Aftermarket Insider Issue 74 - (Page 8)

A SS o C i AT i o N N E w S head of the claSS Olympus Imported Auto Parts Aftermarket Insider is pleased to introduce a new series of articles profiling its 2011 AAIA Head of the Class Award winners. Winners of the inaugural 2011 award were chosen for their continual investment in employee education and training, and their promotion of the value and benefit that this investment provides to their companies, employees and the industry as a whole. Below is insight from Glenn Johnson, CFO, Olympus Imported Auto Parts, the recipient of the 2011 Head of the Class Award in the jobber category. Olympus is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. how did olympus recognize that training is so important? We looked at other businesses that exhibited exceptional performance and customer service, particularly restaurant businesses where one bad experience might mean the loss of a customer forever. We noticed that local restaurants owned and operated by Great American Restaurants were always packed with customers and provided truly excellent customer service. By asking employees questions during visits to the restaurants, we learned about the company’s intense emphasis on training and how they did it. We determined that Olympus needed to make a similar commitment to training systems. how has olympus’ training strategy evolved? We want our training to be far above and beyond the competition in order to provide consistently excellent service to our customers. We didn’t start with a grand plan, but instead started slowly, by borrowing good ideas from other companies and adding on as we saw opportunities. The most fundamental part of our management and leadership training is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. I feel that’s probably where our current system of training really started. After I personally read the book a couple of times I began to consider how to apply the principles of the book at Olympus. We began distributing copies of the books to employees and initiated book club type meetings in groups of four to five staff members at a time to teach the “7 Habits.” It normally takes eight two-hour sessions to thoroughly cover the concepts of the book. We’ve found that having a foundation of the “7 Habits” makes all of our other training possible. The next major step was developing “training progress reports” for use by trainers when training coworkers in their job responsibilities. Training progress reports list the functions of a job and provide for an ongoing assessment of the trainee’s progress during their training period. Learning objectives and goals are clearly communicated and the reports are constantly updated to make sure employees are following through 8 | AFTERMARKET INSIDER | VOLUME 74 http://www.forparts.com/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aftermarket Insider Issue 74

Aftermarket Insider Issue 74
President’s Message
A Celebration Campaign
Association News
Inside Technology
Member Profile
Toolbox: Qr Codes
International Focus
AAIA Market Intelligence: Don’t Do Business Without It!
Association News
Segment Spotlight
Government Affairs
Industry News

Aftermarket Insider Issue 74