In this episode we tackle one of the most damaging and least-named problems in automotive service departments — the foreman bottleneck. Andrew Uglow reveals what it actually looks like when the foreman becomes the go-to fixer for everything and everyone in the workshop: work piling up, deadlines slipping, and a capable leader running on empty while the team grows increasingly dependent rather than independently capable. Andrew explains why this pattern develops, why it feels rewarding to the foreman in the moment, and exactly why that reward is the problem.

Andrew shares the powerful 1-3-1 framework — a structured communication tool that breaks the rescuer cycle by requiring technicians to come with a defined problem, three possible solutions, and their preferred option before approaching the foreman. He also explores the role of communication in the bottleneck, unpacking what "managing up" and "managing out" really mean in practice, and why service managers can unintentionally make the bottleneck worse by assigning their best jobs to their best person — with the best of intentions. The episode closes with practical, immediately applicable steps to relieve pressure on the foreman without blowing up the workshop.

The key message throughout is clear: the foreman bottleneck is not a personality problem — it's a structural one. And it can be addressed, starting with one framework, one conversation, and one better Monday morning.

Andrew has a variety of free downloads and tools you can grab.

Discover if your workshop is Retention Worthy© here or visit his website, https://www.solutionsculture.com where the focus is on bringing reliable profitability to automotive workshop owners and workshop management through the Retention, Engagement and Development of their Technical Professionals.

This podcast was produced by 'Podcasts Done for You' https://commtogether.com.au .

The foreman bottleneck.

2

Why your best technicians are burning

out and breaking your workflow.

3

Join passionate automotive trainer

and coach Andrew Uglow as he tackles

4

the hidden epidemic of the can you

Just Culture in service departments.

5

In this episode, you'll learn why

diagnosing the foreman bottleneck

6

is the key to department efficiency.

7

Discover the 1 3 1 framework for

decision making and understand how

8

to transform your rescue workers.

9

Into true leaders who drive growth

rather than just putting out fires Along

10

the way, you'll hear stories about the

toll of leadership gaps on technical

11

minds, and why the best technicians

often feel defeated without a clear

12

path from manual work to management.

13

I'm your co-host, Anthony Perl.

14

This is the Frictionless Workshop podcast.

15

Let's get cranky.

16

Andrew Uglow: We've gotta

talk about this whole issue

17

Anthony Perl: of the bottleneck that

happens around Foreman because it is a.

18

Problem and what, who's to blame

and what, where the problem lies.

19

Let's delve into that a little bit.

20

Andrew Uglow: Oh, can, can I say, when I

talk to Foreman about this, you can see

21

the, almost the defeat on their faces.

22

They are so keen to do the right thing.

23

They are so intent on making this

work, but feel so very helpless

24

a lot of the time because.

25

They're the ones getting slapped

from pillar to post, like they're

26

trying to drink from a fire hose.

27

And th there's only so

much you can get down.

28

And the reality is that this,

this bottleneck where the

29

foreman becomes the fixer, right?

30

So I've got a workshop of 10, 12

people, you know, however many I've got.

31

And because of perhaps it's low skill,

perhaps it's low engagement, perhaps

32

it's the systems and methodologies and

processes that I, that I operate on.

33

Perhaps it's the culture of the business.

34

Everyone comes to the foreman

and go, oh, can you check this?

35

Or can you make sure that this is okay?

36

Or I'm stuck.

37

Can you?

38

And so when I'm the foreman,

I get the, can you just, and

39

it's almost like it's one word.

40

Hey Andrew, can you just.

41

And it's like all justs,

one after the other.

42

It's just not manageable.

43

And that's just the workshop floor.

44

That doesn't count all of the

other drivers, the, the sales

45

inquiries, the service advisors,

the service managers, the, all these

46

other things that are going on.

47

And so the foreman is now the fixer and

he's running around like the, the, the

48

proverbial chicken missing its head and

just trying to cover all this stuff.

49

Anthony Perl: Let's paint the picture

that I think for people, because it's

50

easy to say bottleneck, and I wonder

whether some of them actually even

51

realize that that's what's happening.

52

So, so what does a bottleneck

look like in real time?

53

Andrew Uglow: It looks like

work not completed on time.

54

It, everything gets stuck on the foreman's

to-do list, and so the foreman is.

55

Held accountable for a lot of other

people's responsibilities when

56

they shouldn't be, and the foreman

hasn't been taught how to, I'm

57

gonna use the word pushback, which

is probably the wrong term, but

58

that's kind of what needs to happen.

