- Key insight: Learn how integrating culture with operations boosts frontline performance and service consistency.
- Expert quote: Fulcher says elevating top performers through visibility directly improves engagement, retention and leadership pipelines.
- Supporting data: 39 four-person teams competed in Lexington; the Oilympics has run for 32 years.
- Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
For the past 32 years, Valvoline Inc. has kicked off its busy summer season by hosting a
The automotive preventive maintenance company's annual Oilympics is a competition for its
"We believe that culture and operations are not two different things," said Linne Fulcher, COO at Valvoline Inc. "The technicians are where the rubber meets the road — they're the face of our company. [This event]
Read more:
This May, 39 four-person teams from across the U.S. and Canada represented their district in Lexington, Kentucky, with one team from each taking home the gold. There was additional recognition for silver and bronze medalists, most valuable player, and best overall service experience. From the time teams spend prepping for initial local competitions through the Oilympics' end, enthusiasm is high, Fulcher said.
"There's a lot of lean in at the market level from neighboring stores — they'll work together and judge at a local level, but what it also does for us is lift the expectation of what a polished process looks like [in each] store," he said. "Maintenance on vehicles peaks over the summer drive season, so it actually works to where this event, though done for the employees, gives us an organic lift across the organization as we go into our busiest time of year for speed and safety, and taking care of the guests the right way."
Gaining insight on talent, improvements
Having the company's top-performing technicians in one place gave leadership insight into who they may want to tap for manager positions, Fulcher said. "We get to hear, see and understand the ones who show up extremely well — the ones we watch for the next leadership positions in the field. It gives us a good view of the talent that's in front of us, because this is the best of the best."
It's also a good opportunity for frontline employees to visualize their future with the organization, he explained. "Most of our leadership in the field, from a market manager level to a regional director level, started as store managers, so we are very much an organization where growth to leadership comes from within. Most of our workforce knows that, and we reiterate that, so when they're talking to us at this event, they are talking to a position that they could aspire to."
Read more:
The Oilympics is the kind of high-touch setting that garners valuable, real-time employee feedback, Fulcher said. This year, leadership added an additional listening event with a subset of the participants after the competition's conclusion, asking them to review store processes and offer input on any gaps and suggestions for improvement, Fulcher said.
"Coming out of that event, they landed on three things that we currently have documented in our processes at the store level that they challenged and had ideas on ways to make them better. The team's already working on pivoting, making changes, and piloting them in some of the stores so we can actually test the results and roll out [improvements]," he explained.
Read more:
The Oilympics is "one of the most meaningful investments we make in our people," Fulcher said. "There is nothing more powerful than giving top performers a platform to demonstrate their expertise … and engage directly with leadership."
For leaders looking to tailor these two opportunities to their own organization, he offered this advice: "Be intentional about recognition, make competition meaningful, and close the distance between your frontline talent and your executive team," he said. "When employees see that leadership is genuinely invested in their success, that translates directly into engagement, retention and performance across the board."
