Rather than giving the instructors a lecture on
how to form better relationships with people, I
set them a challenge...
regards performance, and can improve engagement.
2. Responsibility
The amount of responsibility an instructor is given should directly
correlate with how capable they are. Selecting instructors to take the
lead on instructor training or giving them the authority to make their
own judgment calls without the involvement of the GFM shows them
that the GFM believes they’re capable.
3. Showcasing
A gym’s best instructors are its rock stars. Providing them with the
opportunity to lead by example will reinforce their value to the club.
This can be done by asking individual instructors to lead a specific
program, and giving them a corresponding title, such as ‘HIIT Leader’,
‘Head of Aqua Fitness’ or ‘Seniors Program Leader’. These people
can be put in charge of updating other staff regarding the latest
trends in their area, helping mentor new instructors and letting the
GFM know if there are any problems with equipment or complaints
regarding their program. As well as making them feel validated, this
will also inspire other employees to compete for the top spot.
4. Event recognition
Having a whiteboard in the staff room
and using it to acknowledge instructor
achievements and occasions, such as
‘Happy Birthday Sanuli!’, ‘Well done for
receiving your BODYATTACK Certification
Sam!’ or ‘Congratulations on your
engagement Tom!’, lets instructors know
the GFM is interested in them and their
achievements and wants to share it with the
team.
5. Tokens of appreciation
Management may be able to supply the
GFM with resources that they can give
to instructors who have gone above and
beyond. These could include coffee
vouchers, supplement samples or free
visit passes for the gym for them to share
with friends. Finding one of these tokens of
appreciation in your pigeon hole will always
put a smile on an instructor’s face.
Instructor challenges
and competitions
As a leader, it is the GFM’s job to lift the skills
and performance of the instructor team
to the highest level. This can be done by
motivating and energising them to become
better instructors and make more effort in
their classes.
In general, instructors are people who
like the limelight. They love to be noticed
and are often quite competitive. Therefore,
a really effective way of building team spirit
and enabling instructors to interact is to set
a challenge. The following are two examples
of challenges that I found to be effective at
getting instructors to communicate, both
with each other and members.
1. Connection challenge
After attending several instructors’ classes I
felt there was a lack of connection between
the instructors and the class participants.
In business, particularly within the gym
environment, customer satisfaction is
vital for ongoing success. Therefore, if
instructors are not engaging with the
customer (their participants), class numbers
may suffer. Inclusion and engagement
make people feel good, which will keep
them coming back week after week.
Rather than giving the instructors a
lecture on how to form better relationships
with people, I set them the Connection
Challenge, shown on the right, on our club's
Instructor Facebook group page:
50 | NETWORK AUTUMN 2019