Let's Play, Guess What's In My Head

Costco paid $12 an hour to push carts.

At least they did 14 years ago, doesn't sound like much now, but then it was a lot, and it was more than we paid.

One of my team members informed me of this after I showed him a picture of himself leaning back in a chair outside the tunnel, head laid back, baseball cap on, sunglasses on, and not a care in the world.

Me = Not Happy

How could anyone think this was okay? Who would give an "idiot" like this a job?

It turns out I was the idiot — not for hiring him, but for not communicating my expectations and creating a culture where this wasn’t tolerated. I expected my team to play the fun game of Guess What’s in My Head. There is never a winner.

Your team can’t guess your expectations. You must overcommunicate, document them in an easy-to-access format, train on them, and then re-communicate them repeatedly until they become part of your culture.

Yes, you need good people to execute the standards you have set, but your people need to be plugged into a good system that helps them grow and achieve greatness. We aren’t just washing cars; we are helping our teams become better people. I often see owners in the car wash industry spending 80% of their time on what has a 20% impact.

What this means is that we should be spending 80% of our effort on what matters most to the business: YOUR PEOPLE. The other 20% is washing cars. Sometimes the equipment takes up more time than 20%, but don’t forget that your people MATTER!

They expect to be trained. They expect you to hold them accountable. They expect you to clearly communicate what you will hold them accountable to.

Where should you start? Lay out the expectations clearly so there is no doubt about what you are expecting. We recommend using what are called KRAs, or Key Result Area. Check out this guide on how to write these, with examples for many car wash positions: CarwashOS Guide on KRAs.

KRAs show your team what winning looks like. It’s not a lame job description that no one is looking at. It defines for each team member what winning looks like and what it will take to win. This can change everything for your team. Not one on your team accepts a job wanting to lose, but when we don’t give our team the resources to win, no one does.

Just having these is not enough, you must use them in your meetings as the main driver of your agenda. If the team sees that the areas are consistently being reviewed, they will understand more the importance.

So throw out your old job descriptions, and lay a new groundwork of clarity for each member of your team.