Does your staff struggle to take the lead? If so, you might find delegation to be pretty challenging. I’ve encountered this very issue in my gym a few years ago. It makes you think delegation just isn’t going to work for you. We would sit through staff meetings where I would tell them things that needed to be done, and I’d offer opportunities for feedback and questions. The next day though, nothing had really changed. It started to feel like these general “housekeeping” notes at our staff meetings were redundant and even negative. Then I changed my tactic altogether.
The person who taught me to lead didn’t tell me what to do every step of the way.
Many years ago, when I was in the Air Force, I was a measly staff sergeant trying to run a public affairs office while my boss was deployed. The wing commander, a general, was my supervisor during that time. He didn’t have time to tell me every single thing that needed to be done. Instead, he focused on teaching me leadership.
He mentored me rather than managed me.
How does that translate to our gyms? Well, I changed our staff meetings first off. We focused 2/3 on leadership and communication skills and just 1/3 on skills and “housekeeping” (this is how you mop, this is where you need to put mats at the end of the night, etc.)
By teaching my staff to lead, and later giving some of them opportunities to present on leadership, they developed and grew in ways I never thought were possible.
Today they are the single driving factor of our gym’s growth to over 600 athletes. In a few weeks, I’ll give you a few topics I’d recommend teaching over your next few staff meetings if you need some ideas.
