Wide variety of automotive service training is available

I should probably title this column “The Choir Newsletter,” just in case it falls into the hands of someone other than the choir, as sometimes has been known to happen. I want to talk about something we are all aware: education. 

Choir member John Tisdale of ASE once told me that training is like a diet book for fat people; you can buy the book and feel good about it but unless you actually read it and apply the information, nothing is going to change. Many shops buy the training but either don’t attend at all or attend, nod their heads and go right back to the shop and do the same things that they have always done.

Worse yet, I see an alarming number of journeyman technicians who think that once they have reached the level of master technician they know everything they need to know. If you think I am kidding I invite you to one of my classes.

There is always a guy who walks in because his boss made him come and his mind is closed. There is nothing he can learn that he does not already know. Not coincidentally he is also the guy who doesn’t want to work on hybrids because they are stupid, hates diesels because they stink and thinks the small block Chevy is the pinnacle of technological advancement. Brand loyalties aside my friends, you know these guys and I hope they do not belong to you.

There are very few issues in our industry that cannot be solved with a little enlightenment. In fact, there are more than a few issues that exist in our industry due to a lack of enlightenment. So because you are a member of the choir, let’s talk about the programs that are out there to enlighten us. Many of you have the attitude that if you can attend a class and take away one useful thing that class was a success. I completely agree with you. A couple of years ago I attended a Vin Waterhouse class and learned one thing that changed our shops profit structure. I have attended classes by NAPA’s number crunching wizard more than once and each time there is something that fits me at that time and finds its way into our shop management toolbox.

For years trainers and meeting planners have tried to figure out how to get journeyman technicians to attend in-service fundamental electrical training programs. If you put basic or fundamental in the title then master techs all claim expertise and refuse to attend yet, when I put a diagram that shows a voltage drop test (one of the most fundamental and necessary tests we perform) up on the screen rarely more than a handful can tell me what the test shown is and what we are trying to learn from it.

My friend Bob Pattengale of Bosch is teaching these clearly more advanced techniques as “Practical Electrical Testing.” We have to figure out how to get our egos out of the way so we can learn the things that hold back our growth. I know that as teachers we are constantly experimenting with new ideas and are all ears for solutions.

There are programs by suppliers like Bosch and Gates Rubber Company that bring their experience as aftermarket and OE suppliers to our guys. There are programs by parts suppliers like WORLDPAC, CARQUEST and NAPA that are very high quality with good-sized development teams creating and vetting them. AVI does a great job with both management and technical online video training as do our magazines within each of their niches.

All of these programs are very valuable and should be mainstays of your in-service training needs but there is one more classification that I want to cover because I feel like it may not be on your radar. I am talking about the small independent training groups and instructors. The best way to find these folks is often at trade shows.

Many of them do not have sponsors other than the event itself but they merit your attention. Often these guys are technicians who may not be professional presenters but their content is the stuff problems are solved by. If you go back and look at our sister publication Motor Age last month you have articles written by some of the best trainers in our industry and you can see them live with only a little effort.

Let me tell you about one group that is pretty accessible no matter where you live. Technician’s Service Training is headed up by Jerry aka G. Truglia. Several times a year the TST guys put on a four-night road show in the New England area that culminates in a webcast of that week’s training program. If you live in the area and don’t attend you are missing some very high-end programs they put on. If you don’t live in the area G and his cast of characters have web broadcast down to a science, even allowing you to ask questions during the class. Programs like this could be endangered if the folks that put them on cannot keep them financially viable enough to do them. That is true of any program.

What makes these programs unique is that in many cases the trainers are able to deliver content that in my friend Mark Warren’s case may only be minutes old. Most of these trainers develop their own content allowing them to be nimble and very timely.

From the slick and well-developed corporate training to the technophile level programming that programs like TST and many others offer there are answers to everything from management issues to the vehicles that are in your bays today and tomorrow. While you are making New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight or clean up the garage make just one more and keep it. Have the conversation about the value of training with your staff. Consider your future or lack of one without training. For the rest of you, please turn to page 279 in the hymnal.