Holding out for a Hero

-  Kenny Harris -

We all have heroes. We all need heroes. And we can all BE heroes.

But what is a hero?

To me, a hero is someone to look up to; someone to inspire me – to jolt me out of my complacency. Someone to challenge me from thinking in the “same old, same old” ways.

I’ve learned something from each of my heroes. Each has given me a life lesson – no matter how unlikely the hero may be.

And if a hero is someone who inspires, who banishes complacency, who helps people learn life lessons, can’t we all be heroes?

Can’t YOU be a hero?

When someone puts themselves in your hands, they don’t want the “same old same old”, they want a hero.

They want someone who can help them achieve things they could never achieve on their own.

They want someone they can look up to; someone who can inspire them to go further, faster, higher.

Heroes don’t need to be playing for England (or Scotland, or anyone else). They don’t need to be famous. Let’s not confuse celebrity with heroism.

They just need to be truthful. And brave enough to do what they think is right. They could be in the news – but they could just as easily sitting in the office next to you. Or even sitting where you are.

Think about your colleagues, your staff and your clients. Do you inspire them to do extraordinary things? Do you challenge them to change the things they think they could achieve? Do you change the way they think? The way they feel? The way they act?

We can be challenged and inspired by the people around us. Every person can be a hero to someone.

If you can be that person, then you can be that hero.

Kenny Harris will be doing his highly entertaining seminar around heroes at the FIA Conference in Telford (July 13h). Don't miss it.

FIA Flame Conference – “Creating Connections – The Key to our future”

Wednesday July 13th at the Telford International Centre.

Click here to book your place now!

Band-Aids or Beliefs

             - Kris Tynan -

You’ll be familiar with the phrase, “if you pay peanuts you get monkeys” - which is a little unfair to the monkeys I have always thought.

There is some truth to this theory, but according to TED talker Simon Sinek (if you haven’t discovered Ted yet check out www.ted.cm) people don’t buy into what you do, they buy into what you believe, and money doesn’t come into it.

Does this have any relevance to the reason that we as an industry are often so bad at gym floor interaction?

Despite a collective nodding of heads when yet another piece of research produces a clear correlation between instructor interaction and improved retention, the situation seems to have got worse over the years.

Is this because talking to members is relegated to the too-hard basket?

Are we so concerned with short-term results (aka sales) that we haven’t got the vision to look ahead more than a year or two?

Or do we simply not have the confidence to commit the required resources to creating sustained cultural change in our gym floors?

Are we just looking for band-aids so we can say we ‘tick that box’ for this year at least, or does anyone out there genuinely believe that one way of improving the measly 12% market penetration we have right now is to look after the customers we already have?

I’ll be sharing a few interactive instructor insights with you at the conference in July.

FIA Flame Conference – “Creating Connections – The Key to our future”

Wednesday July 13th at the Telford International Centre.

Click here to book your place now!

Flame Finalists

- David Stalker -

I am delighted to announce that we now have our finalists confirmed for the FIA and Matrix Flame Awards and the competition is even hotter than ever!

With the Ball of Fire and Conference less than a month away, the team are busy booking industry colleagues onto the final few places. 

I have to say well done to everybody who submitted an award entry - there were some fantastic entries this year which demonstrate the level of work going on in

our industry.

With the two categories producing winners , ‘Outstanding’, which covers Future of Flame, Operators of the year and also Spark of Innovation Award (which discovers the newest and most innovative in the industry) and ‘Facility Management’ which recognises the best clubs and centres in the industry, the Ball of Fire is set to be a night to remember. For a full list of finalists see http://tinyurl.com/3nkn25z .

I look forward to revealing the results at the Ball of Fire (13^th July). If you haven’t already, book you place now!  http://www.fia.org.uk/diary_dates/events1/flame-2011.html ).

From Expert to Facilitator

- Fiona Cosgrove -

I recently attended a conference in Boston entitled Coaching in Leadership and Medicine.

The sessions intertwined theory from systems therapy, executive coaching, immunity to change models and ground breaking research in positivity.

The theme throughout was that a good coach needs to increase self-awareness in the client and help them to take responsibility for their own outcomes.

It matters not whether the objective is to increase productivity or decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, if the end result involves behavioural change (which becoming a regular exerciser does) then helping people to identify and eliminate psychological as well as physiological obstacles is essential.

The fitness industry is crying out for a new teaching model and if exercise professionals can just shift their mindset from being the expert to being the facilitator of change then wellness coaching may just be it.

Australian Fiona Cosgrove is a leading international wellness coach. She is presenting at the FIA Conference in Telford on Wednesday July 13th.

FIA Flame Conference – “Creating Connections – The Key to our future”
Wednesday July 13th at the Telford International Centre.
Click here to book your place now!