Pizza parties won’t fix turnover. Here’s what builds a team.

Chris Lawson

15d • 📜Shop Culture📜

Last October I rode from Baltimore to Boston with

@Shawn Gilfillan

@Brian Nerger

, and his GM Tony for a shop visit.

7 hours. One badass Ford Raptor. Four people.

We talked about the industry. Argued about shop management philosophies. Stopped at rest areas in different states. Got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic through Newark and New York.

Listened to podcasts. Played music. Complained about the same broken things we all complain about.

By the time we hit Boston, something had shifted.

To be clear, these weren't "industry contacts" before the trip began. We've known each other for years. Shawn and Brian are guys I genuinely know and respect.

But after 7 hours on the road, I understood more about how they think. I knew their frustrations. Their wins. Their weird preferences in snacks at the gas station (I discovered pickle flavored cheese puffs on this road trip).

That's when it clicked.

You can't build real connection in 30-minute conversations. Relationships require concentrated time together.

Research backs this up. There's something psychologists call the "7-Hour Rule" — it takes roughly 7 hours of quality time before an acquaintance starts feeling like a friend. And the kicker? Those hours need to be concentrated, not spread across months of small talk.

7 hours spread over six months of quick hellos and brief questions at the shop doesn't create the same bond as 7 hours spent in a truck together.

That's exactly what most shop owners get wrong about team activities.

A half-hearted pizza party once a year isn't building anything. It's checking a box.

The shops I see with real team cohesion — where techs actually have each other's backs, where the front of the house and back of the house communicate like partners instead of enemies — they're doing something different.

They're investing concentrated time in shared experiences outside of work.

HERE'S WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS HAPPENS WHEN YOUR TEAM ACTUALLY BONDS

👉Your brain releases oxytocin — the same "trust hormone" that gets released during handshakes, high-fives, and genuine laughter. Face-to-face activities trigger this in ways emails and text messages never will.

👉Laughing together floods everyone's system with endorphins. Studies show people who laugh together feel closer afterward and are more tolerant of discomfort. That's why teams that have fun together handle stress better when the shop gets slammed.

👉When people move in sync or work toward a common goal, their heart rates actually start to align. Soldiers marching. Teammates rowing. Your crew competing in an escape room together. There's a real, measurable physiological bonding that happens.

👉Strong social bonds lower baseline cortisol levels. Translation: When your people feel connected, challenges feel less daunting because they know someone has their back.

This isn't soft, feel-good nonsense. This is biology. This is why some shops have teams that fight for each other and others have a revolving door.

THE BENEFITS COMPOUND OVER TIME

→ Higher trust means fewer miscommunications between service advisors and techs

→ Psychological safety means people admit mistakes early instead of hiding them until a comeback

→ Connected teams don't jump ship for $2/hour more because they don't want to leave people they care about

→ When your team becomes known as a tight crew that actually likes each other, A-players notice (the tool guys do too). Top techs want to work where they feel like they belong.

HERE'S WHERE MOST SHOP OWNERS BLOW IT

"We tried that. Nobody wanted to come."

Yeah. Because you announced it two days before, made it feel optional, and didn't have anyone championing it.

A pizza in the break room isn't a team activity. That's just feeding people.

REAL TEAM BONDING REQUIRES THREE THINGS

1. Concentrated time — multi-hour events, not 45-minute lunches

2. Different contexts — seeing your people outside the shop, in casual clothes, doing something unrelated to cars

3. An evangelist — someone on your team who hypes it up, gets buy-in, and makes sure people actually show up

TEAM BUILDING IDEAS THAT ACTUALLY WORK

Axe throwing
Go-kart racing
Camping trip
Bowling league
Dart league
A day on the owner's boat
Top Golf
Shooting range
Holiday party at a real venue (not the shop)
Escape rooms
BBQs at someone's house
Building a home with Habitat for Humanity
Other charitable causes where you sweat together for something bigger

The volunteer work is especially powerful. When your team does good together, it creates shared meaning — they're not just coworkers anymore, they're people who built something worthwhile side by side.

HERE'S YOUR CHALLENGE

This week — not next month, this week — bring this up in your team meeting.

Schedule 4 events for 2026. One per quarter.

Ask your team what THEY want to do. Let them have input. Buy-in happens when people feel heard. If you pick everything, you'll be dragging them along. If they help choose, they'll show up excited.

And most importantly: Appoint an evangelist.

This is the person who keeps talking about it, reminds everyone, builds anticipation, and makes sure it actually happens. Without this, events die on the calendar.

The shops that retain A-players aren't just paying well. They're building something people don't want to leave.

A paycheck is replaceable. A team that feels like family isn't.

Start this week.

P.S. — The research shows it takes about 50 hours of interaction to move from acquaintance to casual friend, 90 hours to become "good friends," and 200+ hours to build truly close, trusting relationships. Four quarterly events won't get you there in one year. But it's the foundation. And the shops that start now will be years ahead of the ones still wondering why their people keep leaving.

Share one idea below of a team-building event that you have done in the past or plan to do this year. Let's get those ideas brewing!👇

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