Once you’re in your own truck, running calls without someone looking over your shoulder, it’s easy to think you’ve made it.
You know the equipment. You can do the job. Customers see you as the expert.
But are you still getting better?
Being a great technician takes more than technical knowledge. Your craft includes how you communicate with the customer, how you explain what you find, how you manage your truck and inventory, and how willing you are to keep learning.
In this episode of Windshield Time, Chris Elmore breaks improvement down to two things.
First, you need the courage to seek criticism.
Second, you have to be willing to learn and implement new things.
That second part matters. You can hear a great idea, understand it, even agree with it…and still change nothing. As Chris puts it, implementation is the hard part.
The goal is to stop waiting for improvement to happen to you.
Ask for criticism. Stay curious. Learn something new. Then put it to work.
Because the customer already sees you as an expert. The challenge is to keep doing the work required to live up to it.
That’s how you keep getting better at your craft
-Service Excellence
Inside This Episode:
- Why experienced techs can become stagnant once working alone starts to feel like proof they have made it
- Why your craft includes technical excellence, customer communication, software, truck stock, and how you explain the work
- The two things Chris says improvement requires: seek criticism, then learn and implement something new
- Why Chris deliberately says “criticism” instead of “feedback,” and how the source of that criticism changes how you receive it
- How internal accountability makes outside accountability easier to accept and more useful
- What to bring into every training session, how to protect your attitude, and why taking notes is your responsibility
- How to take control of your own learning before your knowledge stays the same while the job keeps changing
Episode Chapters & Summary
What Was the Last Thing You Learned?
Chris starts by changing an old question. Instead of asking what book someone last read, he asks what they learned and when. The point is not how you learn. It is whether you are still learning.
Key takeaways:
- There are more ways to learn than books, including podcasts, videos, short-form content, and AI.
- Chris says there is no excuse for not learning something new every day.
- The goal is to keep improving professionally and personally, not to pretend anyone has mastered it.
Live Up to Your Expert Status
Chris turns to service technicians who can repair equipment without fully understanding the theory behind it. The customer still sees the technician as an expert, so the job is to keep earning that status by staying curious about the equipment, the customer, and the craft.
Key takeaways:
- Knowing how to fix something is not the same as fully understanding how it works.
- The customer sees you as an expert, so Chris challenges technicians to live up to that status.
- Curiosity should include technical theory, the home, the customer, and in-home sales and service.
- Your craft includes everything you have to do as a service technician.
Technical Excellence Is Only Part of the Craft
Using cinematography as the comparison, Chris makes the distinction between knowing the equipment and mastering the full job. Technical excellence is required, but so is the ability to relate to people and translate technical information into language they understand.
Key takeaways:
- You cannot be a good technician without technical excellence.
- Technical excellence is not the only requirement. Relational excellence matters too.
- Continuing education can include customer communication, software, truck stock, and managing your mobile office.
- Experience is not a reason to stop deliberately improving those skills.
The Autonomy Trap
Once technicians are on their own, nobody is supervising them minute to minute. Chris says that freedom can turn into an “I got this” mindset where new learning only happens when the job requires it or someone else demands it.
Key takeaways:
- Working on your own can feel like proof that you have made it.
- Chris says most people then learn new things only out of necessity or because the job requires it.
- New learning can be information you already knew, presented in a way you finally apply.
- Chris uses his own presentation work as proof that experience does not mean there is nothing left to improve.
Seek Criticism, Then Implement
This is the core mechanism of the episode. Chris gives two requirements for improvement: have the courage to seek criticism, then be willing to learn and implement something new because of it.
Key takeaways:
- Improvement requires criticism you actively seek, not only input that happens to reach you.
- Good criticism can include praise and direction, not only what went wrong.
- Who delivers the criticism affects how it is received. Expertise and trust matter.
- Criticism without learning and implementation does not change performance.
Internal Accountability Makes Growth Stick
Chris connects criticism and implementation to accountability. People can say they want accountability and still resist it when accountability requires a change. Starting with internal accountability makes the outside version easier to accept.
Key takeaways:
- Being open to accountability means being willing to accept criticism and act on it.
- Training has little benefit if you participate but do not implement what you learn.
- Internal accountability starts with openness to criticism and willingness to learn and change.
- Chris says that is what produces genuine, long-lasting improvement.
Show Up Ready to Learn and Take Control
Chris closes with practical habits. Bring something to write with, protect your attitude, ask for criticism, and find your own ways to learn. If you stop improving, your knowledge stays the same while the knowledge required by the job keeps changing.
Key takeaways:
- Bring something to write on and write with to training. If you take notes digitally, resist the distractions on the device.
- Do not let another person’s sarcasm or bad attitude poison your own willingness to learn.
- Use books, podcasts, YouTube, AI, and other sources to find learning on your own.
- Take control of criticism, learning, implementation, and accountability before you become stagnant