59

As in, no, this is your responsibility.

60

You need to fix it, or they need to have

a strategy for encouraging the person

61

that's handing off their responsibility.

62

To not hand off their responsibility

because ultimately that's

63

what's causing the bottleneck.

64

The foreman is one person.

65

They've come out of a world where they

are the technical guru, and so when

66

you are just responsible for you and

there's a lot to do, what do you do?

67

Well, you double down, you go harder.

68

You find shortcuts, you

find means and methods.

69

You discover hacks you.

70

You pay attention to patterns and things

that facilitate you being more effective.

71

You buy better tools.

72

You do all of these things to make

you more effective and efficient.

73

But when you're responsible for a team

of technicians, yeah, that doesn't

74

work anymore because you cannot

possibly double down hard enough.

75

You cannot push harder.

76

You have to learn how to delegate.

77

You have to learn how to sort priorities.

78

You have to learn how to.

79

Push back on people that are

shirking their responsibility and

80

no one teaches them how to do that.

81

And can I offer some of the less HR

friendly ways that I've seen it done?

82

Well, the, I just offer that there's

some opportunity to improve, you know,

83

because, and I know a foreman that

have had a very direct conversation.

84

Can we say it nicely with, with,

with people in the business and,

85

and now they're standing in front

of HR with a, please explain.

86

And it's like, oh, hang on a minute.

87

Cause effect here.

88

Let's you know, and, and of course

'cause because they violated the

89

HR policies, they're the ones

that, that get held to account.

90

So the other weird thing about this

is that this behavior of being a

91

rescuer, which is essentially what

the foreman are doing, because it's

92

a really satisfying thing, right?

93

Oh, Andrew, can you fix this?

94

Yeah, I know how to do that.

95

Uh, you know who's got, who's, who's

got two thumbs and knows their stuff?

96

Yeah, that would be me.

97

That's really satisfying, being

able to solve all these problems.

98

It's really satisfying to be able to jump

in and go, no, don't do this, do this.

99

And see the car go out and go, yes, win.

100

You know, and that gets rewarded, but

it's the wrong, it's the wrong reward.

101

You, you are rewarding the wrong behavior.

102

And so whatever you reward gets repeated.

103

And, and so there's this, uh, vicious

cycle at play where the foreman

104

goes harder, so more stuff gets put

on their plate, so they go harder.

105

So more stuff gets put on their plate and.

106

It has an end, and usually when

the foreman pops, leaves or

107

finds himself in front of hr,

108

Anthony Perl: not where you want it to be.

109

I mean, fundamental to

all of this, of course, is

110

communication as well, isn't it?

111

I mean, this is the, the thing

that lies at the heart of it.

112

If you've got a bottleneck where that

lies and how you communicate those issues.

113

How you communicate to ensure that you

can move things along, surely is at the

114

heart of some of the big problems here.

115

Andrew Uglow: Yeah, absolutely.

116

And I can't believe you dropped the C word

Anthony, like just, I thought this was

117

a family friendly podcast communication.

118

There it is.

119

What a profoundly important

word, but also what a vague,

120

nebulous generalization that is.

121

Like what is quote unquote communication.

122

It's like you can't go to the

supermarket and go, oh look, can

123

we stock up on some communication?

124

Please.

125

You know, there, uh,

there's a word for it.

126

Analization is the word I'm looking for.

127

Essentially what we wanna say

is we need to be more effective

128

in communicating our meaning.

129

And so this for the

foreman plays out two ways.

130

We, we talk about managing up.

131

Foreman need to learn how to do that well,

and I know that is a bit of a corporatism,

132

you know, I'm just going to manage up.

133

Well, yeah, I know.

134

I, that's, I don't like saying it,

but I don't have a better word really.

135

Realistically, it's about managing your

managers, and people aren't taught how

136

to do that because managers don't have

a monopoly on wisdom, on sense, on

137

process, on data, on anything necessarily.

138

They, they have those things, but

they don't have a monopoly on those.

139

And sometimes there

needs to be a discussion.

140

Hey, service manager.

141

Hey, service management.

142

In order to be more effective and

efficient, we should make these changes.

143

Butfor don't necessarily

get taught how to do that.

144

The other part of this is, is, is

managing out, which is all of these

145

other external forces, parts, service

advisors, sales, and we'll talk about

146

those a little bit later, is the

impact that they, how do you manage

147

those and their impact on your time?

148

Just as importantly as your

technicians, and I'm gonna, let me,

149

let me give you a Monday morning.

150

Here's what you do formula for

this, and this is, this isn't mine.

