Learning to Thrive
On the Learning to Thrive podcast, we share stories, lessons learned, and practical tools to help your business go from surviving to thriving.
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Learning to Thrive
Ep. 190 - Why Would I Want To Work Here? : Setting Up Systems That Increase Retention, Communication and Clarity With Your Staff
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Show Notes:
Turnover doesn’t just happen to you. In youth sports, it’s usually the result of missing systems and unclear leadership, even when you truly care about your people. In this episode of Learning to Thrive, we’ll walk you through three strategies to improve staff retention and employee engagement without turning your week into nonstop meetings.
Training that builds real confidence, from ongoing clinics to layered skill progressions and clear career paths so coaches can grow from entry-level roles into leadership. Communication that is consistent and kind, including our “10/10” check-ins: ten minutes every other week so every coach has an anchor, a relationship, and a place to bring problems before they snowball.
Then we talk about the piece leaders often dismiss as optional, even though it changes everything: fun. From staff open gyms and tiny treats to shout-outs tied to core values and simple peer recognition, we share ways to make work feel energizing again, especially in kid-focused programs where culture shows up on the floor every day.
If you’re hiring for the upcoming season, rebuilding a coaching team, or trying to reduce staff turnover, this is your playbook. Subscribe, share this with a fellow owner or director, and leave a review if it helps, then tell us what’s the one staffing system you’re starting this month?
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Welcome back to Learning to Thrive. I'm Courtney. And I'm Michaela. And we are into a new month and we are into a new theme. So we are talking this month about staffing. And the staff is really, I think, the heart of everything that we do. It is why our customers come, it is why our customers stay. It is why our customers go. And it is also probably the one thing that as leaders and as industry professionals, making sure that your staff is taken care of, I believe, is one of our number one responsibilities. Even more so, I think, than the customers. Because I don't think a staff that's not being taken care of can serve customers well. So, in a sense, you've got to take care of your staff first before you can truly serve your customers and serve your community. So we wanted to talk about that this month as we gear up for another year of serving our community, another school year of serving our community, and share some of the things that we find that are working, some of the problems that we've come up with, um, and and just talk through with our with
Why People Join And Stay
SPEAKER_00our staffing. What is it that makes people want to work here? Right. What what makes a makes someone say yes to your business and reflecting on that a little bit and then doubling down on the things that make you special, make your place special, and being able to also kind of highlight those and communicate those so that people that are wanting to work for you or thinking about working for you can really know, okay, what is it that what is it that I will get out of being a part of this organization? And then what can you do as a leader to make sure that they stay? Because that really is in this industry, you know, turnover is huge. Um, and getting people, good people to stay is critical to a successful program.
SPEAKER_01So yes, and I would say not to like totally toot our own horn here, but retention. I mean, you always have you know seasonal stuff that kind of comes and goes and things like that, but the majority of our leadership group myself, Sheree, Sarah, you know, a couple of the other directors, Cherie, we have all been here double digits, double digits. Yeah, yeah. Um, and then some of our newer uh directors and things like that are people who were former gymnasts of ours that have now come back, or employees who started, you know, very, very young, went off, kind of did their own thing for a little bit, and then have now found their way back back home with us. But um Yeah, the door is always open. Yes. So, yeah, not not to toot our own horn, but I think uh the retention piece is something we do a decent, a very decent job of.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, and I think that's the I think that's the complex thing about this industry is that you have people that are able to stay long term, but you also the our our business, our programs run on also those people that are in natural transitions of life. So high school coaches who are gonna go to college, like there's no there's no keeping them for 10 years because they've got other things in life that they need to do, but can we add value to them while they're here? And can we make it such a positive experience that maybe 10 years from now, when they have their own kids and they're looking for a you know a job that they want to come back? Um, or you know, we have people in college that, you know, once they graduate, they go do something different, or can we make a career path for them where maybe they stay in a place where they didn't think before that they could? So I think there's a the there's multiple layers to the industry that we're the sports industry and making sure that the staffing so that people know that you care and also that they know what the the the path is, whether they're on it for the short term, the medium term, or the long term is really, really critical.
SPEAKER_01So today in this episode, we're gonna really dive into a couple different systems that can help you increase your retention, your communication, um, and your clarity with your staff. And it it kind of all boils down to, and you mentioned this briefly a second ago, but asking yourself if you were someone looking for a job, why would they want to choose your company? What do you do that makes working there a pleasurable experience? Like what makes it good, you know? Yeah.
