In the busyness of daily life, coach operators should have a three-year plan to ‘sharpen the mind’, says our industry expert
‘It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday and the regular crowd shuffle in’ sang Billy Joel. But for a coach operator like me it’s 0500hrs on a Saturday morning and the regular crowd, or drivers as we like to call them, are shuffling out.
Airports, two trips to London, all on their way before 0600hrs. For the next two hours the office and phone will be quiet until the next lot appear. During this time I can do some of my ‘best’ work.
A coach operator often has many jobs: Compliance, HR, scheduling, mechanic (very basic in my case), marriage guidance and financial adviser to name a few. But one of the ones we can often be guilty of neglecting is forward/succession planning. Our company is quite low profile and I only have a couple of friends within the industry.
Valuable advice
I am fortunate to have close friends who are much more successful than me and whose advice I value. One told me to make sure you have a three-year plan and to measure yourself against that regularly to see how you are doing.
It doesn’t matter what you are aiming to achieve, be it more coaches, increasing holiday sales, having a certain amount in the bank or even something as basic as improving your compliance. A target or plan sharpens the mind.
I decided that I wanted to reduce the average age of my staff and formulated a plan to achieve it. I am proud that we have managed it. We did it by looking at more flexible working patterns. We actively encourage staff to have hobbies and to accommodate the time to do them in to their schedules.
I don’t want people to miss a special assembly at school for the sake of an afternoon contract. We took on inexperienced staff and supported and mentored them. It gives me a glow when they take a £260,000 tri-axle on a tour, to see how far they have progressed.
Don’t get me wrong: This has been a challenge and can be frustrating, but I am convinced it breeds staff loyalty. The driver talk in our local area (so I’m told) is that this is a decent place to work.
Being positive
On this Saturday morning I am looking at where I want this company to be in three years. I’m still relatively young, but as I get older I am looking at succession. Will my own children want to work here? Will anyone want to buy us? What potential is there among staff to come off the road and do some management?
I believe we have benefitted from a more proactive approach. There is a danger of drifting along because we are all so busy going from one minor crisis to the next that we can’t see the wood for the trees.
Taking advice from outside the coaching bubble and having a more definite idea of where I want to be by the time I’m 50 has definitely helped me.
