Today, I’m excited to introduce a concept that can revolutionize how we think about performance and productivity in auto repair: the Career Best Effort Program, or CBE for short. As someone deeply involved in helping auto shops optimize their operations through data and tools like Production Tracker, I’m always looking for innovative strategies to boost efficiency and team performance.
Recently, while revisiting James Clear’s insightful book, “Atomic Habits,” I was struck by a powerful example from the world of basketball that has profound implications for our industry. The book, which focuses on building positive habits for personal and professional growth, recounts the story of Pat Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers. This story beautifully illustrates the effectiveness of the CBE program and how we can adapt it to elevate performance in auto repair shops.
The Lakers’ CBE Model: A Lesson in Consistent Improvement
In 1986, the Los Angeles Lakers were brimming with talent and touted as potentially the greatest basketball team ever assembled. After a dominant regular season start, they surprisingly faltered in the playoffs. Head coach Pat Riley, frustrated with inconsistent brilliance, sought a way to ensure his team consistently played to their full potential. His solution was the Career Best Effort program.
Riley’s CBE program was designed to move beyond just acknowledging talent and potential. He wanted sustained peak performance, game after game. To implement CBE, Riley began by “Taking Their Number.” He meticulously tracked each player’s historical statistics, going back to their high school days, to establish a baseline of their capabilities. This baseline became the foundation for expecting consistent performance and future improvement.
The core of the CBE program was simple yet powerful: Riley challenged each player to improve their performance by just 1% over the season. This wasn’t solely about points or standard basketball stats. CBE encompassed a holistic effort – spiritual, mental, and physical. Players earned recognition for “unsung hero” actions – taking a foul for the team, diving for loose balls, fighting for rebounds, and supporting teammates.
Consider Magic Johnson, the Lakers’ superstar. His CBE score wasn’t just based on points, rebounds, assists, steals, and turnovers. It also included credit for intangible contributions, like diving for a loose ball. The final CBE number was calculated by summing positive stats, subtracting negative stats (like turnovers), and then normalizing it against minutes played to create a performance metric.
This metric allowed Riley to compare players not only against their past selves but also against top performers across the league. Weekly, Riley would highlight the league’s best players and benchmark his team against them, pushing his players to constantly strive for improvement. Solid players typically scored in the 600s, while elite players aimed for 800 or higher, with Magic Johnson often exceeding 1,000.
Translating CBE to the Auto Repair Industry
What if we applied the CBE concept to the auto repair industry? Pat Riley used readily available basketball statistics. In our field, we already utilize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track shop productivity – metrics like repair orders completed, labor hours, parts usage, and customer satisfaction scores. But what about the “unsung hero” moments in auto repair? What are the equivalent actions that contribute to shop success but often go unmeasured? Here are a few examples:
- Punctuality: Consistently being on time and ready to work.
- Teamwork: Assisting colleagues in other service bays or departments.
- Going the Extra Mile: Staying late to finish a complex repair and ensure a customer gets their vehicle back on time.
- Proactive Problem Solving: Identifying a potential issue early in the diagnostic process, preventing further complications and costs.
- Continuous Improvement: Suggesting process improvements or learning new diagnostic techniques to enhance shop efficiency.
Mechanic in automotive repair shop using diagnostic tool to analyze car engine, embodying expertise and precision in vehicle maintenance.
Imagine the possibilities if our industry embraced a standardized performance metric akin to CBE. In a time when skilled technicians are in high demand, wouldn’t it be valuable to assess a potential hire’s “CBE potential”? Knowing if a technician is an “879” performer versus a “645” could significantly inform hiring decisions and salary negotiations.
Furthermore, for existing team members, a CBE program could chart career progression. A junior technician starting at a CBE of 430 could, through training and experience, grow into a 725 performer, demonstrating tangible career advancement and increased value to the shop. CBE can also facilitate fair comparisons across different roles within a shop, focusing on overall contribution rather than just specific tasks.
Building Your Auto Repair CBE Rating System
The power of CBE lies in its focus on daily improvement and recognizing a broad spectrum of contributions. To implement CBE in your auto shop, the crucial step is defining what to measure and how to collect that data effectively. The system needs to be straightforward, objective, and applicable across all roles, from service advisors to master technicians.
For inspiration, let’s consider metrics relevant to auto repair shops:
- Jobs Completed: Number of repair orders successfully closed.
- Labor Hours Billed: Efficient use of time on billable tasks.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores: Quality of service as perceived by the customer.
- First-Time Fix Rate: Efficiency in resolving issues correctly on the first attempt.
- Diagnostic Accuracy: Effectiveness in pinpointing the root cause of vehicle problems.
- Average Repair Time: Speed and efficiency in completing repairs.
- Parts Usage Efficiency: Optimizing parts ordering and minimizing waste.
- Training and Skill Development: Proactive engagement in learning new techniques and technologies.
Example CBE Calculation for an Auto Technician
Let’s create a simplified CBE calculation for a technician. We’ll use a points-based system, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative factors.
Positive Metrics (Points Earned):
- Jobs Completed per Day: (e.g., 1 point per job over daily target)
- Labor Hours Billed vs. Clocked Hours: (e.g., Points based on efficiency percentage)
- Customer Satisfaction Score: (e.g., Points based on average CSAT rating)
- First-Time Fix Rate: (e.g., Points for achieving target first-time fix rate)
- “Unsung Hero” Points: (Managerial discretion for acts of teamwork, problem-solving, etc.)
Negative Metrics (Points Deducted):
- Rework/Comebacks: (e.g., Deduct points for repairs needing to be redone)
- Excessive Parts Usage Costs: (e.g., Deduct points for inefficient parts ordering)
- Safety Violations: (e.g., Deduct points for safety infractions)
CBE Score Calculation:
(Total Positive Points – Total Negative Points) / (Days Worked in Period)
This formula provides a baseline CBE score that can be tracked and improved upon. The specific metrics and point values should be tailored to your shop’s priorities and operational context.
Implementing CBE for Continuous Improvement
Like Coach Riley, our goal is to foster a culture of continuous improvement. The CBE program provides a framework to challenge your team to get 1% better each day. By establishing a clear rating system, you provide technicians and service advisors with tangible goals and a way to measure their progress.
The key is to make data collection easy and the formula transparent and fair. This ensures buy-in from your team and promotes a positive, performance-driven environment. Standardizing a CBE-like system across the auto repair industry could even allow shops to benchmark their performance against others, fostering healthy competition and driving overall industry improvement.
CBE Data: The Roadmap to Excellence
The specific metrics you choose for your CBE program will depend on your shop’s focus areas. Whether you prioritize speed, quality, customer satisfaction, or a combination, CBE provides a flexible framework. The critical element is to start measuring, tracking, and using the data to drive targeted improvements.
What metrics would you include in your auto repair CBE? How would you adapt the “unsung hero” concept to recognize valuable but often overlooked contributions? The Career Best Effort program offers a powerful approach to elevate performance and cultivate a culture of excellence in your auto repair shop. Let’s start the conversation and explore how CBE can transform our industry.
Let’s discuss CBE and how it can benefit your auto repair shop! Schedule a consultation to explore implementation strategies.
“Don’t let other people tell you what you want.” – Pat Riley
“Excellence is the result of always striving to do better.” – Pat Riley
“Giving yourself permission to lose guarantees a loss.” – Pat Riley
