MA Business Success 9: Managing Your School

podcast Sep 24, 2015

https://soundcloud.com/tima-38/martial-arts-business-success-9-managing-your-school

Alex: I'm Alex Lush, joined by Graham and Phil from the Institute of Martial Arts, of course. And some cracking advice on the cards for managing your martial arts school. So, Graham, kick it off for us. So where do you start? Graham: Wow. Look, managing a school can be a daunting task to say the least. You know, there's the scatter gun approach where you're just thinking, "Hey, look, I'm just going to spot fire. I'm just going to try to do my best, whatever issue arises. I'm just going to try and just deal with that, but that's not the way to do it. Alex: Not sustainable. Graham: Not even close. Well, I guess, start with the staff. It's really important to have structured meetings and communication between yourself and the staff, or again, if you're a one-man band, it's making sure that you think, "Okay. I've got to put first things first and schedule time to tackle those on a consistent basis." So, for us, we have a management meeting on Tuesday at midday, to make sure that all of our staff, the managers are in the right place and were dealing with that, so we're all on the same page. So again if you're a single operator, make sure you schedule time to deal with tasks that are definitely related to managing and progressing forward in that business. Really, really important. Alex: And for you, even more important when you've got several centers around the place, and not everybody all in one site. Phil: Yeah, it can definitely, you know, Chinese whispers. It can happen very quickly so, as Graham said, we have a managers meeting once a week, where our managers come into one location, and we just brainstorm about the future, and now. Any issues, or any quick wins. We also then have a once a month complete team meeting. So any full-time member of staff will come in and meet with us, and we go over generic stuff. We might do role play of some systems and procedures. We might talk about some statistics of where we are going well and where we're not. So people have a bit of a handle on the business. Even at that sort of full-time staff level there. And we also have... Alex: So you're involving them then very much in the business. Phil: Absolutely, yeah. And we also have every three months, we have specific branch manager meetings where we really crunch down budgets and stuff like that. So they're locked in the calendar, have to happen. And, last but not least, it's so important whether, even if you are a one-man show, like Graham said, or you do have staff, is you schedule your training. What most people forget, is that that's why we started training in martial arts. To train. To get better. We start owning a school, running a school, managing a school. We start doing more of that, and less training. So our staff, because they're teaching from 3:30 to 9:30 at night, where their classes would normally be, well we've got to provide a class for our instructors, our managers, all our employees, to come train at. And that's when we get to share, and teach them all of our martial arts abilities and skills. Just like we go and learn elsewhere as well. So it's important that we do that, and we actually train with our staff physically, Mondays and Wednesdays, for two hours a pop. So it's quite intense. Our philosophy is our instructors must train harder than our students. Alex: Okay. That must be very difficult, in some ways, to find that time. That you're too busy teaching, you haven't got any time to train. Graham: Oh, most definitely. Look, this all ties hand-in-hand with what Phil's talking about, and obviously our meetings as well, too. It's about keeping our staff accountable. Because, again, if they're not training, they're plateauing. And therefore, they're also going to lose their enthusiasm. Unfulfilled staff are also going to be more likely to probably choose to go elsewhere. So continually keep them growing and challenged in that area, but when it comes to their performance as an employee, we also have in our meetings, review of their performances. So, KPIs, Key Performance Indicators, what are their stats? Where are the numbers? Because if they need to improve where you're going to help them to move up the ladder, and progress to a different role, how are they going to do that? So as a business owner, or even a manager, they have people underneath them, or they're overseeing, they need to know their numbers, they need to know exactly what it is that you're looking for. And if there's numbers not being met, it allows us to be able to target those areas, train those areas, help other people in those roles. Because with the schools we have, the three schools, one school may have a challenging enrollment process. They haven't quite got it locked down. If we know those numbers, we can also have the rest of the team share strategies and ideas to be able to obviously counter that, or fix that, or help empower the other stuff to improve. So really important to keep your staff accountable. Not only physically in their own training, but also make sure that their job performance is not just check in, and check out, they need to know their numbers as well too, to make sure they're performing at a high level. Alex: And you're right. It does keep them keen, doesn't it, if they're constantly challenged? Graham: Yeah. Absolutely. Phil: Definitely. They've got to, as I said, they've got to feel like they're progressing in their martial arts, and they've got to feel like they're progressing in their employment. Both education-wise with getting better, as a better manager or instructor, and then also improving and getting more money. They've got to see the mountains that they can climb. So constantly improving. Graham always says that down here, the more you learn, the more you earn. So, hey, it's very important that, you know, continue the education, and that will bring back 10 times on your bottom line as well. Alex: I wish schools would implement this. When did the math teacher last go on a math training course? Graham: You know, as a business, and as you're progressing, and as the world is changing, the way that we learn, fundamentally, they're still the same, but the medium that we use, technology to support those trainees. And you've got to understand too, we have newer, younger people entering the workforce, and how we used to learn back in the day, is very different to what engages them and stimulates them, and helps them to obviously progress and move forward. And I