The Group Fitness Managers Roundtable will launch on Friday 7th October with the first meeting being held in Sydney. It is the most exciting new opportunity to develop the skills of your group fitness manager in Australia.
As a former club owner I experienced first hand the challenges of the group fitness team. They were a tough team to manage; have them engage with the club culture; and most importantly retain. I have also seen many instructors promoted to “GFM” as they were the best instructor or the person who had the most time.
Your group fitness program is critical to generating leads, closing sales and keeping your members. Which in my opinion means the GFM is as important as a sales person in your club and the sales people often get the training love from us. Not any more . . .
We have developed Australia’s first and only Group Fitness Managers Roundtable.
The concept of a Roundtable is very simple: the same non-competing group fitness managers from across the country meet for a full day, twice a year, build trust and delve into the management, successes and failures of their departments. They will receive out of industry education on building teams at every meeting; opportunities for them to ask their peers questions and support their fellow GFM’s with their experiences. We will share participation numbers and learn why some classes ‘fly’ and others ‘bomb.’ And all professionally facilitated.
Your GFM will utilise the power of their Roundtable to hold themselves accountable. Perhaps more importantly they can tap in to the knowledge and experience of others to #STRENGTHEN their own skills, your program and your group fitness team.
Where Did Roundtables Come From?
After seeing the incredible advantages of being a Roundtable member for 15 years, in 2006, I launched the Industry Leaders Roundtable for club owners. This has grown to now 3 PT Roundtables, 1 Anytime Fitness franchisee table in Australia and the 3 in the US. We are continually tinkering with the model to ensure maximum learning, engagement, implementation and trust. If you are interested in knowing more about the Club Owners Roundtable drop JT an email.
Six months ago Leisl Klaebe, one of Australia’s most successful GFM’s told me, “I want to help GFM’s, can we run a coaching program for them.” I think Leisl was thinking a product like ‘business coaching for GFM’s.’ However, after a decade of seeing the power of peer to peer education, I knew a Roundtable would be JUST what GFM’s need to sharpen their management sword!
Who Is Leisl?
When I first met her, I could see she was an inspirational leader, passionate and and energetic person. She had a high 
emotional intelligence and was someone striving to improve and learn herself. One of her strong values is her belief in leadership and the important role this plays in teams.
As the GFM at Macquarie University Sport, she set record attendances for group fitness 4 years running, successfully attracting over 117,000 member attendances through Macquarie University Sport’s group fitness program in 2015. More importantly, she had a line of instructors wanting to work in her team and an amazing retention of instructors.
I will be working closely with Leisl. The Group Fitness Managers will receive educational material from our parent company REX Roundtables in the US as well as what the Australian Industry Leaders Roundtable receive.
This GFM Roundtable is Leisl’s group that together will set new industry standards on leading group fitness teams.
The Roundtable Launch
In establishing the Group Fitness Managers Roundtable, this will be the only time that it will be advertised. If you do not join the first meeting, you can only by be invited by a current member to join.
There will be no competitors allowed to join. If 2 GFM’s from the same suburb want to join, the first to commit to joining will determine if the second person can join.
You must understand from the outset that this is not a one off meeting. You are joining an elite team of GFM’s from around Australia who truly want to better themselves and have a better team.
Can Your GFM?
For the Roundtable to be successful and for your GFM to gain maximum value, they must:
- Be open to ideas. Every meeting new ideas will be shared that may challenge or further support how your group fitness team is led or operated.
- Be prepared to share. Every meeting your GFM will be asked to share successes and failures so we can learn from them and ensure they don’t happen again for any of the Roundtable.
- Keep their mouth shut! The core essence of a successful Roundtable is confidentiality – which is why no competitors are allowed on the Roundtable. Your GFM will hear things and the only person they can tell is you! This means you will also need to abide by the same confidentiality agreement.
- Come prepared. Each meeting your GFM will be able to add agenda items to discuss as will the other members. This means there is an expectation that your GFM will have thought about their fellow members issues to be able to provide quality feedback.
If your GFM ticks these boxes, then they can apply to join the GFM Roundtable.
Your Investment
The first meeting investment is 299 (plus GST) and if you continue as a member will then be 99.95 per fortnight, with a 5% increase on the 1st February every year. Your only other cost is getting to the meeting!
The First Meeting:
- 8am to 4pm
- Friday 7th October
- Sydney
- Venue – TBC. If we have a number of interstate members, then the meeting will be close or at the airport. If the majority are NSW based then somewhere cool and funky in Sydney!
What Now?
- Move Fast. There are a maximum of 15 places on the GFM Roundtable and with no competitors allowed, you need to make a decision fast if you want to professional develop your GFM. FYI – we already have 25 enquiries!
- You Want To Come. Then tell us you want to come. Click here to book your spot.
- Not Sure? We can have Leisl or myself give you a buzz to chat more about the program. Click here to make a time for one of us to buzz you.
- Not Interested. No worries at all, just thought we’d let you know!
I know that GFM leadership development has never been a priority for many clubs. I also know the clubs that invest in their GFM’s keep them longer and have stronger programs. So for less than the investment of 2 memberships, you will be improving a key aspect of your business and enhancing a key person in your business.
If you have any questions or want to chat, call me 02 9484 5501.
Book Your Spot On The GFM Roundtable
