Maintaining a team full of great employees is a lifesaver as a gym owner.

There is no better feeling than having a reliable team in place, however, not everyone will stay with you long-term.

What is a 'good' length of time for a staff member to stay?

A manager should not bounce after 6 months…

If they have, chances are you didn't lead them the way you should have.

On the flip side, if a manager has been with you for 2 years and has a better opportunity then you are doing great.

You are going to have staff turnover…

And that is okay, it is the cost of doing business!

Kind of like how you are eventually going to have to replace the tires on your car.

It's just the cost of owning a car!

To mitigate staff turnover, we found it super helpful to understand our people.

Specifically, where they fall within our company based on their performance and our culture.

We assess all our employees on these metrics because it lets us know what WE need to do (keep them or cut them).

We call this our 'Staff Retention Calculator.'

It's broken up into 4 different buckets:

1) High Performers & Great Culture Fit:

These are the members of your team that do everything right. They perform at the highest level and mesh so well with the company culture. I've noticed I rarely have to keep an eye on them since they do everything right! To keep them in your company, you as the owner have to develop an opportunity for them that is big enough for them to grow in to!

2) High Performer & Bad Culture Fit:

These are the members of your team that perform very high, but they don't like you or the company much. And because of that, have a negative impact on team members around them. These are crucial situations to have a pulse on before it gets too bad. With this bucket, you need to have a 1 on 1, honest conversation with them to understand where they are coming from, and how we can overcome it. I see these as opportunities for us to get better. If you have that conversation and the negative chit-chat is still going on, it might be best to get rid of them and give the opportunity to someone else.

3) Low Performer & Great Culture Fit:

These are members of your team that are struggling to hit numbers, but everyone loves them, and they love everyone! This bucket is great bucket because we know through great skill set training we can help them develop the skills they need to improve their performance. But also, know they will take the training seriously and stick around since they mesh with the culture so well! So the investment is worth it!

4) Low Performer & Bad Culture Fit:

These are members of your team that should you have caught within your interview process. They're the ones that don't perform and have a negative impact on your company culture. This can really damage your company if you do not address it soon enough. If it has been going long enough, we will professionally explain it is not a good fit and get rid of them. But, if the situation is new, we will follow our standard procedure. Which is having a 1 on 1, honest conversation with them to understand where they are coming from, and how/if we can overcome it. If they are willing to try and get better and see that they do want to get better, we will provide them the training to improve their performance. If we notice it just isn't a good fit, we will get rid of them.

The fantastic thing about each one of these situations is we have control of it, and it gives us a sense of where each team member falls so we can handle the situation.

Hope this helps keep your team longer!

If you want access to more training like this.

You can do one of two things.

1) Join our exclusive Facebook group of gym owners & myself sharing what is working in 2023 by clicking here.
2) Request access to our Gym Growth Secrets Course. (usually $1,999 but today absolutely free) Get it by clicking here.

-Andy

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