Fleet managers make many decisions every day, and this can lead to what we call decision fatigue. What's the most important decision for a fleet manager?
The sheer volume of decisions fleet managers need to make every day can lead to decision fatigue – mental fatigue from the many micro-decisions we make throughout the day, which leads to poor decision making later in the day - which can result in poorer fleet management because your eye is off the ball.
Here’s a handy tip sheet on what you need to consider, and what decisions can lead to failure.
Your role:
There are quite a few key aspects that you need to be involved in. Below are the most important ones.
- Selecting vehicles: You’ll need to make decisions about what kind of vehicles to purchase, and how many, and this will be influenced by several factors, including the age of your fleet, maintenance, and the need – if it’s business strategy – to expand the company. You may need to consider a mix of vehicles, and whether to buy or lease. These all have pros and cons, and you need to take business imperatives into account when making these choices.
- Record keeping: This is vitally important, and you need to keep impeccable records. These will cover all sorts of information, including maintenance, registrations, routes, traffic fines and other details. There are several tools available, including telematics and GPS tracking that can help you make sense of the data, chose the one that’s right for you, because this will cut down on your admin – always a pain in any manager’s life.
- Maintenance: It’s your job to decide when, and where, vehicles are maintained. Is it always at the same service station? Do you always need vehicle manufacturer approved agents? How do you know when a vehicle needs maintenance? In this case, proper record keeping will be of vital importance, because it will help keep vehicles on the road for longer, and prevent unnecessary breakdowns, which can cost the company lost revenue and an the bottom line because of an unexpected cost.
- Driver management: You need to ensure your drivers are reliable and do their job properly, don’t have accidents too often, don’t stop for long lunches and generally are the best of the best. That’s an important decision, and Human Resources will need to be involved, so you can be sure references are checked, and documents verified. You also need to be sure that these drivers are trained on safety aspects on a regular basis, and that this is inculcated as part of the company’s culture.
- Profit and loss: Fleet managers are also important in keeping costs down and maximising profits. This is where proper software comes into play, because juggling all that data into a spreadsheet can be complex, and the cause of many headaches. Proper software will also show where there are patterns, which can highlight an issue before it becomes a migraine. That’s a difficult choice, and you’ll need to be guided by the Accounting Department, but argue your case if what they are using doesn’t meet your needs.
What not to do:
After you’ve been in a role for a while, it’s common for decision fatigue to creep in. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid.
- Rest on your laurels: Don’t forget, technology is moving at a rapid pace, and you need to keep up with it and with what your peers are doing, so you can make the best decisions for your company to constantly ensure an effective – and profitable – fleet operation.
- Depend heavily on suppliers: Fleet suppliers can provide a programme, service, or product for nearly every situation or function found in fleet management. From leasing to maintenance to fuel, there’s a program for every need. Yet, you need to make sure you are making the right choices every time and check that you are not being hoodwinked into renewing a contract just because it’s easier.
- Communicating ineffectively: Cost reduction should be tracked as part of a regular communication with management i.e. last year, vehicle variable expense was X cents per km; this year, it is Y cents per km; and this translates to RZ savings. Accident ratios, average repair costs, and depreciation rates are all excellent figures that allow a fleet manager to “strut their stuff” for management. Keep your bosses up-to-date with this information through the use of effective systems, technology and software.
- Becoming indispensable: You don’t want to be stuck in the same role if you have more ambitions and you certainly don’t want everything to grind to a halt if you are off sick. Chat to HR and make sure that there is a plan that allows you to hire and mentor people who can, in time, do what you do – and learn from them too: Fresh eyes may have a great idea, and leave you looking even better as a manager for appointing them in the first place.
Fleet managers are a vital part of the transportation industry: from buying and selling vehicles, or selecting a fleet, to managing schedules and drivers, they keep the companies moving smoothly and accurately and manage costs to maximise profits. Make sure you choose the right partner who can consult with you to keep wheels turning smoothly.
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