Enrolling

I think I’ve mentioned this before; I belong to a human educational group called the Landmark (LM) Forum. They challenge and provide you with distinctions and techniques to accomplish your life desires. I recommend LM to anyone that crosses my path looking to hurdle obstacles, obtain goals and confront fears.

It was the lead up to one of my LM group calls that aloud me to draw upon a very significant human obstacle distraction. The access to your goals, desires and dreams is the ability to authentically share and enroll others in them. It’s not that I didn’t know this powerful distinction of enrollment - it’s more along the line of not recognizing the purpose of enrollment.

I get it; I picked up the phone and called a fellow tech that I haven’t spoken to in years. His passion for a better auto collision working environment was one of the reason we exchange telephone numbers and his enthusiasm has not changed. He shared a lot of stories about confused apprentices to entrepreneurial repairers that mirrored my life as an auto collision tech.

I let him know it’s this authentic and open sharing of stories that will empower techs to feel like they’re not alone and my blog, web site and forum is designed for that purpose.

We intend to get together next week and my intention at our meeting is to create solutions to have one thousand (1,000) registered tech users communicating and sharing stories on my forum http://dontek.forumer.com in one year.

Looking for HR

The Canadian auto collision industry relies largely on human labour and activity in order to provide a satisfactory end product. When these bodies of human activity become unstable “without structure” the whole industry starts to crumble from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the penthouse.

The question that lingers in my mind is, witnessing the acknowledgment and implementation for a strategic human resource plan from a wide assortment of other industries, why has the auto collision industry failed to act on its HR studies (Prep for the Future) they conducted in the year 2000?

Substance

I’m active in two forums collisionrepairmag.com/forums and refinishnetwork.info/index.php/Discussion-Forum that talks about general activities and happenings going on in the auto collision industry.

These well administered, round about and general forums have day to day discussions on subjects such as what’s the best sandpaper to use, polishing tips, and good auto paint guns to purchase or they get a little more in-depth with topics like insurance relationships and other surface non substance topics. I‘ve been getting non-substance conversation every day for the last twenty years of my work life, from industry magazines and now on online web sites and forums.

That’s fine if you have no real agenda or purpose with concerns to the direction and internal structure of the Canadian auto collision industry. Listen to any industry discussion or read an article you might start to realize the issues are many and the solutions exist in denial.

It is this denial what I’m looking for genuine, real and no holds bard industry forum discussions on. Where the discussion headlines have some general over tones but lead into more formable industry dialog. You might say triple xxx rated dissuasions because the content will be so humbling, it will forgo industry commerce barriers.

It might have been naive of me to think just because I signed up as a member on an online industry forum that the replies to my post would have a little more internal substance that affects techs and other industry participants. It goes to show that the concerns and daily lives of techs are not the true concerns of the industry in less it relates to cash flow. This in part is one of the reasons why I’ve been unable to garner any kind of substance response to my posts on commercially run avenues.

Insurance, repairers, suppliers all have separate mission agendas and representation but are part of one industry; the same industry techs are committing to daily. I believe that the time has come to showcase collision techs creative abilities as well as their challenges they face in a changing society.

I’ve decided to create a forum http://dontek.forumer.com that’s structured around techs and their professional world. The purpose of this forum is to empower techs to build a more unified auto collision industry. A forum created by a tech for techs.

I welcome all participants and browsers interested in the concerns, issues and well fare of the auto collision industry to visit http://dontek.forumer.com and have your say... good, bad or ugly.

CCIF Mississauga

I received an email from the www.ccif.net they will be having their next industry meeting in Mississauga, Ontario

Canadian Collision Industry Forum
Delta Meadowvale Hotel, Mississauga
Saturday, June 21

If you haven’t yet signed up for CCIF Mississauga, please register now. You can’t afford to miss CCIF if you want to keep informed about industry issues that affect you, your customers and suppliers.

It’s a day of presentations from industry experts and professional presenters who will share their wisdom, entertain you and motivate you to grow yourself and your business. Yes, lots of presentations and lots of breaks, too – time to talk with others facing the same issues as you, supplier managers and representatives, insurance company executives and all those people you can never reach on the phone.

All this, plus breakfast, coffee breaks, lunch and reception for such a low admission fee, thanks to CCIF’s many sponsors who subsidize your cost of being there.

So don’t delay, register now with the attached form or on-line at www.ccif.net for CCIF Mississauga and join for “Leading Your Team to Success”.

You’ve got to be there to profit from it.

Mike Bryan

Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF)
128 Cranberry Lane Aurora, ON L4G 5Z3
Tel: 905 726 9027
Fax: 905 726 9038
Skype: mikeb1281
www.ccif.net

I attended my first CCIF meeting in February and I suggest if you have never attended one, go it will be a very interesting experience. The majority of the meeting I attended was about repairer’s challenges and industry issues; in my view techs concerns had no part in their meeting agenda and with all the problems facing the auto collision industry - attracting and retaining techs should be one of their main focuses.

