Dealers

Management update: The art of peaceful management

1-15 Forrest Flinn blogEveryday I thank God for the gift of being able to work in an industry that I love and I give thanks often. Sometimes I get so wound up with my day-to-day activities that I get thoroughly stressed and emotionally twisted. I often come across as very “intense” and “hurried.” I get work done but my intensity and stress levels often do not serve me well.

I have come to realize that my outward appearance sometimes comes across as anxious, stressed, intense and sometimes mean or rude. And often at the end of the day I barely find the energy to climb into bed and then start the same process over the next day. Trust me, its tough work, but it is truly work that I love.

But how can I be more effective? How can I be better at what I do and how do I harness these feelings to be even more productive and achieve higher levels of quality in managing people? I have found that the answer starts and ends with me. Being able to “take a walk around yourself” is a hard yet important thing to do from time to time.

Recently, I read a motivational post that was forwarded to me by a Deacon from my Church. A man named Ralph Marston of Austin, Texas, who owns a site called TheDailyMotivator.com wrote it.

What I read was incredibly insightful and I read it often to motivate myself to be a better manager and a better strategic business partner to my clients in the motorcycle industry. It gives a new spin on how we spend our energy in business and I feel that it is 100 percent applicable to anyone that works in the motorcycle industry — especially in crazy and often-chaotic environments like motorcycle dealerships.

What Ralph says is that you can be energetic without being frantic.

Sometimes I can see that my zeal to get work done in dealerships can be seen as frantic, which gets a response and gets the work done, but it may not be the best type of energy for myself or for others.

Ralph goes on to say that peaceful energy is the kind of energy that gets work done and I agree. He also says that peaceful energy is smart and intelligent. I consider myself smart and intelligent so I want to be more peaceful and direct my energy in more productive ways.

What this means is that you do not to approach your work with a sense of doom and gloom or high anxiety. Approach your daily workload with a sense of joy and have positive expectations.

I know that this can be difficult in a typical dealership because there are always daily landmines that you step on and constant unplanned surprises going on. I go through this daily. But if you start practicing peaceful energy you will find that you will have a more productive, more meaningful, and a less stressful response to your work.

Dealership life is down right hard. But I have always said that as hard and chaotic as dealership life is I would never give it up for anything.

I am very thankful for the opportunities that I have in my life and I want to offer up an alternative to make work life easier. After all you might as well enjoy your career in the powersports industry and be more productive and efficient. You do not want your results to be short-term and short lived.

Make your daily life more enjoyable by practicing peaceful energy.

Don’t approach your work being uptight and stressed. Instead put a smile on your face, enjoy your work and make more meaningful and lasting impressions with your employees. Make work fun! By doing so you are lifting yourself up and also those around you.

If you practice peaceful energy to whatever you face on a daily basis you will find that you will be communicating and working better with others, which in turn makes you a better employee and a way more enjoyable manager to work for.

I’m no expert at art of peaceful management yet, but I plan on practicing it more and more on a daily basis. I know I’m good at what I do for a living but I strive to be great and so should you. Humans are the only species that is capable of conscious change. Try to make today better and your impact on your dealership in a more positive and sustainable way.

Forrest Flinn, MBA, PHR, SMS has been in the motorcycle industry for nearly 20 years and has been a true student and leader serving in various capacities. He previously worked as an implementation consultant for Lightspeed and as a general manager with P&L responsibility for a large metro multi-line dealership. Currently Forrest is the managing partner and chief visionary for a consulting firm that specializes in outsourced accounting, human resources, social media strategy, dealership operations consulting and Lightspeed/EVO training.

Contact: forrest@powersportsmc.com

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One Comment

  1. Outstanding article, Forrest! I am “walking around myself,” and going to have a “peaceful energy” challenge with myself- until it becomes a habit! Thank you for this!

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