At AB Show 2024, industry veterans Chris Stevenson and Steven Trotter delivered an engaging pre-show workshop Tuesday on building and maintaining high-performing teams in the fitness and recreation industries. The session provided attendees with practical strategies for recruitment, onboarding, engagement and retention in today's challenging labor market.
"81,396 hours – that's the number of hours the average person is going to work before they retire," opened Trotter, emphasizing the critical role managers play in shaping employee experiences. The presenters shared current Gallup data showing that while employee engagement is slowly improving post-pandemic (33% engaged), there's still significant room for growth.
The workshop broke down team building into three key areas: acquisition, engagement and retention. On recruitment, Stevenson emphasized the importance of marketing your organization as a purpose-driven workplace. "We've got to remind our people, especially in our industries, which are such purpose-driven work that we do, that this is not just a job. This is something where you're going to be better for doing it, and you're going to help improve communities."
A standout piece of hiring advice came from Stevenson: "It's either a ‘hell yeah’ or a ‘hell no.’ If you talk about taking little nuggets away, that's the one." He stressed that settling for maybes in hiring decisions inevitably leads to problems, especially in organizations where termination is challenging.
The presenters emphasized the critical importance of thorough onboarding, sharing that only 12% of employees say their organization has a good onboarding process. Trotter outlined four essential components of effective onboarding:
- Compliance
- Culture integration
- Connection building
- Competency development
On employee engagement, the speakers stressed the importance of meaningful communication and recognition. "You don't decide if you're a good communicator," Stevenson noted. "The people receiving the information decide if you're a good communicator."
The session also addressed the evolving motivations of different generations in the workforce. As Trotter explained, "For those of you who have a lot of millennials in your workforce, typically millennials were known to move around every two years... but millennials were motivated by purpose, and their purpose had to align with organizational purpose." He contrasted this with incoming Gen Z workers, who tend to prioritize financial security over purpose.
Trotter and Stevenson emphasized the importance of proper offboarding, an often-neglected aspect of employee lifecycle management. "Not every employer-initiated separation is bad, and not every employee-initiated separation is bad," Trotter noted, stressing the importance of maintaining positive relationships with former employees who might return or become advocates for your organization.
Throughout the session, Stevenson and Trotter shared real-world examples from their extensive experience in the fitness and recreation industries. Stevenson drew from his background running award-winning health clubs, while Trotter provided insights from his role as director of well-being at East Carolina University.
The workshop concluded with practical action planning, allowing attendees to develop specific strategies for improving their team-building processes. The presenters emphasized that while implementing comprehensive team-building strategies requires effort, the return on investment in terms of employee engagement, retention, and organizational success makes it worthwhile.
The session exemplified AB Show's commitment to providing practical, actionable content that helps recreation professionals address their most pressing challenges. Attendees left with specific tools and strategies they could implement immediately to strengthen their teams and improve their organizations' performance.
For more information about AB Show 2024 visit: www.abshow.com
For more information about the presenters' recently published textbook “Fitness Facility Management” click here
