Why can one Technician/Specialist suddenly go from producing 8–9 hours a day to consistently producing 10?

The answer may have nothing to do with better tools, more training, different vehicles, or another bonus plan.

You may simply have never discovered what actually motivates them.

In this episode, Mike Cooper and Coach Dave Schedin dig into one of the most misunderstood challenges in an auto repair business:

How do you actually motivate your team?

Dave shares real examples of shop owners who stopped assuming money was the answer and started learning what their people genuinely cared about.

For one employee, it was gaming and the dream of owning a better computer.

For another Technician/Specialist, it was cycling and raising money for a cause that mattered deeply to him.

When leadership connected shop performance to something personally meaningful, performance changed.

Not because the employee suddenly became more skilled.

They became more motivated.

Dave challenges shop owners and managers to go deeper than simply knowing what their employees like and dislike.

Do you actually know their hopes?

Their dreams?

Their passions?

Their WHY?

Because there’s an enormous difference between knowing about your people and truly knowing your people.

The conversation also explores why motivation isn't only an owner-to-employee issue.

When Service Advisors, Technician/Specialists, managers, and other team members understand each other’s dreams and goals, mistakes begin to look different. Instead of:

“You screwed this up and now you made my job harder.”

The thinking can become:

“How can I help you become better, because your success helps all of us reach what we're working toward?”

That creates an entirely different shop culture.

Dave also breaks down:

• Why incentive plans are only one part of motivation

• How to uncover what truly drives an employee

• Why every leader needs to understand their own WHY first

• How to support employees when they’re having an off day

• The difference between a mistake and defiance

• How accountability can become part of a healthy team culture

• Why everyone in the shop is a leader—starting with leading themselves

• How a simple “Word of the Day” can intentionally shape shop culture

• Why being open to feedback is essential for growth

• The difference between excuses and results

• How personal responsible choice affects leadership and performance

• Why your business systems are actually leadership tools

• How stronger leadership and motivation ultimately show up in measurable GP$

One of the biggest questions Dave asks is deceptively simple:

Do you really know your people—or do you just know about them?

If your shop has talented people who aren’t consistently producing at the level you know they’re capable of, the answer may not be another incentive plan.

You may need to find their WHY.

Find the leak. Change the thinking. Build the system. Keep the GP$.