I remember my first teaching job. I was twenty-five, graduated from college, and I got a job working at a private high school. The school only had two hundred students, around thirty teachers, and it was very centered around the idea of "building close relationships" throughout the campus. The school’s mission was to educate students and, at the same time, strengthen the bonds between the faculty and the student body. If the whole thing sounds suspiciously close to a bunch of people holding hands around a campfire and singing Kumbaya, that’s because it was. It was a lot like the final scene of the movie The Wicker Man, only we weren’t burning a giant statue with a human being inside.

Anyway, one week before my first year of school started, the administration took the entire faculty on a two-day "team building exercise." Basically, we all packed up some gear and went out to a camp in the forest where we spent forty-eight hours doing activities that were intended to make us closer friends through working together. We had to get into groups of five and scale our way across a rope bridge, we had to problem-solve little dilemmas that were assigned to us, we had to do that thing where we all lock hands in a tangled bunch and then twist our way out of it without letting go of each other’s hands, that type of stuff. Did it make us closer colleagues? I think it made me closer to five or six people that I really liked. But most of it was so irritating that I wanted to light the entire camp on fire by the time we left. Maybe it really was just like The Wicker Man after all?

That little tale is about TEAM BUILDING, which is what this month’s article is focused on. Many of you who read the Performance Menu are gym owners, coaches, or personal trainers. Your livelihood is dependent on finding people who are willing to commit to a training relationship with you and pay you money to work with them. You probably also realize that the market is flooded with other trainers, coaches, and gym owners who are trying to do the same thing. What that means is that your services are going to have to be special, in some way. You’re going to have to offer some kind of X-Factor that makes people choose you instead of other trainers. And that’s where team building comes in.

People want to feel like they’re a part of something special. That’s why kids join sports teams. That’s why kids join gangs. That’s why adults get married. That’s why people pay for memberships to the National Rifle Association or the American Civil Liberties Union (two groups that really love each other, by the way). That’s why big families have reunions and...hell, that’s why people have big families. Everybody wants to have an experience where they know that they are a member of a tribe. Therefore, that’s why we’re going to throw out a few suggestions about how you can make your clients and athletes feel a stronger loyalty to your gym, your team, or you personally. The stronger their loyalty is, the more committed they’re going to be. The more committed they are, the longer they’re going to stay with you and help grow your business.

Two little asterisks first. A) Some of you are still athletes and you haven’t started training people yet, so you’d rather hear about some training-related subject to make your squats go up. Please just hang in there, though. You’ll probably coach people someday and this information will come in handy when that day arrives. B) Some of you Son-of-Sam types might be huddled in front of your computer, twitching furiously, and saying, "Bull—t! I don’t want to be a part of anything. Everybody needs to leave me alone!" If that’s you, then I apologize for wasting your time. Have a glass of milk, put down the ice pick, and relax.

Hail Caesar!

One of the first ideas I have about this deals with leadership. If you are the manager, coach, or owner of your training business, then you have a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders because people want strong leadership. Regardless of the area or setting, people always look to the leader of the group for guidance and examples of behavior. You may not even know it, but your personality is shaping the attitude of your entire clientele. Let’s say, for example, that you are the coach/manager of a facility where people want to learn how to lift weights and train. The thing you need to realize is that it is your job to teach those people how to perform the lifts of the workouts, warm up properly, use correct technique, etc. This is obvious. But many coaches and trainers forget that the people they coach are also going to develop their training attitude based on the example they see from the leader.

The leader sets the tone for the entire group personality. If the leader is friendly, enthusiastic, intense, helpful, and disciplined, then the people who work under that leader will adopt those same qualities. Likewise, if the leader is negative, panicky, lazy, or cynical, then those characteristics will start to surface in the athletes and clients. It won’t even be a conscious decision on the part of the trainees. They will simply come to the gym every day and mimic the behavior they see from the person who is in charge.

I have seen great examples of both the positive and negative in this area. One of the first coaches I had in my sports career was a man who made everyone around him worse in some way. He knew the fundamentals of how to coach his sport and he had a decent level of experience, but his personality was lousy to deal with. He was one of those coaches who enjoyed doing cruel things to people. He liked to make insults, he was pushy and domineering without being a positive motivator, and he frequently spoke negatively about his athletes behind their backs in a way that ensured they would eventually hear it through somebody else. Not surprisingly, every member of the team he coached (including me) exhibited the same behavior. The team was filled with drama, hostility, and most of the athletes on the team wanted to see other people fail. What was the end result? Usually, his athletes had frustrating careers where they never reached their potential, and then they quit and walked away forever.

