September is the month to capitalize on the energy of the well-rested staff returning from vacations. Club managers should be thinking about and planning for staff training for the entire year. Rather than go for the one-shot deal, look at training as a long-term investment in your people - your greatest resource. Here is a twelve month "menu" plan of "food for thought" aka "fitness for your head". Pick and choose the ones that are most applicable to your needs, objectives, staff size, budget and timing.
- September: Motivation. Fire up the troops and inspire them by making them feel good about themselves; they will naturally treat the members better.
- October: Leadership. Time to train your managers, supervisors, and directors on how to keep the staff motivated and how to be effective in their leadership roles.
- November: Time Management. As the holidays approach, teach skills that will be useful personally and professionally, and will ultimately impact the bottom line.
- December: Stress Management. No explanation necessary!
- January: Goal Setting. Call it what you may - resolutions, goals, strategic planning - January is the prime time to implement programs and systems for the New Year.
- February: Customer Service. This training is a priority, as it will affect retention, referrals, marketing and sales. Focus on your internal and external customers with a program that addresses both.
- March: Sales Training. Look to outside professionals for new insights into the sales process and build on the goal setting and customer service to increase the member base.
- April: April Fools. How about a little humor in the workplace? Yes, we know we are in a fun business, but there are still staff members out there who are humor impaired and need to exercise their laugh muscles more.
- May: Teamwork. A great opportunity to bring all the staff together for "bonding." In a business where there are so many part-timers, it is often difficult to create the team feeling unless it is provided through various teamwork training sessions.
- June: Presentation Skills. Give the fitness staff, trainers, and aerobic instructors CEC's and expand their physical skills with a mental work-out.
- Summer choices for July and August:
Networking. Teach this skill so they can get out into the community and use the best advertising of all - word of mouth. Networking is the contact sport of the '90's.TM
Self Esteem/Assertiveness Training. We all need feel-good's to do-good.
Listening and Communication Skills enhance customer service and sales.
Marketing. A good seminar on marketing so we can go out and tell everyone how unique our club is, how well-trained our staff is, how exceptional our customer service is, how creative our fitness staff is, what great leadership we have, and how proud we are proud to work at XYZ Club because our management invests in training our staff for the best ROI (return on investment). . . . . . . happy members.
Bio: Mikki Williams, CSP, based in Westport, CT, is a professional speaker, trainer and club consultant. A former club owner, she travels the world, assisting clubs, associations and companies in staff training, customer service implementation and developing sales, marketing and management strategies to impact the bottom line. For further information, phone 203-454-0770, fax 203-221-7071 |
