This week we’ve been talking a lot about being better and doing better while taking that emotion and making sure you’re always moving forward. There is little in my gym that has caught me up emotionally more than staff.
I’ve experienced a lot in the last 11 years as far as staff are concerned. Some have been the most rewarding experiences, while others were what I’d consider “learning opportunities.”
I once had a staff member who was a bit rough in her language. It wasn’t inappropriate, but she was definitely not what I’d call a “soft coach.” She probably would have been really fantastic in the military. She wasn’t a fan of me, because I had a lot of expectations for my staff to be firm, but loving. I was also in my first two years of owning a gym and wasn’t a great mentor to my staff. I expected them to be great coaches with very little coaching. Luckily, my business partner had known this coach since she was a child and had a lot more patience with her than I did. I remember sitting down at the gym late one night after this coach requested a meeting. She had been with us a few years at the time. In that moment, she notified us that our gym wasn’t the right fit for her and she was putting in her two weeks notice.
Here’s the thing. She LOVED the gym. She loved the kids. This wasn’t what she really wanted, but she wasn’t a fan of doing things my way. I wasn’t a fan of her attitude.
After hearing her out, I was angry. It was the middle of the season. I said, “OK, when is your last day?”
Angie wasn’t as willing to let her go. Instead, she spent the next 20 minutes talking it out.
I had not been a great boss. This coach had not always been a great employee.
We both had our faults. I was angry at her rash behavior and would have been fine in the moment seeing her go.
She ended up staying and turned out to be one of my favorite people who has worked at our gym. In fact, she became our first-ever full-time all star director. A few years later, she got married and moved halfway across the world. We still keep in contact today. I have a very special place in my heart for her, and we’ll always think of her as nothing but an amazing and integral part of Twisters.
I know this sounds like a Hallmark movie ending, but it’s all true. I remember being angry at her almost daily for her abrasive behavior. Little did I realize that just a little more mentorship and a lot more effort on my part would have been the key to a frustrating staff member becoming a key part of our staff.
So, when your staff makes you mad – you have one of two problems:
- They’re the wrong person or in the wrong position. (I wrote a blog about this last week if you want more info on this.)
- You’re not taking ownership of the situation and looking at what you’ve been missing. What have you been doing to mentor this person and develop them as a staff member?
Don’t allow a staff member to ruin the culture in your gym, but more importantly, don’t ruin the culture in your own gym through negligence. Take your responsibility as a gym owner seriously. You’re not just a coach who coaches athletes anymore. Your ability to impact athletes has grown exponentially as your new role is more important. Your new role is to coach the coaches. If you do that job well, you will essentially be reaching far more athletes than you ever did before.
