Thinking time tops poll of effective habits

Building thinking time into your day was voted the most important habit a repairer could have at the first session of The Future in Focus, ARC360’s week-long digital event held in association with I love Claims.

The event began with a session titled, The seven habits of highly effective repairers, based on the book of a similar name by author Stephen Covey.

Panellists Victoria Turner, chief executive officer, Activate Accident Repair; Kevin Cooper, product manager, Sherwin Williams; and Chris Weeks, executive director, NBRA all shared their best working habits, before the online audience was invited to vote on which they considered most fundamental. Delegates could vote for more than one.

Thinking time

‘Thinking time’ topped the poll with 69%, with 67% voting for the advice to ‘seek first to understand, then be understood.’

Meanwhile, six in 10 agreed that it was critical to ‘know yourself’ and to ‘begin with the end in sight’, while 52% voted for being responsible or ‘response-able’, which emphasised the need to take ownership of how you react to challenges rather than blaming anything else.

Half the audience agreed it was important to ‘sharpen the saw’, which referred to knowing the optimum time to stop what you’re doing and improve your tools or processes.

The other habits put forward by the panellists included ‘what gets measured, gets done’ (48%), break problems down into seven steps (46%), prioritise your challenges (46%), and seeking a ‘win-win’ solution (33%).

The top habits of highly effective repairers as voted for:

1. Thinking time
2. Seek first to understand, the be understood
3. Know yourself / Begin with the end in sight
4. Be responsible (response-able)
5. Sharpen the saw
6. What gets measured, gets done
7. Break problems down
8. Prioritise
9. Seek ‘win-wins’

ARC360, in association with I Love Claims, is supported by corporate partners BASF, BMS, Copart, EMACS, Entegral, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Mirka, Nationwide Vehicle Recovery Assistance, S&G Response, Sherwin Williams and CAPS; partners asTech, The Green Parts Specialists, Indasa, Innovation Group and Prasco UK; and strategic partners AutoRaise; NBRA; RepairTalks; and TrendTracker.