How to Build a Winning Team

Every entrepreneur hits a certain point where they simply cannot do all of the day-to-day operations of running a successful business completely alone. They begin to realize that working 80 hours every week is just not sustainable. This is where a strong team working together in support of the business’ goals is crucial. The difference between success and failure for many small businesses within the first five years is often dependent upon the support of a strong team. Over the next three-part blog series, I will discuss the steps we have taken at Power Keg Athletics to help build the the team we have today.

Phase I – Identifying a need and designing a pertinent, effective job description

Step 1: Identify A Need

Where can you input someone that will remove day-to-day responsibilities from your plate? This should enable you, the business owner, more time to spend working on tasks that help grow and develop your business such as marketing, sales or systemizing your daily tasks also known as standard operating procedures.

Step 2: Design an Effective Job Description

Once you have identified the tasks you feel will best enable you to work on your business and not in it, you will need to organize them into a formal job listing. This listing should begin with a paragraph describing what kind of person you are looking for and a description of the role you desire to be filled. Remember, when writing this description, it should be done so in a way that projects a professional work environment, a challenging role with growth opportunity, and fun as well. No one wants to apply for a position, especially at a gym, that sounds like they will be scraping gum off New York City sidewalks. Try and come up with a job title that embodies what you are looking for and will allow the new employee to feel empowered in his/her new role with the team, such as “Class Coach & Community Ambassador” instead if “CrossFit® Trainer” or “Member Relations Specialist” instead of “Administrative Assistant”.

Think about the minimum roles and responsibilities that you need fulfilled by this new team member and list them out in bullet points. When drawing up this list, it is always a good practice to preface the list with a clause stating that the position “..shall include, but is not limited to the followed roles and responsibilities”. This is good practice to help avoid future issues when new responsibilities are added as the position develops.

An effective job description can play a role as an initial filtering system. A business owner can attract great prospects as well as filter out those who most likely will not fit the bill. The more you can inform the potential applicant of what he or she will be responsible for, the less likely you will be bombarded with applicants that you eventually discover are not interested in completing any of the additional responsibilities assigned once the job begins. When creating this position, you might want to ask yourself the following questions to begin with. This will help you build a strong outline to work from.

• How many classes will be required or how many hours will be required?
• Will this be a full-time or part-time position, or maybe it is just a class coach position with no administrative time?
• Will personal training be allowed, strongly encouraged or even required? Some gyms will have minimum revenue goals that a full-time coach must reach and sustain every month or quarter.
• Will you offer benefits such as health, dental or retirement? For our full-time staff we offer one free membership to a friend or family member which everyone takes full advantage of.

Don’t forget to run the numbers and determine how much you can afford to pay a new employee. The last thing you want to do is hire someone and then realize two months later you are not financially prepared to cut a paycheck and pay all the additional taxes/fees that come along with having employees.

Step 3: Format and Post Job Opportunity

Once you have all your details gather and the job posting formatted, it is time to get the word out there. If you need help with your format, check out a job listing from Power Keg Athletics. With today’s technology, letting the public know you are looking to expand your team is just as, if not more, important than the position details themselves.

To start we make sure to post the job listing on big websites such as Indeed, Monster and CareerBuilder. We will get a lot of hits from these big sites, but they are reaching much further than the local sites, and you might find that you will need to complete a Skype interview if the applicants are from far away. Next, working with local sites such as Craigslist and Facebook will help drive applicants who are local. With Facebook, you will be able to share the job posting with your friends which will be a great way to reach a lot of people in the fitness industry quickly.

Stay tuned for our next blog post, Phase II – Designing the Interview and Selecting the Applicants!

As mentioned earlier, it’s important that you have a solid grasp on your finances before making the decision to hire a new employee. If you’re looking for tips on how to run a more financially fit box, get your copy of our 2016 Affiliate Gym Benchmark Report.

Guest post written by Adam Babin, Owner and Coach at Power Keg Athletics

Adam Babin has spent more than 15 years entrenched in fitness and athletics. He has had the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge through experiences as both an athlete and trainer. After dedicating his formidable high school years to becoming a collegiate athlete, Adam quickly changed directions and joined the United States Marine Corps. This projected him down a path of military and government work, which laid the foundation for him to become the entrepreneur he is today. In pursuit of a more balanced life, Adam founded Power Keg Athletics in San Diego. Adam became an entrepreneur with the goal of not only figuring his own life journey, but to help others find their way to a healthier, happier life through fitness and service to others.