We’ve put together a series of insightful articles to help you navigate this challenging season and to help your fitness professionals feel confident as they shape or reshape their future in fitness. Our first article starts out with taking a look into how having an encouraging and supportive mindset can make a difference.

Due to COVID, your expectations for fitness facility organization, cleanliness, and member engagement have increased and helped to define your forward progress. However, what mental and emotional support tactics have you applied for your fitness professionals? Just like you, their world has been turned upside down.

Mindset

Fitness professionals were thrust into a world of immediate chaos and shock. In less than 24 hours, their workplace – and most likely so, second home and fitness family – no longer served as their platform for client, member, and staff interaction, lead generation, workout tools, etc. They were forced to pivot; in order to survive and maintain training business, client interactions began occurring via text, emailed programming, or virtual training with minimal equipment or household items. Even as the months unfold now, there is uncertainty about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on fitness consumer habits.

As an operator, you must consider the mental and emotional impact that COVID-19 has had on your fitness professionals. Many may feel anxious, fearful, demotivated, or even “stuck” as business has not returned to normal, but personal expenses and needs remain. In some ways, many fit pros are trying to reimagine themselves, but may struggle with what to do or how to change. You can be a valuable influence on them during this time.

Here are a few ideas to help encourage and support your fitness professionals:

• Empathize with their concerns and fears. They need to know you care and that you feel the same way.
• Reiterate your vision and plan to jumpstart business. Remind them they are an essential part of this and that you value their feedback and ideas as you move forward together.
• Provide additional options for working hours when not servicing clients, such as assisting with check-ins, cleaning, member technology assistance, facility tours, etc.
• Schedule bi-weekly or monthly check-in meetings with your fitness staff.

  These team meetings can be held via Zoom or even outdoors to help keep social distancing protocols in place. Focus your meetings around praise (acknowledge effort and successes), conversation (share concerns and questions), information (facility updates), and education (applicable and succinct training).

• Provide on-going staff training for personal training interaction, such as virtual programming or contact, limited equipment use, CDC guidelines regarding gym use and exercise, etc.

Your greatest challenge will be helping your fitness professionals manage their own psychology. For those who have been in the industry for years, this is a shock and every day requires constant adjustment – with no understanding of what the future holds. For those fitness professionals who are new to the industry, provide structure and purpose to their “free hours” to keep them engaged with members, operations, and your ultimate business vision.

Your fitness professionals are your “stickiest” connection point with members, and most likely, provide a strong source of facility revenue. It is worth your effort and time to support their personal and professional well-being now.

While mindset is incredibly important to helping build up the confidence of your fitness professionals, there are a few other key areas to pay attention to:

Supporting Fitness Professionals During COVID: Skills

Supporting Fitness Professionals During COVID: Education

Supporting Fitness Professionals During COVID: Staff