HAVE YOU EVER promoted your most skilled parts person to manager only to find out the employee lacked management abilities?
Of all the questions whispered in my ears, the most common is: “I am now a manager. What is expected of me?” Along with the parts counter person, the service technician to service manager, and the salesperson to wholegoods manager often ask the same question: What am I really accountable for in my new role?
As a class exercise, we draft a list of what each frontline manager is accountable for. To start this, we need to clarify accountability and responsibility. Accountability is what a manager has control of. If a manager is empowered to make operational changes to improve a department, that person should be held accountable.
We cannot find fault in a parts manager when our wholegoods units are aging. Assuming the wholegoods manager has total control over wholegoods inventory, a parts manager cannot be held accountable if not in total control. A parts manager can have responsibility in suggesting ideas but the accountability of the aging issue is in the hands of the wholegoods manager.
Using the same question as noted previously, we have developed an easy to understand list of those things for which a frontline manager is accountable. As always, I have a great memory but it’s a little short so I turn a lot of things into an acronym.
Western Equipment Dealer Magazine Summer 2017 Issue
By Trent Hummel
