Hey guys, this is Adam from the podcast and you are listening to Quick Clips. Quick Clips are condensed versions from one of our previous podcast episodes featuring some of the interesting things our guests had to say. If you want to hear the full episode, we'll have it in the show notes below. And with that, let's start the show.
The thing that I learned early-ish on um, I'll say late twenties, was the other thing to get a lot of out of these groups is check your ego at the door. Mm, yeah. A lot of these guys. They do not want to sit there and listen to how much better you are, how you have the solution to every single problem, right?
Um, now you might have a solution to the problem, but the way you deliver it also really matters, right? It's not because everyone's a snowflake, it's because you're, you're, you're with people that are very stressed out, right? They're already high strung. So like, why add to it in the one place where you're supposed to be there to solve problems for each other, right?
Yeah. . So that would be, that would be the other advice I would give to other people is make sure to check your, go out the door. It's, it's critical. And if you're in a good peer group, uh, you need a good facilitator, somebody that knows how to keep people on task, hold 'em accountable, uh, uh, avoid the pity parties.
And, you know, we run, uh, at Elite, uh, we run three different mastermind groups. They're done primarily, uh, virtual, but we also have a live event here in Nashville coming up. , but, uh, but you know, these, these are some of the highest performing collision owners in, in, in the world that, that participate in these groups and they check their ego at the door.
And that's the only, so you're exactly right. If you don't check your ego at the door, you might as well not even show up. Mm-hmm. because it's not gonna benefit. . Yeah. You know, if you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room. I can tell the smartest guy usually in, in a, whether it's a virtual group or whether it's a live group, he's the one taking notes.
Mm-hmm. , he's the one asking questions. Um, I probably have the book behind me over here, um, but I always forget the name of it. But, um, I, I wanna say it's like David versus Goliath, um, like the book or whatever, but it's basically talking about how. being small is actually an advantage and not a disadvantage.
Exactly. Um, and man, I couldn't agree with that more. I think it's a Malcolm Gladwell book, isn't it? Yep, it is. Um, I, if, if I, uh, I, like I said, I probably have it behind me. I just don't wanna, you know, stop the podcast just to go grab it. Yeah. I've got a copy of it here somewhere. Yeah. It's a, it's a phenomenal read about how just because you're smaller doesn't necessarily.
Um, it's a disadvantage because you get to be more agile. You get to switch, um, and make moves quicker because, you know, what people don't realize is when you're working for these bigger companies, a lot of times decisions have to go through multiple different layers of people. Yeah. And there's so many explanations that have to happen as to why this is such a good thing.
The world is moving way too. And you, you need that. That's why I'm, I'm, you know, that's why the, the independent collision repairers have a huge advantage right now. My, uh, friend Ryan Taylor, you know, the owner of a body shop booster mm-hmm. , he, uh, I don't know if you've ever met him, but he says, you know, running a big company is like trying to turn a battleship with a teaspoon.
Yep. And, uh, and he is exactly right. We have the ability to move quickly if we've got the mindset to move quickly. and we just, we have the advantages if we choose to believe that we use a, we use the term standard operating procedures a lot, but I think, um, do you have by chance, listen to Jocko Willink at all?
No. Uhuh, but I will, if, if there's someone that I can recommend over and over and over again. It's a, it's a guy named Jocko Wiling. He's a former Navy Seal. Um, he wrote a book that I will buy for, um, lots of different people. Called Extreme Ownership, his podcast that he was talking about last night, there was a guy on that was going to be a paramedic and was asking, how do you stay calm in these crazy situations?
Mm-hmm. And I think something that I would like to point out about standard operating procedures is, it sounds like a really C-suite level call. I, I hate, I even hate calling it that, but it's. Yeah, I totally get it. It, it feels, it feels like something from a, a big Fortune 500 company and somebody plops down a 500 page manual on your desk and says, do it by the book.
Yep. Um, but he was talking about the way that they would train the seals, how to operate in the highest stress situations. Yeah. Like, I don't know if you can get much more high stress than being shot at and bombed and mortared from all different directions. Right. He said, what you. . What we, what we train people to do is out loud, talk through their actions.
I'm racking my gun. I'm, I'm aiming down the sites. I'm looking at the enemy. I'm shooting the enemy. I'm disengaging looking for other enemies. They talk through these things he said, and the whole purpose of that is to build up this muscle memory and this repetition to the point where when shit goes haywire, you default back to.
These very basic fundamentals, and I think that's what's the most important thing about SOPs, standard operating Procedures or playbooks, is it's not meant to be this constrictive thing. It's meant for if staff's starting going haywire and you don't know what to do, you go, you just go straight back to the fundamentals, the playbook, and you just execute on that.
More than likely you're gonna make it out on the other side. Yep. Just fine if you don't. The beautiful thing about a playbook is it can always be adjusted. That's, well, very well said, Adam. And I love the, you know, the, the, the military comparison because those aren't life or death situations and we have to be able to fall back on our training and mm-hmm.
the training is, is, is, um, it's fundamental to have standards in place to train too. mm-hmm. , if that makes sense. You know, one, one of our most popular, uh, services that we provide at Elite are helping organizations create their own, their own playbooks. Everything from a, uh, the frustration with accountability, um, the lack of consistency and quality and, uh, and customer service.
All of these things are rooted in a lack of having a good standard operating procedure. , you know, is, uh, call it Fortune 500 stuff if you want, but we can create an entire keys to keys playbook for a client in 50 pages because we, we, we want to focus on what we call the critical to quality steps. I don't need a, a manual that thick to know how to blueprint a car, but I do need to know what the, the 10 or 20 most important steps.
And I need to make sure that, that my people are doing those 10 to 20 steps every single time. If we can do that by creating a guidepost for them to follow, then we're gonna have success. But I don't need to micromanage every single thing they do. Hey guys. Adam from the podcast. I hope you are enjoying today's episode.
Just wanted to ask you a quick favor. If the show has brought you value in some way, would you mind giving us a review and sharing the. It really helps the show get out there. Also, if you are looking to expand the services that your shop offers and you want to do more than collision work, you should really check out our company Clarity Coat.
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If you are looking to expand your shop services, go to clarity code.com and fill out our, become an installer form. Alright, let's get back to the show. What do you, uh, how do you answer the question? Because I know you have invariably gotten it. Yeah, that's great, Dave. I'm sure those other shops can follow this, but my shop is different.
My shop is special. I, I can't do that kind of thing for my shop. Yeah. Uh, . Yeah. We, we, we get that and, and, and honestly, there is some truth to that. And, and it's, it's not that, it's not that I couldn't take my playbook and insert it in an almost antibody shop. I, I probably could and they would probably get really good results from it.
But if you want to get the best results, you've gotta have the people in that organization create the standards with you, right. because people support what they help create. It's the hardest thing in the world to operate. It's both. It's both the most freeing way to operate, and it's the hardest way to operate where everything is your fault.
Mm-hmm. everything. If you are managing or leading people, everything. Everything is your fault. Yeah. Guy didn't show up on time, that's your fault. , we wanna know why? Because you didn't make it clear to him the importance of showing up on time. Yep. He does it two or three times. That's also your fault.
Mm-hmm. , because now is your responsibility to figure out a way to write that wrong. Yeah. You either fire him or you. Make sure that they get the message that they can not be showing. I love this subject. In fact, um, I'm in a ma mastermind group with a, uh, it's a former, uh, NFL football player. Uh, turned, uh, playwright and actor and speakers name's Bo Eason.
And I'm in a mastermind group, uh, with this gentleman and some other very bright individuals that are a lot smarter than me. That's why I'm there. Um,