Ep. 170 - Fueling Team Energy In The Messy Middle

This time of year brings a special kind of swirl: long weekends for coaches in competition season, tired and sick staff, and students pushing through winter fatigue while school pressure mounts. We’ve been there, and we’re sharing the exact playbook we use to keep morale high without burning people out.

We start with fast ways to raise energy: frequent, specific shout-outs that name the behavior and tie it to core values like flexibility and initiative. Then we add small but mighty boosts - gift cards for last‑minute saves, a surprise group coffee order, or a quick thank-you that lands when it counts. These gestures are easy to execute and powerful because they tell your team they’re seen.

Next, we get practical about time. A 30-minute calendar audit can prevent the seven-day grind that leads to illness and mistakes. We look one to two months ahead for meets, travel, and school events, shift meetings to realistic windows, and pre-schedule true rest days. Our weekly review maps priorities and clarifies what only we can do, so when the week gets busy, we follow the plan our calmer selves made.

Finally, we reconnect to the why. Whether you’re teaching toddlers or coaching skill upgrades, the impact is real: safer kids, proud parents, and a happy staff. Progress is often invisible day to day but undeniable across months, so we make it visible and celebrate often.

Here's our blog you can share with your member families about the The Messy Middle.

Be sure to include your phone number or email so we can respond to your message!

Reach us at: contactlearningtothrive@gmail.com
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to Learning to Thrive. I'm Courtney. And I'm Michaela. And today we are coming to you with an episode on how to keep energy up for your staff in times that feel chaotic. And specifically for us right now, it is the end of February-ish. And we are mid-competition season, mid-school year, and also mid-winter. For it feels like midwinter. I don't know if we're coming out of it soon or not, but I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

I think we're supposed to be on the tail end of it, but it feels very much like the never end in the middle. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

So as we go through this time, which there's always a period of time in every business cycle, right? Like if you're in a different industry, if you're in, you know, a different sports industry or in a dance industry or something like that, your the timing of yours might be different. I know for the gymnastics industry, it usually tends to be whenever the middle of the competition season is. And especially if that pairs with the middle of a school year, because in the middle of a school year, the kids are under a lot of pressure anyway to do testing for grades. It kind of gets boring in school this time of year. It doesn't feel like it's ever going to end, but they're like over the newness of their new grade, friends, all that kind of stuff. So dealing with being a leader who is competent and proactive in making sure that in those challenging times we are keeping our people steady, that we ourselves are staying steady, and also that we're doing the things that we need to do in order to keep the energy up, I think is critical. And I think this is where a lot of people can get stuck in like a like fall behind and like it takes months to catch up versus if you start to feel yourself stumble, putting some practical things in place to be like, no, we're not, we're not stumbling this time. We're gonna go ahead and we're gonna we're gonna acknowledge it, we're gonna address it, and we're gonna do some things about it and see if we can't keep our momentum going. Even if we're not moving forward, we're at least not sliding backwards.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

We're just chugging along, you know, but like intentionally, as opposed to just kind of stumbling along, like you said, to like we're getting through it, but yeah, maybe not a ton of progress made. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't, but like, but not stumbling through it like you said. Yeah. Keeping that momentum going, keeping spirits high, that kind of thing.