So this was an example of a coach who was a terrible leader, but it has also been my good fortune to work with some fantastic examples that went in the other direction. Two years ago, a very good friend of mine retired from a thirty-year career in coaching track and field. It would be a ridiculous understatement to call this coach a dynamic personality. His level of intensity, sense of humor, and commitment to the success of his athletes was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He was one of those coaches who could take athletes with mediocre talent and elevate them to championship levels by making those mediocre athletes see themselves as champions. He reached inside them and pulled the greatness out, no matter how deep it was buried. If any of his athletes did anything lazy or disrespectful, he would give them some of the most brutal tongue-lashings I’ve ever seen. But the athletes would walk away from it feeling like they had let their coach down, not vice versa. They would have tears in their eyes because they knew they had disappointed one of the great influences of their lives, but this coach would always make sure the athlete was not completely crushed. Every butt-chewing ended with a positive message that tomorrow was a new day. What was the end result? This coach’s teams won championships for three decades, athletes flocked to his program like the Pied Piper, and grown adults came to his retirement party to thank him for the way he prepared them for life.

Both of these coaches formed their teams through the way they conducted themselves every day. Whether you know it or not, you’re the leader and your athletes are watching everything you do. Make sure they see the right things.

Got My MOJO WORKIN!

What’s the mojo in your gym? Please do us all a favor and don’t act like you don’t know what "mojo" is. You know what it is as clearly as you know what you look like naked. However, I’m willing to accept the idea that the actual term "mojo" might be a new one for you, so here’s a quick analysis.

The mojo of your gym is the general atmosphere. It’s a description of how much "juice" you have in your gym environment. Still confused? Okay, go someplace like a mortuary, a library, or an Arizona Diamondbacks game. Low mojo, baby. Seriously low mojo. Now, go to an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day. Completely different level of mojo. Get the picture?

Do the athletes in your gym cheer for each other when they’re attempting big lifts? For that matter, do the athletes in your gym know what constitutes a "big lift" for the other members of the gym? In other words, are your athletes interested enough in each other that they know what the team’s personal records are? They should. Your gym has a have a team concept, and everybody has to feel like they’re a part of that team. If you haven’t actually established a team name, you should do it. Get them to think they’re a foot soldier in your army, and then get them to believe in the concept of DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR.

Every gym has a few lifters who are identified as the "big dogs." These are simply the strongest and most respected athletes in the house. When newbies start training in your gym, it doesn’t take them long to figure out who the big dogs are. So think about what it means when that newbie is getting ready to attempt a new personal record snatch and he/she hears one of the big dogs yell out, "Let’s go! Pull hard and stick it!" That newbie just got a huge blast of adrenaline, and guess what? You’ve just had a team-building moment in your gym. That newbie feels like a part of the gang, and you’ve probably got a new member on your hands.

Camaraderie is everything, as long as it’s combined with focus. It’s incredibly helpful to have the members of your gym liking each other, wanting to befriend and support each other, etc. However, the leader always has to make sure that everyone’s minds are on their work. Conversations and laughs are great, but the intensity must not be made to suffer. If a Chatty Cathy starts training in your gym and people start getting distracted from doing their job correctly, then it is your job to step in and let Chatty Cathy know in a helpful, positive way that she needs to learn to shut her mouth at the appropriate times.
Lastly, you might have the occasional prima donna come through your doors. This, as we all know, is the athlete who wants the entire gym to revolve around him/her and expects everybody to bow down. How much do you, the leader of the gym, let this prima donna get away with? Do you let your other athletes see you cater to this prima donna and lavish special treatment that the gym scrubs don’t get? If you do these things, then you’re going to lose some people. Some of your team members are going to watch you coddle the prima donna and they’re going to start to think you’re full of bunk. If one of your lower-ranked athletes gets angry and throws a fit after missing a big lift, then you need to handle it and exert a little authority so everybody knows how things work in the gym. But then you have to make sure you give the same business when the prima donna throws the same fit. As soon as your team senses that there are double standards in the gym, they’re going to start buying out.

Finish with a BET...

If you ever want a fun, exciting way to get some motors running in your gym, try establishing challenges and bets for your athletes. Here’s an example. During the years when I trained in the Calpian gym in Washington, we had a tradition for our Tuesday workouts. On Tuesdays, the entire team did rack jerks. That was the big highlight of the day. As time went on, lots of wagering and challenging started to surround the Tuesday jerks. Sometimes, one lifter would challenge another one head-to-head. Let’s have a jerk contest and the loser has to buy the winner a burrito after the workout. Or, lifters of different bodyweights could challenge each other with bodyweight handicaps. Or maybe the challenge could be to see who gets the closest to jerking a personal record that day, and the loser had to unload everybody else’s bar afterwards.

You get the idea. Find creative ways to get the competitive vibe running in your gym, and provide some kind of tangible rewards. Before you know it, you’ve got a situation where personal records are falling left and right...all because of a burrito. This also provides a way for some of the big dogs to occasionally be in a situation where they have to fight like hell to stay ahead of one of the weaker lifters. The point here, and the point to all of this, is that it is the task of the gym leader to develop the entire program. Everything including equipment rules, scheduling, conduct and behavior, inter-squad competition, and good old fashioned family atmosphere is part of the vision of the coach, manager, or whatever title you want to give yourself. Most people feel more comfortable and confident if their leader is a strong alpha personality. If there comes a time in your career when it’s your turn to run the show, make sure you find a way to build something special. Don’t just tread water.