Training That Creates Confident Coaches
SPEAKER_01So we're gonna start off talking a little bit about training, the value of training, and a couple different things that hopefully you could be doing to make sure your staff feels confident in what they're doing. I think confidence is a huge thing, especially in a sports industry, because it's a little bit more niche, depending on what sport it is that you do, whether it's dance or soccer or gymnastics. And sometimes you might view it as depending on the level or depending on what they're teaching, you have to be an expert, but that's really not the case. A lot of times we go in with the mentality of like hire the personality and train the skill. Um, but with that comes and training the skill comes a level of confidence that they need to be able to successfully teach on their own. So ongoing training, whether that is through uh, you know, quarterly spotting clinics. This summer we've started a couple training series that are optional, and people can kind of come and pick and choose the themes that really resonate with them or where they feel like they want to grow. But it's a it's an option to continue to refine their skills or work towards new things in the future. Um, even things like in the gymnastics world, we have uh congresses that come around every summer. That is always an option if people are interested in to go and to further learn. So continued education and training, I think, is huge in that the value of it is one, your teachers are going to be better and therefore they're gonna run better classes, better programs, which creates happy customers. But also for them, for themselves, it develops that sense of confidence to be able to teach well, and then that confidence is also translatable to other areas of life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I think I think people knowing that they can continue to learn, right? So so to I think stagnation is is something that gets people to start thinking, okay, maybe I should go do something else, right? So if I and and also feeling like they're in over their head. So you've got to get that balance between I'm giving you enough information for you to successfully do your job. You're not in over your head. You actually have all the tools here at your disposal. And also, can I keep giving you training and education and and evolving you, growing you, so that you're constantly being challenged in it in an appropriate way. And I think the training piece for the for the program is we want really good coaches who know what's going on, right? We want to make sure that the pre-K teacher has all the class management tricks at her disposal the first day she walks on the floor. And also as she progresses through the year, let's say as she as she gets better and better, you know, because she's had the experience teaching, okay, now we can give her the second level of class management, right? And then the third level, because like it's multi-layered. That helps her to keep evolving, and it also helps your it helps the program to continue to get better because you're developing somebody with more skills. Now, that being said, anybody who's thrown in, right? And there, and there was gosh, there was a decade probably where we just threw people in. We were desperate for staff, or we were we had you know, somebody quit last minute and we had just hired this new person and they weren't ready, but we kind of needed them to be ready, so we just let it go and boom. Can that work? It can. It can. They usually swim, they don't usually sink. And the level of stress that that creates in that person and the experience that they're having, then as someone working at your program, your company is not great. It it it really informed, and and then you may lose them if that continues, right? If you get them the training, you can make that work. But if they don't receive training, then it's like, gosh, I'm just in here just making stuff up. Um, and I think a lot of our the industry does that. I think a lot of people put stuff on a either a you know, a word document or a video, call it a day, and then throw people in, and then they get in over their heads and and don't get that much um further education. So making that a priority, I think, helps people to want to be there because it's an engagement, it's investment. And they can continue to grow their craft, right? They can go from the pre-K teacher to the grade school teacher to the universal coach to the coach that's doing pre-team to either like in our program, they can grow or they can or they can take developing leaders and then they can become a leader, like multiple options, multiple ways you can go. But if you as the leader of a program are not paying attention to that and making sure that your people are constantly being challenged, but also not being thrown in, I think you can get yourself, you know, yeah, a little tangled up.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And I think a lot of that comes down, there's definitely a huge culture piece to that, right? So you ideally want a company culture that values the learning and the continued education and the growth, um, and just setting your employees up for success and not just throwing them in to sink or swim, unless it's in total emergency situations. Yeah. It worked, it worked for a while for a while. For some, it worked for some for some people.
SPEAKER_00That's probably true.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It did not work for everybody.