As a tech if you do intend to go to a CCIF meeting feel free to contact me by Phone @ 416 788-1920 or email don@travelpapers.com.

Thoughts Re: 1

In reply to Jimmo from www.refinishnetwork.info forum, I agree that there is a communication breakdown between insurers and repairers concerning labour rates as wells a slue of other issues. Insurers and repairers turf battles have been going on for years, it’s like “if I don’t get you, you will get me”. The battles and the pointing of fingers has been documented and overly stated (it’s a distraction) I read this article today - Fed Up – Excuse me, but your foot is on my neck by Tom Bissonnette in the Collision Repair magazine online site. http://issuu.com/mediamatters/docs/crm722v2?mode=embed&documentId=080516191433-aea16e5c00344530a98a4ed5b9403945&pageNumber=15&layout=grey

You’re not the first person that has mentioned to me the lack of unity when it comes to repairs standing together to confront the big bad insurance wolf. If it is not two shops trying to under cut the competition it would be one shop, if its not one it would be a banner network, if not them it’s a DRP, if not them it’s an independent. Do you see what is going on here?

Insurance companies no, ENTERPRISES are very wealthy, smart and register to the art of “divide and conquer”. Actually insurers don’t care about the internal fighting in the auto collision industry, they see it more as a joke. They are able to see our industry from the out side looking in and manipulate it with an estimate here and there. And, what the big joke is we fall for it.

Insurance companies are not the problem with the auto collision industry’s issues nor, are the door rates they pay out. Insurance companies have adapted better and created a beneficial advantage in a fractional auto collision infrastructure that lacks foresight.

We as participants in the auto collision industry allow insurers to feel like they are powerful and control the industry. We continually reinforce this thought by complaining about their actions and its effect on present and future industry directions. This complaining, justifying or laying blame is insurers’ barometer to the impact of their control…if we are complaining they must be profiting.

Okay, insurers don’t control the industry consumers do!

They is no use in complaining, pointing fingers or trying to change insures profitable stance unless what you have to say to them is compelling and can change the auto collision industry’s landscape as we know it. I believe, we need to look at the industry from a different angle to create new solutions. Dontek Proposal Manuel (DPM) is that solution looking at the industry from an angle of implementing human resource procedures.

Support Dontek Proposal Manual as a start to positive change in the auto collision industry by visiting www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html

After visiting www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html post your comments on either one of these locations.

http://dontek.tektalk.net
http://www.refinishnetwork.info/index.php/Articles/892-ReThoughts.html#892
http://collisionrepairmag.com/forums/760.html#497

Thoughts

I know how important it is to voice my opinion and take action if I’m not satisfied or would like to improve a situation. I learned the hard way a long time ago how true an old saying is “a promise is a comfort to a fool”. I could wait for someone or association to step up and echo my concerns with the Auto collision industry lack of direction or resolve …however that has not happened since the twenty plus years I’ve been working in the industry.

Being a person of strong conviction I decide at the beginning of 2008 to launch a simple web site www.tektalk.net that introduces DPM Dontek Proposal Manual and create this blog http://dontek.tektalk.net journaling my daily activities as I drill down into participants’ point of view concerning the auto collision industry.


















As a participant in the auto collision industry, what are you doing or your thoughts on to improve one of the oldest and economically strongest industry’s future direction?

Fact or Fiction

I’ve been dormant to the issues and concerns of the auto collision industry for a few months now and it feels good but, this morning I got this email notification:

A new post has been made to a topic to which you have subscribed on the
Collision Repair Magazine Forum Forum
Subject: 'cnowedxd'  in Forum:  'Industry Issues'
Posted by: cnowedxd

It stirs up all kinds of emotions and unfulfilled commitments so,
I follow the link, registered as user because that’s the only way I could post on
Refinshnetwork.info this site.

I posed this question to my self a few months ago, is the auto collision industry operating in fact or fiction? My conclusion was fiction – I came up with my conclusion not just from listening to insiders tell me their opinions or stories but from actual talking with industry lobbyists, associations, government representatives, universities, Insurance companies, repairers, suppliers, technicians, magazines and yes… consumers. In ward fitting, lack of direction and problem resolutions, confronting change and the inability to foster universal support are particles of a fictional industry. With all this going on in the auto collision industry its no wonder forums, magazines and articles are lacking real substance and support that it should be receiving - actually its called “PARANOIA”

The best way to live or work in a fictional auto collision environment is to remain ignorant to the facts. The good thing for me is I’ve been able to take a few months off, away from the auto collision industry to reestablish my thoughts and direction. The bad thing is, how am I going to come back and function in an industry that I’ve had so much insight in, care for and then listen to participants trying to enroll me in their corporate mission if I feel it lacks integrity?

I'm hopping that the next conversations I have with participants in the auto collision industry has a direction of unification and empowerment!