Either or: US-based industry expert Mike Antich says fleet managers can either be strategic or tactical.

FLEET managers need to raise their eyes from the garage floor and focus on improving the service they provide to their client departments, according to a prominent United States-based fleet analyst.

In a keynote address at the 2017 Australasian Fleet Conference and Exhibition in Melbourne last week, veteran automotive fleet journalist and former president of the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) Mike Antich argued that too many managers limit the performance of their fleets by concentrating on putting out daily fires and not thinking enough about the future and long-term objectives.

He said they were also limiting their ability to improve their operations by shutting out their suppliers, a policy that limits the manager’s access to the latest developments and ideas.

Mr Antich said he had met many fleet managers during his 25 years in the business and said they fell into one of two categories. Some were tactical managers and some were strategic.

“Are you a fireman who is putting out one fire after another? This is managing the fleet on a tactical day-to-day level,” he said. “Or do you manage your fleet in a strategic level, where you are focusing on achieving long-term objectives?”

Mr Antich said that while it was possible for a tactical manager to run a well-managed fleet, such a fleet would never become best-in-class.

“Most fleet managers will say they are both, simultaneously practicing tactical fleet management while at the same time looking at the fleet from a strategic perspective,” he said.

“But the reality is there are only so many hours in the day and many of these tactical issues are very time consuming.

“In many ways, it is difficult for fleet managers to transcend the tactical level. In fact, you could say that is the reality of fleet management.

“Based on my conversations with the great fleet managers I have come to know over the years, there is one trait that they all hold in common, and that is that they have all managed our fleets from a strategic perspective.

“They have been able to transcend that tactical, day-to-day management of the fleet.”

Mr Antich said there were a number of elements that managers need to harness to make the leap from tactical to strategic management, starting with measurement.

He said “metrics” may have become a buzzword, but keeping track of key factors in the performance of the fleet would help keep it on track towards the long-term goals.

“Metrics is a process of developing objective sets of data that measure how your fleet is going relative to the goals that you’re trying to achieve.

“You can develop a great fleet strategy, but it’s useless if you can’t effectively implement the strategy.”

Corporate politics is another factor that can hold back fleet performance and it is an area that can bring fleet managers undone, according to Mr Antich.

“As a fleet manager, you occupy a very critical role in your organisation’s hierarchy because your job responsibility intersects those of other departments.

“Departments like HR (human relations), sales, procurement, risk management, legal, finance, administrative services are your fleet customers. As a fleet manager, you need to focus on their needs.”

Interdepartmental co-operation was critical to operating a best-in-class fleet, although Mr Antich said this was often easier said than done.

“Unfortunately, too many fleet managers have an adversarial relationship with their internal customers.

“Despite this, you must constantly strive to align your fleet operation with the needs of your user departments.”

He conceded that sometimes this was not possible because not every department head was a team player. These cases needed to be taken to senior management, he said.

The overriding consideration, however, is that there would be no need for a fleet or a fleet manager without these other departments. The fleet department is a service organisation.

“And the bottom line is, if you have an unhappy internal customer, that’s not the issue with the customer, it’s a reflection of a deficiency in your customer service performance.

“In the final analysis, fleet operations exist to service the user department, not vice versa.”

A key to running a top fleet was to keep abreast of developments and new ideas in the business, and industry suppliers were a good source of the latest information.

But Mr Antich said some fleet managers were making it difficult for themselves to achieve this.

“Many fleet managers make themselves as inaccessible as possible to their suppliers and it’s very counter-productive.

“You need to view your suppliers as partners, people who can help you optimise your fleet performance.”

By freezing them out, fleet managers were missing out on tapping into their expertise.

“They are making a career out of calling on companies and people in your industry and … these suppliers are a great window into the industry as a whole.

“You need to continually ask these suppliers what they have seen in their client bases that have been successful and then ask yourself can some of these best practices be implemented in your organisation.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel.”

Mr Antich said that fleet managers operating a successful fleet were in danger of falling into a classic trap – complacency.

“Complacency is the kiss of death for your career,” he said.

“The greatest risk of complacency occurs when you are already running a well-managed fleet. This might sound counter-intuitive, but a well-managed fleet really breeds complacency.

“The conventional wisdom is, when something works and it’s not broken, why try to fix it.

“There may be some truth in that statement but ask yourself, is your ultimate goal to run a well-managed fleet or do you want to run a best-in-class fleet.

“Complacency is the enemy of excellence. You will never develop an excellent fleet if you’re satisfied with the status quo.”

By Ian Porter