151

I'd love to claim ownership

of this, but it's not mine.

152

I'm not sure quite where it came from.

153

I heard Dr.

154

David Dugan.

155

He was the one that introduced this to me.

156

I suspect that might be a, a Taki

Moore or a a Den Martel methodology

157

and hat tip to Dan and Taki, if you're

watching, good to have you on board.

158

It's called the 1 3 1, and it's not the

number you use when you dial a cab to, to

159

leave the business because you've had a

gut fall and handed in your resignation.

160

All right?

161

A one three.

162

One is the framework that you give your,

in this case, our technicians, even your

163

service advisors, where you can go Look,

when you come to me, firstly, come to

164

me with what the problem actually is.

165

Don't come to me and expect

me to solve the problem.

166

Come to me with what the problem is.

167

And so that's the first thing.

168

How do you fix something

if you can't define it?

169

When the technician goes, Hey Andrew,

can you just have a look at this?

170

My answer is, what's the problem?

171

And if they can't answer that right,

come back to me once you know what

172

the problem is, and preferably

in a sentence, the problem is 1,

173

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whatever that is.

174

The second part of 1 3, 1 is the

three, and this is when you come

175

to me with the problem, come

to me with three possibilities.

176

They don't have to be good possibilities.

177

They just have to be.

178

Possible possibilities.

179

And so when someone comes to me,

Andrew, can you have a look at this?

180

And I go, what's the problem?

181

And they go, look, the problem is the data

from the scan tool isn't making sense.

182

I should have value X.

183

And I'm constantly seeing value y.

184

Great.

185

What are your three options?

186

What three choices do

you have to resolve this?

187

And that forces them to think through.

188

The possibilities.

189

Well, I could validate the

data with a another scan tool.

190

I could do a, a reset and

see if the data changes.

191

I could unplug something and see if the

data moves in a direction I was expecting.

192

So as I contest, whether it's the

vehicle or it's the scan tool, it also

193

takes me as the foreman out of the loop.

194

It stops me from being the rescuer.

195

It stops me from rewarding myself for

going, oh, I know what that is now.

196

Sure.

197

If it's a simple fix,

give them the simple fix.

198

But you can give them the simple fix

after they've done their one three,

199

because this way it's the response.

200

We don't hire technicians for

their stunning visual, right?

201

We hire them to get stuff done.

202

And so if they're not getting stuff that

they're shirking their responsibility,

203

well then no, that's not why you are here.

204

I could, I could pay a mouth

breathing, knuckle dragging

205

forward, sloping, Neanderthal,

would come and shirk responsibility.

206

I could get someone who is entirely

untrained to SHI responsibility, but

207

we're, we're paying you and training you.

208

So take some responsibility.

209

The last one, which is the

one, so I've got my one.

210

What's actually the problem?

211

Three.

212

What are you, what are

the possibilities here?

213

What could you do?

214

If you were to pick one of those

three, which one would you pick?

215

Now, if it's wildly wrong, this

is where coaching comes in,

216

which again, foreman art taught.

217

But I could then coach them and

go, well, there's these challenges

218

when you pick that solution.

219

What about this solution?

220

What do you think of that?

221

And I'm engaging the person's brain.

222

I'm not just.

223

Mama bird hand feeding the, the chicks,

the, the, the, the little baby birds

224

that make the loudest squawking noise.

225

You know, I'm now in a position

where I can start to meaningfully

226

develop my team rather than have my

team be entirely dependent on me.

227

And me being headed for burnout.

228

Anthony Perl: The Frictionless

Workshop Podcast is brought

229

to you by Solutions Culture.

230

For details on how to get in touch with

Andrew, consult the show notes below,

231

and don't forget to subscribe so you

232

Andrew Uglow: don't miss an episode.

233

Now, back to the podcast.

234

Anthony Perl: What's interesting about

that as well is that when you come in

235

and you have those teaching moments.

236

You also have a different

perspective, right?

237

Because the technician's gonna have

the perspective of just on the one

238

small area, but hopefully the foreman

has more of an overall perspective.

239

So in simple terms, if one of the

potential solutions was to go and

240

buy a particular part, now they can

recommend that they go and say, we

241

are just gonna buy one of these parts.

242

But the foreman might have an

overall perspective and say,

243

actually this is a common thing.

244

It's cheaper for us to

go and buy 10 of them.

245

And therefore the solution,

let's solve the problem before

246

Andrew Uglow: it occurs.

247

Anthony Perl: And, and I think it's

an important aspect of all of that.

