USA Gymnastics has recently found itself in crisis. It’s like they got hit by a truck and while they staggered to the curb they got struck by lightening.
Coaching and owning a gym can be filled with crises, large and small. Crises have no respect for your personal life or whether it is the weekend of Regional or National Championship. While we can never be truly prepared for a crisis, we can do our best to anticipate categories of crises that arise and have a game plan for responding.
In my experience, those who overcome the gym’s inevitable crises have three basic principles in place.
- First, they have a strong and varied network of trusted advisors.
- Second, they avoid panic and instead break the necessary responses down into component parts.
- Third, they maintain flexibility, knowing that even the best plans are going to run off the rails.
In the many years I spent owning my gyms and coaching, I’d like to think I’ve seen it all. From the “normal” crisis of someone getting sick in the gym or the cake for a birthday party does not come out right to the more exciting time when someone robbed the bank near the gym and left their get-a-way car in our parking lot (ask me about that sometime). One of the parents at the gym is a lawyer and she has worked with a client whose businesses experienced sudden chemical spill. Another inherited a piece of property only to find out it was contaminated on polluted and unstable land and they are now responsible for the clean up. That makes even some of the worst things in the gym seem pretty benign. Few gyms could ever be fully prepared for that type of problem!
When you order a cake for a birthday party at your gym and ask for the Olympic Rings on it
The gyms I have seen who fared the best in a crisis had in place relationships with trustworthy professionals and a willingness to view their potentially long-term crisis as a series of small steps to be addressed one at a time. They also sought the support of people outside of gymnastics. Using friends and family to help keep them from becoming overwhelmed.
I probably do 30 clinics, camps, congresses in a year. I see crises differently now. Sometimes unnecessary situations arise because problems are ignored for too long. The slow trickle of attrition turns into a steady flow of frustration as gymnasts who cannot advance or are not encouraged seek a more hospitable environment. Younger gymnasts whose parents see a gym uncomfortable with change leave as well. These gyms are not unlike a business faced with an environmental crisis. Talent management is as important to the sustainability of a gym as is weathering the effects of a chemical spill or underground pollution. Any crisis requires a thoughtful and appropriate response. Sometimes the problem needs steady attention, while other times you will find yourself having to respond quickly to an emergency.
As a parent, life is full of crises large and small. Coming home to a notice stuck in my son’s backpack inviting parents to a school event the next morning (don’t they know I have morning workout?!), or a last-minute request to bake for a class party, can leave even the most organized parent in a panic. But these pale in comparison to a sudden illness or more serious medical crisis, which can throw any household into complete pandemonium. When I face these work-life crises, I recall that having the proverbial village to help me through eased every roadblock. A spouse who shares the load while extended family (or our amazing neighbor Mrs Eighmy!) can be called upon to provide all the necessary backup, including the emergency care of one child while the other is at the doctor, or the offer of a sympathetic ear and wise counsel to navigate the challenge.
In your gym, the key is to anticipate where trouble spots are likely to arise and develop plans for avoiding them if possible. Your core staff needs to be a crisis management team. Who does what and when? These teams should include in the gym staff and office staff. Consult with other gyms AND other industries to get some ideas. Large crises may require all hands on deck. It is always important to remember that each crisis helps build a reservoir of resilience. So even as we rely on our network of support, we can also look within for the strength we need to weather our storms.
