Conveying the method behind the madness: Why are you doing what you are doing? Do your employees’ values align with your company? Do your methods actually add up to create the pathway to reach your goals and uphold your values? Do your employees understand what it takes and have the proper expectations? Work is HARD--not always, but there will be times when it is.
Hello, Readers! Welcome to another Fitlosophies blog post where I detail my experience in business ownership and explore concepts that are important to success (or failure). I’ve really enjoyed having this semi-frequent outlet to express myself and hope you’ve also enjoyed learning more about me and CHT (or at least enjoyed humoring me). In my last article, I spoke at great length about the burnout epidemic and where many business leaders fail their employees. Today, I’ll be exploring some possible causes for disillusionment, the ways in which employee disillusionment presents, and the best way to realign the business with its employees through my experience. Let’s dive in!
In the working world, I’ll define disillusionment as “the disappointment associated with the realization that one’s job, or career, is less fulfilling than originally expected or envisioned”. The reality of the current working environment, for most people, is that they ARE disillusioned with the current atmosphere. Wages have remained relatively stagnant throughout the last 5 decades while cost of living, home prices, health care, entertainment, education, and basically every single expense have completely skyrocketed. There’s no shortage of sources on this statement, but if you choose not to believe it, please use any search engine and start reading. I’d argue that just knowing this information is enough to cause disillusionment with the working world. After all, no matter what job someone does, their perception of the world around them will be negative if they’re filled with the constant anxiety and stress associated with a failure to be able to provide for themselves, or their family, regardless of how much they love their job. At the end of the day, a job is a means to an end with clear set expectations: afford to live (hopefully). While the wage gap issues, despite record corporate profits, have persisted for a while, having them be at the forefront of social conversation, alongside the current political climate and an inability for congress to pass any meaningful legislation/regulation, can create a feeling of uncontrollable anxiety. Afterall, employees don’t have the power to create their own wages–they can request and negotiate–but the actual amount of pay, volume of work, and working conditions are generally set by the employer. When the general sentiment for the average working individual is seen as uncontrolled and potentially does not afford the living expectations one would hope, it’s easy to see how this could create a loop of disillusionment. And don’t get me wrong here–I’m not cutting corners and saying that feelings of lack of control create disillusionment. I’m saying that the reality of our current economic situation, with respect to the workforce, creates the environment for disillusionment to be much more pervasive than it should. As a human being, I’d much rather disillusionment be the result of a lack of fulfillment in a job, as opposed to systemic factors. Taking it a step further, I believe, on average, that there’s a clear lack of empathy, understanding, and actual problem solving by managers and business leaders that further creates disillusionment. Oftentimes, which I’ll talk about a bit later, this can be rectified through proper communication.
As employers we need to be able to understand the signs of disappointment. In my experience, this can occur in a few different ways:
Disregard for proper communication amongst staff and management
Clear decrease in job performance
Inability to complete job assignments
Lack of motivation
Constant tiredness or lethargy.
While these may not be ALL the signs, if you do notice these, it’s time to have a conversation with that employee or coworker. It’s also important to have objective AND subjective measures for each of these categories. Employees must have objective and subjective measures for their leaders; after all, we aren’t immune from disillusionment either.
Alright, so how do we rectify this situation? I’ll be honest, I’m going to make the world’s most generic statement here, but I do believe it to be true: Disillusionment cannot be rectified by anything other than proper communication, and proper actions as a result of that communication. If you have employees who feel disconnected from their roles or unfulfilled from their job, the absolute best way to begin solving that is to start the conversation. In my last article I discussed setting proper expectations with staff as well as ensuring consisten
t and timely opportunities for that discussion. When we have these conversations, I make sure that there are times to check objective measurements (billable hours, client retention rates, etc) but also to candidly talk about subjective measures (job satisfaction, feelings of being on a team, career goals, lethargy, respectfulness, favorite/least favorite job qualities, etc). Much like we would do for one of our clients, I need to have a holistic view of how my employees are performing their job, but also how that performance makes them feel. Do they feel adequately compensated? Are they becoming burnt out? Do they want other opportunities? Do they feel successful and capable? Do they feel like they are failing? Are they actually failing? How is their home life? How do they feel about their future? What do they want to work on? How do all of these coincide with the business’s goals? There’s so much to get into, but a business can only be as strong, motivated, and healthy as its employees. When discussing these topics we, as employers, need to also be aware of our scope and abilities. There will be many many times that we say no, or that we have to take a hardline stance on responsibilities and roles due to the constraints of our business/industry, and that’s okay. But knowing where disappointment comes from creates the ability to make meaningful changes when the opportunity arises. If we look at a business as an intrinsic environment that we have control over, we must also consider the greater context of where a business resides. What are industry trends? Are there opportunities to create changes within the industry to make it more fulfilling? CHT is fortunate to be a personal training studio, where our staff often LOVE working with clients. But if I relied on that fulfillment alone to ensure that my staff love their job, then I’d be doing a disservice to the longevity of their careers. I’d also be a bad listener, and a bad analyst of the personal training industry, where an estimated 80% of trainers quit within their first year (This article does not quote a source, but I found many other articles and sources claiming a similar statistic).
On the flip side, employees need to be able to listen to their bosses and understand the roles of the business, its managers, and what is possible, and this should be something employees discuss in their job interview, especially in the fitness industry. What will your role be? What are your expectations and how are those measures? What’s an average day like? What does the business do for them? Additionally, it's important that employees are willing to have these honest conversations with their employers. While the answers may not always go their way, advocating for themselves is always a good thing. Let me give you a real world example, since I’ve mostly spoken thematically thus far. We have a gigantic steel front desk that takes up a lot of potential training space. We were, and are, a very busy studio. At the time, we were having issues with the flow of trainers and clients through the space due to where our choke points are, equipment layout, and frankly, newer staff working together. For our business model, space is a premium. Afterall, more space means the ability to train more clients at any given time, right? So, in my discussions with staff, I found that half of them vehemently wanted this desk removed, and the other half didn’t care. The ones who wanted it removed felt like more space would create better flow. I’m sure you’re probably thinking “Cody, that desk is still there. If your staff wanted it gone, why didn’t you listen to them and move it?”. And the answer to that is that candidly, the desk wasn’t the problem, and moving it wouldn’t have rectified our situation. At first, I definitely received push back about this decision. But as a leader, it was important that I made proper changes to create a better long-term solution to our space problem. Instead, I opted to make studio tidiness a much bigger priority with a focus on never leaving equipment out of its place. Overtime, the studio got MUCH tidier, and thus much easier to navigate, especially as we all got used to one another’s training habits and the new studio layout itself. We had honest conversations about employee needs, business needs, and then took proper action to address everything involved.To wrap up this article, the biggest way to combat disillusionment is to show your staff that you are able to listen, that you understand the systems around and within your business, and that you’re willing to make changes to improve working conditions in the short, and long term. No matter what that looks like for your business, it’s important to start that conversation once you notice the signs. Whether it works out, or not, it will set you up for future success. If you liked this article, be sure to like, subscribe, or share! If you want more discussion on these topics or would like to hear it in podcast form, let me know in the comments. As always, train better, live better.
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