guess for us, seeing that we are in the martial arts business. For us, we also think of it like a white belt in business, and a black belt in business. Or even as an employee. So, as a martial artist, we know exactly what it is we need to do to go from a white belt, to say, a yellow belt. A yellow belt to an orange belt, and progress that way. Often, we see businesses that don't have structure for their staff clearly, so they know how to progress and move up. As Phil pointed out, the more you learn, the more you earn. Well, what do I need to learn to earn some more? What do I need to own or understand so I can progress up? And I have to say, we have lost key staff in the early days of our company because we didn't have good solid structure in place to show them how to progress and move up. Because they got stale. They didn't know how to improve, they didn't know what numbers we were looking at to help them to progress forward. And therefore they said, "Look, this is not really what I want to do. I'm kind of flat-lining or plateauing." So very important to have good structure there, and again, I said, keep your staff accountable so they know exactly where their numbers are, and also how to improve. Alex: Yeah, sure. And what role does the boss play in all this then? Phil: I think, we actually have a bit of a rule to follow when we're talking about boss. Because most of the time, our instructors have come from being our students at a real young level, or a low belt level. And sometimes in actual fact, you're more of a friend. So you can't blur the line. We always say to our guys, "Boss first, instructor second, friend last," which is tough sometimes. And when you hear that for the first time, I remember when we heard that the first time, we were like, "Oh. I thought we were friends." Well, we are. We are your friend. And there's a time to be a friend. But don't forget the chain of command. I have to treat you as an employee, and I then have to treat you as a student, and then lastly, we can be friends. Otherwise, it all gets blurred, and we lose respect for each other, and then we can't provide the level of service that we want to in our business. So it's important that, and it's fine. We have all our instructors, all our managers, we are very much good friends. But they know there's still a chain of command above that. That's important. Alex: And it's difficult sometimes to probably make sure that there is a hierarchy, and yet, it's kind of covered up. You don't want to be like, "Well, I can't talk to him, because he's far too important." But at the same time, you've got to have that managerial level. But not too much hierarchy. Phil: It's something that we've really found that is effective in that sort of implementation strategy, is authority versus influence. And we've said this multiple times throughout our podcasts, or whatnot, but I can be a dictator and tell you exactly what to do, or we can inspire you and explain. And yes, they understand that you are there to advise and be that leader, but you don't want to have to just yell down their throat, and whatever else. You want to inspire them to want to be better themselves. You want your staff to really... Alex: Come on a journey with you. Phil: Exactly. Rather than be the king in the ivory tower, and then your staff, they don't relate. You've got to make sure that yes, they understand that you're in it for the long haul, and you want to take them with you, but there's still processes to follow, and they're still that respect that needs to be given. When the boss makes a decision, everyone needs to support that, and make sure they're on the same page. And we have a funny little way of explaining it. We have a democratic dictatorship. Alex: I'm gonna use that. Phil: We love for people to offer advice, but at the end of the day, we're gonna make that decision for the greater good of all, because I know that sometimes, we have say 10 staff have got 10 great ideas. They may not all be relevant at this particular time, and it's up to us to make sure that we still steer the ship, or steer the business in the direction we want. So it's important. Alex: So, Phil. Just sum it up for us. How would you sum up these rules for managing your martial arts school? Phil: Definitely lead from the front. Be inspirational. As Graham said, influence over authority. There is a time to be that authoratitve figure, but as a leader, as a manager, as an owner, you want to be leading from the mindset of influence. Always have that chain of command. Boss first, instructor second, friend last. It has to be that way. It's just the way it goes. Always try and up-skill, and teach your staff new and inventing ways to do things. Improve their skill not only as a martial artist, but as a manager or as a business employee. So always updating a skill. And last but not least, just something we didn't talk about, which is important, and it's something that we learned to deal with quite regularly, is what you tolerate, you get. So it's important as an owner or as a manager of a school, you must have the lines of the rules completely spelled out. If someone crosses that, the minute you tolerate it, or let someone get away with it, someone else is going to get away with it. And it's just gonna flow on downhill. So, if your rules are "no earrings", and something happens, it has to be sorted out. If your rules are, "turn up on time", and it happens regularly, and you're still allowing it, it's just going to keep happening. So however, whatever your rules of employment are, your descriptions of employment, you've got to make sure that you are hard fast on that, because what you tolerate, you get. And what will end up happening, is months down the track, you'll be ending up with staff doing all these wrong things, but as an actual fact, it was your fault, because you let it go. So that's where your authoritative comes into it by guiding them down the path. It's very important. Alex: Okay, fantastic. Well until next time, we'll get putting those tips into practice. Thank you very much indeed. Phil: Thank you. Graham: Thanks. Announcer: You've been listening to the martial arts business success podcast. For more information, please visit our website at tima.com.au.

Why not grab some free Martial Arts Business training or check out our programs below!

Some of what you'll find...

  • Free Resources and Courses
  • Affordable Trainings
  • World Class Coaching Program
  • Marketing Services to Dominate 
Grow My School >>>
Close

50% Complete

Apply now to see if working with TIMA is a right fit for you