'Fit for purpose'

The phrase ‘fit for purpose’ has been haunting me once again.
Last week, as I listened to the outputs of a number of our leading industry thinkers at the 2010 Commission workshop, that phrase kept popping into my head.

IF we want to become ‘Community Activity Hubs’, do we really have the right skills sets to realise that ambition?

IF we have a role to play in delivering ‘preventative and remedial’ medicine, do we really have the right skills sets to realise that .....

IF we want to break through our 12% glass ceiling (12% of the population are members of health clubs and leisure centres), do we really have the right skills sets to .....

You get my point.

I always think that our industry sometimes behaves like some latter day Basil Fawlty: we are very good at beating ourselves up about our retention rates, about the lack of our people/empathy skills, about not really creating a warm enough welcome for gym novices ...... but now, finally, we are starting to work on the solution to these problems, rather than keep reiterating it. That is the task of the 2010 Commission.

What has emerged is that whilst we have an excellent qualifying and career infrastructure in place for fitness trainers, we don’t really have anything for the other 160,000 plus people in the industry. What executive development programmes do we have for our middle managers? What people training courses do we give our people at reception? Etc. Etc.

Having identified the problem, people have already started working on the solution. Over the next few weeks you will learn about the ‘Skills Protocol’ and many other new developments in this area. This is fantastic news for everyone in the industry.

Imagine an age when the ‘gym experience’, in terms of the customer experience, is the envy of other sectors. Imagine Business Week citing our industry right up there with The Ritz Carlton, Amazon and Jaguar as the best of (customer service) breed.

Or perhaps we should just hope that the ‘gym experience’ is enjoyable, rewarding and something everyof Britain’s inactive consumers wants to enjoy....and benefit from.

Imagine if we were ‘fit for purpose’.

David Stalker
Executive Director
Fitness Industry Association