“Eagle of the Moment” is a program whereby members can nominate an employee who goes above-and-beyond. An Eagle can be written for any of the employees, regardless of department. At Gainesville Health & Fitness, we receive around 6,000 Eagles per year. We have various stations around the gym that we call “Eagle Nests” where members can write Eagles. We have at least two of these at each center, and members can also nominate Eagles on our website.
Eagle Dollars
For every Eagle an employee receives they get an Eagle Dollar. Employees can redeem their Eagle Dollars to get any number of prizes. Eagle prizes include GHF merchandise, a movie night experience including two tickets and concessions, a massage at our physical therapy center, Publix gift cards, Visa gift cards and more.
Eagle Dinner
We also hold monthly Eagle Dinners to honor our Eagles of the Month. The champion is responsible for reading all the Eagles written for the previous two months and nominating employees from each center to this dinner. The employees who have the best Eagles for the month are invited to the dinner. GHF defines the best Eagles as “something above and beyond an employee’s regular duties.” For example, an Eagle written for an excellent workout or a lovely greeting is still a great Eagle, but we don’t consider it to be a dinner-worthy Eagle. Examples of Eagle comments can be seen below and on the website at www.ghfc.com/eagles. The Eagle Dinners are a special opportunity for the 20-25 employees invited to both meet and talk with each other and our owner, Joe Cirulli. Joe invites everyone to introduce themselves in turn, and he also encourages an open forum for questions about Gainesville Health & Fitness. Every Eagle is then read to the group so each nominee can be recognized. We have also done Eagle events — for example, we’ve rented out a private room in a bowling alley before.
Example of a Dinner Eagle
“I remember taking Andy’s class two or three years ago and loving it. Then my scoliosis got worse, and I developed all types of pain because the scoliosis threw off the alignment/balance of the rest of my body. Long story short, after PT and rest didn’t work, I went back to working out, but shied away from the fun and high impact exercises. I began to feel like I was handicapped in the gym. Then I met Andy. After gaining some of his vast knowledge and wisdom about working out, I began to try new things. Tonight, I finally tried his class and couldn’t stop smiling the entire time. He has inspired me to stop worrying about what will get hurt, and learn to train smart. He always says you can do more than what you think you can, and tonight I saw that. Andy hasn’t just encouraged to train outside the box, but he has inspired me to rip up the box! I can’t thank him enough for all the wisdom he shared, and I can’t tell you enough how lucky you are to have him. It’s people like him that take gyms to the next level. He’s so approachable, friendly, knowledgeable, and hard-core. It’s one thing for someone to tell you “you can do more than you think you can,” it’s another thing for someone to show you how. Thanks Andy!!!”
Prize Drawing
GHF also does an Eagle Prize Drawing (ONLY if the goal of 700 Eagles in a month is reached) for various prizes such as — a collection of framed Tim Tebow Sports Illustrated covers, a Corey Brewer signed basketball, tickets to an Orlando Magic basketball game complete with parking and refreshment coupons, IPod Shuffles, etc. The drawing is a lottery style drawing from the total number of Eagles written over the past month. Each eagle received will count as one entry into the drawing (ex. 11 eagles = 11 entries).
Shawn Stewart is the Operations Manager at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center. Contact him at shawns@ghfc.com
