At Holland, Mich.-based Quality Car Wash, learning leadership skills often is too much fun to be called work. The company introduced a mentorship program this year in which nine of its most experienced managers each team up with a new manager for one full year, and at monthly teambuilding exercises, the competition between these two-man units really heats up.
In one recent competition, each team had to build a structure using only office supplies that would allow them to drop an egg from a balcony to the ground without breaking it. One month prior, they had to build the tallest tower they could using only uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows.
“We’re having fun, but at the same time, they have to work with their partner to think creatively,” said Mandi Brower, the company’s chief operations officer. “We’re training them that not everyone attacks a problem in the same way, and they have to manage their resources to get things done.”
But Quality Car Wash’s “growth partner” program isn’t all fun and games. Once a week, the mentor and the new manager have a phone conversation to discuss the highs and lows of each week and how workplace situations could be handled better. They also make monthly visits to their partner’s car wash location to observe what is working well and what isn’t, and to lend fresh eyes to operational challenges.
The program is just one of the ways Quality Car Wash is looking to grow its next generation of leaders from within. The company’s eighth location was under construction early this year, and plans call for further expansion, making it imperative that new leaders emerge to bring the company’s culture to each new car wash facility.
All of the company’s managers and administrative staff, about 35 in all, are attending monthly leadership presentations this year that address topics such as how to develop staff members, increasing their emotional intelligence, maintaining their health and wellbeing and the difference between being a boss and a leader. They even get homework in the form of educational articles to read and worksheets to fill out.
In addition, all employees in leadership roles are invited to a local host site for the simulcast of the Global Leadership Summit, a two-day event held each August in Chicago by the Christian nonprofit Willow Creek Association. Business executives, college faculty members and religious leaders give speeches about leadership at the event, and Quality Car Wash makes videos of those presentations and instructional worksheets available to all of its employees.
Brower said the presentations are especially meaningful for employees because they see experts on leadership reiterating the same principles as in the company’s training program.
“We want them to feel that we’re educating them, we’re investing in them, and we’re helping them to grow,” Brower said. “That’s so important because when you’re having accelerated growth, you sometimes have to put relatively inexperienced people in leadership positions. We’re trying to groom that next generation of leaders because we expect to keep adding locations, and we want to have those leaders ready to train other leaders.
“In the current job market, it’s hard to find good job applicants, so rather than spending money to recruit and train people from outside, we’d rather invest in the people we have on our team who are already immersed in our culture.”
Jim Dudley, who owns Stockbridge, Ga.-based Wash Me Fast, said he hired an executive coach about four years ago to help him become a better leader and got so much out of it that he made the coach available to everyone on his staff.
The leadership coach is always available to employees by phone for help with any work or personal issue. The coach often spends two or three days a week visiting employees at the chain’s five locations. He sometimes takes them out to lunch, and he’s a fixture at company outings and its annual service trip to Guatemala, where employees work on clean-water projects. The leadership coach helps them set personal and professional goals and holds them accountable by checking on their progress.
“If you look at a professional golfer or any kind of professional athlete, most of them have personal coaches or trainers for the sole purpose of pushing them to get better, and leaders can benefit from that too,” Dudley said. “I hired him because I realized the importance of getting better. Even though he’s a 1099 [contractor], he really feels like part of the team, and the guys definitely view him that way.”
Dudley said one of the most important lessons he’s learned through leadership coaching is the importance of taking care of himself and not keeping the pedal to the metal all the time. As a business owner and a father of four, he said he used to feel guilty about scheduling time for himself just to relax. But his leadership coach has emphasized the importance of recharging one’s battery.
“As a leader, it’s common to wait until you’re completely empty before you take a vacation or give yourself a rest, but he’s always telling me not to let it get to that point, to put things into your schedule that are healing for you so that as a leader, you can stay on full instead of running on empty,” Dudley said. “That’s something that he’s really helped me with.”
Laura Seplaki, who teaches leadership development at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., said her program focuses on two areas: leadership study and experiential leadership development.
Students learn about leadership theory, including the concept of servant leadership. For small-business owners, this brand of management focuses on serving the needs of employees and making them feel valued so that they in turn will serve the needs of customers. Students also learn about the importance of humility and authenticity — understanding that leaders make mistakes, owning up to them and not holding employees to a different standard than management holds itself.
“There is a difference between managing and leading, and it’s to recognize that just because someone may have a degree, have experience or know how to manage the day-to-day operations, that doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily a leader,” Seplaki said. “The main difference is that leaders have a clear vision. They see where they want the organization to go, and they know how to build teams.”
The experiential component allows students to practice the leadership concepts they have learned about by leading class discussions and projects and participating in community service projects. Seplaki said car wash operators could set up a rotation where employees get a chance to lead a shift or assign tasks on an operational checklist to employees. The rotation would allow each employee to show his leadership potential and improve over time.
Seplaki said one key to experiential leadership development is an evaluation of what worked and what didn’t. She said employees should be allowed to take calculated risks, such as varying their scripts for greeting customers and upselling, and then get honest feedback from management.
“In today’s world, we’re always doing, doing, doing, and we don’t often stop and say, ‘What did I just do? What did it mean? Was it successful or not? How can I improve?’ ” Seplaki said. “So, any leadership program needs to provide opportunities for reflection. And it should nurture an appreciation for lifelong learning about leadership. It’s a process where you’re going to continuously serve others, influence others and build your team.”