Being Intentional with Employee Praise

SPEAKER_00 2:22

So okay, so three tips. We're giving you three practical things. You can implement them today if you want to, or not, whatever floats your boat. Pick one, pick three, whatever happens to you. But if you're noticing that your team is kind of trudging uphill, these are some things that you can do to help them out and also to provide the leadership and the steadiness that they need in order to feel like, okay, even if life is crazy, everything that's happening here is steady. So, first thing is being more intentional or upping the volume of your shout-outs, your whatever positive reinforcement you normally do, leveling it up. And not leveling it up in the sense of, you know, you have to have new things or whatever, but leveling it up in the sense of frequency, in the sense of intentionality, and also in the sense of like reading the room, so to speak. And that can be anything from like if you have a if you guys have a group app that you use to communicate. Can you find one thing as a leader a day to shout out? I thank you so much, you know, to this person for coming in to cover. Thank you so much for this person. I heard you in the lobby speaking to a parent, and what you said was right on point. I love how you were how you were proactive and going to see that parent. Or even saying it to them as they're leaving. Hey, you taught a great class today. I loved the way that you were so patient with your kids on Beam. That goes miles, in my opinion, as far as just noticing that people might need a little more encouragement in this time and going out of your way to provide that encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I also think if you can link it back to like this is another example of like leveling it up, if you can link it back to like a core value or a competency or something like that. I had a situation the other day where we had to move someone around kind of last minute in terms of what they were doing that evening. And, you know, being like, okay, thanks. Like I really appreciate it is great. But then being like, hey, I really appreciate you being willing to be flexible. Yeah. Which like flexibility within Thrive is something, it's a competency that we like put a lot of value in. So linking it back to that specific competency. And it's kind of like that old saying, like, if you see something, say something. I feel like you'd normally hear that in like a bad way. Yeah. But doing it in a good way as well, right? If you see someone going above and beyond or rising to meet expectations or things like that, pointing it out, it feels great in the moment and it it keeps that momentum going, like we were talking about.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Yeah, and it takes you two seconds. Yeah, it's easy. Somebody can live off that compliment for a solid week, right? And and so and it takes you so the return on investment there is huge. The other thing is go like tangibles, right? We've had a lot of substitutions. Somebody who comes in on a last-minute substitution saves the day, gift card, right? We have a stack of gift cards in our safe. We just, hey, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being willing to come in on such a last minute, or we really appreciate that you stayed to help that, you know, new teacher. You saw there was a problem there, you stayed. Thank you so much. Uh, we try to empower our leaders to be able to access those gift cards and also give them freely. But in this time, I literally had two conversations this week where I'm like, give, give more. Like, look, look for opportunities to get those out. You know, like see if you can find it. Buying the team Starbucks.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Oh, you saved me the other morning. You really did. You really did. We get to work and I'm, it was one of the it's just, you know, the morning. It was fine. It was a fine morning, but it's in the in the middle of the what we call the messy middle. Yeah. And to just get that message, it's like, hey, I'm doing a Starbucks order. Like, thank you guys for just like keeping things, yeah, keeping the boat afloat, was like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Thank you. So and it took two minutes. It's a group order. Like so, DoorDash, for anybody who doesn't know, DoorDash has a group order feature. You can copy that link and text it to whoever's working, and then it just shows up. And so the the lift for me wasn't that heavy, but the impact of that really made a difference. And I think people, that acknowledgement of like, we just all need a boost around this time was something that I think probably fueled people at least through the afternoon, maybe, maybe even to the next day. And then trying to be intentional with that and do that, you know, for another team that comes in another day. Like, look at the look at the schedule and like, okay, maybe Friday's team is a whole new group set of people. Like it goes a long way. So I guess what we're saying with number one is you know your people the best. What's what is their love language?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Right?

Audit Your Calendar

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Compliments, cookies, coffee, and I don't know, just acknowledgement, right? Goes a long, long way. So that's number one. Be intentional and be looking out for those things because you lifting up your people holds the steadiness, but also lifts, like gives them the energy that they might be lacking. So that's number one. Number two is looking at your calendar and having the people you lead look at the calendar either with you or if they want to do it by themselves, that's fine. But like it always helps to have a buddy. Let's face it. Like, let's do a if you have a leadership meeting scheduled, everybody do a cat, bring your calendars. So we can all we can buddy up and we can look at our calendars. The specific things to be looking for in a calendar audit. Number one, in the next couple of months, what's gonna get in the way of your normal schedule? Right. So we have coming up for our industry, we have our we have our state meets. And so there's regular meetings that we hold throughout the months. And some of those, some of those are gonna get bumped because our coaches are off because the week after states. So like we wanna make sure that we can hold meetings that people come to. So I'm looking ahead as a leader and I'm saying, okay, what's what's gonna get in the way of that, right? Looking at, hey, we've got three meets in the next four weeks, okay, that means somebody is working, might be working more than like five days, right? Right. So what are what are we doing to get that person a break somewhere else? Right. So if you're working on Saturday and Sunday, can we get you Monday off? Can we get you coverage for Wednesday? Like, where can I find that rest day, even if it's just one rest day for the week? We don't want our people working seven days straight. That's a recipe for burnout, illness, injury, disaster, like not gonna work. We can be proactive about that or we could be reactive. We either have to find them coverage when they get sick or coverage ahead of time so that they don't get sick. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Like and the coverage ahead of time is always going to be better than the day of or night before coverage. So yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

