The need for a system and expectations
There is a common saying regarding the hiring and firing practices of small businesses… “Quick to hire, slow to fire.”
In our early days we made the mistake of giving folks the opportunity to be trainers in our gym too readily and without clearly defined expectations. There’s been some needless headache and there’s no reason for you to do that. With proper expectations and a system or process for making additions to your team you can save yourself and others a bunch of grief.
Developing clients into trainers
The reality is that most of your trainers will come from within your clientele. They may or may not be your best athletes, but they will typically be folks you really like and would consider friends. (BTW…it may sound obvious, but if you don’t like someone, don’t hire them!)
Bringing trainers up from within your clientele has its pros and cons. The pros are fairly obvious:
- these folks have learned from you
- they know your style and how you run things
- you like them and trust them, so you know they’ll be easy to work with
- they already know your clients
- your clients like them!
The cons are possibly a bit more obscure:
- Making assumptions about people you think you know
- Failure to set clear boundaries and expectations.
Since most of us entering into a CrossFit business had little to no experience hiring and firing individuals we likewise have little experience laying out expectations for performance. We assume, wrongly, that the folks we bring on will think like us with regards to what work needs to be done and how things should be handled (they’re cool people and they get it, right?) WRONG!
It is absolutely critical to have clear expectations and measurements for performance. Not only does this ensure that your needs and the needs of your business are being met, but it ensures that your team members know whether or not they are doing a good job. As I mentioned earlier, small businesses are notorious for being quick to hire and slow to fire (we’ve been there). This is primarily due to the lack of expectations and lack of experience in these matters (especially avoidance of confrontation necessary to fire someone). If the expectations are clear folks will know whether they are performing or not. If for some reason they aren’t performing to the clear standards you have set out, they will already know it. They will already expect to be fired. There will be no awkward conversations or weird feelings. Both parties have agreed on performance standards and if they aren’t being met the trainer knows that you aren’t going to hate them for it, and they also know they aren’t going to stay on as a trainer for your facility. There’s nothing to take personally and feelings don’t need to get hurt. It becomes cut and dry, either you are performing or you are not.
Now obviously, you have a lot of latitude here. As the owner, if you need to take some slack with one of your team members for one reason or another you can obviously do that. The point is that you WILL have some folks that you bring on that won’t work out. Having clear policy and expectations will help you navigate this.
Back to the newly certed “green” coach on the doorstep. How it would go down at NorCal:
If you show up off the street (and you’re not Dutch Lowy or some other established trainer that I already know) and wanted to train at our gym I would expect you to first become a client. I want to get to know you and see how you fit with our community. Are you nice? Do you go out of your way to introduce yourself to the other clients? Do you have good movement? Are you a team player? You being a client first allows me to see you in action and gives me time to decide if you would make a good addition to our team. If you navigate this initial step with flying colors we then move on to expectations and the probationary period.
To be continued…
I completely agree with you about being a client first – that’s what I tell everyone who comes to me looking for a job. But, what about trainers who seem passionate about CrossFit and willing to learn, but then say they can’t afford to train at our gym first? My feeling is that if they don’t find value in our service, how would they expect to convey that value as a staff member? But if they insist they can’t afford the monthly membership and the Elements (our “On Ramp”), do you just wave good-bye? I’d hate to leave good trainers out of our box, but I don’t want to let them train for free since that would be missing the point of them realizing the value in our service. But, we will be looking for another trainer in about 3 months so we’ve started trying to come up with prospects…we don’t have any obvious choices in our classes right now.
That’s a tough one…cuz essentially you don’t know anything about this person. Usually if a person really wants to do something but can’t afford it they will offer to do something for you in trade, clean, scrub toilets, anything. I feel fairly strongly that it needs to be a win win….if they can’t pay you $ they can pay you by doing something for you.
You could have them do a series of interviews with you and your other staff members to determine potential character/personality conflicts and then if there aren’t any red flags you could offer to let them take the On Ramp in exchange for cleaning or other miscellaneous duties that would help you out. If they decline that tells me they don’t REALLY want it.
Can you go into more depth regarding the expectations you have in Norcal?
Craig, that’s the “to be continued” part
Nicki – I eagerly awaited your article in the latest PM to come out, but then it wasn’t there…or I didn’t see it. Did I miss it, or will it be out next month? Are you putting all the content from the article here on your blog?
Hey Joanna,
It’s not going to be a PM article, it’s going to be a stand alone PDF for sale. I’m planning on posting several parts on my blog, but not the whole enchilada…
Great topic Nicki! Looking forward to the “to be continued” part. Not sure you have run into this in Norcal since you guys have cornered all the “jerks and snatches” down there
, but what are your thoughts on a trainer from another local affiliate that comes to you to request if they can be a trainer at your box because it is near their home, want more experience, etc? Assume the trainer joins your box and integrates well with your clients while still running classes at the other affiliate. You can see you are quickly developing a need for an additional part time trainer and they seem to be a good fit based on what you describe above. How would you even approach this other box you barely know to not paint the picture that you are “stealing a trainer”?
Tom! Thanks for posting. Fortunately I’ve not had this experience before…and I’m not sure there’s a surefire answer. If the trainer is an independent contractor for the other box he/she legally needs to be able to do contract work for multiple companies. If the trainer is an employee the question comes up whether that box has a non compete agreement of some sort in place. Really, I would put it on the trainer to bring up the topic with the first box. But it’s kind of dicey all the way around. If the trainer is popular, clients may want to go where he/she is training…then it’s not just the trainer migrating, but potentially clients. If that trainer is working to grow a private training practice in addition to teaching group classes, where is he going to try to build his/her practice? I almost think the trainer needs to pick one box. Not sure if that helped at all…those are just my initial thoughts. Keep me posted!
Hi Nicki
I am starting out in Israel, getting more and more clients, and while I am totally subscribing to the On Ramp point of entry model (and it’s working BEAUTIFULLY, thanks for sharing it!), I am concerned that I am not doing any kind of organized “intake” with them.
I have repeatedly heard about “movement screens” and I have yet to be able to figure out what it is…
Regardless, before allowing someone to sign up to your OnRamp, do you guys do any kind of test or assessment?
Would you be willing to blog about it?
Again, thanks for EVERYTHING!!!
We have folks come in for a half our fitness consult…really it’s an opportunity for us to get them in the gym and establish some rapport more than anything. But, we check out ROM in their shoulders, we look at the squat and we evaluate some bodyweight strength via pushups and pullups. No workout, just lot’s of face time getting to know them, what they’re looking for, we chat about our program and just get a feel for their movement and general fitness level.
Thanks Nicki! That is extremely helpful and a very important topic of conversation for us with the trainer in question. I hadn’t really thought about the aspect of the “non-compete” agreement but that coupled with a potential to carry over clients makes it delicate and a situation that doesn’t seem the best for all involved. Your advice to let the trainer to bring it up with their box is right on. It’s not an area I feel would be right for us to initially bring up especially after reading this. Thanks again!
You bet! Glad I could help!