248

So it might well be that the

recommendation may be right, but

249

there's another perspective on

it which makes it, you know, can

250

take it to another level as well.

251

So it's about communicating in the

right way so that you don't offend

252

people one way or the other, but

you, you know, you grow together.

253

Andrew Uglow: Yeah.

254

Well, you can say some really hard things.

255

Really, really positively.

256

You, you don't have to, you know, involve

257

non-HR compliant methodologies.

258

And, but again, this is a skill.

259

This is something that you get taught.

260

This is something that you know or you

don't, and if you don't know, you don't

261

know that you don't know kind of thing.

262

So we, we go back to what we

spoke about in a previous episode

263

about the foreman capability gap.

264

That's part of the gap.

265

If I don't know how to have those

really tough conversations and go,

266

look, you're underperforming here.

267

We didn't pay you for

your stunning visual.

268

We are grateful for the stunning visual.

269

Don't get me wrong, but you're

not here for that reason.

270

You're here to produce.

271

You're here to look after our customers.

272

You're here to make cars work

properly the first time, and skirting

273

sliding your responsibility off

onto me is not how that works.

274

The flip side of this is, and I'm a, a big

fan of fix a problem before it happens.

275

Be proactive as much as possible where

there is a known issue with the vehicle.

276

I'm the tech, Hey

Anthony, here's your job.

277

So this is, this would be the foreman

and controller, or if it's just the

278

controller, if you've got two separate

roles, the, the controller would

279

go, Hey Anthony, here's your job.

280

There is a bulletin on that.

281

Make sure you look it up.

282

The number's written on the back.

283

And so now you are primed.

284

With the information that you need.

285

Anthony Perl: Absolutely.

286

Well, I, I mean, I just want to

continue this a little bit further

287

because in this bottleneck, you've

also got the service manager.

288

So is there a risk that the service

manager is potentially rewarding the

289

bottleneck rather than assisting with it?

290

Andrew Uglow: Kind of, yes, and it's,

it's done with the best of intentions.

291

So the service manager rewards

the foreman by giving them.

292

The, the jobs that the foreman

loves, which I, I know that's,

293

that's counterintuitive, right?

294

You give the most technically

demanding jobs or the most technically

295

obscure jobs to the most technically

skilled person in the business.

296

And there's nothing

inherently wrong with that.

297

But there are times where

that should not be the case.

298

It should be given to someone to

stretch them, to allow the foreman

299

to coach them through it, so as

they can learn the skill as well.

300

Rather than just, well,

we'll give it to the foreman.

301

We'll, we'll give it to the foreman.

302

'cause the foreman isn't available all the

time because he's busy doing all the other

303

things that foreman need to be doing.

304

And so that, because it, it is a reward.

305

It's a, Hey Andrew, because you're

such a gifted, technical person,

306

he's a great job for you and Foreman.

307

Love this stuff.

308

It's the, I did some

technical training recently.

309

We were sitting around having a, having

a beverage at a venue, and the discussion

310

came to, what have you seen on this?

311

Or have you seen this problem?

312

And there is a real prestige that

comes from being able to solve those

313

crazy, weird, bizarre problems.

314

And so it works out twofold.

315

One, people listening, learn stuff, which

is arguably the most important, and I

316

would offer a big reason why it's shared.

317

But also there's a little bit of, Hey, you

know, look what I solved kind of thing.

318

And, and that matters.

319

You know, that's, that's prestige, that's

social value for the, for the foreman.

320

And so I'm not suggesting that you

give the foreman basic services.

321

I, I am suggesting that you wanna think

about the sort of work that you have

322

your foreman do and where you can,

because workshop planning, and this gets

323

back to the service manager and service

management, um, where you can plan for

324

some of these jobs to be given to the.

325

Next best guy or the next, next

best guy, and schedule the time for

326

the foreman to go and help them.

327

Coach them.

328

Don't tell them, but 1 3, 1

them so that they can get that

329

experiential learning that you so

desperately need in your business

330

Anthony Perl: is to wrap this up.

331

Is there something or some things that.

332

Can be done to try and take the

pressure off the bottleneck that

333

are nice and easy without kind

of completely blowing things up.

334

Andrew Uglow: Sure.

335

The last thing you wanna do

is lose your foreman, right?

336

Even lose your foreman for a day, you

know, is, is quite painful financially,

337

emotionally, all that sort of stuff.

338

So a couple of things.

339

A good process, and this really

falls into the service managers

340

lab, but it's not solely.

341

Up to the service manager

to come up with this.

