Both qualities are necessary to be effective. Leadership is the ability to inspire the people around you. To share a vision that creates common purpose. Leaders cause the people around them to improve & grow. Being a leader means being fair, firm, and consistent.

Management is using the resources you have at your disposal to achieve you vision. This means having policies and procedures that work well toward the goals of your shop.

Many shops have no clear vision of where the shop is going, and consequently no plan to get there. Before a shop can have any measurable improvement, there must be a vision of what you want to accomplish and then a detailed plan to achieve that vision.

So, what's the answer?

• 
  Your shop has good traffic
  
• 
  Does quality work
  

But there is no real progress or growth

Take a few days and notice what goes on at your shop. Look at it with new eyes. How is the phone answered? Do your technicians stay busy? If not, find out why. Look at , key performance indicators like your average repair order, effective labor rate, gross profit margins, and individual technician efficiency. Take a look at your inspection sheets done on each vehicle. Does the car and it's mileage jive with the inspection results? If not, why? Is there one specific technician that never finds any problems with the cars he's working on? Be sure to take notes on what you discover. Keep in mind that what you decide to improve on must be measured before it can be managed.

In the next blog we will take these ideas and craft them into an actionable plan that can be implemented into permanent improvement.