“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:3)
“Change your opinions, keep your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.” (Victor Hugo)
Over the past few weeks, I have been part of a team visiting the various centers and program branches to get a better understanding of each area of our operation. It was clear the teams are focused on our three strategic priorities, growth, culture, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. I have been very impressed with the caliber of personnel we have throughout our association. Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Ideal Team Player, identifies three qualities that are critical for a high-performing team; hunger, smart, and humility. Lencioni defines hunger as demonstrating a high level of commitment to the work, and being willing to go above and beyond. He defines smart as having a high aptitude for working with people, exhibiting a strong ability to understand group dynamics as well as being able to adapt to the circumstances. Finally, Lencioni highlights humility as the final characteristic of the ideal team player. Teammates who are humble are focused on the success of the team, and will give credit to his or her teammates rather than look for personal recognition. Each of our teams is demonstrating the highest level of commitment to advancing our Y, and it is evident that the overall success of our Y is of the highest importance.
Listening to each team share about their operation, it is clear our association is focused on elevating the quality of our programs. Programs are the core of our operation, there is a direct correlation between high-level programs and increasing our membership. Bremerton is closing in on eclipsing 2019 membership numbers as a result of historic enrollment in their aquatics and youth programs. Jenette Reneau, Senior Aquatics Director, and Denise Kilkenny, Senior Youth Program Director, have been leading their respective departments to achieve all-time high participation numbers. In the recent report from the Morgan Y, Michael Byersdorf, Senior Aquatics Director, shared that Morgan had eclipsed the 1,200 number for youth in swim lessons. Michael pointed to the work of Stephanie Martin, Aquatics Program Director, who along with Noor Bergman, HR Recruiter, have helped onboard 20 new staff from the Tacoma School partnership to be able to offer more classes, as well as add lifeguards.
Each center has been thinking strategically in order to develop key areas that will enable us to serve more members and grow our Y. Jenna Lehman, Executive Director, shared how the recent hire at Gordon of Keenen Jackson, in Health and Well-Being, will bring greater attention to the weight room and the adult sports, elevating the focus on these two key areas, and potentially grow the number of members participating. We also are getting closer to rolling out the enhancements to the strength training areas that will better address the needs of our members. We have learned more and more people of all ages are wanting to dedicate their time to strength training. The changes we will be implementing are designed to address this growing demand. From what we are hearing from around the country, these changes will help grow our membership. Michael Marquez, Operations Director, has been leading the way, working with the operations team to prepare our Y for 2023.
A few years ago, we read the book, Four Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney and the Franklin Covey team. The first discipline is a focus on establishing the wildly important goals of your team, or WIG. In the Y it is very easy to try and create too many important goals, trying to address all the needs of our community, but it is critical to narrow it down to just two or three goals. Brian Flattum, COO, and his team have been working hard to grow our programs, and we have seen steady growth in each area.
The second discipline is to act on lead measures, focusing on the critical activities that predict the success of the lag goals. Lag goals typically get the attention, because it is the result we want to achieve, such as revenue, and customer satisfaction, but the lead measures are the ones that predict the lag measure, and they can be most easily influenced by the team. McChesney points out each team needs to focus on the lead measures, because they drive success, and they will require the team to adapt in real-time. As we see in most of our centers, swim lessons can be a critical lead measure, because families want their kids to learn to swim, so they join the Y.
The third discipline is to maintain a compelling scoreboard in order to determine whether the team is winning or losing. According to McChesney, every team player should be able to look at the scoreboard and know if they are winning or losing. When I was meeting with each team, it was clear that they knew what the numbers were for their centers, and where they needed to improve in order to achieve success. McChesney states, “great teams know at every moment whether or not they are winning. They must know, otherwise, they don’t know what they have to do to win the game.” Each team knew what they needed to do in order to grow their branches, whether it was to recruit more instructors for group exercise classes, or if it was to add swim instructors in order to offer more lessons. They also were well aware that Noor Bergman was their best friend to help them to recruit the staff they need to deliver programs.
The fourth discipline is to develop a cadence of accountability, where the teams are meeting to assess the team’s performance and to evaluate what is needed to achieve success. The cadence of accountability is a dedicated time the team sets aside to answer the question, “What are the one or two most important things I can do this week to have the biggest impact on the scoreboard?” McChesney sees this as a crucial time for team members to commit to one another, and to share important ideas to help the team be successful. On each team, I have seen the greatest advancement in this area. Each team is focusing time on developing its culture, which directly strengthens the commitment the individual team members have for each other and the team.
Heading into 2023, the operations team has been focused on strengthening our programs, knowing that will lead directly to increasing our membership numbers. Throughout our association we are seeing great numbers in our programs, ie., water fitness classes are wildly popular, swim lessons are growing each session, and outdoor environmental education enrollments are climbing as well, to mention just a few. In each program, the teams are assessing what it will take to grow the numbers even more. In some cases, it is realizing that what worked before COVID may not necessarily work today, and as a result, the team is having to adjust with a different emphasis. Child watch numbers are not as high as they were, and the team is trying to determine alternative strategies. Do we look at a different pricing model? In 2023, we will be conducting a pricing study to determine whether a new model is needed for membership and programs. We recognize that we are operating in a different world, and it is ever-changing. For us to survive, we need to change with it. What I saw in the recent visits with our center and program teams made me more confident than ever that we are poised to meet the change head-on. Thank you for your complete commitment to making this Y great. You are the heart and soul of this organization!
-Staff Blog by Charlie Davis
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