One of our recent leadership wins involved a technician who had consistently been one of our lower performers in terms of productivity. As part of our effort to help our team grow, we pulled a report showing the number of labor hours each technician had turned over the previous 90 days.
Before showing him the report, we asked a simple question:
“Where do you think you rank compared to the rest of the team?”
His answer surprised us. He believed he was somewhere in the upper middle of the group.
When we showed him the actual results, he was stunned to see that he ranked third from the bottom.
Because I worked alongside him as a technician for many years before moving into management, I knew this wasn’t a capability issue. He has the technical skills and talent to be successful. The real challenge was focus. He often became distracted, spent too much time socializing, and wasn’t always maximizing his time in the shop.
Rather than criticizing him or telling him what he was doing wrong, we approached the conversation from a coaching perspective. We asked:
“What can you do differently to become more productive?”
“What do you need from us to help you get there?”
This approach reflects the Law of Buy-In. People don’t buy into a vision before they buy into the leader. Because we approached him with respect and genuine belief in his ability, he was willing to listen and take ownership of the situation.
It also demonstrates the Law of Empowerment. Instead of giving him a solution, we allowed him to identify the solution himself. We put responsibility for improvement in his hands while making it clear that we would support him.
The next day, he approached me in the shop and told me our conversation had a significant impact on him. He said he hadn’t realized where he really stood and promised that we would see a noticeable difference.
And we have.
Since that conversation, he has increased his productivity by an average of 15 to 20 additional hours per week. He’s more focused, more intentional with his time, and has become a stronger contributor to the team. Most importantly, the improvement has been sustained because the motivation came from within him, not from management pressure.
The lesson I took away from this experience aligns closely with the Law of Addition: leaders add value to people by serving them and helping them grow. The goal wasn’t simply to improve a productivity number. The goal was to help someone recognize their potential and give them the opportunity to become the best version of themselves.