SPEAKER_00Um and it scarred some people.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But, you know, that's one of our core values as a company is always keep evolving. That goes for the kids, that goes for the employees, that goes for all of our programming. Um it it just creates an area where people feel supported. Um, and like you said, they have the opportunity to grow in a variety of different ways, um, whatever that might look like or what their goals are from person to person.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I would I would say a case case study of that. We have we have a director that came to us as um from another company as he was working their Pro Shop, right? Like that was his, that was his, like when he came to us, that's what he was able to do. We we got him the training to coach, right? He became he started coaching, great at it, right? Got him some more experience, helped him with his leadership skills. Then he became a director, right? And and as he's evolving and as he's growing, he's walk, he's walking the path through. I came here just I came here essentially with the intention to coach. And now he's built such a repertoire of leadership skills, customer service skills, um, all kinds of different tools that I think he would look at his, you know, he's been here for 10 years. He would look at the last decade and be like, and I know actually I know this because we had this conversation, he's like, wow, there's I have picked up a lot of new skills here, and also I've been invested in. And so that the the question for him is what's next? Right. And also because of that 10 years of investment, he knows we're gonna be there. What do you want to do? What's your dream? What do you want to do? Right. And when you invest in people's dreams and you invest in say, hey, I see something in you. Hey, I think you're a leader. Can you join this developing leaders? Like you're showing them a path that they may not see themselves and helping them to elevate themselves even more. So I think I think that is kind of the point, right?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Absolutely. Otherwise, what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_00It's it's too hard of it's too hard of an industry to just be, you know, filling holes, right? Right. Investing in people really makes the difference.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
Ten Minute Check-Ins Build Trust
SPEAKER_01And I think a critical piece of that, right? Of the ongoing investment is the communication.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_01They go, they go hand in hand, which is, yes, which is our second point, is how are you communicating with your staff to make sure that any information that needs to be known is known, that they are feeling like they're communicating in a way, like also are you just like barking orders at them? Yeah, are you how are you? How are you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and are you communicating?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Are you are you assuming they know or have you spelled it out?
SPEAKER_01Right. Um, and does everybody in your company feel like they have a at least have like a touch point? So huge. Yeah. So the big thing for us is our 1010s. Um every leader has a group of people that they meet with on a like every other week basis. Sometimes those meetings turn into 30, 45 minute conversations about you know, either deep diving into like a training topic or something going on in life outside of the gym. Um, other times they are literally five, 10 minutes, hey, what's going on? Everything's good? Love it, cool. Do you need anything? No. Or let's do a quick run through of what the you know theme of the month is, X, Y, and Z. And it and it's super fast, you know. But the the whole point is you have everybody has a person that they can go to if they have any issues. And also just that consistent piece of okay, well, I know I'm, you know, I'm probably not gonna miss anything because hopefully my leader's going over that with me at least every other week.
SPEAKER_00In theory, in theory, yeah, in theory.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's crazy, but yeah, for the most part, we're we're pretty good with our our 1010s and and having that that meeting point, um, or at least person that you can you can touch base with regularly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's the person that's it that is assigned to investing and engaging in you, right? And that might sound very like, well, if they're assigned to, do they really care? Uh yeah, they really care. You build a relationship over time with that person. And I think when you come into a to a company or you come in as a new coach and you don't have that anchor, I think you can get lost in the sauce, right? Like some people will thrive and they'll they'll make friends, you know, like are outgoing. I think that's great. But some people need that connection point and they need somebody who they know is invested in them. And that's the whole point of the 1010s is like at least 10 minutes every two weeks, we're gonna touch base and like it's gonna be both about your personal life and your professional life. Like, we're not, it's it's how are things going for our younger ones? How are things going at school? How are things going in the gym? Um, you know, what are you struggling with? And then it's, you know, hey, this is coming up, this coming up. If they need help with coverage and or they're gonna be absent, like, and then if there's something going wrong because that person has a relationship built, usually, let's say we see, okay, this person's been late two or three times. Hey, who's their lead? Okay, let's have their lead just talk to them because that relationship has been established and they can probably have a really short conversation that won't embarrass that person because it's built on a relationship. And then the problem usually gets fixed, right? It saves us so much time. And also, if that person's struggling outside of the gym, they can bring that to us and say, hey, just a heads up, this person's having a rough time with this. Just keep an eye on them, right? And then we're all better informed. So that communication piece is a two-way street. One, it's so they have somebody to connect with. And then for us, it's also getting information out and making sure that we are communicating what needs to be done. So I I think leaving it to chance, I will I I know because we there's been times that we've left it to chance. There's always two or three people that get lost in it, and sometimes they're your really good coaches that you didn't know were struggling, and then all of a sudden they leave. And part of it is they didn't feel connected to the company. Or they didn't feel like they knew what was going on, or they didn't feel like they were doing a good job because no one ever like met with them. They came in, they worked, they left.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So what other ways of communication?
