Leaders at All Levels

I coached Division 1 athletics for 10 years and I learned a valuable lesson through the years about building a team culture. When my co-coach and I took over the program, there were low expectations, zero accountability, and the results reflected it. We immediately established high standards of excellence and started holding our athletes accountable to those standards.Not everyone stayed—there was significant turnover in that first year as some athletes chose to leave rather than meet the new expectations.

And for the first few years, it was entirely on us as coaches to enforce the culture and expectations we wanted. Every standard, every expectation, every correction came from the top down. It worked—but it was exhausting.

But something magical happened in year three. We had some amazing captains who took ownership and didn’t just follow the culture—they helped enforce it. If a teammate was slacking in practice, they were the ones speaking up. If standards slipped, they corrected it. And that changed everything.Our culture solidified and we as coaches didn’t have to carry the entire burden anymore because leadership was distributed throughout the whole team. That is the power of leadership at every level.

The same is true for your carwash. Establishing and enforcing expectations can be exhausting and stressful.Constantly having to enforce dress code standards or cell phone policies distracts you from higher-level leadership and growth. But when you build a team of leaders—at all levels—that burden becomes shared.

Hire CSA’s who are leaders. Hire sales reps who are leaders. Hire assistant managers and site managers who are leaders. And if they aren’t leaders- train them to be leaders.

And if they won’t be trained? If your site manager consistently refuses to uphold standards, or you find yourself constantly enforcing basic expectations with someone who should be leading others, then it might be time to make some changes. Attitude and culture trickle down from the top and if your site manager isn’t meeting expectations or embodying the culture you want at your wash, the other employees certainly won’t.

At the end of the day, your culture is only as strong as the people who are willing to uphold it when you’re not in the room. The goal isn’t for you to be the sole enforcer—it’s to build a team where leadership is shared, expectations are self-reinforcing, and excellence becomes the standard.