Creating solid leaders within your business can lead you on the path to success.
By: Brian Bachand
“We find ourselves in a season of uncertainty and secular upheaval. A moment in time where long standing beliefs, structures, and institutions of a prior era give way to a new organizing system.”
Being an effective leader is determined by how you act and react given the challenges of those you lead and that of the goal to be met.
In November, we the people of the United States will vote for the next leader of our free nation. Many argue that neither choice for America’s succeeding president is the best candidate. Given that information, as we reflect upon the past, and ponder the potential prosperous or perilous predicaments we might soon find ourselves in, it is imperative that we define what leadership is and what makes an effective leader.
We may not all feel that the hopeful presidential nominees are the greatest choices but we do have the right to vote however we wish. As auto recyclers, we have the freedom to choose and create our own leaders within our industry and businesses. Instead of looking to the president elects to lead us, we must elect ourselves to continue to lead the way and to make things happen. Bi-partisan efforts and working with legislators will continue, yet we must translate leadership on our own level to efficiently move forward towards achieving shared goals and creating a successful future.
Psychologist and author of Understanding Leadership, W.C.H. Prentice, defines leadership as, “the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A successful leader is one who can understand people’s motivation and enlist employee participation in a way that marries individual needs and interests to the group’s purpose.” Notice that this definition lists nothing of power or popularity. Prentice published this piece in 1961 yet its principles continue to prevail. Leaders can be anyone. Not just bosses, managers or foremen. Being a leader is a choice. Certain people are born to lead, whereas others learn to make that choice to herd others to shared outcomes or destinations. Being an effective leader is determined by how you act and react given the challenges of those you lead and that of the goal to be met. Given Prentice’s definition, how does leadership translate in the auto recycling arena? What are the intangibles of an effective leader in our industry or in your business? And how do we choose to lead the way instead of following or being misled?
Leadership is a goal we all strive to ascertain. To empower those we need in our business to get the job done right. In order to create leadership we must make the choice to become a leader ourselves. Regardless of one’s job title, we must buy into the goal we are trying to achieve and figure how to make believers of everyone else. A manager can manage and a foreman can supervise, but what makes a person a leader is not how they manage or supervise but through how they motivate.
Besides money and time off there are other means of incentivizing. Figuring out what motivates each person correlates directly with the “why” and “what” that they are buying into. How you get your employees, co-workers and peers to buy into the cause is just as important as keeping them motivated throughout the process. Our effective leaders show and even personify why and how we are to inventory an agreed amount of vehicles a day, dismantle a set amount of cars a month, sell a predetermined amount of parts a quarter, or make an aspired total of sales each year. The business makes money, you make money. Reach the goal and be rewarded, however without consequences motivation can become a challenge. Our leaders should know how to constructively and conservatively incentivize each member of the team. Knowing how the staff responds to challenges and how each member of the staff is motivated to perform at an optimal level, are the fundamental factors that put leaders on a ballot of their own.
A leader in your business should be able to read the room. To know who is the fastest dismantler, and who is most thorough in their de-pollution jobs. To understand who is likely to cut corners, and who needs the most supervision. Who you can lean on when people call out and who will be calling out. A leader analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team, and figures out how to direct each member to achieve the most efficient and productive outcome. Their essential qualities include honesty, integrity, accountability, visionary, reliability, trustworthiness and problem solving. Leadership is living in the complicated, finding creative yet conservative solutions to the cogs within the operations, all while continuing to progress. One who effectively leads understands intrinsically both the goal and their team.
These crucial aspects give us the tools we need to overcome different challenges and navigate unforeseen variables that arise in the day to day. Our leaders know how to approach each member of the team and know that each employee is unlike another and should be addressed and motivated in that way. Positive reinforcement may work well with one coworker but can be seen as just empty words to another. Constructive criticism to one employee may get great results where another employee may take it the wrong way and become less productive or even feel alienated. It is all about perception. Our leaders must be able to align themselves with the team and exemplify that the playing field is level, respect is earned and given, and through unity and clearly expressed expectations and motivating incentives, we can all succeed.
Leadership in our industry is paramount to getting us to where it is we aim to go. The goals of our business and the recyclers associations may differ on certain levels of operations but the overall shared vision is what we all buy into. For that we look to the members who are leading the way through profitable and innovative processes and procedures. Earned and learned experiences of individuals within the associations allow them the opportunity to make the choice to take on a greater leadership role. We are so fortunate that our industry has a national association, the ARA, that is in step with all that we do. An organization that consistently lobbies for us, the recyclers, and our shared vision of compliance, Gold Seal standards, and fair regulations and trade, in which to sell our parts within. ARA does all of this while continuing to educate, and lead its members with seeking constant member feedback and input. With the leaders within our state associations, we garner and groom leadership that have different experiences and expertise. Through these shared and different styles and skills, we lead the way through bringing along any and every of our fellow recyclers. We give each other the tools needed to reach our individual outcomes, while working together to move forward in a direction of success and progress as an association.
Election day is just months away but the time is and will always be now, to make the choice. To decide whether to lead or to be led. Take control of your business, realize your potential and empower yourself and all those around you to make that same decision. Do not bank on the promises of any presidential candidate. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be misled, for the success of our future resides in our calloused and oil stained hands.
To quote ARA Past President Mike Swift, “If not you, then who?” Elect yourself and encourage fellow leaders in your business and in our industry to continue to rise up. Vote to marry your interests and needs with those of your team, and begin to motivate each unique individual along the path to these shared goals that we will create. Through our hard work, solemn resolve and persistence, we will weather this November and move through this perceived Fourth Turning. To reach this high, as always the auto recycler will need to stay relevant, resilient and relentless in our pursuit of perpetual prosperity. May our parts and practices propel us into tomorrow while our
leadership leverages our lasting
longevity.
Brian Bachand is a second generation auto recycler, who helps own and operate Westover Auto Salvage in Belchertown, MA. He is on the Board of Directors for the Auto Recyclers Association of MA and a proud ARA Member. Brian has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and paired with almost 25 years of auto recycling experience, will continue to implement ARA Advocacy for being a leader in the auto industry.
