MA Business Success 42: The Number 1 Management Hack to Work Less and Earn More

Watch the video podcast below Listen to the audio podcast below Phil: Today, we're talking about how to get your instructors to take the load or share the load so pretty much, at the end of the day, you can steer your ship and not be stuck in the engine room. Graham, what have you got? Graham: No, this one's a. Some people that are going to be listening don't want to let go. They don't want to let go. They get stuck thinking it's their baby, you know. You've gotta really think back and think, what's the outcome? Where do you want to be? Begin with the end of mind. You hear us talk about this often. There are certain things that you don't want to let go of, and that's find. But you then got to understand that the only way a person or instructor is going to grow and have fulfillment in your school is if you give them responsibility. Allow them to be able to experience what it's like to make decisions, but also own those mistakes if they are made. So first and foremost is identify what you're willing to let go of initially. It's a scary process, and I, myself and Phil have many a time when we've been doing this to every single class in the place and thought the business will collapse if we ever let another instructor do it. But now, we're actually at a point where we don't teach any classes. It's been a transitional point and we've trained our staff to take that responsibility and that load, and people love their classes even more than what they do ours now, which is a really exciting place to be. Very first and foremost, what is it that you're willing to let go on? And obviously, try and make sure that you're training your guys to, you know, understand the responsibility, understand the process, allow them to run, and then review what happens after they've done it to make sure that you give them really solid feedback. Phil: Just a little bit of almost a fact here because we have coached and helped people who have been, say, 20 years in the game, right? And what's happened is they literally didn't want to let go, you know, or they just enjoyed it like so much. They love their business. We do what we love for a reason so why would we want to get out. But what happens if they don't have that begin with the end in mind mindset, they end up 15 years down the track. They're, you know, 20 years down the track. They are too old, may I say it, and don't have the patience or the ability to then train the new group or the new guys that come through and take that responsibility. And we get it all the time, don't we, Graham? We have people come to us and go, "I've had enough now." "Like now?" "I've had enough. I want to get out." And I said, "Well, jeez, man, it takes a while to grow your team so you can jump out. It doesn't...it's not just happens in a year either. It took us a good four years so we will be out and get to this position. So the thing is we just began with the end in mind very early." I remember...this is a fact. So when we bought our business, and we went into business for each other, and we put out photos everywhere, and names were on all the fliers, it was like "The Phil and Graham Show," you know, because this is our business. Everyone was coming because of us. And then, you know what, probably about after two years, and it did grow exponentially and it was amazing, but what happened was everyone did want to be there with us. And the minute that we weren't there, even if for a toilet break, people were like going, "Where's Phil and Graham? Where are they? They're not here today?" And it was like panic stations. So we quickly realized that if we wanted to be out to be the people that we wanted to be, not just for ourselves and our business, but for our family, because we had young kids, and we didn't want to be the same old story of the marriage break-up because you were always at the business at the dojo, and your kids never see you, your wife doesn't know what you do during the day or night, etc., etc. So we were very clear early on that we didn't want to be the face of the business. We didn't...we still wanted to run the business and be in it, but we were very clear on the end game. And the end game is really where we are now. You know, we just get to steer the ship. Graham said we don't teach any classes. Well, that's a lie. We do teach them but only when we want to, when we feel like putting on our gi, when we want to put on our belt, when we want to start doing muay thai, because we want to, not because we have to, and that's the difference that makes a difference. Graham: Hey, guys, just for you guys that are out there listening to this and watching this, you've also got to understand as well, too, from the instructor's point of view or the staff's point of view. If you do not let them grow, they will probably leave. And we have unfortunately had to wear that consequence in the early days. We hold things tight. We've got a creative personality, someone who's looking to grow, spread their wings, experience different things, and we haven't allowed that. We stifled their creativity and they've moved on. They may not have moved on to start another school, but they certainly have moved on to find a career path or a different job role that gives them that creative fulfillment. So it's important for you guys that are tuning into this to understand that for them to grow, well, you need to let them. Now, I use a great example for our own kids, and even my own personal journey, and I'm sure yours as well, too, Phil, and our martial arts students as well. When you think of letting your kids ride a bike for the very first time, if you are forever there and you never ever let them fall down or experience that you're holding them back, and when they finally get it, man, it's just that growth. They are able to tackle new challenges in many different areas, not just riding that particular bike. But also, the metaphor in our business here is, thinking back now as a business owner, as a martial artist, do you think you'd be the same person with the same skillsets if you never failed or never tried new things? Definitely not. So that's important for us as a business owner to allow our staff to try new things and to have that same experience. So it's important not to hold on too tight. You'll lose some good people, and they won't grow and reach their full potential. Phil: Isn't that a really weird way to put it, Graham, like let your staff grow, but to let them grow, you've got to let them fail? Is that weird or what? It's perfectly honest and it's true. FAIL, the acronym, First Attempt In Learning. You know what they say, "Failure is only failure if you don't learn from it." Another one for you guys is, "Failure is the feedback for champions. It's the food for champions." Graham: I couldn't agree more. You know, a few martial artists, die-hards, don't forget guys, you don't block a punch, you get some really solid feedback, I guess. So again, hey, what's the feedback for the guy who's doing a job wrong? It's when they've done an exercise, yes, there's room for improvement, but that's the feedback after the fact. And another that's really important for you is the business owner, the lead mentor, is to be able to not to step in and save the day and stop them from experiencing that process. But jeez, you know, it's really important to give them some