American Honda Motor Company, Inc. (AHM) maintains 1,100 dealerships throughout the United States. Each one has a Service Manager who directs the activities of Service Consultants and Service Technicians. The Service Manager is also responsible for managing and fine-tuning the service process to ensure the department is profitable and efficient, and so customers have a positive experience and keep coming back.
AHM was concerned that many service departments were lagging in their performance, based on metrics that ranged from profitability to customer satisfaction to shop efficiency and productivity.
AHM had another challenge: Service Manager turnover was fairly high, which meant they had to bring newly-promoted managers up to speed while improving service operations—not an easy double play!
AHM wanted a solution that could be delivered at its regional training centers, but they knew the audience would be a challenge—these learners tend to be uncomfortable in a classroom setting, resistant to being told what to do, focused on practical results, and eager to show off what they know.
Honda Service Operations
|
|
We provided AHM with a "blended" solution that combined instructor-led training and computer-based simulations. This solution worked because it was practical and applied, and it harnessed the audience members' competitive spirit.
The two-day course was structured around the service process, with special focus on the key functional areas that scored lowest. Questionnaires were developed for each functional area based on industry best practices. Participants were trained in the fundamentals and were asked to use the questionnaires to evaluate their own operations after they completed their training.
At three points in the workshop, the class broke into three-member teams to evaluate a computer-simulated service department using the best-practices questionnaires. To do this, teams analyzed quarterly performance metrics, timecards, appointment sheets, work assignments, and even employee comments about the operation-which were all presented on-demand on the computer. This process stimulated their competitiveness and ensured that every question was thoroughly analyzed.
Teams chose a limited number of corrective actions from an interactive list and saw how their approach would affect the operation’s performance metrics over the next nine months. The instructor then had teams share their results and the class analyzed how and why each set of corrective actions had the impact it did.
The result was enthusiastic engagement by the participants, spirited discussion about how best practices operate, and a program so successful it is still in use—with periodic updates—more than a decade after its creation.
