We hear your pain. Hiring is hard. It’s hard to find the right fit, it’s hard to keep people and sometimes you’re in such a bind that you bring someone in just to get the work done. Where does culture play a role? It gives your team purpose, it guides them with values and encourages them to take part in the big-picture success of your dealership.
In “Create a Culture that Delivers,” Tony Gonzalez gives a great example of a team that doesn’t sort of buy into the culture that is built, it fully believes in it. Without spoiling too much, he speaks of his experience at the Ritz Carlton and also offers some hilarious anecdotes from his rather lackluster experiences with other well-known brands.
His course is a great starting point for establishing a culture your employees want to be a part of and one that also delivers on the goals you have for your organization. He urges you to think about your “why.” Then suggests how to communicate it for your employees not only to agree to it, but live and breathe it every day. At the MRAA, we established our “why” by reading the book “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek as a team and collaboratively brainstorming our thoughts to come to a statement that we all felt was true and valuable.
After a culture is established, we suggest Samantha Cunningham-Zawilinski’s course called “Intrapreneurship: Developing Early Adopters & Harnessing Innovation in Your Company.” Yes, it’s a mouthful. What exactly is “intrapreneurship” and why would I benefit from it in my dealership, you may be asking.
Intrapreneurs are people within an organization who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation. You likely have at least one person who is always first to launch in with what you might consider a crazy idea. Imagine what someone like this could do for your dealership if you chose to nurture and cultivate their strengths and ideas.
Think of someone who may fit into this role in your dealership, or consider this principle when hiring next. Samantha (without realizing) does a great job connecting to what Tony teaches, noting you must have a “why” in order to succeed in culture building. She also mentions phrases like taking time to “work ON your business, rather than just IN it,” so she gets a gold star for that one because as the association for retailers, we hope to help dealers understand just how important this really is.
Gold star to you for reading this blog post because you’re passionate about your people. If you’re a Silver or Gold MRAA member, you can watch both of these courses at no additional cost. Also, Bronze members, did you hear? You get one free course per year, so consider one or both of these as a great training option. If you’re not a member but are saying, “I need this course in my dealership.” Reach out! We’re happy to share these amazing resources that can help you grow and improve.