Managing Your Personnel Effectively – Situational Leadership

The RV business challenges us in a variety of ways (inventory control, cash flow, profitability, recruiting good tech workers, and dealing with the world of technology); however, the area which consumes most of our time and expenses is the challenge of effectively managing our people at the dealership. I have met owners who rarely take a day off or even a vacation because they feel the need to be present at their dealership in order to remain profitable. They feel that without their presence, the dealership would fall apart even though the store has a Service manager, F & I manager, and Sales Manager working for them. What I have discovered is that owners have, in one way or another, mastered some leadership techniques and learned how to manage a variety of people. However, they have not passed these skills on to their management team, and therefore the team expects the coach to handle all major issues. This works fine for a little while, but have you ever heard the phrase, “get a life”? Your entire time will be consumed with dealership people problems. The joy of owning or managing a dealership will become a daily burden to you. Your management team needs to be trained in the area of leadership – this cannot wait until next year. We want you to enjoy both your life and your RV business, so let us offer you a tip or two on this issue.

Resources – Who Can Live Without Them?

I have found that most managers in the RV business are very busy people who have little time to attend management classes at a local college or at a business school. Because of this, we must train our people at the dealership level. We need to offer our people instruction in management so they too can become good leaders and problem solvers. I highly recommend that you use The One Minute Manager, written by Ken Blanchard, as one of your textbooks. This book, which is available at most bookstores, is easy to read, thin in size, and written in a very enjoyable style. You can read the entire book in a matter of an hour or two. Ken Blanchard’s basic presentation is that we must manage different people in different ways. One style does not work for everyone, because workers are at different levels of competency. Blanchard argues that we understand his four styles of leadership and then use them as appropriate with our people at the dealership. The book is so helpful because it reveals why you can’t treat everyone the same and expect the same results. For example, you can tell a five-year old to crank up an RV and let out the slide, but the child will more than likely fail because he lacks knowledge and the physical ability to get the job done. Now, you can also tell a 40 year old man to do the same task and he could also fail the assignment because he lacks the proper competency to perform the task at hand. Blanchard’s four styles of leadership really do work in the business world, and especially in the RV world! You really need to read his book. But in case you’re not convinced yet, we can give you a quick little review of the four leadership styles that Blanchard developed so that you can enjoy this appetizer. But don’t forget to buy the book!