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Good Managers Cost a Lot... Improve Productivity and Retention With Effective Onboarding?
A Deep Look at Your New Manager Onboarding Process
You can help ensure the success of the new manager and their integration into the dealership’s culture by following these key steps:
Set expectations: Set clear expectations for the new manager’s role, responsibilities, and goals. This should include developing a job description or a performance plan. The job description will be very helpful in making sure the new manager knows exactly what is expected. This avoids misunderstanding and misinterpretations. DealersEdge has a print guide containing hundreds of sample job descriptions and comes with a USB drive containing Word files of each for easy editing to your own needs. dealersedge.com/books
Provide training: Provide the new manager with the necessary training to succeed in their role. This may include training on dealership policies and procedures, software systems, and other necessary skills. Dealerships seldom have formal management training programs. Auto retailing is a complex business, but still is considered a small business in most cases. This then requires that you make use of outside training opportunities. Some of these opportunities, especially those that take the manager out of the dealership and involve travel are quite good, but also quite costly. This type of management training should, in most cases, be reserved for managers with longer tenure and less likelihood of taking the training and leaving for another position. In today’s connected/Zoom Meeting world, there are many alternatives. DealersEdge has supplied management continuing education for dealership managers for over 40 years and does so at a modest cost. DealersEdge educational resources are available online in multiple formats (video, audio and in print) so that the method of training can match the participants time schedule and preferred learning style. dealersedge.com/freetrial
Introduce them to the dealership’s culture: Introduce the new manager to the dealership’s culture, values, and mission. This means a tour of the dealership, introductions to key staff, and especially fellow managers. Include a review of the dealership’s history and values. The more you can do to make your new team member a part of “the family” the more you can promote cohesiveness and cooperation between departments.
Assign a mentor: Mentors can add a lot of impact to your onboarding process. Mentors can add personal support and guidance, especially during the first couple of weeks on the job. This gives the new hire someone to answer questions, provide feedback and advice on how to succeed… all without going back to the General Manager for that input. The right mentor can also help the new hire create and build relationships with other team members.
Provide regular feedback: Provide the new manager with regular feedback on their performance, including both positive feedback and areas for improvement. This can help them understand their strengths and weaknesses and adjust their performance accordingly. Building these relationships can also help the new hire more connected to the dealership’s culture and team atmosphere.
Review policies and procedures: Review dealership policies and procedures with the new manager to ensure they understand them and are following them correctly. If you do not have an employee handbook, consider creating one. Without a comprehensive written record of policies and procedures confusion over those same policies can cause problems. DealersEdge publishes a guide to assist in what policies and procedures to include in your company’s Employee Handbook. The guide lists policy language and also provides text files, in Word document format for easy cutting, pasting and editing. This, however, is not to replace having your own legal advisors approve the handbook in its final form. dealersedge.com/books
Encourage collaboration: Encourage collaboration and communication among the new manager and other staff members. This can help them build relationships and integrate into the dealership’s culture more quickly. A manager is typically defined as someone who achieves work-related goals through others. In this definition, the manager is responsible for leading a team or department, directing the work of others, and coordinating their efforts to achieve specific goals or objectives. A manager can be a driver of collaboration within a team or department. Collaboration involves individuals working together towards a common goal, using their individual strengths to complement each other and achieve the best results. A manager can help facilitate collaboration by creating an environment that encourages teamwork and open communication, setting goals that require collective effort, and providing the necessary resources and support for the team to work together effectively.
By following these steps, a General Manager can onboard new managers effectively and ensure that they are set up for success.
A comprehensive onboarding process can help new managers feel more confident and comfortable in their role and can ultimately improve their performance and contribution to the dealership’s success.
The onboarding process can also help reduce employee turnover.
The above was adapted from just a small portion of Chapter 6 - Building a Team in the DealersEdge Guide - "The General Manager's Desk Reference and Dealership Operating Guide."
To learn more about this DealersEdge Guide, please see below...
This new DealersEdge Resource will provide the most useful and comprehensive collection of dealership management wisdom available…
Organized and Tabbed style that allows for Quick Reference for dealing with specific daily challenges… or as the GM’s Guidebook, it can be read and studied from start to finish.
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