Leisl’s Learning’s

By Leisl Klaebe | January 24, 2018

 

Culture Change

Changing the culture in your club is a long term proposition which takes planning, patience and commitment from all staff and contractors. Before effecting change you need to identify what needs changing and why and how.

Education

Using my own situation as an example, we had a ‘gotogether goal’ this year where our General Manager encouraged all of us to work together to hit our targets, achieve our goals and effect change in our 6 clubs.

The result of this goal in my club was;

Member Love Levels

NPS Dec 2017 67.9%,

NPS Dec 2016 34.3%

This is a team effort. The entire staff needs to pull together to effect this level of change in a net promoter score.

It is interesting that right now we have just;

  • rolled out a new GEX booking system which has not been too heartily embraced by the members,
  • we have had no Customer Service Manager for the last few months,
  • and we are running a reduced GEX timetable over Christmas/New Year – which also makes many members disgruntled.

Despite this, our NPS is double that of the same time last year. My theory is that as a club, we have been enormously proactive in talking to members in person, over the phone, via email and on social media. We have let them be heard, we have explained our business decisions and the benefits to them and we have kept ongoing communications open with them.

How happy your members are is a direct correlation of how well staff are communicating and connecting with them. You may not be able to resolve all their concerns but are you giving them ‘ear time’ and explaining the ‘why’ behind your business decisions?

I have been working on a long term strategy to change the club culture and shift it into a less aggressive and more accepting and tribal one. In order to achieve this we have focused as a brand on Mind Body this year but I have also completely restructured classes like Zumba with new instructors, new timeslots, masterclasses and travelling roadshows between clubs and this has built community. Introducing a Young at Heart program has also done a great deal to promote fitness friendships and foster  community in the over 55’s demographic.

The culture of our club has shifted from members who want to punch and kick things (Kimax and Boxing were top performers 2 years ago) to Zumba being #1 of our Top 5 classes and Yoga making into the Top 5 for the first time ever.

Identify – what you can do to make your members feel heard and how you can foster community (this may involve member events, social get-togethers, challenges, telling your member’s stories, publishing member achievements), seek member feedback, listen and act on it.

Snapshot

  • Your members need to feel heard.
  • Your members are searching for community.
  • Set goals
  • Track member satisfaction levels to gauge progress.
  • Celebrate your achievements
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