HOW TO SPOT A WINNER

By Sharon Tosten
Amerikick Martial Arts

My husband and I started like most martial arts schools in the 1970’s; opened at 5:00, had no real children’s program, almost no one made it to black belt and we ran around on weekends competing in tournaments.  I think we have been through every change in the martial arts industry, had very few students, then hundreds of students, enjoyed the success of a great kids program, went from having all the students we needed from one yellow page ad, to all the marketing strategies from commercials, to print, to web, to radio needed to stay competitive today. 

We’ve gone from one standard uniform and a summer T-shirt to practically a fashion catalogue for our students. And the weapons!!! We still have a few of the archaic two pound weapons that you could actually use to defend yourself, but our students love the objects we sell- that our shaped like a weapon, made from foil and balsa wood, that they could barely use defend themselves from an overzealous bumble bee.  However if you have one school and hundreds of students or a chain like we do with thousands of students, dozens of instructors and franchisees, one thing never changes, you need to surround your self with a great team.  The other thing that never changes is that it takes time and patience to train a staff member.  It is the number one challenge in our business, and every service related business in the world; and I will readily admit that we have done it wrong, more than once, with painful consequences. 

Of course most of the staff members in martial arts schools are young and there are natural growing pains, they need help prioritizing, learning safety protocol and proper demeanor.  They need to learn a massive amount of martial arts skills, they need to learn to speak properly, speak loud enough, not ramble on, pace a class and dozens of other skills that make a great martial arts teacher or manager.  These all take a while to ingrain, but generally will improve with time and plenty of hands on training.  Of course there are other traits that most often never change for the better.  There are a few red flags that should stop you in your tracks from promoting a staff member; the biggest one being ego.  Attempting in any way to satisfy a needy staff member’s ego is like spending your life shoveling sand into a bottomless pit, both jobs will never finish and both will become increasingly more difficult as time goes by.  

I have had three separate staff members, in different years, all say the exact same thing, “On the website bios, there should be more about me.”  (Of course all of the bios are similar in length.  Instructors who have won national titles are mentioned, but did they really think their third place win in the local YMCA tournament should be immortalized?)  Every single one of those people later turned out to be a complete disaster and consequently, are no longer with us.  The biggest key to spotting an insatiable ego is the word “ME” or “I.”  Great staff members always use the word “WE.”   Such as, “It would be great if “WE” could include a little bit of every age group in the new commercial.  Rather than, “Why wasn’t I in the front row?”  The next red flag is a total disregard for expenses. 

This shows not only immaturity but selfishness. A staff member that constantly leaves the air conditioning on, or orders excessive equipment, has a regard for only one person’s payroll- their own.  People like this should be cut immediately or they will cost you thousands.  The last red flag is a staff member that does nothing “above and beyond.”   They come, do their exact job, get paid… and leave.  They never go out of their way to help a student or add extra to the school in any way.  When a staff member is not adding- they are taking away. 

They bring down the attitude of the entire staff.  Tell them politely, “Customer service might not be the right field for you.”  But how do you spot a winner?  At Amerikick our number one criteria for a staff member is attendance.  Do they show up early and leave late- Or the opposite?  Are they every event in uniform ready to go?  If they are it shows that they are like all of our best people, they love martial arts and they love to be at the school.  There is no where else that they would rather be and nothing else they would rather do.  You can teach sales, you can teach computer skills, you can even teach how to teach, but you can’t teach dedication, passion or loyalty.   Print out an attendance report, all your best future staff members are right there, waiting to be trained.