Developing Your Culture
​ 
Most dealerships today would claim they want to improve the culture of their company. When you ask them how they intend to accomplish that, this is when you see the blank stare or stutter.
 
5 to1
 
Many years ago I developed a management technique called “The Five to One Program”. For those of you that haven’t heard about it, it’s a simple skill managers that develop to improve the culture of your business. As it is true with most management techniques, it also works extremely well with families. Most managers believe their function is to attack whatever’s going wrong on a constant basis. The five to one program asks managers to instead focus in on what is going right first. They should acknowledge five things going well for every one area of opportunity for improvement. It is always surprises me when I point out things that are going very well, to hear employees or management comment and that I am the only one that ever noticed.
 
Checks and Balances
 
My experience has taught me that comments are like a checkbook. Positive comments add to the balance and negative will always reduce the account. A strong account balance illustrates a positive culture inside your dealership. You can imagine a negative balance would cause high employee turnover and reduce morale. No one performs well on a consistent basis that is belittled or badgered on a regularity. When management only discusses the negatives, resentment quickly builds. It is fascinating however, how quickly the environment or culture can improve when implementing this simple technique.
 
At Home
 
If you are married or maybe have a son or daughter, take this challenge. Start looking for the good and respond immediately with everything you find. If they look at you with that doubting face like they are wondering what is wrong with you, ignore that. Just keep looking for the good and compliment them on everything you see. If this became normal, would your relationship improve? It doesn’t mean you ignore things that are going wrong… It is simply that the priority is to have a balance of five good things to one area of opportunity for improvement. The bonus is it also improves your quality of life! Start your 5-2-1 program today!
 
Sincerely,
Rob Gehring, President
Fixed Performance Inc.
rgehring@fixedperformance.com

To receive more stories like this one, subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here