Alexis Bredeau shares five easy ways health club leaders work for their employees.
There’s an age-old question that lives rent free in my mind: How do teams consistently perform at the elite level required? The simple answer is leaders work for their employees. If you’re a leader in the health club industry, employees work for your clients and you work for your employees.
Here are five easy ways you, as a health club leader, can work for your employees at no cost to hierarchy or sanity.
1. Grant the PTO.
Great leaders will set their team up for success while they are away. Allowing your team to enjoy the bigger picture and not feel trapped will elicit higher levels of engagement when they are in their operating platform.
2. Bring your team coffee, donuts, snacks or lunch.
Your $30 of generosity will ensure the entire staff is more internally motivated and rejuvenated to achieve the goals and deadlines you provide to them. A smile from your thoughtfulness goes a long way.
3. Listen to understand.
Listen when it’s positive and listen when it’s negative. Be confident enough to steer a conversation that is too negative, and simultaneously allow your ego to accept some potentially vital feedback from the voice of your business operators. If one person is thinking or feeling it, there’s a good chance they aren’t the only one. Refuse to take away their very important voice and interview your teams often.
4. Celebrate the wins and constructively appreciate the losses.
There’s a difference between trying and failing and failing to try. Great leaders are hard on themselves for the losses because they feel responsible for the shortcomings. We all know tidbits of failure make for greater success. They will fear failure and you will encourage it. I would be more worried if everything was perfect all the time and every employee hit each micro and macro goal they made. Allow positive teachable moments from failure itself.
5. Stay consistent for your team.
We all crave a reliable and trusted leader. A check in once a quarter is not okay. A check in once a month is okay. A check in once a week is good. A connection with your team daily is extraordinary. A check in doesn’t have to be a mutual conversation – it could be a funny gif you send to your team, words of encouragement to start their day, a check in on their family or weekend plans, or even a cheeky dad joke. The personal and professional investment in the humans who are operating your business is insanely important.
As much as I would love to say the above are all easy to practice, there will be times when you struggle with this. You may have a consistently underperforming employee you are struggling to connect with, or a teammate who might make you feel like all you have invested in them has been wasted. I’m here to remind you that’s normal, and these moments are the constructive failures you need as a leader that allow you to make greater, more meaningful connections in the future.
Don’t give up on the right people, and they won’t give up on you. And remember, dad jokes can always save the day.