GroupMe, Newsletters And Coaching Videos
SPEAKER_01Well, I think having some sort of system, and there's a bunch of different things you could do, but having some sort of system for mass communication for your staff is huge, and we've kind of gone through different iterations of this.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Currently so currently we use uh Groot Me for, you know, we like to make it.
SPEAKER_00Michaela loves the group me.
SPEAKER_01I I do and I don't, but I don't love when it's someone's birthday and my phone is going ding ding ding ding 75 times because everyone's wishing them a happy birthday. But uh, you know, that's beside the point. We have a group me and then different, you know, subgroups within that. So important information can get posted in there. You can pin stuff in the group me so it's easy to reference back to. Something newer that we've started in the last couple months that I think has been wonderful is basically doing a monthly staff newsletter. So it's like a one or two pager, we make it look pretty. That's Haley. Um, who makes it look pretty. Yes, thanks, Haley. Um, and it's a quick, you know, hey guys, here's all the important announcements you need to know of what's going on this month.
SPEAKER_00Um they can have we asked the staff if they like it.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if we've asked them.
SPEAKER_00I think we need to ask. We we just started this a couple months ago. We'll have to see if yeah, we'll have to see if people are enjoying that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But in theory, I like it. I like it, Taylor. And it's like a quick way to reference back instead of like scrolling through a group me trying to find like one particular message. It's like, okay, we can just save.
SPEAKER_00It's a JPEG that we put in the group me. Yeah. And then we can pin it to the top, and then that way you know it's happening that month.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00If if people are reading it, I gotta I gotta get a read on that. Yeah. I don't think I've checked on that yet.
SPEAKER_01The other thing that we do for a communication piece is our Kajabi and our online content. Yes. Every month Courtney does a coach's corner, gives us kind of a theme and something to focus on for that month that's very relatable to what is going on either in the gym or in the world or just in the season that we're in. Um, and that is a really good tool to kind of get everyone on the same page going into it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we also post like lesson, like lesson plan stations. If there's a more complicated station, there's a video in there on that. So it's relevant to their coaching too. Maybe a spotting tip. Um, it depends on it depends on what the month is. Um, summer months we kind of keep it light because people are in and out and that kind of thing. But you know, once you get into September, it's it might be okay. I've I've walked through the gym and I've seen a lot of kids not starting and finishing their cartwheels. Let's do a little quick video on that so that everybody gets the same message from me regardless, or from the grade school director, regardless. Like that's the beauty of video and using that that piece. But I think it helps people. I've heard people like it. Yes, yeah, absolutely. So the point is here's the thing. With the with the training piece, you're investing in people, right? With the communication piece, you're engaging with people. Investment in engage if if I am at a place where people are investing in me and engaging with me and they're making it purposeful, right? There's systems around it, there's intention behind it, there's core values that support it. You're already top 10% of workplaces, right? I mean, who doesn't want to work in a place where somebody's investing and engaging with you? No-brainer, right? And it takes intention. It takes someone sitting down and being like, we are A, gonna do this, B, we're gonna track it, make sure it's happening, and C, we're gonna, we're gonna mess it up, be committed to it, not give it up, right? And I think that is the piece of shifting the mindset from I need to hire a body to I need to hire somebody to invest in. I'm gonna that what however long this person is here, I'm gonna make sure they leave here better than when they got here with some skills, some whatever, something. When they leave here, they're gonna have some, they're gonna be better than when they got here. And I think that setting your intention and setting your mindset for that as a leader and as a company, then you so many problems just take care of themselves, then. But engagement and investment is key.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's the foundation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Those are the if you had to do only two things every day, right? Engage and invest in your staff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Those are mission critical.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We've one more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's the cherry on top.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's the result of doing that.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Make Work Fun With Recognition
SPEAKER_01Is make it fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Have like you want to be a fun place to work as well, especially when you're in a business like youth sports. Like you're working with kids. You want to make it fun for the kids. You don't want your employees to be miserable. So we're teaching cartwheels for a living. We're kicking the ball for a living. Like let's make it like a lot of people. Have some fun, right? So just a couple things. One, what are ask yourself like, what are we doing to bring joy into the lives of our instructors? Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um, fun is one of our themes for the summer. Yes. Yeah, we're having the most fun summer ever at Thrive.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Um, little things. Staff open gyms. Uh, we try and link those up with our staff meetings so that hopefully there's like more engagement in them. Um, but staff open gyms, little like even something like go buy popsicles. I'm like, okay, food works wonders. Yeah. It's Friday. Everyone come get a popsicle on your way. Like when you clock out, like come get a popsicle. Yeah. Cheap, easy fun. Right? Um shout outs, you know, recognizing people who are going above and beyond. And doing a great job is always wonderful. That that gives that kind of like reward to hard work and just acknowledgement goes a long way.
