never be a perfect communicator, the best way to get better at it is to just jump in and do it. There are also many auto industry coaching groups and online tools with guidance and resources to hone your skills. Your own company might offer mentoring for managers, or you could consider starting a peer coaching group for your organization or local area.
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Success Story From One of Our Customers |
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One very honest Today's Class customer, an auto repair shop manager, shared with us that his team told him he wasn't good at giving constructive feedback. He acknowledged this and stated that he just didn’t know where to start. With data from Today's Class, he began having regular, structured one-on-ones with his technicians. Metrics like training frequency, knowledge growth, and daily training question scores in shop-critical topics gave him multiple paths for conversations with his team. In return, his team members got specific, actionable goals and were empowered to take ownership of their learning and skills development. |
If you're not already giving regular, constructive feedback to your team, it can be difficult to know where to start. These conversations will go a lot easier for everyone if you have solid data to establish a foundation and measure progress. Today's Class has real-time reporting built into the platform to give shop owners and managers insight on their teams' engagement, confidence, and knowledge.
Once you've met with each individual and set performance goals, you can use the Today's Class data feed to monitor improvement. From the platform, you'll be able to quickly identify team members who aren't completing daily training consistently, are struggling with a specific topic, or have achieved learning milestones. We'll also send you weekly texts about users who might need extra coaching so nobody gets left behind.
Also, your employees can track their own progress so there are no surprises in your one-on-one meetings. At the individual level, technicians and service advisors can see areas where they need improvement as well as topics they excel in. Managers can monitor the team's overall performance and identify any topics that might need to be addressed shop-wide. This data is invaluable in helping shop managers create individual, team, and shop performance goals.
Giving regular, constructive feedback to your team is an essential skill for automotive shop owners and managers. Effective feedback can help correct mistakes, avoid errors, recognize accomplishments, and encourage skills development. Not sure where to begin? Today’s Class can help! We can give you the tools, resources, and support you need to communicate effectively with your team as well as the daily training needed to grow their skills and meet your business goals. Contact us today for more!