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22 Fleet Maintenance | November/December 2017
Competitions have changed
how we view training
By George Arrants,
Training Consultant,
K&D Technical
Innovations
The word “assessment”
is oftentimes
met with a negative
reaction. Some relate
the word assessment to
a test, measurement or
accountability, and many
companies and organizations
don’t want to have
their people “assessed.”
However, those same
people welcome competitions
with open
arms and support.
The only difference
between the two is one
provides a score, and the
other includes a stage and
awards for participants.
Both provide measurable
outcomes and information
to understand
strengths and needs.
DETERMINE
TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES
As an industry, we have
created competitions to
recognize technicians
and showcase their
skills. Whether it’s a state
trucking association competition,
company-wide
competition or the
Technology & Maintenance
Council’s TMCSuperTech
National Technician Skills
Competition, each event
provides the opportunity
for technicians to compete
and be rewarded with
prizes for their efforts.
Taking a page from motorsports,
where teams
compile information and
data from each race and
use that information to
increase their knowledge,
understanding and ability
to be better prepared
for the next event and
beyond, technician skills
competitions offer a
similar advantage.
We also take the information
and data we scored in
each area of a technician
skills competition, and
provide participants
with a score card. Many
companies make copies
of these score cards and
review the results across
all of the competing
technicians, looking for
trends that would provide
the organization with an
increased understanding
of the individuals and collective
groups’ strengths
and areas which may
need improvement.
This allows leadership
to have a better understanding
of the potential
training needs of not
only these participants,
but all the technicians in
their organization that are
still back in the shops.
It is important to know
that these competitions
are about the tasks and
operations technicians
would perform in their
normal work environment
with workstations or individual
contest areas covering
areas such as lighting,
brakes, precision measuring
and fasteners, etc.
We build these stations
to measure and score
each individual step of the
process and procedure
techs use to complete
the objectives of the
station. Each step of the
process, determined by
either the manufacturer
or TMC Recommended
Practice (RP) procedures,
is scored. These competitions
are not about
trying to trick or create
situations that are not
common in the industry.
“You don’t know what you
don’t know, and these
competitions help you
gain that experience in
a positive environment,”
Bryan Lewis, two-time
past TMCSuperTech
National Champion says.
“You need to realize you
don’t know everything and
take what you have experienced
and learn from it.”
“As a technician, the
biggest advantage to
competing is that you see
where your shortcomings
are,” Jerry Bodkins,
Program Manager at T/A
Petro and station chair
at TMCSuperTech adds.
“That information is then
easy to use, to focus your
own training to better
yourself. I did this every
year that I competed
in TMCSuperTech.”
“WHAT’S IN IT
FOR ME?”
What do employers, suppliers
and others get out
of these competitions?
The connections and
relationships established
through skills competitions
can be an advantage
for not only the competing
technician, but also
employers and vendors.
“One significant benefit
I’ve seen as a result of
local and national technician
competitions is
the improvement of the
relationship between
our company and our
suppliers, whether that
be truck, engine or component
manufacturer,”
Homer Hogg at T/A Petro
says. “In fact, we have
seen more training customized
to the needs of
our technicians resulting
in a higher quality of
repair in our network.”
It’s important to know that
you are not only investing
in your company’s asset,
“the technician,” you are
also most likely impacting
the technicians back at
your shops that didn’t get
to compete and will now
realize that you value them
as part of the company.
“Another notable impact
is how the technicians
that compete on the local
and national level come
back to their locations and
make the entire shop better
by passing on the information
they’ve gained and
encouraging other techs
to improve their skill and
knowledge,” Hogg says.
Focusing on training needs
based on the outcome
of these competitions
also provides employee
retention in some cases.
“We view this as a technician
retention measure,”
Wally Williams, of WW
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» Judges observe
participants during the
pre-qualifying round of
the 2017 TMCSuperTech
National Technician
Skills Competition.
Photo courtesy of Technology
& Maintenance Council
/STT
/10095748