Organizations too often settle for being good and as a result, never take the steps needed to achieve greatness. Furthermore, great companies produce amazing financial results that far exceed the performance of companies in the same line of business. The first component of the organization’s greatness is outstanding leadership.

What makes a great spa & fitness center manager?

GREAT Managers makes a Great Spa & Fitness Center, here are 5 characteristics of a great manager.

1. Plan for success. Have you ever heard the saying “Plan Your Work & Work Your Plan?” With this single sentence, it’s summarized a characteristic that exists in all great managers: The ability to create a realistic, yet challenging plan for the organization, and execute the plan with discipline. The manager must know how to plan long & short-term strategic business forecasts, which involve creation and execution. This is an ongoing interactive process that sets clear expectations for both process and outcome. A good manager is required to have plans with the team, planning is the foundation of the organization’s success.

2. Sales, sales & sales. Selling is a noble profession. Everything begins with sales. Great managers are constantly selling themselves, their employees, and their fitness center. Stating that the managers are salespeople, who can approach clientele and ask the right important question that is important and tour the entire club to bring the person to what interests him or her.

3. Membership Counts. Managers must know all that is possible about their business. This refers to managers who pay attention to details, and who understand the metric is the business and how those metrics are achieved. By asking a manager their membership sales for the week or the percentage of new members who enrolled in personal training, they will have the answers.

4. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. A great management guru once said, ” You can preach a better sermon with your life than you can with your lips” What this meant was leaders and managers who have a significant effect on their team’s performance are those who model the attitudes and behavior that are desired. Great managers never walk by a towel that is on the floor, never ask someone else to answer the phone if they are nearby, and never refer member issues to another staff person when they can handle it themselves. No one believes that great managers spend a lot of their time in task-oriented endeavors. On the other hand, they are leaders who understand that engaging in task-oriented endeavors at certain times is one of the most effective and appropriate practices for establishing a framework for excellence in their employees

5. Passionate about their profession. Someone once said, “No man is a success in business unless he loves his work.” Such an observation reinforces the fact that one of the essential ingredients to greatness is having a passion for what you do. In the Club industry, passion can show itself in many ways, including being an advocate of health & wellness, taking joy in seeing members achieve their fitness goals, or taking substantial pride in every aspect of the fitness center.

The passion of great managers is contagious; it tends to infect the entire staff and even the membership. The industry is full of managers who, because of their passion, can influence employees to levels of achievement that they never thought were possible. In fact, many industry leaders even claim that they would do this job even without pay. It is this type of passion that allows them and their employees to achieve extraordinary results.

The first step on the journey to becoming a great manager is developing knowledge of and an appreciation for the traits that are required to make such a journey. With this information in hand, managers can set forth on the path to greatness and can expect to reach their goal.