SPEAKER_00Um well and I think if you can link those shout-outs also to your values, like a lot of times I think we'll put shoutouts either in the group me or I like our camp director, she wrote post-it notes one morning and just gave each person one post-it note that's like something great that they had done that week. Um so it can be as small as a post-it note, it can be as big as like we have the summer we're doing um like different superlatives. So like most uh above and above and beyond is one most engaged, like that kind of thing. And then people nominate their peers through a Google form. So not not complicated at all. Um and so those people then get like, you know, a gift card and something from the Pro Shop, like that kind of thing. So I think you can go as big or as little, but I think that the key is are you we definitely probably are addressing problems, right? Are you also 3Xing your good things that you see? Just like in a in a class with kids. I if I say, Oh, I love how Susie's sitting on this spot, three other kids are gonna come because they want to be praised too, right? Versus, hey, you need to get on the spot. Like it's two different ways of getting the same thing going. But are you systematically doing shout-outs or are you even doing shout-outs at all? Are you noticing the good things that your team is doing?
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's that takes a minute of self-reflection.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But the re like it's fun. Rewards. And I think I think uh, you know, a pro shop coupon, which we have those too, where if you see somebody like doing something great, they get you know a snack from the pro shop. What is the cost of that? 25 cents? Right. What is the lasting impact of that? That person goes home and is like, hey, I got a I got a shout-out today, like I got to pick a snack from the pro shop. Like they go tell their friends or their parents or whatever about that. They get recognized, not the world's not recognizing a lot of good things these days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you can be a place that recognizes good things, that's worth that's worth its weight in gold. Yeah.
One Change To Start This Month
SPEAKER_01All right.
SPEAKER_00So wrap it up. Wrap it up.
SPEAKER_01Right. We got our two our two big things in our cherry on top, right? We've got the training and investment. It is it is seen and it is felt by our employees, and it gives the sense of stability as well as growth, which is matterful. Do I matter? Communication, clear is kind, consistent is kind as well. So, how are you communicating? Is there a way you can elevate your communication? And does every single person in your organization feel like they are being seen, they are being heard, they have the same communication. And finally, have some fun. Be a fun place to work, not just a quote, good place to work, right? I think the fun element is what takes you from good to great. Um keeps people like, oh my gosh, I like excited to go to work. Like so fun, like, oh, it's Friday, it's popsicle day or you know, whatever, you know. Keep it fun, especially if you're in the youth sports industry. You want it fun for everyone, including the kids you teach. Yeah. Um yeah, so a well-rounded and be intentional about it.
SPEAKER_00I would say the this stuff does not happen by accident, and it cannot be consistently executed by accident either. You have to be intentional about it. So if you're if you're sitting there and you're like, oh my gosh, all of this is good stuff. I'm only doing, let's say, maybe 30% of this. Just pick the one thing that you could do this month that would just move you forward, right? Move the needle forward just a little bit on one of these areas, right? Okay, yeah, my communication isn't great. I think I'm gonna start a group me so that there's one communication channel for everybody. Or I think I'm gonna start that staff newsletter and see how that goes. Or I'm going to we did a shout-out board, gosh, years ago when we were, we were a smaller company then, but like we had everybody's name on the shout-out board and post-its next to it. And they just, when they saw something good, they just put it under that person's name on the shout-out board. Like just one thing, but the intentionality behind I want to make this a place that people want to be, but not just a good place, like Michaela was saying. I want to make it great. I want to make it exceptional. I want to go above and beyond just for the sake of I want people to know that they matter, right? I want, I want my staff to feel like they are invested in and they and that I care about them because I do. Turn that out outward, right? Turn the inside out and let them see that and make it intentional, make it systematic so that it can be consistent. All right, everybody. We hope that that helped you in some ways. We hope you took something away from that, and we hope you keep on thriving. We'll catch you in the next episode.