constructive feedback, how they can improve the next time around. Phil: Cool. So I'm going to give you guys some quick advice here on how we were able to do it. Yes, we didn't label our business "The Phil and Graham Show" anymore. We promoted our staff like more than us. So when someone came in asking about us or whatever, we would then over-promote our instructors. So that's another way. The second thing we did was...like we said, it's a slow process. So we were in the classes and we had our second in-charge, second instructor in-charge, and we would take hundred percent of the class. And now, we'd take, do the assisting role, again with everyone else. Then what we would do is we would give that person...I know that many people do this, but you've just got to continue the process. Give them five minutes of the class while you take another part of the group. And then that 5 minutes turns into 10 minutes, and then what you do is, then you say, "Oh, you know little buddy, you've got this next 10-minute drill." And now you're sitting in the stairs or in the chairs with the parents talking to them, again promoting your staff member, saying, "Look at how Johnny's doing so well. He's been instructing with us for 5 years now, training with us for 10. Look at how terrific they're doing." And the parents are saying, "Yeah, they're amazing. I can't wait for my child to be like that as well." And you're pretty much creating an environment where the parents are saying or the students are saying exactly what you know about your instructors. And you just continue that process. It's like...then 10 turns into 15, 20, 30. Next thing you know, you're in the back office either on the radio, looking in the video cameras or through the reverse mirror, whatever that's called, checking on the class from afar. And then guess what, time to go on a holiday. I think one of the biggest lessons that we had was our first trip to America, Graham and I did. It was three weeks, I think, in total, and it was the first time we'd left the school for that amount of time. The beauty of having a business partnership is I would go on holidays, Graham would always be here, and vice versa. We took three weeks out. And you know what, we came back and the business grew without us. And we knew then, we had created a monster. Graham: Hey, look, you know, it wasn't just a guessing game. For our guys who we'd given that responsibility to, we also had the outcomes. We had plans. They were able to follow a formula so they weren't just winging it. They knew what they were doing. The nervous part was just them actually applying and actually doing it. So, you know, it wasn't left to chance. We gave very, very clear guidelines. And again, for you guys listening, even if it was the simplest task of being able to, you know, run a sausage sizzle, jeez, just...there is some responsibility. You want to delegate and empower your staff to do, your team to do, make sure you give them an outcome, a way that they're going to do it, and then it's great to able to give feedback if they hit all those markers. So, you know, for us, class plans, outcomes, they're all listed so that our guys know exactly what they're doing and it's very easy then to be able to give them an opportunity to shine in that area. Phil: Yeah, I was just going to say, actually, Graham, like don't just go hear this podcast and then go to your instructor, "Oh, I'm going to here for 10 minutes and you don't have a plan for them." The only way you're going to build a business that doesn't rely on you is the systems and procedures that surround that. So first, make sure you've got all that nailed, and then start applying and allowing your instructors or your staff to grow. The only thing I've [inaudible 00:10:21] finish on for this particular part, Graham, is what part of the load are you needing to disperse because there's almost few areas? There's on the floor stuff, like instructing stuff, and then there's like admin stuff as well. So you might think that initially, I can't let go of the classes because they need me there for now, but what administration roles can I pass on to someone who might not even be a student or a member? Graham: Man, look, I know...just recently, I was speaking to one of their coaching clients, and he's trying to be a jack of all trades and doing most of them badly. So what does he need to do? He needs to, as a business owner, he's got skillsets that an assistant or a volunteer would never have. So he needs to put his time into the areas that are going to really give him the return on investment, whatever that may be, so making sure that he identifies. So mundane jobs of photocopying, stocking the fridges, little bits and pieces that are easy to delegate that somebody can be empowered, they can do. Moving up to answering phones, manning the desks, checking students in. There's the next tier level, so your administration process, [inaudible 00:11:25], then you got membership agreements and whatnot. So you really start to think, jeez, one, yes, it's a process, but is that something I can easily delegate or again, empower somebody to do? Or two, is that a skillset that someone needs to definitely grow in that role so I can hand that on and they understand? It is really important to, first and foremost...we probably said it right at the start. Again, identify what are the areas, first and foremost, that are holding you back, what are the easiest ones to relinquish, share, and then work on the training plans to obviously get rid of some of those other big ones as well. Phil: Awesome, guys. I hope you got a lot out of today's podcast. We've enjoyed bringing this one to you. An actual fact, this one came from a question from our good friend from New Zealand, Tom Cooper, from Cooper Karate. So hopefully, we've given you guys some great information there. You know, it's something that always comes about, about how to get people to take the load so I can move from the engine room to sailing the ship. So again, guys, we have that section called "Ask the boys." If you have any questions, queries, or thoughts that you'd like us to talk about, answer it out, so you just got to send us through an email, through [email protected]. Also, don't forget, guys, to leave your reviews on iTunes. That's what keeps us cranking. When we get the reviews coming in, that gets us up moving and grooving and giving you guys more podcasts, which is awesome. Social media, we are all over the place so make sure you are members on our Facebook page, etc. And last but not least, don't forget, just for podcasts listeners. So if you are listening to our podcast, we have a special offer for you guys. It's just $99 and you get access to our silver level and gold level, but you also get a free one-hour coaching session with both Graham and myself. And you know what, the value of that, well, you never know what gold nuggets you might get out of that there. So if you are interested in taking us up on that opportunity as well, guys, send us an email, [email protected]. And that's us, signing out. Thank you very much, guys. Graham: All right, team, we'll talk to you soon. Before I go, remember, TIMA, Believe, Begin, Become, at today, believe in yourself, begin a journey, and become, well, the best version of yourself. Phil: Ciao. Recording: TIMA, innovating the martial arts industry.

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