When the playbook was published , managers at franchisee organizations across the PF system quickly dove into it . “ We gave it to our regional managers and general managers right away and gave them two days to review the document and come up with a list of questions ,” said Brad Wentzel , chief operating officer of eight-unit Marathon Fitness Management Group . “ From there , we did a town hall over Zoom , allowing the management team to ask me questions and work together as a group to come up with a solution and a strategy for reopening .”
“ The training process started with our team members immediately digging into the reopening playbook content and holding daily / weekly calls and discussions with upper management ,” echoed John Holt , chief operating officer of PLNTF Holdings , which operates 83 clubs . “ Once most of our team members were familiar with the new safety , cleaning and sanitization protocols , we began focusing on what that was going to look like when the doors reopened and members began returning .”
“ After introducing the book on a company call with all managers and field staff , PF Michigan Group took five days to chronologically lay out day by day the steps the organization would take to prep for reopenings ,” said Doug Hockin , director of field operations for the 50-club organization . Once the information was outlined into a logical order , the teams there were ready to get started .
At PFGP , Ratliff said the entire operations team reviewed the playbook . Leaders , including the chief operating officer and directors of operations , discussed it in full detail to ensure all areas were covered and to ask additional questions and get answers from Planet Fitness headquarters . Then , the process was repeated with regional team managers , and each of the regional leaders followed that with multiple calls per week with their club management teams . Club managers relayed all information to their teams , and regional leaders followed up during weekly visits and calls with each club .
The process took weeks , and with clubs opening at different times , some had more time for in-person training activities like role-playing opportunities . “ This is still constantly evolving , but open communication and weekly roundtable discussions via Zoom with our team and other franchises made this a smooth transition ,” Ratliff said .
PLNTF Holdings went through a similar process . “ Our district managers worked closely with the club managers and club staff in reviewing and discussing each section of the playbook and what implementation was going to look like prior to reopening and during the reopening process ,” Holt said . “ The attention to detail in laying out the playbook , new safety requirements and PPE initiatives all aligned very well with our current day-to-day procedures .”
At 78-unit National Fitness Partners , “ Our training team and operations leadership did an incredible job of planning and executing the training associated with the reopening playbook ,” said Andy Sholly , chief people officer . “ Because of NFP ’ s financial commitment to continue paying our full-time staff and club leaders , we were able to execute a training plan over the course of several weeks . We followed a train-the-trainer concept where the training team and regional leaders partnered to deliver reopen training content to club leaders , who then shared the content with club staff .
“ Once reopen plans were released , we could quickly act with our training plans . This also gave us plenty of time to practice the
training in our clubs as well as thoroughly clean them multiple times before we welcomed members back ,” he added .
PF Michigan Group ’ s Hockin said the company followed a chronological order for preparations , starting with bringing team members back , letting them know what had changed and setting expectations before beginning e-training that flowed into cleaning , sanitation and member interactions .
“ We introduced this to our teams through a series of team calls ,” said Scott McCreery , regional director at 169-unit United PF Partners . “ We developed a training tool for the club managers to use to effectively deliver and train on all of the information in a cohesive way that ensures all teammates across the board have a full understanding of the new operations . Once the training tool was created for the club managers , it was helpful to break the teams into groups – cleaning , PFU videos and role playing . This allowed the club manager to be very intentional with their time , as well as prepare the club and teammates for a successful reopening . The reopening playbook was printed , divided into tabs and available at the front for quick , easy reference when necessary .”
P-Fit Development , based in Texas and operator of 10 clubs , went through the playbook process much like the other franchisee groups . Practice and role-playing by team members before opening was critical . “ The more your team members feel prepared to answer questions and deal with uncomfortable situations , the easier it will be for them ,” Vice President of Franchise Operations Emily Gregory said .
The group added an element to the reopening process for measuring the comfort level of team members . At the start of one on-site training meeting , it had employees close their eyes and raise their hands to indicate their comfort level with returning to work .
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GearedUp | 2020 Issue 3
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