A dozen of Australia’s leading Gym Owners were fortunate last week to have former Manly and Australian Rugby League player and NRL coach Mr. Geoff Toovey as guest speaker at the Gym Hub quarterly Mastermind Workshop.
Geoff Toovey was captain of an NRL team at age 22 and took the Manly Sea Eagles to three Grand finals. He played 13 games for Australia, he is a qualified Chartered Accountant and known for being a fierce competitor.
In this short blog, I share 9 of Geoff’s BEST tips for “Creating a High Performance Team Culture”
- Catch your staff doing something right. Too often as owner/managers we only think to speak to staff when we see them do something wrong. Instead, always remember to ‘pat staff on the back’ when they do something well and watch how it boosts their morale.[spacer height=”20px”]
- Create a leadership group. Find the influencers in the group and invite them to be involved in decision-making. Not only will these key people enjoy the extra responsibility, but they will often get less resistance from staff when its time to implement change[spacer height=”20px”]
- You need clear roles and expectations for your staff to perform at their best. Many issues in a workplace can be avoided when staff are 100% clear what your expectations are of them and who is responsible for what job.[spacer height=”20px”]
- Let leaders shine. When choosing a captain or a manager for your gym, consider giving them small projects to see how well they perform. The natural leaders will rise to the top.[spacer height=”20px”]
- There are different types of leaders. Don’t expect any manager or leader to be strong in all areas. Some managers like to ‘lead by example’ perhaps getting the most leads each week or getting the best attendance to their group classes. Other managers might ‘excel in planning’ or have excellent ‘people skills’ that come in handy for developing and mentoring staff.[spacer height=”20px”]
- Train toughness. Put your staff in training situations where they need to work as a team to overcome some challenges as a group. This makes them ‘game ready’ for when problems arise and also develops teamwork.[spacer height=”20px”]
- Don’t give staff too many things to remember. Don’t overload your staff at a team meeting. Instead help them to become laser focuses on[spacer height=”20px”]
- Staff cannot always be at their best. Like athletes, remember to give staff rest periods and time-off to recover so they can have longevity in the industry and enjoy the journey.[spacer height=”20px”]
- You can’t do everything yourself. NRL coaches surround themselves with a team of experts such as a CEO, a forward’s coach, a strength and conditioning coach and a massage therapist so their team can perform at the highest level. A Gym Owner is the same. They can save loads of time, money and heartache leveraging off a professional fitness network and aligning themselves with an experienced business mentor.