The 5 Characteristics of Friction in Your Service Department

We all recognise that friction is the enemy of efficiency and performance. Put simply, friction makes everything harder. What we don’t always appreciate is how friction actually operates in our businesses and service departments specifically. To help us get greater clarity on how friction works against us, here are the 5 characteristics of friction as they typically operate in a service department.

#1 – Friction is Normal.

I know that is not what we like to here, but it’s true. Friction is simply a part of life. In business, in machinery, in electronics, in ‘systems’, in pretty much everything, there is a form of resistance that works against the efforts of ‘creation’.

Whatever form that ‘creation’ takes – be it growth, profit, performance, motion, speed, heat, insight etc. – whatever form, there will be resistance or ‘friction’. The fact that friction will always be present isn’t so much the key issue. Not being aware that there will always be friction and minimising it effectively is key.

#2 – Friction is Subtle.

Friction is often hard to identify, until after the damage is done. Then, of course, we then look back with 20/20 hindsight and realise what was going on unseen. This is one the most challenging things about friction. Even highly damaging friction still appears to be normal and even gets dismissed as normal – right up until something goes wrong.

Additionally, we don’t usually pay much attention to things when they appear to be working. It’s only when they stop working that we notice. But just because something hasn’t got bad enough to fail yet, doesn’t mean that it is actually ok. This is why maintenance and inspection are so important, not just for our customers’ cars, but for our teams and systems too. We need to be paying attention.

#3 – Friction never reduces by itself.

Unless addressed directly, friction will continue to have an effect. It never just ‘goes away’, tapers off or diminishes. It usually gets worse (see #4). The challenge here is that because friction is very often not seen for what it is (#2), and so does not get address directly.

Instead, when things go wrong, we try to address the results. While not necessarily wrong or bad, focusing only on the negative results, and not on the friction causing the results (because it appears normal), ultimately serves to further mask the friction and begin a downward cycle.

#4 – The impact of Friction compounds.

This characteristic follows on from #3, not only does friction never reduce by itself, it actually compounds. This is perhaps the most insidious characteristic of friction; that friction actually produces more friction.

Friction causes ‘wear’, (wear being wasted effort, lost time, staff turn, lost profit etc.) and wear in turn causes more friction, which in turn multiplies the wear (the damage, loss etc) increasing the friction and so the effect compounds.

To address this vicious cycle, we need to identify the type of friction (more on types of friction soon) causing the poor results – not just the results themselves – in order to minimise and manage the friction directly.

#5 – Friction can’t be eliminated.

Did you notice I used the words ‘Identify’, ‘Minimise’ and ‘Manage’ in characteristic #4? They were no accident. Not only is friction normal (#1), you can’t actually eliminate friction entirely, BUT friction can be Identified, minimised and managed.

The first step is to identify the type of friction, (find out about the 3 main types of friction here). Once you know what you are dealing with, the type of friction can be addressed directly. As the friction begins to be minimised, then elements can be put into place to manage the friction and keep it minimised.

In Conclusion.

Friction will always be working against us – because friction is normal and can’t be eliminated completely – but if you know which friction is where, then you can significantly mitigate its impact, making your Service Department Friction-Less – which takes far less effort and delivers far better returns than unknowing battling friction by trying to ‘fix’ the results.

To learn more about making your service department Friction-Less – Connect with us Here.