And I would say as a leader, your responsibility is to know your calendar. So you've got to look at what you've got going on and say, where am I refilling my cup? Where am I making sure my workouts are getting in, my eat, you know, that I'm meal prepping or, you know, at least shopping for groceries or whatever it happens to be. Where am I, you know, how is how am I on a having a day off myself? Like a true day off where you're or a true morning off or whatever it is, however you work best. But the idea that being proactive with our time, planning it out, setting it intentionally, reviewing where we've spent our time in the last week and looking forward to the next week, that is a concept that can be game-changing for a team, right? We have weekly reviews that our leadership team does every week. And they're looking back at the previous week and they're looking forward to this next week coming up. What are my priorities? What are the things that only I can do? And in doing that, they're being proactive with their time, adding that to a kind of a one to two month out, what's coming up calendar review is a powerful way to let your people that you're leading know, hey, I care about you. I care about your energy, I care about your quality of life, and I want to make sure that we set you up for success because you being set up for success is going to mean that we're we're successful. And so lead leading in that manner, and it might feel uncomfortable if you've never done that before. People might be like, what do you mean bring get our calendar? That's something that happens on a regular basis around here, but like you can explain that to them. Hey, if we take control of our time and our energy, we're gonna be much better off in two months than if we just fly by the seat of our pants and hope we cross the finish line.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Right. And when life feels super chaotic, if you're in the messy middle of whatever, you know, it is that you're doing, then having that calendar that you know is planned out with both the tasks that you need to get done as well as the energy it's gonna take to do those things and where the balances are and things like that, it's kind of like your guiding point. So that way when you're it's a Wednesday and you're like, oh my gosh, like I just, I feel like so swirly, like I don't even know what's going on. You can pull up that calendar and be like, okay, all right. Got got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday done. Here's my plan for Thursday through Sunday, including my rest or recuperation time. And then it just kind of gives you that reset and like, okay, no, I know where I'm going, I know what, I know what's happening, and kind of slows down. I call it the swirlies, like when I get really overwhelmed. It kind of slows down the swirl if you've taken the time to do it and to fill it out and to be intentional about it. It it's kind of your roadmap during that.

Connecting Back to Your Why

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Because in theory, the person who filled that out, which is you, was not in a rush, was being proactive, and was able to think and use your full brain, right? And so that person who filled it out is the best version, yeah. That's the best version of you. So the best version of me decided on Sunday that on Thursday I should meet with X, Y, and Z, and I'm stressed on Wednesday, my goal is to trust the better the better version of me. Cause she probably saw things that I I can't see in this moment. Because I'm like you said, I've got the whirlies, right? But knowing that, like, no, I've already thought this through. So if it's on there, it's probably on there for a reason. And I yeah, it just it does. It makes you calm down just a little bit and you're like, okay, yeah, it's not all is not lost. I'm headed in the right direction, at least. So yeah. Okay, so planning out your time being intentional with your time is what it really comes down to. But doing that through a calendar, through making sure that you've got your yourself with time to recharge. Your people have time to recharge, they know what their priorities are, they know what the things, the balls that they can drop are and what they you know can't drop, all of that in an intentional say 30-minute time block to plan. Would you say that doesn't take more than 30 minutes? For a week, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. All right, and then number three is connecting back to the why. So in these times in times of chaos, a lot of times it we lose perspective and the perspective of what in what impact we're actually making, right? Because when you've got 20 kids staring at you that are waiting for direction, or you've got three staff members that you need to check in with, you know, each has their own kind of issues going on. You've got parents that, you know, want to talk, or you got, you know, even you know, people, you know, your kids or your partner at home who need something from you, it can feel like task, task, task, task, task, right? Like, what is this all for? What are we doing? We are we just running on a gerbil wheel? Like, what is the purpose here? And so reconnecting to why you're doing what you're doing and what the real impact actually is, right? We have ladders in our pre-K lesson plan this month. And it's you got like getting a toddler to do a ladder, especially because one of the stations is good, they go down backwards. You're sweating. Like you're sweating, you're sweating, you're you're wondering if this is possible, right? Like to teach a small human to do this. You're like trying to be the best self you can be, but it's a challenge, like they've got to coordinate a bunch of things, like it's a task. And the thing is they're gonna hit the playgrounds next month and they're gonna number one be safer, right? Because you because you took that time, you your sweat and your your patience. Their parent is gonna be so proud of the fact that they have invested in these classes over the winter, and their child is the child on the playground who can get themselves down off the ladder, right? They're gonna feel more confident in themselves because they're gonna be able to go places in on the playground that they weren't able to go before because now they know how to get down, right? And overall, you're helping their motor skill development and their neurological development because you're going through the patterns, and then once those become wired, they're able to do it, right? That's four really good reasons to sweat it out for that 15-minute station or that 10-minute station, right? But if we're only lost in the fact that who even put backwards down the ladder on a lesson plan, do they not know that toddlers have a hard time with this? Like, then it doesn't feel like it's worth doing. So in the scheme of what we're doing as an industry, the time and energy that we're that we're putting in right now to help our kids, our parents, our staff to stay calm, to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to know where we're going is really one of the ways that we can spend our energy the best and to rebalance the boat and hold it steady.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Right. Keeps you grounded. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah. Have you grounded any of your people this week? I think so. Yeah. What's your why? Like what is the why that you uh reflexively go back to about why we're doing all of this? What are we doing here?

