that you could be left with long-term pain as a result of their quest. I give a lot of credit to Dealers who take the time while interviewing or in ongoing internal conversations with Fixed Ops Directors and Service Managers to ask about their thoughts and plans to develop Technicians. ... Does this sound familiar? Most of you have probably lived that same scenario and have struggled with the same thing. This is where I feel like the OEM and Dealer Principal walking in lock step would be incredibly helpful. THE OEM / DEALER RELATIONSHIP MY PLEA TO THE INDUSTRY The OEM/Dealer relationship is an interesting one. In my experience, some of these relationships are great partnerships. Others are filled with a lack of trust from both sides that result in each side holding their cards close to the vest. And then everyone else is evolving along the spectrum in between. Regardless of where you currently stand along that spectrum, you need to be on the same page as it relates to developing the next generation of technicians. We cannot continue to have the finger pointing war that happens when the dealer expects the manufacturer to do the heavy lifting of carrying a school relationship. It is also not productive when the OEM puts KPI expectations on a dealership driving a Dealer to focus only on the now. THE DEALER / MANAGER RELATIONSHIP The dealer/manager relationship adds another whole layer of complexity. I've certainly experienced managers who couldn't care less about the development of future talent because they are using their current job to propel them up the ladder. Their short-term financial results may look great, but a deeper look may reveal 30 My plea to both OEMs and Dealers is to stop talking about this and start taking serious action. It takes time and money to develop technician talent that can have a short-term impact on your P&L. The long-term implications of kicking this can down the road could be ugly. The sooner we all upgrade our view of this perceived negative impact to that of a necessary investment, the quicker we can all get this ship headed in the right direction. Jay Goninen is the Co-Founder & President of WrenchWay. Jay started working in his family's independent repair shop at the age of nine, and has worked in the industry ever since. Jay started his professional career as a technician, and then moved into management roles within the automotive and diesel industries. He is also the host of the Beyond the Wrench podcast. Jay can be reached at jayg@wrenchway.com. FROM TALK TO ACTION: IT'S TIME FOR DEALERS & OEMS TO STEP UP The shortage of technician talent is not going away anytime soon. We've talked about it for quite some time yet the pain of this problem continues to grow for our entire industry. Until we get Dealer Principals making this a consistent priority and OEMs doing the same, we're going to continue to sink in the quicksand of unfulfilled potential because we haven't done the work needed to grow the next generation of technicians. The same goes for keeping our best and brightest techs happy in our shops.