Regional managers are responsible for a team of technicians or a group of service and repair facilities within a given geographic area. Regional or district managers usually combine their background in heavy vehicle equipment with management or supervisory experience in a single plant and go on to run several plants at a higher level.

Typically jobs for regional or district managers require an associate’s degree along with several years’ leadership experience. That might be as a lead technician or management experience in a related field. Managers need to demonstrate skills in dealing with people and teams such as coaching, motivating and mentoring. It is also important to demonstrate an ability to handle conflict.

Managers take responsibility and are able to work under pressure and yet still be able to make sound decisions and solve problems. It is also important to understand risks and risk mitigation strategies.  In the heavy duty equipment arena this means having a good understanding of the risks associated with heavy machinery and a background of knowledge in areas such as hydraulics, diesel, mechanical engineering and so on.

Regional or district managers, as well as site managers, are usually responsible for budgeting and managing the finances associated with the service repair shop or maintenance facility. This means in addition to being able to read a schematic you also need to be able to read a financial statement and need good computer skills and working knowledge of basic computer applications such as the MS Office products.

Depending on what industry you are in, a regional or district manager may have a physically demanding position such as walking long distances, or you might have to be qualified in other areas specific to that industry or meet other criteria, such as being able to climb ladders or supervise personnel working in confined spaces or special facilities.

The ability to travel is also required; how far you have to travel will depend on where the company has service facilities located or their geographic environment.

A site manager is responsible for managing a team of technicians. The team will have key objectives and goals, such as safety goals, performance goals and customer satisfaction goals. The site manager keeps the team on track, helps the team set goals, and ensures they meet these goals. An effective site manager keeps metrics that measure performance against the objectives, motivates the technicians to work effectively as a team and deals with specialized customer queries and concerns.

A regional or district manager simply takes these responsibilities to another level by managing a group of site managers. If one site is outperforming the other sites, a regional site manager will find out why and endeavour to bring the other sites up to the same standard. Likewise, if one site is not performing as well as the others, it is the regional manager’s job to find out why and see if he can help that site to measure up against the other sites.

A regional or district manager also ensures that all sites are in compliance with building codes, certification codes, health and safety regulations and so on.  He supervises site managers and provides them direction. A regional manager also helps to set the goals and objectives for each of the sites. A good regional manager is constantly working to improve performance metrics and customer satisfaction and essentially to grow business for the company. He also works closely with key personnel in customer organizations in order to maintain good a good business relationship with them.

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