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, I think in my in my team program, right, not my team program, but the the program I coach within, we're we're very actively like trying to level up and trying to strive to be, you know, better in terms of skills, in terms of technique, but keeping the culture and all of that kind of stuff. And so when we're mid-season, as we are right now, and we're far enough away from the beginning in the summer, which was like so fun. It's all new, it's all upgrades. But also we're so far, we're halfway to states, which is like the light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah, it can feel very like, you know, we're very much in the middle of teaching these new skills. And sometimes it's like, oh, nothing is clicking, nothing is working. I feel like we've been doing the same thing over and over again, and it's just we're not seeing the progress because day to day, the progress is so little, it's so incremental that you don't see it. But then being able to stop and think, okay, six months ago, we had a essentially a completely different group of kids based on what they're doing. Yeah. So having to remind ourselves of like it's okay, it's worth it, because we are striving towards this bigger goal, we've already having to look back and be like, we've made so much progress, and we've got six more months to go. So if we've made this much progress in six months, even though it feels like we're stuck right now, it feels like we've plateaued, we have six more months to double what we've already done. And I think having that conversation like amongst ourselves, amongst the coaching staff, has been very helpful because everyone feels the mid-season.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah, I think that's a good point. Looking back and seeing which where they've come from. Because you can forget that. You're right, the changes are so incremental.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

And being able to look at these kids and like they're so confident. A couple of our kids who are were like newer to us from other gyms or other teams, you know, like being able to watch them grow as people. Their gymnastics has grown, wonderful. But like seeing them grow as people has also been really nice. And so pointing out those things, which is ultimately or even like bigger why other than just great gymnastics, right? It's life lessons through sport, right? So being able to highlight those moments and kind of like you said, loop it back to the why has been has been good. And there's been there's been a couple conversations like that recently where it's like, okay, yes, it is hard right now, but we're we're on the right track and we're doing the right things and we just gotta keep going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah. And we've got a resource for for our community out there. We have a resource on our blog if you want to share it with your parents, because we're this is something we're experiencing across the board, like just like just this time. Yeah, mid season, being able being able to understand the flow of a competition season for the parents and what they can do to help their gymnasts through it. We'll include that in the show notes that you can share with your parents so that and coaches, because I feel like it's a good reminder for coaches, like, yes, this is these are the phases of this competition season, and this is our big why. And notice the changes, right? Notice the successes, remember where you've been, know that you have more time to go, and that yeah, you're you're not making gymnasts, you're making good humans. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Gymnastics is just the vessel through which we do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah, exactly. I love that. Yeah, yeah. Connecting to the why, it makes a difference. It really does. And also, you got to pause to do that. So it's that slowing down piece, that intentional piece that really comes back around again. Yeah, yeah. All right, so just to wrap it up, if you are like us and you are wanting to lead well through the middle, the the chaos, the up-leveling, the the times that are a little more challenging. We're we're walking uphill. Doing so with these three uh tools in your belt, appraising often early, proactively in as many different ways as speak to your people, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Being intentional with your time and how you schedule yourself throughout a week, throughout a month, especially during the busy times, and then helping your people to do the same. And then the third is reconnecting to that.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Why? Yeah. Why do you do what you're doing and making sure that you're seeing the bigger picture even when the little picture feels swirly?

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah. And it's gonna feel swirly. That's just life. You're not doing it wrong. That's just life.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

But now you but now you've got tools in order to can slow the swirl down. Slow the swirl. It's still gonna swirl a little bit. Yeah, but we can slow it down. Yeah, but that's part of the ride, so it's good.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

All right, everybody. We hope this helped and we hope that you keep on thriving.