342

This is, this is where good team

meetings, where the foreman and the

343

technical team foreman and the, the,

the customer facing team, total workshop

344

team sit down, put their heads together

and go, Hey, this is driving me nuts.

345

This is costing me time.

346

This is hurting my productivity.

347

This is hurting my efficiency.

348

Can we find a, can we

find a process for that?

349

And so, dealerships often, not

always, but often have good process.

350

And usually the ones with good process are

the ones that have good foreman already.

351

So they do things like, you

know, any sales inquiry like

352

or inquiry from salespeople has

to go through the front desk.

353

Any fix it from the pre-delivery people

has to show up on a repair order.

354

It allows us to track the time,

it allows us to allocate the time

355

rather than, ah, Andrew, can you just

zip down the pre-delivery and sort

356

out they've got a car down there.

357

Obviously you wanna fix the

car, don't get me wrong.

358

You wanna do it in good time.

359

Of course you do, but, but you've gotta

manage the foreman's time effectively.

360

Not everything in the business is

urgent, but arguably most of the things

361

are important and where they're not,

or have the foreman delegate that, but

362

have good process, have good boundaries,

and just as importantly, teach your

363

foreman how to maintain their boundaries

without finding themselves in hr.

364

I, I go back to this is exactly

the sort of content that we

365

cover in the professional foreman

method, small unashamed pitch

366

Anthony Perl: drew instruction

without triage getting ignored.

367

This is a big topic to say the least,

but uh, give me an understanding of

368

what that really means for starters.

369

Andrew Uglow: So let me, let me talk

about some of the origin of this.

370

There are certain, and we've, we've

covered this in, in some of our previous

371

podcasts, but there are certain,

372

certain things that show up when, when I

have the opportunity to talk to Foreman.

373

And when I say they show up,

it's like every single time.

374

And, and this, if it's not the top

one, it would have to be top two.

375

It sounds like this.

376

So when I talk to Foreman and I'll

ask the question, Hey, how you going?

377

You know, how's things in your business?

378

What's happening for you?

379

You know, things busy, things,

quiet, all that sort of stuff.

380

How are your team going?

381

And often in that discussion

about their team, we'll come.

382

I have this guy, it doesn't matter

what I tell him, how I frame it, how

383

many different ways I put it to him.

384

If I've told him once, I've told him

a thousand times and he still can't

385

get it right or he still screws it

up, or he's still painfully slow and

386

I could do it myself faster in a coma,

then this guy is able to, and, and

387

it's like I've, the, the, the, the

pattern is I've told him a thousand

388

times and I'm not getting a result.

389

So I like to ask the question.

390

Okay, so if telling them

isn't working, why is that?

391

Because it's clearly not working.

392

If you've done it a thousand times

and you've done it a thousand ways

393

or something's, something's amiss.

394

What's that?

395

What's the piece that's

that's missing here?

396

And one of the big pieces.

397

And I go back to, I profoundly

empathize with foreman over this

398

because they're never taught this.

399

Like I'm, I'm not even sure if it

exists in the industry, nevermind

400

it exists for effective workplace

instructional conversation.

401

Anthony Perl: That's what we

have time for in this episode.

402

But if you realize today that your foreman

is trying to drink from a fire hose,

403

it's time to take some pressure off.

404

Implement that 1 3, 1 method this week.

405

And stop rewarding the rescuer behavior.

406

To help you put these ideas into gear,

we've put together a dedicated workbook

407

that includes a breakdown of today's

episode and specific activities to help

408

you transition your team from dependent.

409

To autonomy.

410

You can download your copy right

now via the link in the show notes.

411

As we discussed in this episode, you

can't build a scalable business if you

412

are the only one holding the wrench.

413

So grab that workbook and

start shifting the load.

414

Make sure you share this with your

service manager, but whatever you do,

415

don't miss the next episode because

we are breaking down a concept, so

416

vital Andrew suggests you might need

it permanently tattooed on your arm.

417

We're talking about tats and no.

418

It's not about Workshop Inc.

419

It's about the one thing missing from your

team that's killing your productivity.

420

If you want to know the secret to getting

your staff to actually take ownership,

421

you can't afford to miss this one.

422

Check out the show notes for

details on how to get in touch

423

with Andrew at Solutions Culture.

424

We love your comments

as they help us frame.

425

Future episodes, so don't forget

to also like, share and subscribe

426

so you never miss an episode.

427

This show has been produced by my

team at podcast done for you.com

428

au enabling businesses to

showcase their brilliance.

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Until next time, keep your workshop

running smooth and frictionless.