Fitness Business School – Creating A Culture

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby and in this episode, I want to talk with you about building your culture. It’s something I’ve been excited about for a long time. This talk about how creating a culture can really drive your business. So we’re going to cover it in this episode.

Welcome to The Fitness Business School podcast – the show for fitness business owners who want to grow their income, increase their impact and improve their lifestyle. Be sure to listen til the end of this episode, because we have a brand new special offer exclusive for listeners. So stay tuned.

I started studying culture way back in like 1997. I wasn’t sure how to get the baseball program. I was coaching to, to turn the corner. I’d taken over a program that had never had a winning season and we won more than we lost the first couple seasons, but we just couldn’t compete with the really good teams. So I set out to learn not only what we could do, tactically or strategically, but how to build a winning culture. And within three years after I kind of set, set out on this quest, if you will, we were playing in the world series. Now over time, the same lessons that helped me create that, that kind of environment. They also helped me create a franchise. That was the number one ranked in north America for franchisee satisfaction and another business that was voted best among the best places to work in my home state. So the culture piece of the puzzle is something that I’ve really been interested in for quite some time. So what are those lessons that, that are key to building or creating a blueprint for a great culture?

Well, in my mind, there are seven steps, seven kind of sequential steps that need to be in place. And if you’ve got them, you’ve got the foundation for having a winning culture, in whatever type of business that you have, whether it’s small and boutique or bigger with a, a much larger team. Now, the first is leadership. It all starts with you. A bad leader is the first domino in creating a bad culture. You set the tone for everything you lead from the front. Number two vision. This is your what and your why. It’s the message you as the leader have to instill throughout your organization and really convey and reinforce over and over and over number three values. These are the filter that you use to make decisions. It’s basically your business boundaries. If you will, or guard rails that you and the team work within, if something might help you achieve your vision, but it doesn’t match your values. It doesn’t stay within those guard rails. So to speak, it’s not a fit. And then number four, standards of performance.

These are basically the standards that have to be met by you and your team to help you achieve your vision. It’s kinda like your scoreboard, if you will, it’s whether or not each person won or lost at the tasks that they were responsible for, as it related to achieving that overall vision. And then number five, this, this is the one that, that I always see people get hung up on and it systems systems are simply the processes that help you and your team consistently meet your standards. Basically, once you identify what those standards are, you reverse engineer, a process that allows the person charged with meeting that standard to get there consistently and repeatedly. And then number six people, you know, it’s interesting. People will tell me, business owners will say, well, Hey, the driver for a great culture is great people, but I I’ll be honest. I’ve seen over and over and over great people kind of stumble and struggle in bad environments. But then they moved to a different environment and they thrive. So understand that the culture is going to lift the person up or drag the person down. So we, we need to hire people that connect with our vision. They align with our values and they’re capable of achieving our standards of performance. Plus they have to be willing to follow the systems and do it consistently. Now that’s how we set somebody up to succeed. If, if they have that aptitude that they can do it and the attitude. So basically the willingness to do it, then we can make that person successful.

If we’ve checked all those five first boxes and then finally communication the daily yes, daily reinforcement of all of this, the vision, the values, the standards, the systems, the daily recognition of things done well, the daily building of relationships with the people on our team, that communication is going to be the glue that holds all of this together. See all too often, you know, we, we piecemeal things, right? Like I said, owners think they can build a great culture simply by having good people. But if you don’t set those people up to succeed, it’s not enough. If those people don’t align with the vision and values, they’re, they’re, short-term people, right? They may be good people, but they’re not a good fit and let’s face it. Poor leadership will drive good people away. And even the best systems make a bad job, more efficient, but not more effective.

So understand that if you’re going to lead from the front, you’re going to establish the vision, the values, the standards. You’re going to create systems to set people up to succeed. You’re going to hire people that have the aptitude and the attitude to do it. And you’re going to communicate with them regularly. You’re going to thrive. You’re going to have a culture that wins over and over and over. And frankly, it’s going to be one that people want to stay a part of. I’ve been really lucky since I started my new business in 2015, I have had zero attrition. I have had nobody just kind of go out that revolving door. And I know that’s a competitive advantage. I see a lot of people that I compete with have that kind of revolving door. And so they’re spending a lot of time chasing down new people, trying to indoctrinate them and what they do instead of just helping the people that they have get better and spread it. Instead of spending time coaching the clients. Now we’re chasing new coaches. So if you want a better culture, that’s your blueprint.

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